Encouraging to see that first-generation Nigerians are trying to learn more about their roots. It's a great business opportunity - culture/language/cooking classes for expats en route to Nigeria, first generation Nigerians trying to discover their roots, and general public interested in learning more about the country. Hopefully, other enterprising Nigerians like Ms. Nwosu, will find more innovative ways of showcasing our culture to the outside world. Love the quote, "If you want to marry an Igbo man, you've got to know how to cook egusi soup"...really?!
***************
UK Expats Learn Nigerian Culture - Ellen Otzen, BBC News
A tiny restaurant on a north London high street is not where you would expect to go to learn about traditional Nigerian culture.
Sandwiched between coffee shops and bowling alleys, the Nigerian Kitchen is easily missed.
But on Saturday mornings it is turned into a training school in the customs of one of Nigeria's largest ethnic groups - the Igbo.
In one corner of the room, a bespectacled teacher, Alex Tetenta, talks lengthily about Igbo political customs.
Mr Tetenta is a radio presenter and politics graduate currently writing a book on Nigerian democracy.
He is surrounded by a handful of attentive young men, all Igbo, who have grown up in London.
Michael's family hails from Abia state in south-eastern Nigeria.
He is here, he says "because learning about my own culture gives me a sense of pride, something to hold on to, instead of just the Western stuff".
At the other end of the room, the school's founder Ebere Nwosu instructs a group of women in cooking egusi soup.
Dried chicken bones sizzle in a pan of palm oil. Red pepper, bitterleaf, and ground crayfish are laid out on a large steel table.
Lack of pride
Ms Nwosu, dressed in a striking yellow traditional dress, is a legal practitioner.
She grew up in north London and says she set up the school to resolve a lack of pride in African culture.
"I think a lot of us who have migrated from Africa to the UK or the United States tend to neglect our culture and adopt that of where we are, which is wrong."
Does she think the neglect happened as newly arrived immigrants tried to assimilate?
"My father is a solicitor and my mother a social worker. Not an ounce of Igbo was spoken to us as we were growing up. They spoke it between themselves, but never spoke it to us children. We were the victims of a 'pro-education' drive," she says.
Igbo culture and what sets it apart from the surrounding Nigerian culture is stressed again and again on the course.
"Egusi soup is a very common soup amongst Nigerians. There's a way in which the Igbos prepare it in comparison to the Yoruba - we don't put as much oil in our food, and we use more vegetables," Ms Nwosu explains to her students.
Each course lasts six weeks and comprises Igbo custom, history, arts and crafts and, of course, cuisine.
"If you want to marry an Igbo man, you've got to know how to cook egusi soup. If you can't cook anything else, at least have that under your belt and you're through the door," laughs Ms Nwosu.
Roots
Igbo culture has given rise to many great names.
Olaudah Equiano, one of the most prominent Africans involved in the British movement for the abolition of the slave trade, was believed to be an Igbo.
Other famous Igbos include Nigerian writers Chinua Achebe and Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie, as well as British athlete Christine Ohuruogu.
Kate Njoku has been following the course for six weeks.
"I wanted to learn more about my roots and my culture. I grew up in London and I've only been to the village in Nigeria where my family comes from once, when I was very young. It's a full course that teaches the language, the arts and the history - so I thought it would be perfect for me."
But not everyone here is Nigerian. Students come from the Caribbean and southern Africa as well.
Diana is from Zimbabwe but is going out with an Igbo man.
"It's time I learned how to cook Igbo food. That's the food my boyfriend eats. We've been coming to this restaurant for two years, buying take-aways. It's best I cook from home," she says.
Wednesday, November 4, 2009
Tuesday, October 20, 2009
Africa governance prize finds no winners
Thanks for sharing this article Kome!
Not surprised at the Africa Governance Prize Committee's decision to not award the prize to any candidate this year, I really can't think of anyone who qualifies. Maybe when Rwanda's Kagame or even our dear Yar'Aadua, decides to step down, then we can have some potentials worth debating over. Thoughts on whether they got it wrong this time?
*****************
Africa governance prize finds no winners - Financial Times
Mo Ibrahim, the Sudanese telecoms magnate, will not award his $5m African leadership prize this year, a decision seen as a rebuke to the former presidents of Nigeria, South Africa and Ghana, among others.
The prize, now in its third year, is given to heads of state who rule wisely and hand over power to elected successors.
Mr Ibrahim launched the award, along with a related index on African governance, after concluding that poor governance was the biggest impediment to Africa’s development, and deciding to devote the fortune he made selling Celtel, his telecoms company, to the promotion of leadership.
He intended the prize, which he has no say over, would stir debate on governance. This year it has, on cue.
Thabo Mbeki, the former South African president, Olusegun Obasanjo, Nigeria’s leader between 1999 and 2007, and John Kufuor of Ghana were all eligible, having stood down within the past three years.
The decision not to reward them was made by a panel including Kofi Annan, the former United Nations secretary-general, Salim Ahmed Salim, former chairman of the Organisation of African Unity, Mary Robinson, Ireland’s former president, and Mohamed ElBaradei, the outgoing director-general of the International Atomic Energy Agency.
On Monday, Mr Ibrahim said people could draw their own conclusions about the decision.
In a statement, the prize committee “welcomed the progress made on governance in some African countries while noting with concern recent setbacks in other countries”. It added that after an “in-depth review the prize committee could not select a winner”.
The three main candidates played prominent roles mediating conflicts and building pan-continental institutions. They were far more influential on the international stage than previous winners, Festus Mogae of Botswana and Joaquim Chissano of Mozambique.
However, Mr Mbeki and Mr Obasanjo were divisive figures at home, with the former Nigerian leader losing the battle against corruption and sacrificing credibility with a last-minute attempt to prolong his rule. Mr Mbeki drew fierce criticism for his controversial stance on the HIV/Aids crisis.
Mr Kufuor was considered by supporters at home and abroad to be the obvious winner after presiding over a rare peaceful transfer of power to his party’s opponents. However, in recent months his record has come under scrutiny and there are growing concerns about Ghana’s role as a conduit for cocaine during his tenure.
Tuesday, October 6, 2009
“In most sub-Saharan African countries, only 5 percent to 10 percent of the population is at the top of the income pyramid”
Interesting statistic on the number of "rich" in Nigeria (in red below)...in Nigeria, it's less than 0.1%. And of course, shout out to Arise for showcasing African Style on the international scene.
Putting African Style on the Page
By ROBB YOUNG
Sub-Saharan Africa doesn’t bring to mind the image of a woman with perfectly manicured nails flipping through glossy magazines in search of the latest handbag or celebrity haircut. Yet such women are there, and in far greater numbers than the media’s portrayal of Africa might suggest.
In wealthy neighborhoods of Lagos; Nairobi; Luanda, Angola; Dakar, Senegal, and the like, ladies of leisure, successful businesswomen and aspirational middle-income housewives make up an attractive demographic that, in the past, relied on international fashion magazines for style and beauty information.
But in the past few years, while Condé Nast, Hearst and Hachette Filipacchi were expanding throughout Asia, Eastern Europe and the Middle East, a handful of African publishers was busy staking claims to this publishing territory. The result has been a wave of new glossies, like Arise, Haute, Helm and True Love, that put an African spin on fashion.
“Honestly, upwardly mobile African readers are crying out for this magazine,” says Helen Jennings, editor of Arise, a monthly style title started late last year by the Nigerian media tycoon Nduka Obaigbena, who also owns the country’s leading newspaper, This Day. “Because the local magazines aren’t as high end or progressive, and no other international titles speak directly to an African readership, Arise has really caused a stir.”
Arise occupies a unique position among magazines in English-speaking Africa as it alone packages both pan-African and global content, producing a provocative blend that Ms. Jennings calls “afropolitan.”
With a reported circulation of about 60,000 and averaging about 140 pages a month, the magazine is distributed to seven other African countries and around Europe and North America. In its no-expense-spared fashion shoots, clothes by African designers are paired with global brands like Yves Saint Laurent, Loewe and Ralph Lauren using popular black international models like Oluchi Onweagba and Rahma Mohamed.
But Arise’s embrace of glamour and celebrity is tempered by a nod to the underground and an appreciation of irreverent reportage. A recent issue included a saucy exposé of African WAGs (the British acronym for wives and girlfriends of soccer players) that appeared alongside quirky items about Ugandan skateboarders, a multimedia prodigy from Ivory Coast and the leather-wearing biker subculture that grew up in Soweto after apartheid.
African publishing has progressed in recent decades, but some major obstacles to real success still exist, including isolation from key business partners and underdeveloped distribution networks.
Literacy rates are still appallingly low in many sub-Saharan countries, but parts of the population with enough disposable income to afford magazines and some of the advertised products have much better literacy rates than the national averages. And in Nigeria and Kenya, which have become regional centers for publishing, literacy is better than 70 percent and 80 percent, respectively.
Africa’s pockets of wealth also are often buried in gloomy macro statistics.
“In most sub-Saharan African countries, only 5 percent to 10 percent of the population is at the top of the income pyramid,” said Sakina Balde, an analyst for Africa and the Middle East at the market research firm Euromonitor International. “While this might seem insignificant, in highly populated countries like Nigeria, for example, it represents a large number of individuals.”
According to its 2008 data, there were 110,200 households in Nigeria with an annual disposable income of more than $75,000 — and last year the country’s 150 million residents spent $750.4 million on newspapers, magazines, books and stationery.
“Nigeria and Angola are both oil producers and many people made a fortune in the oil industry or through various businesses,” Ms. Balde said. “High- and middle-income earners in these countries have an insatiable desire for luxury products and this is not waning with the economic slowdown.”
Putting African Style on the Page
By ROBB YOUNG
Sub-Saharan Africa doesn’t bring to mind the image of a woman with perfectly manicured nails flipping through glossy magazines in search of the latest handbag or celebrity haircut. Yet such women are there, and in far greater numbers than the media’s portrayal of Africa might suggest.
In wealthy neighborhoods of Lagos; Nairobi; Luanda, Angola; Dakar, Senegal, and the like, ladies of leisure, successful businesswomen and aspirational middle-income housewives make up an attractive demographic that, in the past, relied on international fashion magazines for style and beauty information.
But in the past few years, while Condé Nast, Hearst and Hachette Filipacchi were expanding throughout Asia, Eastern Europe and the Middle East, a handful of African publishers was busy staking claims to this publishing territory. The result has been a wave of new glossies, like Arise, Haute, Helm and True Love, that put an African spin on fashion.
“Honestly, upwardly mobile African readers are crying out for this magazine,” says Helen Jennings, editor of Arise, a monthly style title started late last year by the Nigerian media tycoon Nduka Obaigbena, who also owns the country’s leading newspaper, This Day. “Because the local magazines aren’t as high end or progressive, and no other international titles speak directly to an African readership, Arise has really caused a stir.”
Arise occupies a unique position among magazines in English-speaking Africa as it alone packages both pan-African and global content, producing a provocative blend that Ms. Jennings calls “afropolitan.”
With a reported circulation of about 60,000 and averaging about 140 pages a month, the magazine is distributed to seven other African countries and around Europe and North America. In its no-expense-spared fashion shoots, clothes by African designers are paired with global brands like Yves Saint Laurent, Loewe and Ralph Lauren using popular black international models like Oluchi Onweagba and Rahma Mohamed.
But Arise’s embrace of glamour and celebrity is tempered by a nod to the underground and an appreciation of irreverent reportage. A recent issue included a saucy exposé of African WAGs (the British acronym for wives and girlfriends of soccer players) that appeared alongside quirky items about Ugandan skateboarders, a multimedia prodigy from Ivory Coast and the leather-wearing biker subculture that grew up in Soweto after apartheid.
African publishing has progressed in recent decades, but some major obstacles to real success still exist, including isolation from key business partners and underdeveloped distribution networks.
Literacy rates are still appallingly low in many sub-Saharan countries, but parts of the population with enough disposable income to afford magazines and some of the advertised products have much better literacy rates than the national averages. And in Nigeria and Kenya, which have become regional centers for publishing, literacy is better than 70 percent and 80 percent, respectively.
Africa’s pockets of wealth also are often buried in gloomy macro statistics.
“In most sub-Saharan African countries, only 5 percent to 10 percent of the population is at the top of the income pyramid,” said Sakina Balde, an analyst for Africa and the Middle East at the market research firm Euromonitor International. “While this might seem insignificant, in highly populated countries like Nigeria, for example, it represents a large number of individuals.”
According to its 2008 data, there were 110,200 households in Nigeria with an annual disposable income of more than $75,000 — and last year the country’s 150 million residents spent $750.4 million on newspapers, magazines, books and stationery.
“Nigeria and Angola are both oil producers and many people made a fortune in the oil industry or through various businesses,” Ms. Balde said. “High- and middle-income earners in these countries have an insatiable desire for luxury products and this is not waning with the economic slowdown.”
Thursday, October 1, 2009
A Toast to the Plans We Made to Live Like Kings...
What can i compare you to?
A mother in whose arms I feel, "the world is my oyster"
...Countless opportunities and real impact for those who dared take the first step
A happy childhood full of hopes and dreams
...I pledged to Nigeria my country to be faithful, loyal & honest
A burnt house with ashes left behind to remember what once was
...Poverty-stricken masses who numb the sickenly rich into further greed
A fallen king whose castle was once alight with laughter and dancing
...An oppressed populace who has forgotten its founding values
A false start at the sound of the gun
...Is this what democracy brings?
49...Glory lost, history forgotten, future hangs in the balance.
Who will rewrite the sixth decade?
Take it from me...
*************
HAPPY INDEPENDENCE DAY! Thanks to the Weepies for the title quote and a joint thank you to them and Shakespeare for the "what can i compare thee to" muse.
A mother in whose arms I feel, "the world is my oyster"
...Countless opportunities and real impact for those who dared take the first step
A happy childhood full of hopes and dreams
...I pledged to Nigeria my country to be faithful, loyal & honest
A burnt house with ashes left behind to remember what once was
...Poverty-stricken masses who numb the sickenly rich into further greed
A fallen king whose castle was once alight with laughter and dancing
...An oppressed populace who has forgotten its founding values
A false start at the sound of the gun
...Is this what democracy brings?
49...Glory lost, history forgotten, future hangs in the balance.
Who will rewrite the sixth decade?
Take it from me...
*************
HAPPY INDEPENDENCE DAY! Thanks to the Weepies for the title quote and a joint thank you to them and Shakespeare for the "what can i compare thee to" muse.
Wednesday, September 30, 2009
And the Winner is....
So it seems China's about to beat Russia to the finish line for Nigeria's oil reserves, at a whopping $30bn+... And all this without the consent/ buy-in of the Nigerian people. God bless our country! Skeptics (of which there are many) doubt the benefits of this new deal with CNOOC will trickle down to the populace, and wonder whether this new regime of oil miners will be better than the last (given the Chinese' notoriety of importing their own staff into any venture they undertake). While Libya and Angola are currently pushing back on China's plans to take over more oil reserves in their countries, it is important to note that "more than $10 billion of contracts with Nigeria signed in 2006 -- including renovation of a railway, the refurbishment a refinery and the launch of a satellite -- didn't produce results." In the meantime, it looks like MEND is voicing its vote against the alleged deal.
So, what say you?
So, what say you?
Tuesday, September 1, 2009
Y2Y Global Youth Conference 2009 Essay Competition
ESSAY: Youth Entrepreneurship in times of crisis
DEADLINE - September 22nd, 2009
Young people worldwide face difficult labor market prospects. Depending on the region, youth unemployment is easily 2-3 times higher than for adults. Especially in developing countries, the school-to-work transition can be a long and tedious process, during which young people leave school, become jobless and spend time moving between unemployment, inactivity and informal employment. In fact, youth have often been found to effectively act as a "buffer," absorbing shocks is proportionately during negative business cycles, but not benefiting accordingly during economic booms.
In the quest for strategies to boost employment for young people, entrepreneurship is often seen as an important means and a useful alternative for income generation. With most of the overall job creation usually stemming from small enterprises, supporting youth entrepreneurship is now often regarded as an additional way of integrating youth into the labor market and overcoming poverty. However, while it is recognized that the youth years are essential for generating ideas and acquiring the necessary experience to become a successful entrepreneur, young people themselves only make up a small share of all entrepreneurs.
The Y2Y Global Youth Conference 2009 Essay Competition invites youth to share ideas on:
What are the constraints to youth entrepreneurship in your country? Has the global crisis changed the dynamics? How can governments help young entrepreneurs to create and further develop their social and productive ventures?
Please try to answer the following questions in one consistent essay:
1. What impedes young people in your country or community to start their own business or organization? Think about the constraints in terms of socioeconomic conditions, culture, education & experience, access to finance & infrastructure, contacts & networks, and regulations. In how far are these constraints specific to youth compared to adults?
2. Did the global financial crisis reinforce some of these constraints? If yes, what are the dynamics?
3. What do you think governments can/should do to strengthen youth entrepreneurship in your country, town or local community? Think about the solutions in terms of the constraints identified above.
The Contest
Length:
Answer the question above in an essay of no more than 1500 words.
Prize:
1) Winner will receive a $1,000 laptop sponsored by LAC Development Marketplace and the opportunity to be published in a World Bank working paper.
2) 2 runners-up will each receive a Y2Y bag and a copy of the film being showcased at the conference this year.
3) The best three submissions will be published on the World Bank Y2Y website.
Open to participants globally aged 18-30 (winners will need to provide proof of age)
- Essays must be submitted in English only
DEADLINE - September 22nd, 2009
Young people worldwide face difficult labor market prospects. Depending on the region, youth unemployment is easily 2-3 times higher than for adults. Especially in developing countries, the school-to-work transition can be a long and tedious process, during which young people leave school, become jobless and spend time moving between unemployment, inactivity and informal employment. In fact, youth have often been found to effectively act as a "buffer," absorbing shocks is proportionately during negative business cycles, but not benefiting accordingly during economic booms.
In the quest for strategies to boost employment for young people, entrepreneurship is often seen as an important means and a useful alternative for income generation. With most of the overall job creation usually stemming from small enterprises, supporting youth entrepreneurship is now often regarded as an additional way of integrating youth into the labor market and overcoming poverty. However, while it is recognized that the youth years are essential for generating ideas and acquiring the necessary experience to become a successful entrepreneur, young people themselves only make up a small share of all entrepreneurs.
The Y2Y Global Youth Conference 2009 Essay Competition invites youth to share ideas on:
What are the constraints to youth entrepreneurship in your country? Has the global crisis changed the dynamics? How can governments help young entrepreneurs to create and further develop their social and productive ventures?
Please try to answer the following questions in one consistent essay:
1. What impedes young people in your country or community to start their own business or organization? Think about the constraints in terms of socioeconomic conditions, culture, education & experience, access to finance & infrastructure, contacts & networks, and regulations. In how far are these constraints specific to youth compared to adults?
2. Did the global financial crisis reinforce some of these constraints? If yes, what are the dynamics?
3. What do you think governments can/should do to strengthen youth entrepreneurship in your country, town or local community? Think about the solutions in terms of the constraints identified above.
The Contest
Length:
Answer the question above in an essay of no more than 1500 words.
Prize:
1) Winner will receive a $1,000 laptop sponsored by LAC Development Marketplace and the opportunity to be published in a World Bank working paper.
2) 2 runners-up will each receive a Y2Y bag and a copy of the film being showcased at the conference this year.
3) The best three submissions will be published on the World Bank Y2Y website.
Open to participants globally aged 18-30 (winners will need to provide proof of age)
- Essays must be submitted in English only
Tuesday, August 11, 2009
Finally Tackling the Nigerian Banking Sector
Finally! The average Nigerian might just get to reap the benefits of another overhaul of the banking sector. The business model of Nigerian banks never ceases to amaze me - from faulty investments in areas they know nothing about (e.g. Oceanic Bank creating an HMO!) to aggressive short-term business lending that ends up constraining rather than stimulating SME growth. New CBN governor, Lamido Sanusi, certainly has his work cut out for him, but I'm hopeful that he will indeed be able to quell the vested interests that have run the industry for so long.
The Magic of Margin Lending - Ayuli Jemide, This Day
The new Central Bank Governor Lamido Sanusi has come into office with a bang. First, he questions the ambitious audacity of the President’s 7-point agenda, next he insists that banks should declare fully in their books the exposure on margin lending. With the second one, he has touched a very sore spot.
About Margin Lending
Margin lending in this context refers to investment loans that Nigerian banks give to customers to enable them invest in shares purchased on the Nigerian Stock Exchange. In most cases, the approved shares, became security for the loan. These types of loans are no longer available as you will see shortly.
I recall a conversation i had with a very entreprenueral former classmate of mine about two years ago. At that time it was the fashion to borrow money from the bank to buy shares and when i told him i could never take a loan from the bank to buy shares, he said he has met people who have a low apetite for risk, but never met someone like me who has “no” apetite for risk.
These were my points as we had this heated debate:
My argument was that the capital market was so risky in Nigeria, and as i heard stories of “quick spin” return on investment of 100-300 % in months, i thought it was getting even riskier. Why? Because in many cases the business fundamentals of the company whose shares just went up did not match their growth. A company share price on the floor of the stock exchange triples (300%) in 6 months but the company itself has not grown 20% in that period. Some “dead” companies were trading on the stock exchange with such high returns whilst their factories had not produced a stitch in 3 years.
I posited futher that from a bankers perspective i wondered how a bank could finance such an investment using the shares as collateral. I was made to understand that investment gurus have said time without number that you should buy shares with money you can afford to lose. Was it not evident that anything could happen on the stock market and that the shares held as security may become worthless if the not very unlikely worse does happen?
It is usually a lending tradition to ask a customer to make a contribution to a business venture while the bank advances a counterpart funding. Not so with majority of margin loans – bankers apetite for risk had risen so high that they could fund a share purchase 100%. Then I came to the conclusion that bankers being the “wise” men that they are must know something about the Nigerian stock market that many of us are oblivious about. This genre of thinking crystallised when i heard that Bank Managing Directors had crossed lent to each other millions of Naira in margin loans. Surely there is a diamond in this rough that only a “discerning investor” can see? And indeed many creamed home to the bank and got out just in time for Christmas.
The crux
Today, it is estimated that Nigerian banks are being owed about 1.4 trillion Naira by customers who took margin loans. This is about 13% of total commercial banking assets as at 2007. Whats more? Now that the share prices (value of the share certificates) held as Security have dropped (or become more realistic?), the customers have said to the banks – go ahead and sell the shares to recover your money. Many can be therefore aptly be classified as bad or doubtful debts, or partially so if they can sell some of the shares at today’s value in a bearish market.
Given this situation the Central Bank believes that a non disclosure of these margin loans in the annual reports of the banks would have the effect of painting the banks in better light than the actual. Which in itself is deceptive to customers and shareholders. The Central Bank therefore demands a full disclosure and herein is the crux of the matter.
What next?
Several trends are bound to follow:
Firstly, there is a likelihood that many banks will suffer an even greater drop in their share price when (or if?) they actually disclose the true state of their margin loan portfolios. The demand for their shares may drop invariably!
Secondly, it is very unlikely that banks will declare huge dividends and bonuses in this season to its shareholders.
Thirdly, it is already happening that banks are calling in more of their credits and there is a credit squeeze in the market because the banks need to beef up their liquidity to cover the deep gash margin loans have left in their books.
Conclusion
One newspaper article concluded that “The thirst to make quick and easy money drove margin lending”. Many banks will in the days to come rework their approach to banking - moving away from the quick to the sustainable - heading back to the traditional banking culture which has a medium to long term view founded on the tradition of customer service.
The Magic of Margin Lending - Ayuli Jemide, This Day
The new Central Bank Governor Lamido Sanusi has come into office with a bang. First, he questions the ambitious audacity of the President’s 7-point agenda, next he insists that banks should declare fully in their books the exposure on margin lending. With the second one, he has touched a very sore spot.
About Margin Lending
Margin lending in this context refers to investment loans that Nigerian banks give to customers to enable them invest in shares purchased on the Nigerian Stock Exchange. In most cases, the approved shares, became security for the loan. These types of loans are no longer available as you will see shortly.
I recall a conversation i had with a very entreprenueral former classmate of mine about two years ago. At that time it was the fashion to borrow money from the bank to buy shares and when i told him i could never take a loan from the bank to buy shares, he said he has met people who have a low apetite for risk, but never met someone like me who has “no” apetite for risk.
These were my points as we had this heated debate:
My argument was that the capital market was so risky in Nigeria, and as i heard stories of “quick spin” return on investment of 100-300 % in months, i thought it was getting even riskier. Why? Because in many cases the business fundamentals of the company whose shares just went up did not match their growth. A company share price on the floor of the stock exchange triples (300%) in 6 months but the company itself has not grown 20% in that period. Some “dead” companies were trading on the stock exchange with such high returns whilst their factories had not produced a stitch in 3 years.
I posited futher that from a bankers perspective i wondered how a bank could finance such an investment using the shares as collateral. I was made to understand that investment gurus have said time without number that you should buy shares with money you can afford to lose. Was it not evident that anything could happen on the stock market and that the shares held as security may become worthless if the not very unlikely worse does happen?
It is usually a lending tradition to ask a customer to make a contribution to a business venture while the bank advances a counterpart funding. Not so with majority of margin loans – bankers apetite for risk had risen so high that they could fund a share purchase 100%. Then I came to the conclusion that bankers being the “wise” men that they are must know something about the Nigerian stock market that many of us are oblivious about. This genre of thinking crystallised when i heard that Bank Managing Directors had crossed lent to each other millions of Naira in margin loans. Surely there is a diamond in this rough that only a “discerning investor” can see? And indeed many creamed home to the bank and got out just in time for Christmas.
The crux
Today, it is estimated that Nigerian banks are being owed about 1.4 trillion Naira by customers who took margin loans. This is about 13% of total commercial banking assets as at 2007. Whats more? Now that the share prices (value of the share certificates) held as Security have dropped (or become more realistic?), the customers have said to the banks – go ahead and sell the shares to recover your money. Many can be therefore aptly be classified as bad or doubtful debts, or partially so if they can sell some of the shares at today’s value in a bearish market.
Given this situation the Central Bank believes that a non disclosure of these margin loans in the annual reports of the banks would have the effect of painting the banks in better light than the actual. Which in itself is deceptive to customers and shareholders. The Central Bank therefore demands a full disclosure and herein is the crux of the matter.
What next?
Several trends are bound to follow:
Firstly, there is a likelihood that many banks will suffer an even greater drop in their share price when (or if?) they actually disclose the true state of their margin loan portfolios. The demand for their shares may drop invariably!
Secondly, it is very unlikely that banks will declare huge dividends and bonuses in this season to its shareholders.
Thirdly, it is already happening that banks are calling in more of their credits and there is a credit squeeze in the market because the banks need to beef up their liquidity to cover the deep gash margin loans have left in their books.
Conclusion
One newspaper article concluded that “The thirst to make quick and easy money drove margin lending”. Many banks will in the days to come rework their approach to banking - moving away from the quick to the sustainable - heading back to the traditional banking culture which has a medium to long term view founded on the tradition of customer service.
Tuesday, July 21, 2009
PhD Opportunities, Media, Empowerment and Democracy in East Africa
In case you are interested:
PhD Scholarships: Media, Empowerment and Democracy in East Africa
The Danish-East African research project, "People Speaking Back? Media, Empowerment and Democracy in East Africa (MEDI/e/A)", funded by the Danish Development Agency (Danida), offers two full-time PhD scholarships (36 months) starting on January 1^st 2010, using ethnographic perspectives. One will be registered as a PhD student at University of Nairobi, the other at University of Dar es Salaam.
Funding follow provisions of Kenya and Tanzania universities.
About MEDIeA *
The overall objective of MEDI/e/A is to explore the role civil society
driven media and communication technologies potentially can have in enhancing participatory governance processes in East Africa, more specifically in Kenya and Tanzania. The core inquiry of MEDI/e/A grows from a concern about how young people are secured a role in both the local, national and regional development processes. The research project's analytical challenge is to understand the ways and means in which youth as ordinary citizens engage with such civil society driven media and communication platforms and what socio-cultural and policy related outcomes this may have.
MEDIeA comprises of a team of 4 researchers in addition to the two PhD students that are about to be contracted. In Kenya, the team consists of Associate Professor Norbert Wildermuth from University of Southern Denmark and Associate Research Professor Winnie Mitullah from University of Nairobi. In Tanzania, the team consists of Professor and Principal Investigator of MEDIeA, Thomas Tufte and Assistant Professor Datius Rweyemanu. In addition to empirical research, the MEDI/e/A project comprises of components of dissemination, capacity building and policy dialogue. The research program is hosted by /ØRECOMM - Consortium for Communication and Glocal Change /at Department of Communication, Business and Information Technologies, Roskilde University, Denmark.
Objectives of the PhD*
*It is the general objective of the announced PhD scholarships to strengthen the overall research efforts of MEDI/e/A in Kenya and
Tanzania. The PhD students are expected to provide *community based research which uncovers the synergies and communication relations between everyday life, media use, citizen engagement in social and political processes. *The announced PhD projects can be specified as follows:
*Kenya**:** *_Communication, e-participation and digital inclusion: a media ethnographic study._ See detailed description on
http://orecomm.net/wp-content/uploads/2009/06/phd-projectdescriptions-mediea-2009.pdf
*Tanzania: *_Media use, citizenship and participatory governance: a
media ethnographic study in Tanzania_ See detailed description on
http://orecomm.net/wp-content/uploads/2009/06/phd-projectdescriptions-mediea-2009.pdf
*Who can apply?*
We invite applications from students with an MA in social sciences or humanities and with experience in qualitative empirical research,
preferably in the field of qualitative reception studies, media
ethnography and/or participatory communication studies. Applicants should be prepared to work extended periods in the 'field', in close and prolonged cooperation with the non-governmental and community-based organisations selected as case studies by the MEDI/e/A team of senior researchers. Applicants must be able to communicate in the relevant vernacular language, besides English, as well as demonstrate the necessary 'social' abilities to do research based on a participant observation approach. Finally, it would be beneficial if applicants also have experience with survey-based, quantitative research designs or equivalent qualifications.
*Application procedure*
Deadline: 10 August 2009._
Please submit:
1. A research proposal of up to five pages
2. A curriculum vitae including list of publications
3. A writing sample/publication of 5-10.000 words
4. Official transcripts of undergraduate degree and Master's degree
5. Reference letters (optional)
Applications have to be based on the full advertisement of the specific PhD scholarship you are applying. As the descriptions both for the Kenya and Tanzania scholarship are already quite elaborate, the applicants are expected to provide their own theoretical-methodological reflection based on the initial outline as well as suggesting and justifying a research design for the actual study.
The selection will be based on both the relevant experience of the applicant and quality research proposal.
Successful candidates selected for interviews will be announced on 20 August 2009. Interviews will be conducted on 24 and 25 August at the University of Nairobi and on 1 and 2 September at University of Dar-es-Salaam. Final selection will be announced by 10 September.
Please send your application including appendices in one single pdf file to Kirsten Høffding (hoffding@ruc.dk ) at Roskilde University. Should you have questions regarding the content of the proposal, please contact the following: For the Kenya scholarship_: Norbert Wildermuth
mailto:Wildermuth@litcul.sdu.dk>Wildermuth@litcul.sdu.dk)
and Winnie Mitullah wvmitullah@swiftkenya.com)
For the Tanzania scholarship:_ Thomas Tufte(ttufte@ruc.dk, offline 3-26 July) and Datius Rweyemanu(datiusr@yahoo.com).
**************************
Thanks for sharing this Whoopi!
PhD Scholarships: Media, Empowerment and Democracy in East Africa
The Danish-East African research project, "People Speaking Back? Media, Empowerment and Democracy in East Africa (MEDI/e/A)", funded by the Danish Development Agency (Danida), offers two full-time PhD scholarships (36 months) starting on January 1^st 2010, using ethnographic perspectives. One will be registered as a PhD student at University of Nairobi, the other at University of Dar es Salaam.
Funding follow provisions of Kenya and Tanzania universities.
About MEDIeA *
The overall objective of MEDI/e/A is to explore the role civil society
driven media and communication technologies potentially can have in enhancing participatory governance processes in East Africa, more specifically in Kenya and Tanzania. The core inquiry of MEDI/e/A grows from a concern about how young people are secured a role in both the local, national and regional development processes. The research project's analytical challenge is to understand the ways and means in which youth as ordinary citizens engage with such civil society driven media and communication platforms and what socio-cultural and policy related outcomes this may have.
MEDIeA comprises of a team of 4 researchers in addition to the two PhD students that are about to be contracted. In Kenya, the team consists of Associate Professor Norbert Wildermuth from University of Southern Denmark and Associate Research Professor Winnie Mitullah from University of Nairobi. In Tanzania, the team consists of Professor and Principal Investigator of MEDIeA, Thomas Tufte and Assistant Professor Datius Rweyemanu. In addition to empirical research, the MEDI/e/A project comprises of components of dissemination, capacity building and policy dialogue. The research program is hosted by /ØRECOMM - Consortium for Communication and Glocal Change /at Department of Communication, Business and Information Technologies, Roskilde University, Denmark.
Objectives of the PhD*
*It is the general objective of the announced PhD scholarships to strengthen the overall research efforts of MEDI/e/A in Kenya and
Tanzania. The PhD students are expected to provide *community based research which uncovers the synergies and communication relations between everyday life, media use, citizen engagement in social and political processes. *The announced PhD projects can be specified as follows:
*Kenya**:** *_Communication, e-participation and digital inclusion: a media ethnographic study._ See detailed description on
http://orecomm.net/wp-content/uploads/2009/06/phd-projectdescriptions-mediea-2009.pdf
*Tanzania: *_Media use, citizenship and participatory governance: a
media ethnographic study in Tanzania_ See detailed description on
http://orecomm.net/wp-content/uploads/2009/06/phd-projectdescriptions-mediea-2009.pdf
*Who can apply?*
We invite applications from students with an MA in social sciences or humanities and with experience in qualitative empirical research,
preferably in the field of qualitative reception studies, media
ethnography and/or participatory communication studies. Applicants should be prepared to work extended periods in the 'field', in close and prolonged cooperation with the non-governmental and community-based organisations selected as case studies by the MEDI/e/A team of senior researchers. Applicants must be able to communicate in the relevant vernacular language, besides English, as well as demonstrate the necessary 'social' abilities to do research based on a participant observation approach. Finally, it would be beneficial if applicants also have experience with survey-based, quantitative research designs or equivalent qualifications.
*Application procedure*
Deadline: 10 August 2009._
Please submit:
1. A research proposal of up to five pages
2. A curriculum vitae including list of publications
3. A writing sample/publication of 5-10.000 words
4. Official transcripts of undergraduate degree and Master's degree
5. Reference letters (optional)
Applications have to be based on the full advertisement of the specific PhD scholarship you are applying. As the descriptions both for the Kenya and Tanzania scholarship are already quite elaborate, the applicants are expected to provide their own theoretical-methodological reflection based on the initial outline as well as suggesting and justifying a research design for the actual study.
The selection will be based on both the relevant experience of the applicant and quality research proposal.
Successful candidates selected for interviews will be announced on 20 August 2009. Interviews will be conducted on 24 and 25 August at the University of Nairobi and on 1 and 2 September at University of Dar-es-Salaam. Final selection will be announced by 10 September.
Please send your application including appendices in one single pdf file to Kirsten Høffding (hoffding@ruc.dk ) at Roskilde University. Should you have questions regarding the content of the proposal, please contact the following: For the Kenya scholarship_: Norbert Wildermuth
mailto:Wildermuth@litcul.sdu.dk>Wildermuth@litcul.sdu.dk)
and Winnie Mitullah wvmitullah@swiftkenya.com)
For the Tanzania scholarship:_ Thomas Tufte(ttufte@ruc.dk, offline 3-26 July) and Datius Rweyemanu(datiusr@yahoo.com).
**************************
Thanks for sharing this Whoopi!
Monday, May 11, 2009
Opportunities...The Gates Cambridge Scholarship
For those considering a return to academia during these tumultous times...
The Gates Cambridge Scholarship - Quick summary
Gates Cambridge Scholarships are full-cost awards for graduate study and research in any subject available at the University of Cambridge. A small number are also available for study towards a second undergraduate degree.
The scholarships are highly competitive and are awarded to citizens of any country outside the United Kingdom.
Scholarships are awarded on the basis of the candidate’s academic excellence, a good fit between the Scholar and the University of Cambridge, evidence of leadership potential and a commitment to improving the lives of others.
The Trust seeks to elect approximately 100 new Gates Scholars annually (although the exact number of awards may change from year to year). Approximately 40 of the 100 new scholarships each year will be awarded to US citizens.
All candidates shortlisted for a Gates Cambridge Scholarship attend a brief interview.
Decisions on awards are made on different timetables for different parts of the world. The majority of US Gates Scholars are selected in early February; Gates Scholars from all other countries are selected in mid-April.
The award of a scholarship is absolutely conditional on the student gaining admission to Cambridge through the University's regular procedures. The Gates Cambridge Trust is not able to admit students.
There are usually about 250 Gates Scholars in residence at any one time, about 100 of whom will be from the USA. While in residence, Gates Cambridge Scholars become fully integrated into the University and its Colleges and engage in full-time intensive academic work.
Upon graduation Scholars join Cambridge's widespread and influential alumni network. There are over 550 Gates Alumni spread throughout the world, all of whom are members of and are represented by the Gates Scholars' Alumni Association.
The scholarship programme is in its eighth year. Since the inaugural class of Gates Scholars in 2001, there have been 827 Gates Cambridge Scholarships from 85 different countries.
WHO IS ELIGIBLE?
Candidates for a Gates Cambridge Scholarship:
- may be citizens of any country outside the United Kingdom.
- may apply to study any subject available at the University of Cambridge.
- must apply to pursue one of the following full-time residential courses of study:
Research leading to the PhD degree
- One-year post-graduate courses (e.g. MPhil, LLM, Diploma, MBA etc.)
- 2 year MSc degree
- Second Bachelor degree as an Affiliated Student
- MBBChir Clinical Studies
- must be admitted to Cambridge through the University's normal academic procedures. The Trust cannot admit students.
- must have a first class or high second class honours degree, or its equivalent, from a recognised university. For universities which work according to the North American pattern, candidates will be expected to have excellent transcripts with high GPA scores showing evidence of sustained achievement in study, together with the type of academic references which speak of the candidate's leadership potential, social commitment, intellectual ability and why further study at Cambridge is particularly appropriate. The Gates Cambridge Trust does not require candidates to take a GRE test, although some Departments in Cambridge may do so; candidates should check the relevant section of the Graduate Studies Prospectus.
- must be well prepared for the Cambridge course for which they are applying and must meet the academic criteria for admission specified by the University. Some courses may have particular requirements for admission, and details of these can be found in the relevant sections of the Graduate Studies Prospectus for graduate applicants, or the Undergraduate Prospectus for affiliated applicants.
The Gates Cambridge Scholarship - Quick summary
Gates Cambridge Scholarships are full-cost awards for graduate study and research in any subject available at the University of Cambridge. A small number are also available for study towards a second undergraduate degree.
The scholarships are highly competitive and are awarded to citizens of any country outside the United Kingdom.
Scholarships are awarded on the basis of the candidate’s academic excellence, a good fit between the Scholar and the University of Cambridge, evidence of leadership potential and a commitment to improving the lives of others.
The Trust seeks to elect approximately 100 new Gates Scholars annually (although the exact number of awards may change from year to year). Approximately 40 of the 100 new scholarships each year will be awarded to US citizens.
All candidates shortlisted for a Gates Cambridge Scholarship attend a brief interview.
Decisions on awards are made on different timetables for different parts of the world. The majority of US Gates Scholars are selected in early February; Gates Scholars from all other countries are selected in mid-April.
The award of a scholarship is absolutely conditional on the student gaining admission to Cambridge through the University's regular procedures. The Gates Cambridge Trust is not able to admit students.
There are usually about 250 Gates Scholars in residence at any one time, about 100 of whom will be from the USA. While in residence, Gates Cambridge Scholars become fully integrated into the University and its Colleges and engage in full-time intensive academic work.
Upon graduation Scholars join Cambridge's widespread and influential alumni network. There are over 550 Gates Alumni spread throughout the world, all of whom are members of and are represented by the Gates Scholars' Alumni Association.
The scholarship programme is in its eighth year. Since the inaugural class of Gates Scholars in 2001, there have been 827 Gates Cambridge Scholarships from 85 different countries.
WHO IS ELIGIBLE?
Candidates for a Gates Cambridge Scholarship:
- may be citizens of any country outside the United Kingdom.
- may apply to study any subject available at the University of Cambridge.
- must apply to pursue one of the following full-time residential courses of study:
Research leading to the PhD degree
- One-year post-graduate courses (e.g. MPhil, LLM, Diploma, MBA etc.)
- 2 year MSc degree
- Second Bachelor degree as an Affiliated Student
- MBBChir Clinical Studies
- must be admitted to Cambridge through the University's normal academic procedures. The Trust cannot admit students.
- must have a first class or high second class honours degree, or its equivalent, from a recognised university. For universities which work according to the North American pattern, candidates will be expected to have excellent transcripts with high GPA scores showing evidence of sustained achievement in study, together with the type of academic references which speak of the candidate's leadership potential, social commitment, intellectual ability and why further study at Cambridge is particularly appropriate. The Gates Cambridge Trust does not require candidates to take a GRE test, although some Departments in Cambridge may do so; candidates should check the relevant section of the Graduate Studies Prospectus.
- must be well prepared for the Cambridge course for which they are applying and must meet the academic criteria for admission specified by the University. Some courses may have particular requirements for admission, and details of these can be found in the relevant sections of the Graduate Studies Prospectus for graduate applicants, or the Undergraduate Prospectus for affiliated applicants.
Thursday, May 7, 2009
Opportunities...The TED Fellows Program
A friend recommended this (Thanks Yemi!) as a worthwhile program to apply to. The TED (Technology, Entertainment, Design) conferences bring together some of the most remarkable change-makers in the world on a 4-day journey of knowledge/idea exchange. Attendance at TED is by invitation only, but this fellowship program provides the opportunity to attend multiple conferences (all-expense paid) and be part of the TED community, and, with its help, amplify the impact of your own personal projects and activities. Read on...
Unexpected connections. Extraordinary insights. Powerful inspiration.
The TED Fellows program is designed to bring together young world-changers and trailblazers who have shown unusual accomplishment and exceptional courage. The program targets individuals from the Asia/Pacific region, Africa, the Caribbean, Latin America and the Middle East, though anyone from anywhere in the world, age 18 and over, is welcome to apply.
Benefits to Fellows
Attendance to one TED or TEDGlobal Conference with all expenses paid (conference, travel, room and board)
Participation in Fellows pre-conference activities
Private social networking on TED.com
Potential to speak on the TED Fellows or TED University stage
Potential to have that talk posted on TED.com
Responsibilities of Fellows
Full attendance and participation at the Conference
Submission of a post-conference report
Regular posting on the TED Fellows Blog
Additional benefits to Senior Fellows
Attendance to five additional TED and TEDGlobal Conferences with all expenses paid (travel, room and board)
Participation in five additional Senior Fellows-centered pre-conference activities
Potential to deliver a full-length talk on the main stage
Potential to have that TEDTalk posted online
Additional responsibilities of Senior Fellows
Full attendance and participation at five additional TED or TEDGlobal Conferences over three years
Submission of a post-conference report after each conference
Regular posting on the TED Fellows Blog
Hosting annual TEDTalks viewing parties for 50-100 people
Giving a talk on the TED Fellows, TED University or main TED stage
How it works: four steps
1. Candidates apply to attend one conference in either Long Beach or Oxford. Individuals can apply directly or be nominated by others. We'll also directly recruit potential Fellows and invite them to apply. Applications for TEDGlobal 2009 will open February 23, 2009. Email fellows@ted.com to be reminded when applications open. Please include your name, title, organization, email address, and country.
2. We'll choose 25 people to attend each conference as Fellows (50 per year).
3. In 2010, after the 2009 conferences, we'll choose 20 from 50 of the previous year's participants for the three-year TED Senior Fellows Program, bringing them to five additional conferences (for a total of six).
4. We'll recruit 50 new Fellows each year, resulting in 20 Senior Fellows each following year. By 2012, we'll have 50 TED Fellows annually (split between Long Beach and Oxford) and 60 concurrent Senior Fellows.
Unexpected connections. Extraordinary insights. Powerful inspiration.
The TED Fellows program is designed to bring together young world-changers and trailblazers who have shown unusual accomplishment and exceptional courage. The program targets individuals from the Asia/Pacific region, Africa, the Caribbean, Latin America and the Middle East, though anyone from anywhere in the world, age 18 and over, is welcome to apply.
Benefits to Fellows
Attendance to one TED or TEDGlobal Conference with all expenses paid (conference, travel, room and board)
Participation in Fellows pre-conference activities
Private social networking on TED.com
Potential to speak on the TED Fellows or TED University stage
Potential to have that talk posted on TED.com
Responsibilities of Fellows
Full attendance and participation at the Conference
Submission of a post-conference report
Regular posting on the TED Fellows Blog
Additional benefits to Senior Fellows
Attendance to five additional TED and TEDGlobal Conferences with all expenses paid (travel, room and board)
Participation in five additional Senior Fellows-centered pre-conference activities
Potential to deliver a full-length talk on the main stage
Potential to have that TEDTalk posted online
Additional responsibilities of Senior Fellows
Full attendance and participation at five additional TED or TEDGlobal Conferences over three years
Submission of a post-conference report after each conference
Regular posting on the TED Fellows Blog
Hosting annual TEDTalks viewing parties for 50-100 people
Giving a talk on the TED Fellows, TED University or main TED stage
How it works: four steps
1. Candidates apply to attend one conference in either Long Beach or Oxford. Individuals can apply directly or be nominated by others. We'll also directly recruit potential Fellows and invite them to apply. Applications for TEDGlobal 2009 will open February 23, 2009. Email fellows@ted.com to be reminded when applications open. Please include your name, title, organization, email address, and country.
2. We'll choose 25 people to attend each conference as Fellows (50 per year).
3. In 2010, after the 2009 conferences, we'll choose 20 from 50 of the previous year's participants for the three-year TED Senior Fellows Program, bringing them to five additional conferences (for a total of six).
4. We'll recruit 50 new Fellows each year, resulting in 20 Senior Fellows each following year. By 2012, we'll have 50 TED Fellows annually (split between Long Beach and Oxford) and 60 concurrent Senior Fellows.
Sunday, April 26, 2009
Opportunities
It's incredible how many opportunities to develop your interests/talents are out there. Over the next few weeks, as i discover some of them, I will endeavour to share them with you, and I hope you can help spread the word too...
Peace and Security Fellowships for African Women
Deadline Date
April 4, 2009
As part of its Knowledge Building and Mentoring Programme, the Conflict, Security, and Development Group at King's College London together with the Africa Leadership Centre (ALC) is offering the Peace and Security Fellowships for African Women. The Fellowships bring together African women at the early stages of their career. It is intended that this project will train African women to develop a better understanding of African peace and security issues in order to increase their participation in conflict management processes and other areas of security concerns for African women.
This is a one-year Fellowship, divided into two 6-month phases. The first phase will be based at King's College London where the Fellows will attend courses on conflict, security, and development. They will also study several United Kingdom (UK) institutions working in the field of peace and security. This phase will end with a simulation seminar during which a mock conflict management situation will be practised. In the second phase, Fellows will be attached to an African regional organisation or centre of excellence to undertake practical work in the field of peace and security including peace and conflict management processes.
Successful Fellows will have the status of full-time students in the post-graduate non-degree programme at King's College London, and they will be subject to the immigration rules of the United Kingdom. The position is based for the first 6 months in London and includes financial assistance with winter clothing and book expenses. Fellows will be able to apply for University of London accommodation although they can make their own accommodation arrangements. For the second phase of the Fellowship to be based in Africa, Fellows will have a monthly stipend, exclusive of medical insurance expenses, and a one-off allowance to enable them to settle in to their respective countries. Fellows are also expected to find their own accommodation during this phase. The Fellowship is a full-time appointment and Fellows are expected to make a full-time commitment.
Application Information
Applicants should:
* be female citizens of an African country, with valid travel documents;
* have knowledge or experience of women's rights, gender, and development issues;
* be able to demonstrate a commitment to contribute to work on peace and security in Africa;
* have a relevant organisational base and be sponsored by an organisation with which they have been involved for at least two years, though exceptional candidates without such organisational ties will be given special consideration;
* have a demonstrable plan for how to utilise knowledge gained in the Fellowship upon return to their countries and organisations;
* hold a Master's degree or Bachelor's degree with an equivalent level of professional experience, though applications from women with non-academic backgrounds are encouraged; and
* be fluent in spoken and written English.
To be considered for the Fellowship please email or post the following documents to the contact below:
* letter of application detailing your relevant experience;
* supporting statement detailing why you think that this Fellowship is important and future plans for engagement with peace and security issues (no longer than 2,000 words);
* 2 letters of recommendation (to be received directly from the referees by the deadline);
* recent curriculum vitae; and
* two samples of your written work (maximum 5,000 words).
All documents should be sent in as MS Word attachments in a single email message (separate emails for the same application will not be accepted) or as a single post package. The applicant's name should be indicated at the top right hand corner of every page of all documents submitted.
Click here or here for more information about the fellowship.
Contact
Eka Ikpe
Conflict, Security and Development Group
King's College, London
Strand Bridge House
138-142 Strand
London
WC2R 1HH
United Kingdom (UK)
ekaette.ikpe@kcl.ac.uk
csdg@kcl.ac.uk
Peace and Security Fellowships for African Women
Deadline Date
April 4, 2009
As part of its Knowledge Building and Mentoring Programme, the Conflict, Security, and Development Group at King's College London together with the Africa Leadership Centre (ALC) is offering the Peace and Security Fellowships for African Women. The Fellowships bring together African women at the early stages of their career. It is intended that this project will train African women to develop a better understanding of African peace and security issues in order to increase their participation in conflict management processes and other areas of security concerns for African women.
This is a one-year Fellowship, divided into two 6-month phases. The first phase will be based at King's College London where the Fellows will attend courses on conflict, security, and development. They will also study several United Kingdom (UK) institutions working in the field of peace and security. This phase will end with a simulation seminar during which a mock conflict management situation will be practised. In the second phase, Fellows will be attached to an African regional organisation or centre of excellence to undertake practical work in the field of peace and security including peace and conflict management processes.
Successful Fellows will have the status of full-time students in the post-graduate non-degree programme at King's College London, and they will be subject to the immigration rules of the United Kingdom. The position is based for the first 6 months in London and includes financial assistance with winter clothing and book expenses. Fellows will be able to apply for University of London accommodation although they can make their own accommodation arrangements. For the second phase of the Fellowship to be based in Africa, Fellows will have a monthly stipend, exclusive of medical insurance expenses, and a one-off allowance to enable them to settle in to their respective countries. Fellows are also expected to find their own accommodation during this phase. The Fellowship is a full-time appointment and Fellows are expected to make a full-time commitment.
Application Information
Applicants should:
* be female citizens of an African country, with valid travel documents;
* have knowledge or experience of women's rights, gender, and development issues;
* be able to demonstrate a commitment to contribute to work on peace and security in Africa;
* have a relevant organisational base and be sponsored by an organisation with which they have been involved for at least two years, though exceptional candidates without such organisational ties will be given special consideration;
* have a demonstrable plan for how to utilise knowledge gained in the Fellowship upon return to their countries and organisations;
* hold a Master's degree or Bachelor's degree with an equivalent level of professional experience, though applications from women with non-academic backgrounds are encouraged; and
* be fluent in spoken and written English.
To be considered for the Fellowship please email or post the following documents to the contact below:
* letter of application detailing your relevant experience;
* supporting statement detailing why you think that this Fellowship is important and future plans for engagement with peace and security issues (no longer than 2,000 words);
* 2 letters of recommendation (to be received directly from the referees by the deadline);
* recent curriculum vitae; and
* two samples of your written work (maximum 5,000 words).
All documents should be sent in as MS Word attachments in a single email message (separate emails for the same application will not be accepted) or as a single post package. The applicant's name should be indicated at the top right hand corner of every page of all documents submitted.
Click here or here for more information about the fellowship.
Contact
Eka Ikpe
Conflict, Security and Development Group
King's College, London
Strand Bridge House
138-142 Strand
London
WC2R 1HH
United Kingdom (UK)
ekaette.ikpe@kcl.ac.uk
csdg@kcl.ac.uk
Wednesday, March 25, 2009
Spinning it Lagos Style
Hi All, we know it's been a bit of a long while, and we're not 100% consistently back, but just thought this was quite a positive article from the Mail & Guardian to share regarding the explosion of Nigerian music and entertainment across the globe. Be it in Brooklyn, or Brixton, Gongo Aso...
Thanks Shirley for sharing this article!
SPINNING IT LAGOS STYLE - Lola Adesioye
New York. The queue of stylish men and women, many of whom wouldn't be out of place in a music video, snakes around the block. It looks like a typical crowd for a New York hip-hop club, come to dance to Jay-Z or Lil Wayne. But it's not, and they haven't.
In fact, inside the club there's barely an American track to be heard because this crowd isn't particularly interested in listening to American music. Instead, the majority of the tunes the DJ spins are the latest urban hits from Nigeria and the punters, mainly young Africans, are hooked on every one. It's all part of the biggest boom in Nigerian music since the 1970s, with clubs from New York to Paris to London to Nairobi playing club hits from Lagos.
This new wave of Nigerian music, which has really only begun to take hold in the last five years, is a world away from the sounds of the pioneers of that first wave of exports -- the likes of Fela Kuti and Sunny Ade -- who helped spur the growth of world music as a marketable niche product in Europe and North America.
Listen to music by contemporary Nigerian artists -- 2Face Idibia, D'Banj, P-Square, Naeto C, Ikechukwu or eLDee the Don -- and you'll hear the smooth synthesised sounds of the latest US productions. Beats are no longer provided just by talking drums, but by 808s and sequenced kick snares.
Vocals may have been processed with vocoders and other studio tools to give them that commercial, MTV urban edge. "It's untraditional," says Alex Okosi, the senior vice-president and general manager of MTV Networks Africa. "It's not your middle-aged African artist [making music for] your middle-aged European audience."
Leaning more towards hip-hop than high life, the latest breed of Nigerian artists fuse American urban sounds with Nigerian influences to great effect. "Hip-Hop and R&B -- that's the foundation of my sound," says Nigerian rapper Naeto C, who was recently named best new act at the MTV Africa awards. But even though this music uses the urban sounds of America as a launch pad, it is marked with a distinctly Nigerian stamp.
In the 1980s and 1990s, American hip-hop became the staple musical diet for an entire generation of Nigerians. American rappers flooded the air waves and young music-makers around the country began shaping their music to sound like what they heard from the likes of Biggie, Tupac or Puffy.
Many tried, unsuccessfully, to mimic the lyrics, beats and sounds of American hip-hop. Some would rap in English, not necessarily the language they were most at ease with. Others would adopt fake American accents and use slang that originated from America's inner cities but bore little semblance to the reality of modern Nigerian life.
The hyper-sexualised and materialistic nature of hip-hop was also seen to be at odds with conservative Nigerian culture and was rejected outright in the northern part of the country, which is Muslim. It is not surprising that Nigerian urban artists found themselves ridiculed as poor imitators of American hip-hop.
......Nigerian musicians are no longer trying to ape the lifestyle, culture and language of American urban artists. Switching between English, pidgin English, Yoruba and Nigerian slang as they rhyme and sing, they have realised that success depends on ensuring that their music reflects its place of origin and that it resonates, in as authentic a way as possible, with their audience.
.......So how popular is the new Nigerian music? No one really knows. Firstly, music piracy is rife in Nigeria and secondly, accurate sales figures are hard to come by. However, a distributor recently told Naeto C that his sales in 2008 hit at least three million -- and that's just in Nigeria. Those figures do not take into account the fact that Nigerian urban music is well established in the rest of Africa and has a growing fan base internationally. ElDee, meanwhile, claims to have sold 10-million records during the course of his career.
............ Indeed Naeto C isn't alone in having lived outside Nigeria -- so have eLDee the Don and singer/songwriter Asa, who released an album in the United Kingdom last year on Mike Batt's Dramtico label. Asa, who has been called a Nigerian Tracy Chapman and sings in English and Yoruba, acknowledges this mixture of influences is what defines her as an artist: "I listen to a lot of people and have been influenced by Erykah Badu, Lauryn Hill, Fela Kuti. I had the opportunity to come to Paris as an artist and I saw all this freedom of expression, colours and music everywhere -- on the metro, on the street -- stuff I didn't have back home."
But none of that would matter without some means of getting the music to its audience, which was provided when MTV Base launched in Africa in February 2005. Although it wasn't the first major music TV channel on the continent -- the influential South African music channel Channel O has been broadcasting since the early 1990s -- the introduction of MTV's glossy aesthetic had a significant impact on audio and video production standards.
Its arrival, says Ogunyemi, "has made Nigerians say, 'We need to make better videos; we need to up the ante.' It's almost like a self-fulfilling prophecy: the more you put into it the more you get out of it and that's really what's happening."
Industry observers think the Nigerian music scene could become as successful as Nollywood -- Nigeria's film industry, which is now rated as the third largest in the world. As with Nollywood, there's a ready-made global audience in the Nigerian diaspora (Nigerians make up one-fifth of all Africans in the world), as well as other Africans, and with better production values there is the increasing likelihood that some of these acts will cross over to a non-African audience. The internet, naturally, helps.
"Even if you are just targeting Nigerians [with your music], you're not just looking at Nigerians in Nigeria, you're looking at Nigerians everywhere because you can put a video up on Facebook or you can put it on YouTube," says Ogunyemi. "In the mid-1990s I used to produce an African hip-hop group based in New York and you couldn't reach people elsewhere because there weren't that many multimedia-friendly ways of reaching people."
Nowadays websites such as radiopalmwine.com and Nigerianhiphop.net are helping Nigerian music's march towards global recognition.
And elDee is hopeful the march will continue. "Nigerian music already has its uniqueness and I believe people from all sectors of the world will accept it because it is great entertainment, period." -- © Guardian News & Media 2009
Thanks Shirley for sharing this article!
SPINNING IT LAGOS STYLE - Lola Adesioye
New York. The queue of stylish men and women, many of whom wouldn't be out of place in a music video, snakes around the block. It looks like a typical crowd for a New York hip-hop club, come to dance to Jay-Z or Lil Wayne. But it's not, and they haven't.
In fact, inside the club there's barely an American track to be heard because this crowd isn't particularly interested in listening to American music. Instead, the majority of the tunes the DJ spins are the latest urban hits from Nigeria and the punters, mainly young Africans, are hooked on every one. It's all part of the biggest boom in Nigerian music since the 1970s, with clubs from New York to Paris to London to Nairobi playing club hits from Lagos.
This new wave of Nigerian music, which has really only begun to take hold in the last five years, is a world away from the sounds of the pioneers of that first wave of exports -- the likes of Fela Kuti and Sunny Ade -- who helped spur the growth of world music as a marketable niche product in Europe and North America.
Listen to music by contemporary Nigerian artists -- 2Face Idibia, D'Banj, P-Square, Naeto C, Ikechukwu or eLDee the Don -- and you'll hear the smooth synthesised sounds of the latest US productions. Beats are no longer provided just by talking drums, but by 808s and sequenced kick snares.
Vocals may have been processed with vocoders and other studio tools to give them that commercial, MTV urban edge. "It's untraditional," says Alex Okosi, the senior vice-president and general manager of MTV Networks Africa. "It's not your middle-aged African artist [making music for] your middle-aged European audience."
Leaning more towards hip-hop than high life, the latest breed of Nigerian artists fuse American urban sounds with Nigerian influences to great effect. "Hip-Hop and R&B -- that's the foundation of my sound," says Nigerian rapper Naeto C, who was recently named best new act at the MTV Africa awards. But even though this music uses the urban sounds of America as a launch pad, it is marked with a distinctly Nigerian stamp.
In the 1980s and 1990s, American hip-hop became the staple musical diet for an entire generation of Nigerians. American rappers flooded the air waves and young music-makers around the country began shaping their music to sound like what they heard from the likes of Biggie, Tupac or Puffy.
Many tried, unsuccessfully, to mimic the lyrics, beats and sounds of American hip-hop. Some would rap in English, not necessarily the language they were most at ease with. Others would adopt fake American accents and use slang that originated from America's inner cities but bore little semblance to the reality of modern Nigerian life.
The hyper-sexualised and materialistic nature of hip-hop was also seen to be at odds with conservative Nigerian culture and was rejected outright in the northern part of the country, which is Muslim. It is not surprising that Nigerian urban artists found themselves ridiculed as poor imitators of American hip-hop.
......Nigerian musicians are no longer trying to ape the lifestyle, culture and language of American urban artists. Switching between English, pidgin English, Yoruba and Nigerian slang as they rhyme and sing, they have realised that success depends on ensuring that their music reflects its place of origin and that it resonates, in as authentic a way as possible, with their audience........So how popular is the new Nigerian music? No one really knows. Firstly, music piracy is rife in Nigeria and secondly, accurate sales figures are hard to come by. However, a distributor recently told Naeto C that his sales in 2008 hit at least three million -- and that's just in Nigeria. Those figures do not take into account the fact that Nigerian urban music is well established in the rest of Africa and has a growing fan base internationally. ElDee, meanwhile, claims to have sold 10-million records during the course of his career.
............ Indeed Naeto C isn't alone in having lived outside Nigeria -- so have eLDee the Don and singer/songwriter Asa, who released an album in the United Kingdom last year on Mike Batt's Dramtico label. Asa, who has been called a Nigerian Tracy Chapman and sings in English and Yoruba, acknowledges this mixture of influences is what defines her as an artist: "I listen to a lot of people and have been influenced by Erykah Badu, Lauryn Hill, Fela Kuti. I had the opportunity to come to Paris as an artist and I saw all this freedom of expression, colours and music everywhere -- on the metro, on the street -- stuff I didn't have back home."
But none of that would matter without some means of getting the music to its audience, which was provided when MTV Base launched in Africa in February 2005. Although it wasn't the first major music TV channel on the continent -- the influential South African music channel Channel O has been broadcasting since the early 1990s -- the introduction of MTV's glossy aesthetic had a significant impact on audio and video production standards.
Its arrival, says Ogunyemi, "has made Nigerians say, 'We need to make better videos; we need to up the ante.' It's almost like a self-fulfilling prophecy: the more you put into it the more you get out of it and that's really what's happening."
Industry observers think the Nigerian music scene could become as successful as Nollywood -- Nigeria's film industry, which is now rated as the third largest in the world. As with Nollywood, there's a ready-made global audience in the Nigerian diaspora (Nigerians make up one-fifth of all Africans in the world), as well as other Africans, and with better production values there is the increasing likelihood that some of these acts will cross over to a non-African audience. The internet, naturally, helps.
"Even if you are just targeting Nigerians [with your music], you're not just looking at Nigerians in Nigeria, you're looking at Nigerians everywhere because you can put a video up on Facebook or you can put it on YouTube," says Ogunyemi. "In the mid-1990s I used to produce an African hip-hop group based in New York and you couldn't reach people elsewhere because there weren't that many multimedia-friendly ways of reaching people."
Nowadays websites such as radiopalmwine.com and Nigerianhiphop.net are helping Nigerian music's march towards global recognition.
And elDee is hopeful the march will continue. "Nigerian music already has its uniqueness and I believe people from all sectors of the world will accept it because it is great entertainment, period." -- © Guardian News & Media 2009
Thursday, January 15, 2009
Interesting Perspective on the Size of Africa
HAPPY 2009! Thank you for sharing your views in 2008; may 2009 bring some progress across the many issues in the Motherland.
Thanks for sharing this Kome!
Thanks for sharing this Kome!
Monday, December 1, 2008
MOI: The Metamorphosis of the African Woman
So I know we all have a view on this one. I feel strongly about the mistreated woman who suffers/endures all for the sake of her children because that is what she is programmed to do - to LOVE and SURVIVE, to MEND and MAKE DO, to HEAL and MOVE ON. Half of the time, the "Mike" Okechukwu Ofili references in his article, is as much the product of a "managed" marriage as it is of a broken home. Every woman knows her threshold for emotional and physical abuse, and often, the children (or religion) are used by the African community to convince her to stay in an abusive marriage. Interested in hearing your thoughts on Okey's question: WHAT IS BEST? or rather, what is least damaging to woman and child?....
MOI: The Metamorphosis of the African Woman
The words hit me like a ton of bricks! Mike had what! I exclaimed
...Mike was the quintessential kid, everyone wanted to be like him. Unlike us Mike lived a liberal life; his stories were filled with sultry tales of adventures on the streets of Lagos. As a young teenager his stories sparked our interest. I got to know Mike personally as a student at my Mum’s after-school tutorial program. He always arrived in the latest car models and his clothes exuded richness. I often wondered why we didn’t have the same cool clothes as Mike or the same liberal freedoms as Mike. It was okay for Mike to stay up past midnight, but for us it was two death sentences in one. Firstly a beating from Mum and the other a sharp lyrical onslaught from Dad. But behind all of Mike’s riches lay scars invisible to our eyes. Product of a broken marriage, Mike was a victim of artificial love from two warring parents. Parents that substituted discipline with liberalism. Liberalism that left a wound hidden in Mike’s heart for years…
I heard the words come out from my Mum’s mouth, but I was too shocked to understand any of it. Mike had killed his father and committed suicide days after being arrested for drug possession. What pushed a child so sweet and so lucky towards these acts? I remembered the times I stayed up in bed early cursing at my parents for forcing us to go to bed early, but as I lay in bed that night, my heart heaved a painful sign of appreciation. I had what Mike never had, a strong and loving family.
Quoting www.indidivorce.com “statistics show that only 1 out of 100 Indian marriages end up to a divorce…in comparison 50% of America’s marriages turning into divorce [break ups].” Due to the large rural population and incomplete records, the divorce rate in Nigeria is largely unknown, but I would estimate it to be close to the figures reflected in India. In Nigeria divorce is not an option, it was taboo looked down upon by religious bodies and traditional cultures. In our eyes marriage was permanent and I could understand why. Many times dissolved marriages created more and more Mikes in the world. Children groomed in an atmosphere of artificial love who ended up losing out on the defining lessons of life. So Nigerian couples tended to stay together in a bid to maintain an artificial family atmosphere for their children. Even when the husband was physically abusive to his wife, the woman held on to the marriage. A sacrificial act perpetrated to eradicate the creation of more Mikes in the world. But was the sacrifice necessary?
According to the September 19th Washington Post article, the divorce rate in New Delhi, the capital city of India has almost doubled. The main reason being the western cultural influence. An influence absorbed by thousands of immigrants that empowers its women to speak out against injustice “[In Korea] 66.7% of divorces in 2003 were initiated by women, compared to 30.6% by men.” Injustice that in Nigeria would typically have been looked at as a necessary sacrifice. A sacrifice that Elizabeth made for years as she was physically abused in her own home by the very same man that promised to love her for better for worse. But Elizabeth stayed. She fought hard but could never overcome the strength of her monstrous husband, who in unpredictable but intermittent emotional rage proceeded to beat her night after night. An act that occurred in the full view of her children and a nation slowly awakening to the rights of a woman. For nights she cried but culture and religion chose to keep quiet. Family members wandered around like they never saw the bruises or heard the cries…a norm in Africa now frowned upon by legions of Nigerian re-immigrants. It was in that same state that Mary found herself. What started out as an American dream for Mary turned into a nightmare, like Elizabeth, Mary was exposed to nights of physical abuse. But unlike Nigeria her new community chose to listen to her cries, chose to see her wounds and chose to stand up against her injustice. Using the power of divorce, Mary opted out of her nightmare. Taking with her a two year old child. Mary had overcome her abusive husband, but now had to overcome the world as single mother faced with the gargantuan task of raising a child. Mary tried her best, but like Mike another child was bred confused and lost, a cultural embarrassment to the elders of Nigeria and another ubiquitous by-product of a western culture saturated with divorce.
What should Mary have done, should she have sacrificed herself for the mirage of a quasi marriage? That question is answered with a startling “no” by Nigerian female immigrants to America. Who frown at the thought of staying in an abusive marriage. A thought that is often preceded with the mindset of an independent woman. A woman whose idea of marriage is one in which both husband and wife are equally responsible for the financial and social aspects of the family. But in the traditional definition of marriage that has never been the case. The man has always been marked as the head of the household with a woman there to support him. But this trend of female independence is fast engulfing the Nigerian landscape as the typical definition of an obedient African woman is now replaced with that of an empowered woman or as Fela Anikulapo Kuti would say an empowered sophisticated lady. In his upbeat hit song “Lady,” Fela takes a satirical look at this trend comparing and contrasting between a typical African woman and the newly evolving westernized African woman. In his song he portrays the African woman as one willing to accept the man as the master, but the “Lady” on the other hand is soiled with western influence and believes the man should wash plates and share in the household chores.
Excerpt’s Of “Lady” by Fela:
African woman go dance she go dance the fire dance
She know him man na Master
She go cook for am
She go do anything he say
But Lady no be so
So what is best? A woman that sacrifices herself to uphold a family, or a woman that speaks up against palpable injustice. I don’t know the answer, I wish I did. But as I stare at that girl swaddled in the warm linen of blankets with that glistened look in her eyes. I can’t help but think about Mike. Who shall we produce what shall we become? I don’t know but in the cold of the night I come to realize that part of the solution lies in me. The man.
Okechukwu Ofili
Copyright © 2008 Ofili Speaks, Inc. All rights reserved
www.ofilispeaks.com
MOI: The Metamorphosis of the African Woman
The words hit me like a ton of bricks! Mike had what! I exclaimed
...Mike was the quintessential kid, everyone wanted to be like him. Unlike us Mike lived a liberal life; his stories were filled with sultry tales of adventures on the streets of Lagos. As a young teenager his stories sparked our interest. I got to know Mike personally as a student at my Mum’s after-school tutorial program. He always arrived in the latest car models and his clothes exuded richness. I often wondered why we didn’t have the same cool clothes as Mike or the same liberal freedoms as Mike. It was okay for Mike to stay up past midnight, but for us it was two death sentences in one. Firstly a beating from Mum and the other a sharp lyrical onslaught from Dad. But behind all of Mike’s riches lay scars invisible to our eyes. Product of a broken marriage, Mike was a victim of artificial love from two warring parents. Parents that substituted discipline with liberalism. Liberalism that left a wound hidden in Mike’s heart for years…
I heard the words come out from my Mum’s mouth, but I was too shocked to understand any of it. Mike had killed his father and committed suicide days after being arrested for drug possession. What pushed a child so sweet and so lucky towards these acts? I remembered the times I stayed up in bed early cursing at my parents for forcing us to go to bed early, but as I lay in bed that night, my heart heaved a painful sign of appreciation. I had what Mike never had, a strong and loving family.
Quoting www.indidivorce.com “statistics show that only 1 out of 100 Indian marriages end up to a divorce…in comparison 50% of America’s marriages turning into divorce [break ups].” Due to the large rural population and incomplete records, the divorce rate in Nigeria is largely unknown, but I would estimate it to be close to the figures reflected in India. In Nigeria divorce is not an option, it was taboo looked down upon by religious bodies and traditional cultures. In our eyes marriage was permanent and I could understand why. Many times dissolved marriages created more and more Mikes in the world. Children groomed in an atmosphere of artificial love who ended up losing out on the defining lessons of life. So Nigerian couples tended to stay together in a bid to maintain an artificial family atmosphere for their children. Even when the husband was physically abusive to his wife, the woman held on to the marriage. A sacrificial act perpetrated to eradicate the creation of more Mikes in the world. But was the sacrifice necessary?
According to the September 19th Washington Post article, the divorce rate in New Delhi, the capital city of India has almost doubled. The main reason being the western cultural influence. An influence absorbed by thousands of immigrants that empowers its women to speak out against injustice “[In Korea] 66.7% of divorces in 2003 were initiated by women, compared to 30.6% by men.” Injustice that in Nigeria would typically have been looked at as a necessary sacrifice. A sacrifice that Elizabeth made for years as she was physically abused in her own home by the very same man that promised to love her for better for worse. But Elizabeth stayed. She fought hard but could never overcome the strength of her monstrous husband, who in unpredictable but intermittent emotional rage proceeded to beat her night after night. An act that occurred in the full view of her children and a nation slowly awakening to the rights of a woman. For nights she cried but culture and religion chose to keep quiet. Family members wandered around like they never saw the bruises or heard the cries…a norm in Africa now frowned upon by legions of Nigerian re-immigrants. It was in that same state that Mary found herself. What started out as an American dream for Mary turned into a nightmare, like Elizabeth, Mary was exposed to nights of physical abuse. But unlike Nigeria her new community chose to listen to her cries, chose to see her wounds and chose to stand up against her injustice. Using the power of divorce, Mary opted out of her nightmare. Taking with her a two year old child. Mary had overcome her abusive husband, but now had to overcome the world as single mother faced with the gargantuan task of raising a child. Mary tried her best, but like Mike another child was bred confused and lost, a cultural embarrassment to the elders of Nigeria and another ubiquitous by-product of a western culture saturated with divorce.
What should Mary have done, should she have sacrificed herself for the mirage of a quasi marriage? That question is answered with a startling “no” by Nigerian female immigrants to America. Who frown at the thought of staying in an abusive marriage. A thought that is often preceded with the mindset of an independent woman. A woman whose idea of marriage is one in which both husband and wife are equally responsible for the financial and social aspects of the family. But in the traditional definition of marriage that has never been the case. The man has always been marked as the head of the household with a woman there to support him. But this trend of female independence is fast engulfing the Nigerian landscape as the typical definition of an obedient African woman is now replaced with that of an empowered woman or as Fela Anikulapo Kuti would say an empowered sophisticated lady. In his upbeat hit song “Lady,” Fela takes a satirical look at this trend comparing and contrasting between a typical African woman and the newly evolving westernized African woman. In his song he portrays the African woman as one willing to accept the man as the master, but the “Lady” on the other hand is soiled with western influence and believes the man should wash plates and share in the household chores.
Excerpt’s Of “Lady” by Fela:
African woman go dance she go dance the fire dance
She know him man na Master
She go cook for am
She go do anything he say
But Lady no be so
So what is best? A woman that sacrifices herself to uphold a family, or a woman that speaks up against palpable injustice. I don’t know the answer, I wish I did. But as I stare at that girl swaddled in the warm linen of blankets with that glistened look in her eyes. I can’t help but think about Mike. Who shall we produce what shall we become? I don’t know but in the cold of the night I come to realize that part of the solution lies in me. The man.
Okechukwu Ofili
Copyright © 2008 Ofili Speaks, Inc. All rights reserved
www.ofilispeaks.com
Thursday, November 20, 2008
Nigeria....Safe??
A somewhat positive ranking for a change. But as much as Nigeria has been ranked the least vulnerable economy in the world by Merrill Lynch, we do have to think about the implications of being an oil-dependent economy (a very vulnerable resource in terms of pricing). Oil contributes 20% directly to the GDP. Given the recent decline in oil prices, one can expect that a further decline will contract our GDP causing government revenues to fall. Now, of course not everyone's as pessimistic as I am about this ranking, if the recent run on the Nigerian Stock Exchange is anything to go by, Nigerians should proceed with caution at this seemingly good news...
Nigeria: Merrill Lynch Ranks Country World's Safest Economy - allAfrica.com
A major boost was given to Nigeria's quest for foreign investment inflow at the weekend as the country was named the least vulnerable economy in the world, according to a report, Global Economics, compiled by a team of experts from Merrill Lynch.
The report, a copy of which was made available to THISDAY at the weekend, was compiled following several data requests from clients of the investment bank for key risk indicators for all major economies including Europe, the Middle East and Africa (EMEA).
According to the statistics, the world's 10 least vulnerable economies are Nigeria, Mexico, Phili-ppines, Colombia, Egypt, Oman, Indonesia, Peru, China and Russia.
Also, the report identified Australia, Switzerland, Korea, Romania, Hungary, Sweden, Bulgaria, Euro area, United Kingdom and the United States of America as the highest risk economies in the world.
The risk ranking was based on seven indicators and they are - current account financing gap, foreign exchange reser-ves/short-term external debt ratio, private credit-to-Gross Domestic Product (GDP) ratio, and private credit growth, loans to deposits and banks capital-to-assets ratio. Merrill Lynch said the report also addressed all the requests in 62 indicators of the 60 world economies.
According to the report, Nigeria, with a population of 141.41million, was able to record a 7.3 per cent growth in GDP, with its Consumer Price Index hovering at 11.5 per cent, its current account balance, fiscal balance and public debt at 6 per cent, 6.3 and 10.4 percentage respectively.
To determine its external vulnerability, Nigeria's external debt position was put at 12.9 per cent of the GDP, while external debt /exports ratio was put at 9 per cent. Her forex reserves totalled $60.8billion.
The percentage of Nigeria's total external debt in relation to the GDP was put at two per cent, total foreign claims is $15.3billion while international claims stood at $13.1billion.
The report stated that the percentage of Current Account Balance plus net Foreign Direct Investment of the Nigerian GDP was 34, Forex reserves/short-term external debt totalled 41, while percentage of export of the GDP was 38 point.
The percentage of private credit of GDP was 43, while the percentage of bank capital to assets, according to Merrill Lynch was 41.
The 10 most vulnerable countries, which are mostly European countries, were said to have exhibited worse balance of payments positions, stretched external debt service ratios and overleveraged financial systems.
Explaining further on how it put the report together, Merrill Lynch states that: "While we believe that our country risk ranking produces plausible results, one needs to be aware that, as any ranking of that type, it is highly sensitive to the selection of indicators employed. For example, developed countries can probably sustain higher external vulnerability indicators than emerging markets; some Euro area country statistics are possibly misleading given there is a monetary union."
In their reactions, the leadership of the Nigerian organised private sector said the various investment-friendly programmes put in place especially in the past five years largely gave Nigeria a pride of place in the ranking.
Immediate past Director-General of the Nigerian Economic Summit Group (NESG), Dr. Mansur Ahmed said the latest ranking has confirmed that Nigeria is indeed an investors-haven. The feat, he said, should be traced to a regime of consistent and sustained improvement in the nation's fiscal management.
Speaking with THISDAY in a telephone interview yesterday, Ahmed acknowledged that Nigeria has been able to maintain a healthy foreign exchange management, low budget deficit and heavily low external indebtedness, which he said have combined to grossly reduce the nation's level of risk. He said those indices have also endeared the nation's economy to foreign investors.
According to the incumbent DG of the NESG, the key indicator to the safety of investment in Nigeria is the freedom to invest in any part of the country without government's intervention. He maintained that issues like hostile acquisitions, or government take-over is not common in Nigeria, explaining that even in cases where government reversed policies, it is always limited to government investments.
"In Nigeria, people can invest anywhere without hindrance. Other important considerations are the sheer size of the Nigerian market and underlying macro-economic issues," Ohuanbuwa said.
He noted that although investors in Nigeria are still complaining of high cost of doing business, the level of risk is far lower than what obtains some other economies of the world.
On measures to improve on the latest ranking, the experts were unanimous in their call for the sustenance of investor-friendly policies by the government.
Ahmed emphasised the need for effective management of the nation's foreign asset especially in the face of the dwindling prices of crude oil at the international market.
Ohuanbuwa charged the government to liberalise the economy by removing all hindrances to the economy.
Nigeria: Merrill Lynch Ranks Country World's Safest Economy - allAfrica.com
A major boost was given to Nigeria's quest for foreign investment inflow at the weekend as the country was named the least vulnerable economy in the world, according to a report, Global Economics, compiled by a team of experts from Merrill Lynch.
The report, a copy of which was made available to THISDAY at the weekend, was compiled following several data requests from clients of the investment bank for key risk indicators for all major economies including Europe, the Middle East and Africa (EMEA).
According to the statistics, the world's 10 least vulnerable economies are Nigeria, Mexico, Phili-ppines, Colombia, Egypt, Oman, Indonesia, Peru, China and Russia.
Also, the report identified Australia, Switzerland, Korea, Romania, Hungary, Sweden, Bulgaria, Euro area, United Kingdom and the United States of America as the highest risk economies in the world.
The risk ranking was based on seven indicators and they are - current account financing gap, foreign exchange reser-ves/short-term external debt ratio, private credit-to-Gross Domestic Product (GDP) ratio, and private credit growth, loans to deposits and banks capital-to-assets ratio. Merrill Lynch said the report also addressed all the requests in 62 indicators of the 60 world economies.
According to the report, Nigeria, with a population of 141.41million, was able to record a 7.3 per cent growth in GDP, with its Consumer Price Index hovering at 11.5 per cent, its current account balance, fiscal balance and public debt at 6 per cent, 6.3 and 10.4 percentage respectively.
To determine its external vulnerability, Nigeria's external debt position was put at 12.9 per cent of the GDP, while external debt /exports ratio was put at 9 per cent. Her forex reserves totalled $60.8billion.
The percentage of Nigeria's total external debt in relation to the GDP was put at two per cent, total foreign claims is $15.3billion while international claims stood at $13.1billion.
The report stated that the percentage of Current Account Balance plus net Foreign Direct Investment of the Nigerian GDP was 34, Forex reserves/short-term external debt totalled 41, while percentage of export of the GDP was 38 point.
The percentage of private credit of GDP was 43, while the percentage of bank capital to assets, according to Merrill Lynch was 41.
The 10 most vulnerable countries, which are mostly European countries, were said to have exhibited worse balance of payments positions, stretched external debt service ratios and overleveraged financial systems.
Explaining further on how it put the report together, Merrill Lynch states that: "While we believe that our country risk ranking produces plausible results, one needs to be aware that, as any ranking of that type, it is highly sensitive to the selection of indicators employed. For example, developed countries can probably sustain higher external vulnerability indicators than emerging markets; some Euro area country statistics are possibly misleading given there is a monetary union."
In their reactions, the leadership of the Nigerian organised private sector said the various investment-friendly programmes put in place especially in the past five years largely gave Nigeria a pride of place in the ranking.
Immediate past Director-General of the Nigerian Economic Summit Group (NESG), Dr. Mansur Ahmed said the latest ranking has confirmed that Nigeria is indeed an investors-haven. The feat, he said, should be traced to a regime of consistent and sustained improvement in the nation's fiscal management.
Speaking with THISDAY in a telephone interview yesterday, Ahmed acknowledged that Nigeria has been able to maintain a healthy foreign exchange management, low budget deficit and heavily low external indebtedness, which he said have combined to grossly reduce the nation's level of risk. He said those indices have also endeared the nation's economy to foreign investors.
According to the incumbent DG of the NESG, the key indicator to the safety of investment in Nigeria is the freedom to invest in any part of the country without government's intervention. He maintained that issues like hostile acquisitions, or government take-over is not common in Nigeria, explaining that even in cases where government reversed policies, it is always limited to government investments.
"In Nigeria, people can invest anywhere without hindrance. Other important considerations are the sheer size of the Nigerian market and underlying macro-economic issues," Ohuanbuwa said.
He noted that although investors in Nigeria are still complaining of high cost of doing business, the level of risk is far lower than what obtains some other economies of the world.
On measures to improve on the latest ranking, the experts were unanimous in their call for the sustenance of investor-friendly policies by the government.
Ahmed emphasised the need for effective management of the nation's foreign asset especially in the face of the dwindling prices of crude oil at the international market.
Ohuanbuwa charged the government to liberalise the economy by removing all hindrances to the economy.
Sunday, November 9, 2008
Ken Saro-Wiwa, Jerry Useni And A Forgetful Nation
One of the things that touch a raw nerve in me regarding Nigeria(ns) is that we forget easily. We forget our heroes, our villains, our collective experiences and the lessons we shoulda/woulda/coulda learned from them. We therefore do not question when our media airs such stupid (for lack of a more creative word at 1am) comments made by government sycophants, as that made by Useni (below). We are too interested in where our next meal is coming from that we dare not be bothered by whose memory is being tarnished for whatever reasons. 13 years on, as Britain remembers 90 years of brave soldiers who fought and died for their country, I hope that we as Nigerians in our respective hustle and bustle, will take a moment or two to remember a great Nigerian hero - Ken Saro-Wiwa - who paid the ultimate price for the justice that still eludes the victims of the Niger Delta's pillage, who died for his country, for OUR COUNTRY.
-------------------
Ken Saro-Wiwa, Jerry Useni And A Forgetful Nation - By Reuben Abati
"I'm in good spirits...There's no doubt that my ideas will succeed in time, but I'll have to bear the pain of the moment...the most important thing for me is that I've used my talents as a writer to enable the Ogoni people to confront their tormentors. I was not able to do it as a politician or a businessman. My writing did it. And it sure makes me feel good! I'm mentally prepared for the worst, but hopeful for the best. I think I have the moral victory" - Ken Saro-Wiwa
The nation-wide excitement over Senator Barack Obama's victory in the US Presidential election, almost allowed Lt Gen. Jeremiah Useni to get away with some of the silly things he has been saying lately about federalism and even more offensively about the late Ken Saro-Wiwa who was executed by the Abacha junta, of which Useni was a principal member, 13 years ago. Indeed, it will be exactly 13 years tomorrow since we lost Ken Saro-Wiwa and eight others who were hanged on trumped up charges of murder. The timing of Jerry Useni verbal diarrhoea could not have been fortuitous, it comes across as a pre-determined attempt to rubbish Ken Saro-Wiwa's memory and to diminish the significance of the struggle that he championed. But Jerry Useni is wrong, and he needs to be told so, clearly and in no unmistaken terms.
Permit me to note that Jerry Useni is one of those conveniently forgotten figures of Nigerian history. In a more disciplined society, a man like him would not have the gumption to speak up with such reckless confidence, he would be in self-imposed hiding out of shame and contrition. But in Nigeria, we forget so easily, so quickly and so readily, that some of the architects of past pains can now come forward to tell us how to run our lives and we are forced to listen, because the media, fighting a battle against censorship, can also not afford to censor the views of others even when they seem unreasonable. These days, surprisingly, even General Ibrahim Babangida, the man who annulled the democratic elections of June 1993, also gives lectures on democracy and his views are given air-time!
It is a sad comment on the capacity of Nigerians to remember and reward and sanction past conduct that a Jerry Useni would still be able to stand up in the market square and pontificate. He was Abacha's side-kick, and one of the main promoters of military tyranny. His dismissal of Ken Saro-Wiwa as a traitor who deserved to be murdered by the Nigerian state is therefore in character, but it is such a lie that should not be allowed to stand.
On October 28, Lt. Gen Jerry Useni showed up in the day's papers as having uttered the following tosh at an encounter with journalists in Jos: that the execution of Ken Saro-Wiwa and others in November 1995 was in the "country's best interest" because "the Nigerian state was under Western threat"; that "Saro-Wiwa was a surrogate of the West. Executing him at that time was to save the Niger Delta from his terror;" that a film was made available to the Abacha government which showed Saro Wiwa using crude methods to torture his kinsmen; that the creation of the Niger Delta Ministry is likely to worsen the situation in the Niger Delta, and that Nigeria is not yet ripe for federalism because federalism might lead to the country's break-up". Useni with these statements confirms the long-held and widely affirmed view that Nigeria suffers from a crisis of leadership. Useni, by the accident of history is supposed to be a national leader, but see how poorly he reasons!
Ken Saro Wiwa did not deserve to die in the hands of Abacha's hangman. He was not a traitor, he was a patriot. He was not a saboteur, he was a nationalist. He was not a villain, he was a hero. He was a martyr and a victim of military tyranny and the sadism of the military elite. His murder was certainly not in the nation's best interest, and Useni should know as Ken Saro-Wiwa's ghost continues to haunt the Nigerian state in the Niger Delta. Ken Saro-Wiwa wanted for his people, the Ogoni, in the Southern part of the country what every Nigerian desires for his or her own people: dignity, better life, humanity, equity and justice. But the Ogoni, 500, 000 of them, whose land supplies Nigeria with the bulk of its oil wealth, lived and continue to live in abject poverty, their land despoiled, their farmlands laid waste, their air polluted due to oil exploration activities.
Ken Saro-Wiwa, author, writer, polemicist, entrepreneur, television personality, accomplished public affairs analyst, decided to wake up his people and mobilise them to fight against the injustices of the Nigerian state. He was a rich man of means who decided to sacrifice it all in order to lead his people and raise their voices. He was a class-rebel who chose to defend the truth. In 1990, he set up the Movement for the Survival of the Ogoni People (MOSOP). The accent on survival is worth noting, it speaks to the threats faced by the Ogoni. In October 1990, an Ogoni Bill of Rights was launched and "presented to the government and people of Nigeria". The Bill noted in part:
That in over 30 years of oil mining, the Ogoni nationality has provided the Nigerian nation with a total revenue estimated at over forty billion naira, thirty billion dollars.
That in return for the above contribution, the Ogoni people ahve received NOTHING.
That today, the Ogoni people have:
(i) No representative whatsoever in ALL institutions of the Federal Government of Nigeria
(ii) No pipe-borne water
(iii) No electricity
(iv) No job opportunities for the citizens in Federal, state, public sector or private sector companies
(v) No social or economic project of the Federal Government.
These, among others, were the injustices that Ken Saro-Wiwa and others chose to rebel against. But Ken Saro-Wiwa, the leader of the struggle, was not a nihilist. He preached non-violence, he ran a struggle driven by ideas. He simply wanted a better Nigeria and a better deal for the Ogoni. He wanted his people to be treated as "equal members of the Nigerian federation".
In 1993, General Sani Abacha siezed power and became Nigeria's Head of State. The country was on the boil over the annulment of the June 12, 1993 election. The Ogoni struggle was in full ferment. AbaCha was a typical soldier, he could not handle arguments. He turned the gun on every subject and anything that moved.
It is a long story that cannot be made better by cutting it short but for the moment, it is enough to state that in May 1994, Ken Saro-Wiwa and fifteen others were arrested and accussed of having had a hand in the murder of four Ogoni chiefs. Ken Saro-Wiwa and the others denied the charges. On November 2, 1995, Saro-Wiwa and eight other men were sentenced to death. Eight days later, they were hanged at the Port Harcourt prison, in spite of appeals from all over the world. The trial was an abuse of due process and fair hearing, in the course of the trial, the accused persons were not allowed the right to fair trial and an appeal. Indeed, the defence lawyers at some stage had to withdraw in protest! The government's eventual open display of wickedness earned Nigeria a suspension from the Commonwealth and sanctions from across the world. Saro-Wiwa and others were buried in unmarked graves and there were reports that Saro-Wiwa's body was doused with acid, to be sure that he would not suddenly ressurect. Jerry Useni and his friends were afraid of Ken Saro Wiwa even in death. Thirteen years later, it is instructive that they are still afraid. Truly, conscience is a wound.
But the truth, I hope Useni gets to read this, or hears about it in case he is one of those Nigerians who are too big and too rich to read newspapers, is that Ken Saro-Wiwa has long been vindicated. Stupid Nigerian leaders have forever postponed the evil day by refusing to listen to ideas and by refusing to engage voices of reason. The evil day that Saro-Wiwa sought to prevent is now upon the Niger Delta and the rest of Nigeria. The present-day militants are his children but they are also not exactly his children: they are his children because they are fighting for change and justice and hope for their people, but they are not his children because they have opted for violence; in that regard, they are the children of Nigeria, the children of a nation that is forever seeking an embrace with evil by postponing a dialogue with the present.
Ken Saro-Wiwa has been vindicated because what he fought and died for has become the issue in Nigerian politics: the need for equality, justice and equity. But Jerry Useni doesn't get it. Ken Saro-Wiwa and other revolutionaries of the Delta sowed the seeds for the emergence of the Niger Delta Ministry. They made the argument afresh for federalism, but Jerry Useni does not understand, so he says a Niger Delta Ministry is unnecessary and that federalism is undesirable. He lives, we can see, in the past. If Useni were an American, he would have voted for McCain and he would have lost his vote. Ken Saro-Wiwa has been vindicated because he has liberated the minds of his people and brought them recognition. It was the fashion not to take the Ogoni seriously, but through MOSOP, the people have shown their capacity for resolve. Shell, the arch-villain of the Ogoni struggle had to close its wells in that area, 13 years later, it still has its tails between its legs in Ogoniland.
Tomorrow, it will be 13 years to the day since Ken Saro-Wiwa and others were murdered by the Nigerian state, Jerry Useni and his friends may remember the day with joy, but those who cherish the truth, justice and equity, and all who love Nigeria will light a candle in remembrance of the fallen martyrs. Ken Saro-Wiwa lives. The Ogoni Four and the Ogoni Eight also. Tell that to Jerry Useni, please.
***************
Rest in Peace Miriam Makeba:
-------------------
Ken Saro-Wiwa, Jerry Useni And A Forgetful Nation - By Reuben Abati
"I'm in good spirits...There's no doubt that my ideas will succeed in time, but I'll have to bear the pain of the moment...the most important thing for me is that I've used my talents as a writer to enable the Ogoni people to confront their tormentors. I was not able to do it as a politician or a businessman. My writing did it. And it sure makes me feel good! I'm mentally prepared for the worst, but hopeful for the best. I think I have the moral victory" - Ken Saro-Wiwa
The nation-wide excitement over Senator Barack Obama's victory in the US Presidential election, almost allowed Lt Gen. Jeremiah Useni to get away with some of the silly things he has been saying lately about federalism and even more offensively about the late Ken Saro-Wiwa who was executed by the Abacha junta, of which Useni was a principal member, 13 years ago. Indeed, it will be exactly 13 years tomorrow since we lost Ken Saro-Wiwa and eight others who were hanged on trumped up charges of murder. The timing of Jerry Useni verbal diarrhoea could not have been fortuitous, it comes across as a pre-determined attempt to rubbish Ken Saro-Wiwa's memory and to diminish the significance of the struggle that he championed. But Jerry Useni is wrong, and he needs to be told so, clearly and in no unmistaken terms.
Permit me to note that Jerry Useni is one of those conveniently forgotten figures of Nigerian history. In a more disciplined society, a man like him would not have the gumption to speak up with such reckless confidence, he would be in self-imposed hiding out of shame and contrition. But in Nigeria, we forget so easily, so quickly and so readily, that some of the architects of past pains can now come forward to tell us how to run our lives and we are forced to listen, because the media, fighting a battle against censorship, can also not afford to censor the views of others even when they seem unreasonable. These days, surprisingly, even General Ibrahim Babangida, the man who annulled the democratic elections of June 1993, also gives lectures on democracy and his views are given air-time!
It is a sad comment on the capacity of Nigerians to remember and reward and sanction past conduct that a Jerry Useni would still be able to stand up in the market square and pontificate. He was Abacha's side-kick, and one of the main promoters of military tyranny. His dismissal of Ken Saro-Wiwa as a traitor who deserved to be murdered by the Nigerian state is therefore in character, but it is such a lie that should not be allowed to stand.
On October 28, Lt. Gen Jerry Useni showed up in the day's papers as having uttered the following tosh at an encounter with journalists in Jos: that the execution of Ken Saro-Wiwa and others in November 1995 was in the "country's best interest" because "the Nigerian state was under Western threat"; that "Saro-Wiwa was a surrogate of the West. Executing him at that time was to save the Niger Delta from his terror;" that a film was made available to the Abacha government which showed Saro Wiwa using crude methods to torture his kinsmen; that the creation of the Niger Delta Ministry is likely to worsen the situation in the Niger Delta, and that Nigeria is not yet ripe for federalism because federalism might lead to the country's break-up". Useni with these statements confirms the long-held and widely affirmed view that Nigeria suffers from a crisis of leadership. Useni, by the accident of history is supposed to be a national leader, but see how poorly he reasons!
Ken Saro Wiwa did not deserve to die in the hands of Abacha's hangman. He was not a traitor, he was a patriot. He was not a saboteur, he was a nationalist. He was not a villain, he was a hero. He was a martyr and a victim of military tyranny and the sadism of the military elite. His murder was certainly not in the nation's best interest, and Useni should know as Ken Saro-Wiwa's ghost continues to haunt the Nigerian state in the Niger Delta. Ken Saro-Wiwa wanted for his people, the Ogoni, in the Southern part of the country what every Nigerian desires for his or her own people: dignity, better life, humanity, equity and justice. But the Ogoni, 500, 000 of them, whose land supplies Nigeria with the bulk of its oil wealth, lived and continue to live in abject poverty, their land despoiled, their farmlands laid waste, their air polluted due to oil exploration activities.
Ken Saro-Wiwa, author, writer, polemicist, entrepreneur, television personality, accomplished public affairs analyst, decided to wake up his people and mobilise them to fight against the injustices of the Nigerian state. He was a rich man of means who decided to sacrifice it all in order to lead his people and raise their voices. He was a class-rebel who chose to defend the truth. In 1990, he set up the Movement for the Survival of the Ogoni People (MOSOP). The accent on survival is worth noting, it speaks to the threats faced by the Ogoni. In October 1990, an Ogoni Bill of Rights was launched and "presented to the government and people of Nigeria". The Bill noted in part:
That in over 30 years of oil mining, the Ogoni nationality has provided the Nigerian nation with a total revenue estimated at over forty billion naira, thirty billion dollars.
That in return for the above contribution, the Ogoni people ahve received NOTHING.
That today, the Ogoni people have:
(i) No representative whatsoever in ALL institutions of the Federal Government of Nigeria
(ii) No pipe-borne water
(iii) No electricity
(iv) No job opportunities for the citizens in Federal, state, public sector or private sector companies
(v) No social or economic project of the Federal Government.
These, among others, were the injustices that Ken Saro-Wiwa and others chose to rebel against. But Ken Saro-Wiwa, the leader of the struggle, was not a nihilist. He preached non-violence, he ran a struggle driven by ideas. He simply wanted a better Nigeria and a better deal for the Ogoni. He wanted his people to be treated as "equal members of the Nigerian federation".
In 1993, General Sani Abacha siezed power and became Nigeria's Head of State. The country was on the boil over the annulment of the June 12, 1993 election. The Ogoni struggle was in full ferment. AbaCha was a typical soldier, he could not handle arguments. He turned the gun on every subject and anything that moved.
It is a long story that cannot be made better by cutting it short but for the moment, it is enough to state that in May 1994, Ken Saro-Wiwa and fifteen others were arrested and accussed of having had a hand in the murder of four Ogoni chiefs. Ken Saro-Wiwa and the others denied the charges. On November 2, 1995, Saro-Wiwa and eight other men were sentenced to death. Eight days later, they were hanged at the Port Harcourt prison, in spite of appeals from all over the world. The trial was an abuse of due process and fair hearing, in the course of the trial, the accused persons were not allowed the right to fair trial and an appeal. Indeed, the defence lawyers at some stage had to withdraw in protest! The government's eventual open display of wickedness earned Nigeria a suspension from the Commonwealth and sanctions from across the world. Saro-Wiwa and others were buried in unmarked graves and there were reports that Saro-Wiwa's body was doused with acid, to be sure that he would not suddenly ressurect. Jerry Useni and his friends were afraid of Ken Saro Wiwa even in death. Thirteen years later, it is instructive that they are still afraid. Truly, conscience is a wound.
But the truth, I hope Useni gets to read this, or hears about it in case he is one of those Nigerians who are too big and too rich to read newspapers, is that Ken Saro-Wiwa has long been vindicated. Stupid Nigerian leaders have forever postponed the evil day by refusing to listen to ideas and by refusing to engage voices of reason. The evil day that Saro-Wiwa sought to prevent is now upon the Niger Delta and the rest of Nigeria. The present-day militants are his children but they are also not exactly his children: they are his children because they are fighting for change and justice and hope for their people, but they are not his children because they have opted for violence; in that regard, they are the children of Nigeria, the children of a nation that is forever seeking an embrace with evil by postponing a dialogue with the present.
Ken Saro-Wiwa has been vindicated because what he fought and died for has become the issue in Nigerian politics: the need for equality, justice and equity. But Jerry Useni doesn't get it. Ken Saro-Wiwa and other revolutionaries of the Delta sowed the seeds for the emergence of the Niger Delta Ministry. They made the argument afresh for federalism, but Jerry Useni does not understand, so he says a Niger Delta Ministry is unnecessary and that federalism is undesirable. He lives, we can see, in the past. If Useni were an American, he would have voted for McCain and he would have lost his vote. Ken Saro-Wiwa has been vindicated because he has liberated the minds of his people and brought them recognition. It was the fashion not to take the Ogoni seriously, but through MOSOP, the people have shown their capacity for resolve. Shell, the arch-villain of the Ogoni struggle had to close its wells in that area, 13 years later, it still has its tails between its legs in Ogoniland.
Tomorrow, it will be 13 years to the day since Ken Saro-Wiwa and others were murdered by the Nigerian state, Jerry Useni and his friends may remember the day with joy, but those who cherish the truth, justice and equity, and all who love Nigeria will light a candle in remembrance of the fallen martyrs. Ken Saro-Wiwa lives. The Ogoni Four and the Ogoni Eight also. Tell that to Jerry Useni, please.
***************
Rest in Peace Miriam Makeba:
UZOMA OKERE: Nigerians DO SOMETHING!
Still trying to find out the locations of the London and New Jersey demonstrations.
-------------
Dear All,
I was with Uzoma Okere in Alausa yesterday and at the Ministry of Justice therafter where we edited the petition to ensure it was explicit about what we want.But let's not celebrate yet. The battle has just begun.It ends when we justice has been served. And we will keep at these protests until justice is administered on these monsters.
If you want to lend your voice to the injustice, please come to 14 Muri Okunola Street, Victoria Island, Lagos at 12.30p.m on Sunday November 9, 2008.We will be there till 3pm with a video camera to record the faces and voices of incensed Nigerians.From there we will proceed to University of Lagos where filming will continue from 4pm - 7pm in front of Moremi Hall.
Similar filming will take place on Sunday in London, New Jersey and Beijing.We all have a responsibility for what happened. We permit the brutality by not speaking out.We intend to broadcast the footage on local and international television in order to inspire shame in each of us as individuals, and in our government for failing in its duty to protect us from such attacks.We will continue to air the clip on rotation until justice is served. Please spread the word.
We look forward to seeing you there on Sunday and please send this to all your friends on facebook.
Ebun Olatoye.-----------------------------------------------------
For details on the Uzoma Okere story, please copy and paste the following links into your web browser:
http://odili.net/news/source/2008/nov/6/410.html
http://www.ngrguardiannews.com/news/article32//indexn3_html?pdate=071108&ptitle=Navy%20probes%20assault%20on%20woman&cpdate=071108
http://www.vanguardngr.com/content/view/21181/42/
http://www.punchng.com/Articl.aspx?theartic=Art200811081011362
To see the video of the assault, please click here:http://www.ireport.com/docs/DOC-134234
We are counting on your support to make this effort a success. If you have any questions or need further information, please don't hesitate to contact me.
Best regards,
Kemi Ogunleye
-------------
Dear All,
I was with Uzoma Okere in Alausa yesterday and at the Ministry of Justice therafter where we edited the petition to ensure it was explicit about what we want.But let's not celebrate yet. The battle has just begun.It ends when we justice has been served. And we will keep at these protests until justice is administered on these monsters.
If you want to lend your voice to the injustice, please come to 14 Muri Okunola Street, Victoria Island, Lagos at 12.30p.m on Sunday November 9, 2008.We will be there till 3pm with a video camera to record the faces and voices of incensed Nigerians.From there we will proceed to University of Lagos where filming will continue from 4pm - 7pm in front of Moremi Hall.
Similar filming will take place on Sunday in London, New Jersey and Beijing.We all have a responsibility for what happened. We permit the brutality by not speaking out.We intend to broadcast the footage on local and international television in order to inspire shame in each of us as individuals, and in our government for failing in its duty to protect us from such attacks.We will continue to air the clip on rotation until justice is served. Please spread the word.
We look forward to seeing you there on Sunday and please send this to all your friends on facebook.
Ebun Olatoye.-----------------------------------------------------
For details on the Uzoma Okere story, please copy and paste the following links into your web browser:
http://odili.net/news/source/2008/nov/6/410.html
http://www.ngrguardiannews.com/news/article32//indexn3_html?pdate=071108&ptitle=Navy%20probes%20assault%20on%20woman&cpdate=071108
http://www.vanguardngr.com/content/view/21181/42/
http://www.punchng.com/Articl.aspx?theartic=Art200811081011362
To see the video of the assault, please click here:http://www.ireport.com/docs/DOC-134234
We are counting on your support to make this effort a success. If you have any questions or need further information, please don't hesitate to contact me.
Best regards,
Kemi Ogunleye
Wednesday, November 5, 2008
"YES THEY CAN" - Armed Nigerian Naval Men Abuse Power
Two days ago, on Monday, November 3rd, 2008, 6 armed naval officials attached to a Rear Admiral, identified as Harry Arogundade, severely beat and publicly disgraced a young woman, identified as an employee of Price Waterhouse Coopers. Uzoma Okere was assaulted for not moving over quickly enough for the navy convoy as it tried to tear through traffic on Muri Okunola Street, Victoria Island, Lagos.
During the course of the violent public confrontation, she was beaten with gun butts and horsewhips, ripping off her clothing. When the navy men were done dealing with the young woman, they "forcibly handcuffed and dragged" her into a private residence on the street. She was left with "a battered face, blood-shot eyes and bruises all over her body" and later on admitted to a hospital nearby.
The Nigerian Navy has tried to shift responsibility for the actions of its officials by assigning blame to the victim, who they say provoked the incident. This official response accused the victim of making up stories to "embarrass" the Admiral.
(The information above has largely been drawn from an article published by Punch newspaper today, Wednesday, November 5th, 2008.)
I heard about this incident today, on the same day that the world's most powerful nation elected it's first black President. Throughout today, i have heard people echo the slogan, "Yes We Can," over and over again because they have been inspired and believe that Nigeria can grow and develop into a strong democratic nation with a booming economy. Many have talked, argued and debated over the possibility of attaining Vision 2020 - a vision that sees Nigeria as one of the top 20 leading economies in the world by the year 2020.
Most of us stayed up throughout the night to witness history in the making and as a result are more convinced that "yes we can" reach Vision 2020. However, having seen the video of this incidence, I question whether our country can progress if the civil liberties of citizens such as Uzoma Okere can be publicly violated in such a manner. How can we boast to be a democratic nation if public officials can publicly commit such an act and remain unpunished. Over the past few years, we have talked about corruption and hoped that institutions such as the EFCC will clean up our society. However, we are still waiting. This incidence proves that little has been done. If our leaders are unable to act appropriately and responsibly, we must take matters into our own hands.
Please take a look at the link below and join me by lending your voice to this note so that we can raise awareness and draw the attention of those who are in the position to do something about this.
http://www.ireport.com/docs/DOC-134234
_________
Aisha B.
During the course of the violent public confrontation, she was beaten with gun butts and horsewhips, ripping off her clothing. When the navy men were done dealing with the young woman, they "forcibly handcuffed and dragged" her into a private residence on the street. She was left with "a battered face, blood-shot eyes and bruises all over her body" and later on admitted to a hospital nearby.
The Nigerian Navy has tried to shift responsibility for the actions of its officials by assigning blame to the victim, who they say provoked the incident. This official response accused the victim of making up stories to "embarrass" the Admiral.
(The information above has largely been drawn from an article published by Punch newspaper today, Wednesday, November 5th, 2008.)
I heard about this incident today, on the same day that the world's most powerful nation elected it's first black President. Throughout today, i have heard people echo the slogan, "Yes We Can," over and over again because they have been inspired and believe that Nigeria can grow and develop into a strong democratic nation with a booming economy. Many have talked, argued and debated over the possibility of attaining Vision 2020 - a vision that sees Nigeria as one of the top 20 leading economies in the world by the year 2020.
Most of us stayed up throughout the night to witness history in the making and as a result are more convinced that "yes we can" reach Vision 2020. However, having seen the video of this incidence, I question whether our country can progress if the civil liberties of citizens such as Uzoma Okere can be publicly violated in such a manner. How can we boast to be a democratic nation if public officials can publicly commit such an act and remain unpunished. Over the past few years, we have talked about corruption and hoped that institutions such as the EFCC will clean up our society. However, we are still waiting. This incidence proves that little has been done. If our leaders are unable to act appropriately and responsibly, we must take matters into our own hands.
Please take a look at the link below and join me by lending your voice to this note so that we can raise awareness and draw the attention of those who are in the position to do something about this.
http://www.ireport.com/docs/DOC-134234
_________
Aisha B.
Tuesday, September 30, 2008
Is Nigeria Addicted to Bad Leadership?
Letter to Nigeria: Happy Birthday Nigeria! Wow, 48 years old!! I can't believe it. You've come a long way, but still have a longer way to go. On this 48th anniversary of your independence, i can't help but look to the future, as the present leaves so much to be desired. The Guardian article below addresses the issue of your addiction to bad leadership. Through the Babangidas, Abachas, Abdusalamis, Obasanjos, you have endured. Your people have endured but we are none the wiser.
There are certain things to rejoice over in today's Nigeria - civil peace, for one - but we are still very far from where we ought to be. As we celebrate our Independence today, let us think yet again about what values we subscribe to as a nation. Currently, I believe the value most nigerians subscribe to is the almighty dollar/naira/sterling/owo/kudi. This needs to change. Question is: How do we instill in the current generation, the value of Hard Work and Integrity? Is it too late? Do we carry on and just hope that economic reform and private sector investment will be enough to get us where we need to be, and therefore focus our efforts on that? Or do we stop in our tracks, look inwards and examine the Nigerian follower and what we have contributed to Nigeria's regression thus far, and therefore seek the solution from within?
--------------
"Yet, in the midst of this national catastrophe, declining life expectancy, insecurity of life and property, grinding poverty, destitution and hopelessness, our leaders continue to act as if things were normal; as if Nigeria will remain "one indivisible nation" whether we like it or not. Created in 1914 at the behest of British colonialists and granted independence 46 years later, the patchwork that is Nigeria has managed to survive for so long, but time is running out. The more our rulers prevaricate, the closer the country inches to implosion. " - Rethinking Nigeria By Chido Onumah
Is Nigeria addicted to bad leadership? By Tosan Okotie
BAD leadership has ensnared Nigerians to a point that, most of the leaders have no laurels on which to rest any skills. Rather, the leaders' skills are derivatives of revenue from oil/gas, cocoa and groundnut, and not of any management technique. This is a shame because there are dozens of Nigerians that have done well individually in their various professions at home and abroad. Unfortunately, these same people are unable to come together to accomplish an objective that is cohesive and coherent. Indeed, anyone is correct to say that, being progressive has eluded the country. So why the distrust among these successful individuals who are adept in management?
The great ideas of the few people with unusual idiosyncrasy are being truncated by the vast majority of evil people who parade themselves as power brokers or community leaders.
Leadership in Nigeria is as simple as understanding the differing and conflicting needs of Nigerians in creating a value-based umbrella large enough to direct the human and natural resources in pursuit of a common goal of independent and sustainable development. Nigerians are saddened with their improvident leaders who are unable to buoy the people; as such, those with historic minds are compelled to be evocative of the likes of late Chief Obafemi Awolowo, a benign person, and a scrupulous leader who brought so much progress to the West of Nigeria. If other regions had developed the way the West did, Nigeria would have been recognized in the comity of nations today. As Nigerians continue to experience bad leadership, the more people extol Awo, who has virtually become a paragon in Nigeria.
Pa Awo, was never in ambivalence. He was always focused with a clear vision to move his community forward. Most interestingly, Awo never lived nor died as a poor man despite his good leadership. Thus, he was a man with vision and foresight. Indeed, many believe that, when you embark on good leadership, you remain a poor person. That is a fallacy. Be that as it may, does it now mean that, without late Awo, Nigeria cannot progress? No, there are still dozens of Nigerians out there with good leadership skills ready to serve the nation. Retired Justice Ilori, who used his vision to improve the Lagos State judiciary and himself after retirement is a good example.
People with vision are not likely to steal or be corrupt because they are confident of their tomorrow's bread/butter and water. Furthermore, people of this nature are not lobbyists you will see parading the vicinity of Aso Rock canvassing for Ministerial positions. Therefore, to curtail persistent bad leadership, an intrepid president, should step out of Aso Rock and look for them. Sitting within the confines of Aso Rock makes the president fall prey to the "charms" of sycophants who present themselves in Abuja as potential leaders. Any occupier of Aso Rock should be worried that, with all the revenue for the past years, there is nothing meaningful to show for it due to bad leadership.
It is ignominious to note that, quality leadership was not in the lives of most of Nigeria's leaders. General Babangida's leadership style was divide and rule coupled with secret killings. His successor, General Abacha, was a dragon who combined open killings with the use of Willie Lynch's strategy of sowing seed of distrust among slaves in America. Apparently, Willie Lynch was a slave owner in America who sowed the seed of distrust among the slaves as a way to have absolute control over them. In Nigeria, Abacha adopted the same style in order to control the country. It has been reiterated severally that good leadership is facile. Confusion started in the Niger Delta in the era of gawky Abacha who sowed seeds of distrust/hatred among the Itsekiris and Ijaws. The reality is that Abacha, being an overseer of Nigeria's government succeeded in sowing the seed because the community leaders were not oblivious of the danger of hatred among the people of the entire Niger Delta region. On the other hand, the community leaders in the Niger Delta who were positioned to uncover the ugly trend sold their conscience for Abacha's deceitful token naira.
When you analyze the issues on ground, you are likely to agree that, the generation of present day active Nigeria's followership is ignorant of true leadership. They have never had a functional government because of the disconnect between the various government's agenda and the masses. To say that Nigeria is addicted to bad leadership is an illusion because it is not as if this same group of followers has experienced good leadership at a time but is tolerant of subsequent hopeless governments. Nigeria needs inspirational leaders with empathy. It is only when the leaders take advantage of the myriad of opportunities that exist to make a difference that the nation would attain her destiny.
There are certain things to rejoice over in today's Nigeria - civil peace, for one - but we are still very far from where we ought to be. As we celebrate our Independence today, let us think yet again about what values we subscribe to as a nation. Currently, I believe the value most nigerians subscribe to is the almighty dollar/naira/sterling/owo/kudi. This needs to change. Question is: How do we instill in the current generation, the value of Hard Work and Integrity? Is it too late? Do we carry on and just hope that economic reform and private sector investment will be enough to get us where we need to be, and therefore focus our efforts on that? Or do we stop in our tracks, look inwards and examine the Nigerian follower and what we have contributed to Nigeria's regression thus far, and therefore seek the solution from within?
--------------
"Yet, in the midst of this national catastrophe, declining life expectancy, insecurity of life and property, grinding poverty, destitution and hopelessness, our leaders continue to act as if things were normal; as if Nigeria will remain "one indivisible nation" whether we like it or not. Created in 1914 at the behest of British colonialists and granted independence 46 years later, the patchwork that is Nigeria has managed to survive for so long, but time is running out. The more our rulers prevaricate, the closer the country inches to implosion. " - Rethinking Nigeria By Chido Onumah
Is Nigeria addicted to bad leadership? By Tosan Okotie
BAD leadership has ensnared Nigerians to a point that, most of the leaders have no laurels on which to rest any skills. Rather, the leaders' skills are derivatives of revenue from oil/gas, cocoa and groundnut, and not of any management technique. This is a shame because there are dozens of Nigerians that have done well individually in their various professions at home and abroad. Unfortunately, these same people are unable to come together to accomplish an objective that is cohesive and coherent. Indeed, anyone is correct to say that, being progressive has eluded the country. So why the distrust among these successful individuals who are adept in management?
The great ideas of the few people with unusual idiosyncrasy are being truncated by the vast majority of evil people who parade themselves as power brokers or community leaders.
Leadership in Nigeria is as simple as understanding the differing and conflicting needs of Nigerians in creating a value-based umbrella large enough to direct the human and natural resources in pursuit of a common goal of independent and sustainable development. Nigerians are saddened with their improvident leaders who are unable to buoy the people; as such, those with historic minds are compelled to be evocative of the likes of late Chief Obafemi Awolowo, a benign person, and a scrupulous leader who brought so much progress to the West of Nigeria. If other regions had developed the way the West did, Nigeria would have been recognized in the comity of nations today. As Nigerians continue to experience bad leadership, the more people extol Awo, who has virtually become a paragon in Nigeria.
Pa Awo, was never in ambivalence. He was always focused with a clear vision to move his community forward. Most interestingly, Awo never lived nor died as a poor man despite his good leadership. Thus, he was a man with vision and foresight. Indeed, many believe that, when you embark on good leadership, you remain a poor person. That is a fallacy. Be that as it may, does it now mean that, without late Awo, Nigeria cannot progress? No, there are still dozens of Nigerians out there with good leadership skills ready to serve the nation. Retired Justice Ilori, who used his vision to improve the Lagos State judiciary and himself after retirement is a good example.
People with vision are not likely to steal or be corrupt because they are confident of their tomorrow's bread/butter and water. Furthermore, people of this nature are not lobbyists you will see parading the vicinity of Aso Rock canvassing for Ministerial positions. Therefore, to curtail persistent bad leadership, an intrepid president, should step out of Aso Rock and look for them. Sitting within the confines of Aso Rock makes the president fall prey to the "charms" of sycophants who present themselves in Abuja as potential leaders. Any occupier of Aso Rock should be worried that, with all the revenue for the past years, there is nothing meaningful to show for it due to bad leadership.
It is ignominious to note that, quality leadership was not in the lives of most of Nigeria's leaders. General Babangida's leadership style was divide and rule coupled with secret killings. His successor, General Abacha, was a dragon who combined open killings with the use of Willie Lynch's strategy of sowing seed of distrust among slaves in America. Apparently, Willie Lynch was a slave owner in America who sowed the seed of distrust among the slaves as a way to have absolute control over them. In Nigeria, Abacha adopted the same style in order to control the country. It has been reiterated severally that good leadership is facile. Confusion started in the Niger Delta in the era of gawky Abacha who sowed seeds of distrust/hatred among the Itsekiris and Ijaws. The reality is that Abacha, being an overseer of Nigeria's government succeeded in sowing the seed because the community leaders were not oblivious of the danger of hatred among the people of the entire Niger Delta region. On the other hand, the community leaders in the Niger Delta who were positioned to uncover the ugly trend sold their conscience for Abacha's deceitful token naira.
When you analyze the issues on ground, you are likely to agree that, the generation of present day active Nigeria's followership is ignorant of true leadership. They have never had a functional government because of the disconnect between the various government's agenda and the masses. To say that Nigeria is addicted to bad leadership is an illusion because it is not as if this same group of followers has experienced good leadership at a time but is tolerant of subsequent hopeless governments. Nigeria needs inspirational leaders with empathy. It is only when the leaders take advantage of the myriad of opportunities that exist to make a difference that the nation would attain her destiny.
Wednesday, September 17, 2008
Congratulations Mr Prime Minister
The honeymoon was over before it began but i wish Morgan Tsvangirai luck as he embarks on his new partnership with Robert Mugabe. As he says, he will be watching his back, and so will we.
Sorry for the radio silence folks, but do watch this space, as Independent day approaches...
Sorry for the radio silence folks, but do watch this space, as Independent day approaches...
Sunday, August 31, 2008
Nigeria in 20-08
I remember getting so excited as a child when my dad would bring home those One-Year Diaries that Banks gave their clients at Christmas (back in the day when corporate gifts were modest but useful)...my sister and I would get so excited going through the maps at the back, adn trying to figure out where in Victoria Island or Ikeja we could recognize on them. It gave you a sense of the "smaller world" around you. It's a shame that we are celebrating such a universally trivial accomplishment in the 21st century...but better late than never, eh? tAB congratulates the NTDC on this first step to improving (creating, really) the nation's navigation system. I hope we continue to hear of other feats being IMPLEMENTED by various federal, state and local agencies to improve the lives of everyday Nigerians.
As Reuben Abati puts it in the Guardian article below:
"Tourism can only be part of a wider and better articulated package; the key element of that package is good governance. Navigational aids: maps and all that, information flowing from the NTDC like the Niagara Falls can only be useful when governments: federal, state and local, focus on such urgent challenges as security, public infrastructure, and an enabling investment framework and so on."
-------------
A Journey Around Nigeria - By Reuben Abati
For the benefit of those who are looking for good news from Nigeria, here is something to crow about: the Nigerian Tourism Development Corporation (NTDC), led by Otunba Olusegun Runsewe, has launched what it calls "a world class road network navigational system." I attended the media launch, in Lagos, two days ago. What Runsewe, former General Manager of the New Nigerian now since 1999 a public official, introduced to the public, is a set of navigational aids: a personal, in-car travel equipment which can be fixed to the windscreen of a car, maps which can be downloaded from the internet into cell phones which can be used to navigate one's way around the city, city maps covering all Nigerian state capitals and the Federal Capital Territory, and an online tourist market which can help provide tourism information about Nigeria. Runsewe was understandably beside himself with excitement: "Oil is exhaustible", he said. But "tourism is sustainable." "Tourism is life," he intoned.
And he cited the great example of how in the last 22 years Dubai, to which Nigerians now flock like termites, was transformed from desert into an international business destination. His main argument is that as part of Nigeria's Vision 20-2020 project, namely Nigeria's plan to be one of the 20 best economies in the world by 2020, a major entry point would be tourism.
Since he assumed office as Director General of the NTDC, Runsewe has brought fresh dynamism and innovativeness to the tourism sector. He has a bagful of publications to show for this: special publications on Nigeria which advertise the country's tourism potentials, in 2007, he had organised the Abuja carnival and for the first time, all Nigerian state capitals have been reduced to maps that can be picked up on the shelf for free. No one was surprised when Runsewe reported that many of the state Governors were impressed when the NTDC presented maps of their state capitals.
What's the big deal? Such travel aids are used elsewhere in modern cities across the world. In Nigeria, maps are only studied in Geography classes in schools. An ordinary Nigerian in a new town or city does not look for maps, because these are non-existent; to get around, we all more or less rely on word of mouth, and increasingly on the ubiquitous okada cyclist. When you are lost anywhere in Nigeria, just call a commercial cyclist. But it is not always that motorocyclists know the geography of the immediate environment, nor are they always good men.
Ladies have been lured to hide-outs and raped. Persons have been led to criminals, and turned into victims. In some instances, persons who were stranded who could not find their way around a Nigerian town reportedly went to the neraest police station to ask for assistance or to ask for permission to wait there till morning. Many of such persons were robbed by the same police to whom they had run for safety and support. Nigeria is also not the best place to park your car by the roadside to ask for directions. You could be misled. Nigeria is a tourist's nightmare, even for the citizen, it is like a jungle.
The NTDC initiative on navigational aids is helpful. It is forward-looking and encouraging. It is achievable, its advantages are many. It is likely to have the same effect as the GSM revolution particularly among the educated who can read maps. But the test of it all is in the implementation and sustainability. Runsewe had admitted that the mapping of Nigeria and the introduction of the navigational aids is a work in progress. He is right. He and his team would have to provide public enlightenment on a number of issues: where and how can the navigational aids be accessed? Which cities are covered? And cost? And what are we going to do about our many streest which have no names, or whose names change every season, and our unmotorable roads which impede access? The NTDC is a federal agency, how well is it interfacing with state and local councils, tourism after all being the responsibility of all levels of government? This can only work if states and local councils buy into it.
Runsewe spoke about the importance of tourism. Quite true. Countries like the UAE, South Africa, Kenya, Ethiopia, Ghana, Sawziland, and the countries of the Caribbean islands have turned tourism into a strong national branding mechanism. Nigeria's tourism income is negligible, the industry is under-developed, our cities are no destinations of choice, even for the people. Why? There is a lot more that needs to be done beyond the provision of navigational aids. The NTDC and its Director-General are showing much enthusiasm; they want to make a difference, they want to move Nigeria closer to 2020, but 2020 has become such a magical, whimsical creation. Tourism can only be part of a wider and better articulated package; the key element of that package is good governance.
Navigational aids: maps and all that, information flowing from the NTDC like the Niagara Falls can only be useful when governments: federal, state and local, focus on such urgent challenges as security, public infrastructure, and an enabling investment framework and so on. European tourists flock to Ghana because they can move about without any hindrance in Accra and elsewhere at any time of the day. To do that in Nigeria is to take a serious risk. Runsewe's NTDC has played its part, but the country is still a long way from 2020. We may all be excited about navigational aids but that is not enough. However, this is not Runsewe's headache. The Yar'Adua administration has been busy pursuing the Vision agenda as if it is an isolated, disjointed effort, with each department of state, acting on its own, and federal agencies dictating to the states, but this is not what vision is all about; what exists at the moment looks like 2020 gambling.
If the NTDC gives us something this week to be optimistic about, the same cannot be said about the government of Zamfara state, where Bashir Gusau, the Managing Director of Legacy, the state-owned newspaper, has been fired for writing an article titled "My fears for Yar'Adua" in which he argued that "the past one-and-a-half-years of Yar'Adua's Presidency were marred with indolence, ineptitude, violence, kidnapping, armned robbery, communal clashes, power blackout, and succumbing to the whims and caprices of a cabal holding the nation to ransom." In a two-page statement, the state Commissioner for Information, Ibrahim Danmaliki accussed Gusau of being "Insincere." He added that President Yar'adua is the "de facto and de jure head of the country and we shall never associate the government and people of Zamfara state with any attempt to run him down".
Subsequently, the state Government organised a special prayer session for "peace, good health and God's guidance for the Yar'Adua administration and the nation in general." In fact, the state government has now decreed that no civil servant must say, write, hear or see anything that is remotely bad about or critical of the Yar'Adua government, the punishment for a breach is instant dismissal. The stupidity of this action is so obvious, it requires no further comment, but let the point be restated that the sycophantic censorship at work in Zamfara state is a violation of the Constitutional right to free expression, duly articulated in Section 39 of the 1999 Constitution and in international conventions on human rights.
It is in addition a violation of the profession of journalism: section 22 of the 1999 Constitution grants the media oversight roles over government, and whether Yar'Adua is de facto or de jure head of state, Gusau's article is a fair comment, written in the public interest, and it can be easily justified. Do we not all have "fears for Yar'Adua"? One other point: the same Yar'Adua for whom Gusau has now lost his job has been "missing in action" for more than a week. Nigerians are not sure whether he is in a hospital in Saudi Arabia, or attending the lesser hajj, ill or well. Gusau wrote about kidnapping, armed robbery aand communal clashes. What is insincere about this? Is the Zamfara state Governor living in outer space?
In journalism, facts are sacred, opinion is free. Gusau was expressing an opinion. The Zamfara Governor is an ANPP Governor, a party in the opposition. Who should encourage criticism if not the opposition? But we have the likes of this Governor who see democracy as a mechanism for self-promotion by any means. You are wrong sir. Gusau has since been replaced. He should be re-instated, and the dictator of Zamfara should be told that this is a democracy where state Governors must not behave like drunken sailors. And what was that about sacking any civil servant who criticises President Yar'Adua? Criticism, sir, is the oil of the demcoratic wheel.
Shall we now go to Bauchi state where an idle state House of Assembly has just passed a bill into law, banning co-education at all junior and senior schools in the state. The lawmakers argue that this law has become necessary in order to check teenage pregnancies and poor performance. They note that teenagers have difficulties controlling their sexual urges. Again, stupid. Private religious schools are however exempted. But stupid all the same. If the Bauchi lawmakers are looking for ways to reduce adolescent sexuality, they should not do so by enacting laws that will not make any difference in the long run.
If they are interested in better academic performance, they should seek the reasons for poor performance elsewhere, and enact laws which support Governor Isa Yuguda's expressed determination to transform Bauchi state into a leading centre of education. But obviously a legislature with sex on its mind, cannot think that far. Co-education is not what is responsible for sexual urges: people don't get sexual urges simply by seeing the opposite sex, law-making should be informed by greater rigour not speculations.
And in Bida, Niger state, one Abubakar Bello Masada has been under fire for about two weeks now, for marrying 86 wives. All kinds of custodians of the Islamic faith including the Jama'atu Nasri Islam (JNI) have ruled that Bello is not a true moslem and that his battalion of 86 wives is far in excess of the maximun of four wives prescribed by the religion. There were intial reports that the JNI had issued a fatwa on the man. The JNI later denied this insisting that it is only interested in restating the doctrine and that it is not true that the octogenarian may be put to death this weekend. There is so much mystery suroounding what the old man is supposed to have done or not done. But what is certain is that he has been ordered by the JNI and the Etsu Nupe to divorce 82 of his wives and keep only four of them or leave Nupe land.
On Thursday, the man was subjected to a three-hour trial. The Etsu Nupe had also ruled that the man's safety can no longer be guaranteed. Does that mean he will be stoned to death? Kidnapped, amputated, or what? Bello's ethnicity is even been questioned as the Etsu Nupe reportedly pointed out that Bello cannot be a Nupe man.
In Nigeria, the distinction betwen an indigene and a settler is sensitive, it could make a lot of difference in traditional commnuities. At the end of his trial, Bello reportedly asked for two weeks of grace to decicde which of his wives he would do away with, many of them about the age of his great-grand children. But the court of the Etsu Nupe has ruled that the choice must be made within two days. What is Mallam Bello's offence? Did he marry any of his wives under the Ordinance, for which he could be guilty of bigamy? Even if he is guilty of bigamy, only a court of law can determine his guilt, not the JNI, not the Etsu Nupe-in-council. No one has accussed Bello of incest, only that he is too much of a polygamist. And if the issue is that he no longer reads the Quoran as he claims, he is entitled to the freedom of choice. Looked at closely, it may even be said that other men may be envious of this old man. In some other countries, his virility and feritlity would be a subject of scientific inquiry.
But here the Etsu Nupe says Masada should undergo psychiatric examination. And there is an element of hypocrisy involved. Many of those who are condemning Mallam Masada are probably serial polygamists or serial monogamists. What for example is the difference between four wives and 86 wives? The Etsu Nupe, the JNI, and the Niger State Government should take responsibility for Mallam Bello Masada's safety. The police should protect him from the gathering mob.
Finally, a report in The Herald of Zimbabwe quoted in an article in The Nation of Kenya by Kitsepile Ngathi on August 18 indicates that some African leaders including the leaders of Zambia, Botswana, and Tanzania have since apologised to President Robert Mugabe for allowing themselves to be misled by the opposition. After the June 27 re-run Presidential election, Botswana, Nigeria, Kenya, Liberia, Zmabia, Tanzania and other African countries had refused to recognise Robert Mugabe's victory. But now Ngathi writes: "the biggest surprise, however came from Nigeria, which sent a high profile emissary to South Africa on Sunday to seek a meeting with President Mugabe and offer apologies for taking an "uninformed position" on Zimbabwe's electoral process during the last AU summit in Egypt." Apologies also came from Zambia, Bostwana, and Tanzania. Did Nigeria apologise to Mugabe? The Ministry of Foreign Affairs owes Nigerians a clarification, if not explanation.
As Reuben Abati puts it in the Guardian article below:
"Tourism can only be part of a wider and better articulated package; the key element of that package is good governance. Navigational aids: maps and all that, information flowing from the NTDC like the Niagara Falls can only be useful when governments: federal, state and local, focus on such urgent challenges as security, public infrastructure, and an enabling investment framework and so on."
-------------
A Journey Around Nigeria - By Reuben Abati
For the benefit of those who are looking for good news from Nigeria, here is something to crow about: the Nigerian Tourism Development Corporation (NTDC), led by Otunba Olusegun Runsewe, has launched what it calls "a world class road network navigational system." I attended the media launch, in Lagos, two days ago. What Runsewe, former General Manager of the New Nigerian now since 1999 a public official, introduced to the public, is a set of navigational aids: a personal, in-car travel equipment which can be fixed to the windscreen of a car, maps which can be downloaded from the internet into cell phones which can be used to navigate one's way around the city, city maps covering all Nigerian state capitals and the Federal Capital Territory, and an online tourist market which can help provide tourism information about Nigeria. Runsewe was understandably beside himself with excitement: "Oil is exhaustible", he said. But "tourism is sustainable." "Tourism is life," he intoned.And he cited the great example of how in the last 22 years Dubai, to which Nigerians now flock like termites, was transformed from desert into an international business destination. His main argument is that as part of Nigeria's Vision 20-2020 project, namely Nigeria's plan to be one of the 20 best economies in the world by 2020, a major entry point would be tourism.
Since he assumed office as Director General of the NTDC, Runsewe has brought fresh dynamism and innovativeness to the tourism sector. He has a bagful of publications to show for this: special publications on Nigeria which advertise the country's tourism potentials, in 2007, he had organised the Abuja carnival and for the first time, all Nigerian state capitals have been reduced to maps that can be picked up on the shelf for free. No one was surprised when Runsewe reported that many of the state Governors were impressed when the NTDC presented maps of their state capitals.
What's the big deal? Such travel aids are used elsewhere in modern cities across the world. In Nigeria, maps are only studied in Geography classes in schools. An ordinary Nigerian in a new town or city does not look for maps, because these are non-existent; to get around, we all more or less rely on word of mouth, and increasingly on the ubiquitous okada cyclist. When you are lost anywhere in Nigeria, just call a commercial cyclist. But it is not always that motorocyclists know the geography of the immediate environment, nor are they always good men.
Ladies have been lured to hide-outs and raped. Persons have been led to criminals, and turned into victims. In some instances, persons who were stranded who could not find their way around a Nigerian town reportedly went to the neraest police station to ask for assistance or to ask for permission to wait there till morning. Many of such persons were robbed by the same police to whom they had run for safety and support. Nigeria is also not the best place to park your car by the roadside to ask for directions. You could be misled. Nigeria is a tourist's nightmare, even for the citizen, it is like a jungle.
The NTDC initiative on navigational aids is helpful. It is forward-looking and encouraging. It is achievable, its advantages are many. It is likely to have the same effect as the GSM revolution particularly among the educated who can read maps. But the test of it all is in the implementation and sustainability. Runsewe had admitted that the mapping of Nigeria and the introduction of the navigational aids is a work in progress. He is right. He and his team would have to provide public enlightenment on a number of issues: where and how can the navigational aids be accessed? Which cities are covered? And cost? And what are we going to do about our many streest which have no names, or whose names change every season, and our unmotorable roads which impede access? The NTDC is a federal agency, how well is it interfacing with state and local councils, tourism after all being the responsibility of all levels of government? This can only work if states and local councils buy into it.
Runsewe spoke about the importance of tourism. Quite true. Countries like the UAE, South Africa, Kenya, Ethiopia, Ghana, Sawziland, and the countries of the Caribbean islands have turned tourism into a strong national branding mechanism. Nigeria's tourism income is negligible, the industry is under-developed, our cities are no destinations of choice, even for the people. Why? There is a lot more that needs to be done beyond the provision of navigational aids. The NTDC and its Director-General are showing much enthusiasm; they want to make a difference, they want to move Nigeria closer to 2020, but 2020 has become such a magical, whimsical creation. Tourism can only be part of a wider and better articulated package; the key element of that package is good governance.
Navigational aids: maps and all that, information flowing from the NTDC like the Niagara Falls can only be useful when governments: federal, state and local, focus on such urgent challenges as security, public infrastructure, and an enabling investment framework and so on. European tourists flock to Ghana because they can move about without any hindrance in Accra and elsewhere at any time of the day. To do that in Nigeria is to take a serious risk. Runsewe's NTDC has played its part, but the country is still a long way from 2020. We may all be excited about navigational aids but that is not enough. However, this is not Runsewe's headache. The Yar'Adua administration has been busy pursuing the Vision agenda as if it is an isolated, disjointed effort, with each department of state, acting on its own, and federal agencies dictating to the states, but this is not what vision is all about; what exists at the moment looks like 2020 gambling.
If the NTDC gives us something this week to be optimistic about, the same cannot be said about the government of Zamfara state, where Bashir Gusau, the Managing Director of Legacy, the state-owned newspaper, has been fired for writing an article titled "My fears for Yar'Adua" in which he argued that "the past one-and-a-half-years of Yar'Adua's Presidency were marred with indolence, ineptitude, violence, kidnapping, armned robbery, communal clashes, power blackout, and succumbing to the whims and caprices of a cabal holding the nation to ransom." In a two-page statement, the state Commissioner for Information, Ibrahim Danmaliki accussed Gusau of being "Insincere." He added that President Yar'adua is the "de facto and de jure head of the country and we shall never associate the government and people of Zamfara state with any attempt to run him down".
Subsequently, the state Government organised a special prayer session for "peace, good health and God's guidance for the Yar'Adua administration and the nation in general." In fact, the state government has now decreed that no civil servant must say, write, hear or see anything that is remotely bad about or critical of the Yar'Adua government, the punishment for a breach is instant dismissal. The stupidity of this action is so obvious, it requires no further comment, but let the point be restated that the sycophantic censorship at work in Zamfara state is a violation of the Constitutional right to free expression, duly articulated in Section 39 of the 1999 Constitution and in international conventions on human rights.
It is in addition a violation of the profession of journalism: section 22 of the 1999 Constitution grants the media oversight roles over government, and whether Yar'Adua is de facto or de jure head of state, Gusau's article is a fair comment, written in the public interest, and it can be easily justified. Do we not all have "fears for Yar'Adua"? One other point: the same Yar'Adua for whom Gusau has now lost his job has been "missing in action" for more than a week. Nigerians are not sure whether he is in a hospital in Saudi Arabia, or attending the lesser hajj, ill or well. Gusau wrote about kidnapping, armed robbery aand communal clashes. What is insincere about this? Is the Zamfara state Governor living in outer space?
In journalism, facts are sacred, opinion is free. Gusau was expressing an opinion. The Zamfara Governor is an ANPP Governor, a party in the opposition. Who should encourage criticism if not the opposition? But we have the likes of this Governor who see democracy as a mechanism for self-promotion by any means. You are wrong sir. Gusau has since been replaced. He should be re-instated, and the dictator of Zamfara should be told that this is a democracy where state Governors must not behave like drunken sailors. And what was that about sacking any civil servant who criticises President Yar'Adua? Criticism, sir, is the oil of the demcoratic wheel.
Shall we now go to Bauchi state where an idle state House of Assembly has just passed a bill into law, banning co-education at all junior and senior schools in the state. The lawmakers argue that this law has become necessary in order to check teenage pregnancies and poor performance. They note that teenagers have difficulties controlling their sexual urges. Again, stupid. Private religious schools are however exempted. But stupid all the same. If the Bauchi lawmakers are looking for ways to reduce adolescent sexuality, they should not do so by enacting laws that will not make any difference in the long run. If they are interested in better academic performance, they should seek the reasons for poor performance elsewhere, and enact laws which support Governor Isa Yuguda's expressed determination to transform Bauchi state into a leading centre of education. But obviously a legislature with sex on its mind, cannot think that far. Co-education is not what is responsible for sexual urges: people don't get sexual urges simply by seeing the opposite sex, law-making should be informed by greater rigour not speculations.
And in Bida, Niger state, one Abubakar Bello Masada has been under fire for about two weeks now, for marrying 86 wives. All kinds of custodians of the Islamic faith including the Jama'atu Nasri Islam (JNI) have ruled that Bello is not a true moslem and that his battalion of 86 wives is far in excess of the maximun of four wives prescribed by the religion. There were intial reports that the JNI had issued a fatwa on the man. The JNI later denied this insisting that it is only interested in restating the doctrine and that it is not true that the octogenarian may be put to death this weekend. There is so much mystery suroounding what the old man is supposed to have done or not done. But what is certain is that he has been ordered by the JNI and the Etsu Nupe to divorce 82 of his wives and keep only four of them or leave Nupe land. On Thursday, the man was subjected to a three-hour trial. The Etsu Nupe had also ruled that the man's safety can no longer be guaranteed. Does that mean he will be stoned to death? Kidnapped, amputated, or what? Bello's ethnicity is even been questioned as the Etsu Nupe reportedly pointed out that Bello cannot be a Nupe man.
In Nigeria, the distinction betwen an indigene and a settler is sensitive, it could make a lot of difference in traditional commnuities. At the end of his trial, Bello reportedly asked for two weeks of grace to decicde which of his wives he would do away with, many of them about the age of his great-grand children. But the court of the Etsu Nupe has ruled that the choice must be made within two days. What is Mallam Bello's offence? Did he marry any of his wives under the Ordinance, for which he could be guilty of bigamy? Even if he is guilty of bigamy, only a court of law can determine his guilt, not the JNI, not the Etsu Nupe-in-council. No one has accussed Bello of incest, only that he is too much of a polygamist. And if the issue is that he no longer reads the Quoran as he claims, he is entitled to the freedom of choice. Looked at closely, it may even be said that other men may be envious of this old man. In some other countries, his virility and feritlity would be a subject of scientific inquiry.
But here the Etsu Nupe says Masada should undergo psychiatric examination. And there is an element of hypocrisy involved. Many of those who are condemning Mallam Masada are probably serial polygamists or serial monogamists. What for example is the difference between four wives and 86 wives? The Etsu Nupe, the JNI, and the Niger State Government should take responsibility for Mallam Bello Masada's safety. The police should protect him from the gathering mob.
Finally, a report in The Herald of Zimbabwe quoted in an article in The Nation of Kenya by Kitsepile Ngathi on August 18 indicates that some African leaders including the leaders of Zambia, Botswana, and Tanzania have since apologised to President Robert Mugabe for allowing themselves to be misled by the opposition. After the June 27 re-run Presidential election, Botswana, Nigeria, Kenya, Liberia, Zmabia, Tanzania and other African countries had refused to recognise Robert Mugabe's victory. But now Ngathi writes: "the biggest surprise, however came from Nigeria, which sent a high profile emissary to South Africa on Sunday to seek a meeting with President Mugabe and offer apologies for taking an "uninformed position" on Zimbabwe's electoral process during the last AU summit in Egypt." Apologies also came from Zambia, Bostwana, and Tanzania. Did Nigeria apologise to Mugabe? The Ministry of Foreign Affairs owes Nigerians a clarification, if not explanation.
Tuesday, August 26, 2008
Eko / Lagos - you name it!
"Africa’s most traffic-plagued, most populous and fastest-growing megacity", World's most densely-populated city, 30th most expensive city, centre of excellence, commercial gateway to Nigeria, name your pick. This NY Times Article applies its outsider's lens to the conundrum that is Lagos, and highlights that juxtaposition that has become standard across Nigeria - filthy rich vs. dirt poor.
Today, what is Lagos synonymous with? And what would we like it to be 10 (or even 20) years from now? How can we get there? Will we have to lose yet another generation to the "get rich or die trying" mentality before we can see a Lagos (nay, a Nigeria) with a legitimate upper class, a booming middle class and a socially-secure lower class?
**************************
Lagos - Opulence & Chaos Meet in An African Boomtown - New York Times
LAGOS, Nigeria — The governor’s son sits hunched at the bar, contemplating his nearly empty bottle of Hennessy. On the dance floor, the airline director’s daughter sways back and forth to a hip-hop beat. Nearby, the star soccer player, just in from London, tries to squeeze past his growing circle of fans and hangers-on. In the center of the club, the oil magnate’s son gets on top of a table and takes a swig from a bottle of Dom Pérignon.
Just another Saturday night in Lagos, one of Africa’s money- and contrast-rich boomtowns. Already a city of superlatives on the continent (it has variously been deemed Africa’s most traffic-plagued, most populous and fastest-growing megacity), Lagos has a new title to add to its mantel: most expensive.
Lagos has always been one of the most powerful commercial hubs in West Africa, ever since slaves were first shipped from here to Europe and the Americas. But because of the rising price of oil, the declining United States dollar, the relocation of foreign workers from the oil-rich but kidnapping-prone Niger Delta, large privatization efforts and a mad dash for the city’s remaining plots of land, Lagos is more flush with cash and full of glitter than ever.
A recent study of the most expensive cities for expatriates by the consulting firm Mercer found that Lagos ranked 30th, making it only slightly less costly than New York but considerably more expensive than Los Angeles, Miami and Washington.
Even European cities like Stockholm and Barcelona, Spain, were found to be more affordable — and in Lagos the high prices are that much more eye-popping because the average Nigerian survives on less than $2 a day.
Evidence of vast amounts of money floating around the “islands” — two small pieces of land poking into the Atlantic that anchor the city’s economic activity and are home to banks, consulates and oil and telecommunications companies — is everywhere. Dinner for two at an average restaurant costs more than $200. A cocktail costs more than $15. A box of cereal costs $12 at a supermarket. Hotel rooms under $400 are difficult to find.
In the aisles of glistening new malls, expatriates and wealthy Nigerians often buy $10,000 watches and $5,000 cellphones. New BMWs, Mercedes-Benzes and Bentleys plod through grinding traffic, bumping over rocks and weaving around potholes.
Multimillion-dollar yachts speed up and down the creek separating the two islands. (The creek was recently determined to be too shallow for the biggest yachts, so a dredging project has been started to deepen the waterway.)
Apartment rents on the islands start at $3,000 a month, but rents of $6,000 to $7,000 a month are common here, and renters are required to pay two or three years of rent in advance.
But high prices do not always mean high quality. The city was built to accommodate fewer than 100,000 residents, but it is now home to an estimated 14 million or more, according to the state government. So no matter what your station in life is, it is impossible to avoid the city’s traffic or its lack of reliable water and electricity. Most homes and businesses on the islands run on diesel-powered generators nearly 24 hours a day, resulting in thousands of dollars in energy bills.
Tayo Emden, 33, a British-educated Ghanaian who has lived in Lagos for five years as a director for a telecommunications company, said the costs were just too high to stay.
“After living in London with colleagues, we thought Lagos would be nice and cushy, but we’re having second thoughts,” Ms. Emden said. “You used to get a lot of bang for your buck, but that’s not the case anymore.”
Several efforts have been made to create economic hubs away from the islands to reduce traffic and lessen the burden, but none have been successful. So at least three million commuters fight their way through hours of traffic to the islands every day. Many leave before 5 a.m. to beat the traffic, and many do not return home until after 10 p.m.
Moreover, most Lagosians do not enjoy the privileges of the city’s new wealth, and perhaps no economic division cuts deeper than housing. On the islands, plots of 645 square feet sell for millions of dollars, and houses built on the plots are subdivided and rented out to wealthy Nigerians or expatriates whose companies do not bargain down.
“Living in Lagos is tough, that’s the bottom line,” said Bola Sobande, the general manager of the popular Palms shopping mall. “But Nigerians are survivors. We survive against all odds. Until something else comes up, we’ll just hang in there.”
More than 70 percent of the city’s residents live in informal housing, crammed into slums with no electricity or water, according to Felix Morka, the executive director of the Social and Economic Rights Action Center, a local economic rights group.
“Only the superrich can compete in this market,” Mr. Morka said. “Most people are looking for a small plot of land where they can build a shack, or to rent space in what are known as ‘I See You, You See Me’ buildings with no facilities at all. That’s what people can afford.
“The oil companies can afford to rent out huge complexes for all their staff,” Mr. Morka said, “so why would a landlord want to rent out to the Nigerian teacher who barely is even assured of a salary at the end of the month?”
Because of widespread corruption, the vast amounts of money coming in rarely trickle down in Nigeria. Still, more and more people stream into the city every day, drawn by the prospect of wealth absent from most of the rest of Nigeria.
“People are moving to Lagos because you can find work, you don’t need to know anybody or have anything,” said Francisco Abosede, the state minister for public planning.
Early on a Sunday morning, as the rich and famous begin to stumble out of clubs and into the hazy light, they are quickly surrounded by dozens of young boys acting as informal parking attendants or hawking chewing gum, mints and phone cards. The boys are paid little mind, but if they are lucky, a small bill may be handed to them from behind the narrow slit of a tinted window of a departing BMW.
Today, what is Lagos synonymous with? And what would we like it to be 10 (or even 20) years from now? How can we get there? Will we have to lose yet another generation to the "get rich or die trying" mentality before we can see a Lagos (nay, a Nigeria) with a legitimate upper class, a booming middle class and a socially-secure lower class?
**************************
Lagos - Opulence & Chaos Meet in An African Boomtown - New York Times
LAGOS, Nigeria — The governor’s son sits hunched at the bar, contemplating his nearly empty bottle of Hennessy. On the dance floor, the airline director’s daughter sways back and forth to a hip-hop beat. Nearby, the star soccer player, just in from London, tries to squeeze past his growing circle of fans and hangers-on. In the center of the club, the oil magnate’s son gets on top of a table and takes a swig from a bottle of Dom Pérignon.
Just another Saturday night in Lagos, one of Africa’s money- and contrast-rich boomtowns. Already a city of superlatives on the continent (it has variously been deemed Africa’s most traffic-plagued, most populous and fastest-growing megacity), Lagos has a new title to add to its mantel: most expensive.
Lagos has always been one of the most powerful commercial hubs in West Africa, ever since slaves were first shipped from here to Europe and the Americas. But because of the rising price of oil, the declining United States dollar, the relocation of foreign workers from the oil-rich but kidnapping-prone Niger Delta, large privatization efforts and a mad dash for the city’s remaining plots of land, Lagos is more flush with cash and full of glitter than ever.
A recent study of the most expensive cities for expatriates by the consulting firm Mercer found that Lagos ranked 30th, making it only slightly less costly than New York but considerably more expensive than Los Angeles, Miami and Washington.
Even European cities like Stockholm and Barcelona, Spain, were found to be more affordable — and in Lagos the high prices are that much more eye-popping because the average Nigerian survives on less than $2 a day.
Evidence of vast amounts of money floating around the “islands” — two small pieces of land poking into the Atlantic that anchor the city’s economic activity and are home to banks, consulates and oil and telecommunications companies — is everywhere. Dinner for two at an average restaurant costs more than $200. A cocktail costs more than $15. A box of cereal costs $12 at a supermarket. Hotel rooms under $400 are difficult to find.
In the aisles of glistening new malls, expatriates and wealthy Nigerians often buy $10,000 watches and $5,000 cellphones. New BMWs, Mercedes-Benzes and Bentleys plod through grinding traffic, bumping over rocks and weaving around potholes.
Multimillion-dollar yachts speed up and down the creek separating the two islands. (The creek was recently determined to be too shallow for the biggest yachts, so a dredging project has been started to deepen the waterway.)
Apartment rents on the islands start at $3,000 a month, but rents of $6,000 to $7,000 a month are common here, and renters are required to pay two or three years of rent in advance.
But high prices do not always mean high quality. The city was built to accommodate fewer than 100,000 residents, but it is now home to an estimated 14 million or more, according to the state government. So no matter what your station in life is, it is impossible to avoid the city’s traffic or its lack of reliable water and electricity. Most homes and businesses on the islands run on diesel-powered generators nearly 24 hours a day, resulting in thousands of dollars in energy bills.
Tayo Emden, 33, a British-educated Ghanaian who has lived in Lagos for five years as a director for a telecommunications company, said the costs were just too high to stay.
“After living in London with colleagues, we thought Lagos would be nice and cushy, but we’re having second thoughts,” Ms. Emden said. “You used to get a lot of bang for your buck, but that’s not the case anymore.”
Several efforts have been made to create economic hubs away from the islands to reduce traffic and lessen the burden, but none have been successful. So at least three million commuters fight their way through hours of traffic to the islands every day. Many leave before 5 a.m. to beat the traffic, and many do not return home until after 10 p.m.
Moreover, most Lagosians do not enjoy the privileges of the city’s new wealth, and perhaps no economic division cuts deeper than housing. On the islands, plots of 645 square feet sell for millions of dollars, and houses built on the plots are subdivided and rented out to wealthy Nigerians or expatriates whose companies do not bargain down.
“Living in Lagos is tough, that’s the bottom line,” said Bola Sobande, the general manager of the popular Palms shopping mall. “But Nigerians are survivors. We survive against all odds. Until something else comes up, we’ll just hang in there.”
More than 70 percent of the city’s residents live in informal housing, crammed into slums with no electricity or water, according to Felix Morka, the executive director of the Social and Economic Rights Action Center, a local economic rights group.
“Only the superrich can compete in this market,” Mr. Morka said. “Most people are looking for a small plot of land where they can build a shack, or to rent space in what are known as ‘I See You, You See Me’ buildings with no facilities at all. That’s what people can afford.
“The oil companies can afford to rent out huge complexes for all their staff,” Mr. Morka said, “so why would a landlord want to rent out to the Nigerian teacher who barely is even assured of a salary at the end of the month?”
Because of widespread corruption, the vast amounts of money coming in rarely trickle down in Nigeria. Still, more and more people stream into the city every day, drawn by the prospect of wealth absent from most of the rest of Nigeria.
“People are moving to Lagos because you can find work, you don’t need to know anybody or have anything,” said Francisco Abosede, the state minister for public planning.
Early on a Sunday morning, as the rich and famous begin to stumble out of clubs and into the hazy light, they are quickly surrounded by dozens of young boys acting as informal parking attendants or hawking chewing gum, mints and phone cards. The boys are paid little mind, but if they are lucky, a small bill may be handed to them from behind the narrow slit of a tinted window of a departing BMW.
Tuesday, August 19, 2008
SaharaReporters - Report Yourself
Meant to put this up last week but....
In any case, do check out Saharareporters when you get a chance. Some have argued that it's just another seedy tabloid (online) newspaper - "if you believe what's on there you'll believe anything"; But in most cases, "where there's smoke, there's fire". The sorts of sensational news stories it reports (courtesy of everyday non-journalists who are privy to the lavish corruption and sordid activities within the corridors of the government) are a reflection of the level of ludicrousness our country has sunk to. As Sonala puts it in this Guardian article: "It is journalism that may be too important to be left to journalists."
(Oh, and while you're on there, be sure to read: "Chronicles of a Starving Cleaner" by Okey Ndibe)
---------------------
Our SaharaReporters - Sonola Olumhense
IF you are a Nigerian, and literate, but have never heard of Sahara Reporters or been to its website, something must be seriously wrong. I suggest you rectify that situation today.
SaharaReporters.com is the place to visit if you really want to understand where Nigeria has been, or what it is doing. It is journalism that may be too important to be left to journalists. It is, I suspect, the address that corrupt Nigerian politicians and their privileged criminal brethren detest the most on earth. SaharaReporters is the face of Citizen Journalism.
As a journalist, I believe that the industry thrives on the assumption that it will report society thoroughly and painstakingly. That is not always-or often-the case. Sometimes, journalism is about convenience: speeches and development about which the headlines are bigger than the substance, press conferences or statements.
In other words, not much. After all, while speeches on the floor of the legislature or at a conference may be very important and ought to be reported, publishing their highlights is not really reporting. Speeches often say nothing about the speaker, whose very actions may actually be in contradiction with his public claims.
That is why the most important challenge in journalism is to go beyond and behind the spoken or public word. That is the province of investigative or forensic journalism, because true reporting is about action. In Nigeria, this often poses tremendous difficulty for the mainstream press which may opt for a comfortable compromise.
A comfortable compromise is reporting a murder as committed by someone other than you. However, while it takes courage to report a murder or a theft; the paradox is that the more "important" the murderer or the thief, the more courage it takes to put that story on the front page.
But remember what Aesop once said: "We hang the petty thieves and appoint the great ones to public office." The man was Greek, but he must have been speaking about Nigeria. While our great thieves have brought the nation to its knees, they are not necessarily in hiding or in jail. The trouble is that when you read the mainstream press, you may not get that impression.
What SaharaReporters has done is to take this task on, and to empower the ordinary Nigerian to report his country. Indeed, the motto of SaharaReporters is: "Report Yourself".
It has provided an opportunity for Nigerian citizens with access to valuable information about Nigeria's leaders and their lifestyle to make a contribution to our understanding of those leaders that the mainstream press and their ownership may be uncomfortable with. In my view, then, SaharaReporters is Nigeria telling the truth to Nigeria. It is journalism by the people for the people.
How has this happened? In the past two decades, some amazing technologies have appeared that are capable of making journalism more cogent, urgent and powerful. These are tools that aid and ease investigation as well as rapid transmission, tools of effective and widespread broadcast or circulation, tools that make it possible for journalism to be more, and do more.
Of these tools has SaharaReporters taken advantage to give journalism in our country a boost, and challenge the mainstream press. With particular focus on corruption, SaharaReporters often sheds some incredible light on the track record of powerful Nigerians that most of us only whisper about in our bedrooms.
A quick search of the website reveals an assortment of such powerful Nigerians, what they have stolen, who their accomplices are, and where the bodies and booty are buried. There is published proof of fake higher degrees and titles being peddled by top Nigerians. There are stories of scam and vice by Nigerians in high office.
I do not know how SaharaReporters operates. But for an outfit that reportedly has such a small staff, it does seem to have the help of Nigerians who keep it persistently supplied with information and materiel.
I know that SaharaReporters has been called names. It is difficult to imagine any of those people about whom it has published unflattering accounts being happy. Strangely though, hardly anyone writes rebuttals to its stories, let alone sues them for inaccurate portrayals. What invariably seems to happen is the old Nigerian ploy of trying to ignore a story in the hope that it will blow over.
Not likely. Through the efforts of SaharaReporters, the nature of the Olusegun Obasanjo administration was made even plainer to the world. SaharaReporters is also monitoring the Umaru Yar'Adua government with an equally critical reporting and analytic eye.
The strength of SaharaReporters is obviously its high principles. Its advocacy is in its unwavering sense of right and wrong, not on the basis of any friends or permanent enemies. In the chaos that is Nigeria, an advocate is often bought off. That is not usually a difficult task, given the vast riches in the hands of many big thieves, and the false advocate soon disappears in his new riches.
SaharaReporters, on the contrary, has stuck to its mission of reporting with determination and courage, particularly in terrain that others avoid. Hopefully, the mainstream media will take advantage of the doors that the website often opens-including breaking stories--rather than dismissing them or considering the site a competitor.
In any case, an enterprise of this nature is never without cost, as patriotism does not pay the bills. Without a committed support base, SaharaReporters is certain to run into problems. Appealing for assistance, in this regard, a link on the site says:
"...We want to remain true to our dream of providing average readers with the tools that can help them make informed decisions about how their nations are run in the Sub-saharan African region..." it says, pledging to "remain the authentic, independent, and investigative citizen reporters who unearth what has remained hidden from the public eye..."
Hopefully, Nigerians who appreciate the patriotic work of SaharaReporters and recognize what is at stake will offer practical support. The future cannot be without cost. Report for duty. Report yourself.
sonala.olumhense@gmail.com
In any case, do check out Saharareporters when you get a chance. Some have argued that it's just another seedy tabloid (online) newspaper - "if you believe what's on there you'll believe anything"; But in most cases, "where there's smoke, there's fire". The sorts of sensational news stories it reports (courtesy of everyday non-journalists who are privy to the lavish corruption and sordid activities within the corridors of the government) are a reflection of the level of ludicrousness our country has sunk to. As Sonala puts it in this Guardian article: "It is journalism that may be too important to be left to journalists."
(Oh, and while you're on there, be sure to read: "Chronicles of a Starving Cleaner" by Okey Ndibe)
---------------------
Our SaharaReporters - Sonola Olumhense
IF you are a Nigerian, and literate, but have never heard of Sahara Reporters or been to its website, something must be seriously wrong. I suggest you rectify that situation today.
SaharaReporters.com is the place to visit if you really want to understand where Nigeria has been, or what it is doing. It is journalism that may be too important to be left to journalists. It is, I suspect, the address that corrupt Nigerian politicians and their privileged criminal brethren detest the most on earth. SaharaReporters is the face of Citizen Journalism. As a journalist, I believe that the industry thrives on the assumption that it will report society thoroughly and painstakingly. That is not always-or often-the case. Sometimes, journalism is about convenience: speeches and development about which the headlines are bigger than the substance, press conferences or statements.
In other words, not much. After all, while speeches on the floor of the legislature or at a conference may be very important and ought to be reported, publishing their highlights is not really reporting. Speeches often say nothing about the speaker, whose very actions may actually be in contradiction with his public claims.
That is why the most important challenge in journalism is to go beyond and behind the spoken or public word. That is the province of investigative or forensic journalism, because true reporting is about action. In Nigeria, this often poses tremendous difficulty for the mainstream press which may opt for a comfortable compromise.
A comfortable compromise is reporting a murder as committed by someone other than you. However, while it takes courage to report a murder or a theft; the paradox is that the more "important" the murderer or the thief, the more courage it takes to put that story on the front page.
But remember what Aesop once said: "We hang the petty thieves and appoint the great ones to public office." The man was Greek, but he must have been speaking about Nigeria. While our great thieves have brought the nation to its knees, they are not necessarily in hiding or in jail. The trouble is that when you read the mainstream press, you may not get that impression.
What SaharaReporters has done is to take this task on, and to empower the ordinary Nigerian to report his country. Indeed, the motto of SaharaReporters is: "Report Yourself".
It has provided an opportunity for Nigerian citizens with access to valuable information about Nigeria's leaders and their lifestyle to make a contribution to our understanding of those leaders that the mainstream press and their ownership may be uncomfortable with. In my view, then, SaharaReporters is Nigeria telling the truth to Nigeria. It is journalism by the people for the people.
How has this happened? In the past two decades, some amazing technologies have appeared that are capable of making journalism more cogent, urgent and powerful. These are tools that aid and ease investigation as well as rapid transmission, tools of effective and widespread broadcast or circulation, tools that make it possible for journalism to be more, and do more.
Of these tools has SaharaReporters taken advantage to give journalism in our country a boost, and challenge the mainstream press. With particular focus on corruption, SaharaReporters often sheds some incredible light on the track record of powerful Nigerians that most of us only whisper about in our bedrooms.
A quick search of the website reveals an assortment of such powerful Nigerians, what they have stolen, who their accomplices are, and where the bodies and booty are buried. There is published proof of fake higher degrees and titles being peddled by top Nigerians. There are stories of scam and vice by Nigerians in high office.
I do not know how SaharaReporters operates. But for an outfit that reportedly has such a small staff, it does seem to have the help of Nigerians who keep it persistently supplied with information and materiel.
I know that SaharaReporters has been called names. It is difficult to imagine any of those people about whom it has published unflattering accounts being happy. Strangely though, hardly anyone writes rebuttals to its stories, let alone sues them for inaccurate portrayals. What invariably seems to happen is the old Nigerian ploy of trying to ignore a story in the hope that it will blow over.
Not likely. Through the efforts of SaharaReporters, the nature of the Olusegun Obasanjo administration was made even plainer to the world. SaharaReporters is also monitoring the Umaru Yar'Adua government with an equally critical reporting and analytic eye.
The strength of SaharaReporters is obviously its high principles. Its advocacy is in its unwavering sense of right and wrong, not on the basis of any friends or permanent enemies. In the chaos that is Nigeria, an advocate is often bought off. That is not usually a difficult task, given the vast riches in the hands of many big thieves, and the false advocate soon disappears in his new riches.
SaharaReporters, on the contrary, has stuck to its mission of reporting with determination and courage, particularly in terrain that others avoid. Hopefully, the mainstream media will take advantage of the doors that the website often opens-including breaking stories--rather than dismissing them or considering the site a competitor.
In any case, an enterprise of this nature is never without cost, as patriotism does not pay the bills. Without a committed support base, SaharaReporters is certain to run into problems. Appealing for assistance, in this regard, a link on the site says:
"...We want to remain true to our dream of providing average readers with the tools that can help them make informed decisions about how their nations are run in the Sub-saharan African region..." it says, pledging to "remain the authentic, independent, and investigative citizen reporters who unearth what has remained hidden from the public eye..."
Hopefully, Nigerians who appreciate the patriotic work of SaharaReporters and recognize what is at stake will offer practical support. The future cannot be without cost. Report for duty. Report yourself.
sonala.olumhense@gmail.com
Sunday, August 10, 2008
Shuffering & Shmiling
Another memoir from Ofilispeaks. Sad to think that 30 years later, Fela's insightful analysis of the Nigerian state of being is still ever so apt. As Ofili puts it, "Nigerians have bypassed the government and look to God for hope". Necessarily a bad thing? Not if it gets you through the day. However, this system of "shuffering and smiling" is not sustainable, as things cannot progress without an accountable (and active) government in place. As our leaders turned themselves into demi-gods and drove our nation further into the ground between 1999 and 2007, we suffered and smiled. As the new administration busies itself with nothing, we continue to do what we do best. I only hope that we don't wake up one day to find that we have raised a new generation of suffering smilers who have learned to expect nothing of their leaders and wait in vain for elusive divine interventions.
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Memoirs Of An Immigrant: Shuffering and Shmiling - Ofili
In the early 70’s popular Nigerian artist Fela Kuti released “shuffering and shmiling” a song that served to juxtapose the chaotic environment of Africa with the blinding optimism of its indigenes. Optimism that many times was the product of a mass flooding of religious hope into the minds of Africa’s people. According to Fela “suffer suffer for world, enjoy for heaven” was the motto that seemed to place the minds of Africans into a false sense of enjoyment, one that caused them to ignore their current and often chaotic predicament and remain enthusiastically optimistic for a future that was bleak. Not surprisingly Fela’s song received national criticism from the upper echelons of the Nigerian government, who condemned his obvious claim of suffering. And by the lower class Nigerian citizenship seemingly offended with the notion that somehow they were satisfied with their current state of poverty. In 2003 Fela would be vindicated posthumously by a World Value Survey carried out by the University of Michigan. A survey that listed Nigerians as the happiest people in the world. A happiness that occurred amidst nefarious statistics courtesy www.ruralpoverty.com showing that 35% of Nigerians lived in abject poverty with more than double that number considered as poor. All this while still being ranked as the 20th poorest nation in the world. But somehow we had found a way to the top of a happiness poll?
As an immigrant into the United States I was confused, surely something must have been wrong with the survey sample. Surely the Nigerians that were surveyed were not the ones I spoke to on a weekly basis that complained about the bad roads or the consistently inconsistent power and water supply? Surely they did not include the hundreds of Nigerians that crowded foreign embassies clamoring for a chance of another life in any other country but Nigeria? Surely it did not include my Dad, who had his business run to the ground by greedy government officials insistent on getting paid undocumented business taxes? Surely it did consist of the Nigerians Fela had in mind when he sang…
Everyday my people dey inside bus, Shuffering and Shmiling
49 sitting 99 standing, Shuffering and Shmiling
Dem go pack dem self in like Sardine, Shuffering and Shmiling
Dem dey faint dem dey wake like cock, Shuffering and Shmiling
Dem go reach e house, water no dey, Shuffering and Shmiling
Dem go reach e bed, power no dey, Shuffering and Shmiling
Dem go reach e road, go-slow go halt, Shuffering and Shmiling
Dem go reach e road, police go slap, Shuffering and Shmiling
Dem go reach e road, Army go whip, Shuffering and Shmiling
Dem go look pocket, money no dey, Shuffering and Shmiling
Dem go reach e work, query ready, Shuffering and Shmiling
Everyday nah de same
But unfortunately it did. The survey consisted of the same suffering Nigerians who had somehow found a reason to smile for the World Value Survey; with a happiness ranking higher than both America and the United Kingdom combined. A ranking so economically illogical that it warranted a personal investigation by myself into the mechanisms that produced the survey results. The original article as published by the British New Scientist Magazine showed the survey results were determined from two key questions. The first question asked how “happy” an individual was at a particular moment. Under this context Nigerians came out on top. The second question asked how “satisfied” an individual was with life as a whole, finances and health. In this category Nigeria ranked near the middle for satisfaction. Both results were arithmetical averaged and Nigeria was determined to be the happiest nation in the world.
However, behind the survey science lay a trend that was hidden from much of news media outlets, out of all the countries surveyed, Nigeria was the only country in which its people were happy despite being less satisfied with life. Only Fela could have said it best, “Nigerians were suffering and smiling,” a situation that he blamed on the religiously influenced dogmatic optimism that possessed Nigeria. An optimism that not only isolated Nigerians from the apparent poverty they faced but also isolated the Government from its social responsibility to its people. Somehow according to Fela religion had made Nigeria dangerously optimistic.
This notion of religiously fueled dangerous optimism pushed my memories all the way back to my early childhood. A childhood in Nigeria that had religion as a mandatory part of life, almost everything involved religion...As a child I experienced my fair share of religious enthusiasm as a student at a catholic elementary school. Our morning assemblies consisted of both impromptu and memorized prayers that lasted up to an hour. And prayer did not simply stop at the assembly it continued in the classrooms at 12 noon when the bell rang for our prayer to Mary Magdalene. This was the norm for me, I just showed up and prayed whenever I was required to.
My religious innocence however became challenged as I got older and more socially conscious. A consciousness that sparked an internal battle between my religious and social spirits. I wanted to go out and do the things those teenagers my age did, unfortunately there was a slight problem. The problem was my mum; she was as religious as you could get. A missionary in Church, she prayed in the morning, listened to scriptures in the afternoons and preached to us at night. We went to Church almost every other day, Tuesday was bible study, Wednesday was prayer meeting, Saturday was Youth service and Sunday was the dreaded general service that lasted up to five hours long, it was terrifying. As a family we spent 50% of our lives in church, not even including the other 10% we spent at home praying. Suffice it to say, our family was as holy as you could possibly get.
Church sermons at that time revolved around a common theme, call on God for all your problems and he would answer you. This theme was spread through the sound systems of a myriad of churches across the nation. The theme focused on God as the solution of all of our nation’s problems, family problems, personal problems and even electric problem. Ironically I had a problem with this, one that was suppressed for years in Nigeria but only allowed to mature in America. In sharp contrast to Nigeria, church services in America were exceedingly short and straight to the point. But the key contrast did not reside in the length of the service, but rather in the theme of the service. A theme that, similar to churches in Nigeria spoke about God as the solution to all problems, but only if intertwined with an effort from the congregation. From their view point it was not alright to accept ones position of poverty with a hope that God in his time would make it better, you had to be willing to do something about your poverty. But ironically this part of religion is mostly overlooked in Nigeria, where God is pushed to the masses as the ultimate solution without demanding anything from the citizens. And the citizens in return don’t demand anything from their Government, instead they bypass the government and look up to God for hope. In doing so they expect little from the Government and little for themselves, this concept of little gives birth to the distorted conception by the world value survey analysis that somehow Nigerians are happy.
In the words of Desmond Tutu "When the missionaries came to Africa they had the Bible and we had the land. They said "Let us pray." We closed our eyes. When we opened them we had the Bible and they had the land." A statement that lays emphasis on what happens when religion is drunk without the consumption of social issues. Nigeria and Africa as a whole have to take a page from the American religious system. We have to charge people to demand more from themselves and government, while simultaneously praying to God as a catalyst for the solution. Only then can we experience true happiness.
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Memoirs Of An Immigrant: Shuffering and Shmiling - Ofili
In the early 70’s popular Nigerian artist Fela Kuti released “shuffering and shmiling” a song that served to juxtapose the chaotic environment of Africa with the blinding optimism of its indigenes. Optimism that many times was the product of a mass flooding of religious hope into the minds of Africa’s people. According to Fela “suffer suffer for world, enjoy for heaven” was the motto that seemed to place the minds of Africans into a false sense of enjoyment, one that caused them to ignore their current and often chaotic predicament and remain enthusiastically optimistic for a future that was bleak. Not surprisingly Fela’s song received national criticism from the upper echelons of the Nigerian government, who condemned his obvious claim of suffering. And by the lower class Nigerian citizenship seemingly offended with the notion that somehow they were satisfied with their current state of poverty. In 2003 Fela would be vindicated posthumously by a World Value Survey carried out by the University of Michigan. A survey that listed Nigerians as the happiest people in the world. A happiness that occurred amidst nefarious statistics courtesy www.ruralpoverty.com showing that 35% of Nigerians lived in abject poverty with more than double that number considered as poor. All this while still being ranked as the 20th poorest nation in the world. But somehow we had found a way to the top of a happiness poll?As an immigrant into the United States I was confused, surely something must have been wrong with the survey sample. Surely the Nigerians that were surveyed were not the ones I spoke to on a weekly basis that complained about the bad roads or the consistently inconsistent power and water supply? Surely they did not include the hundreds of Nigerians that crowded foreign embassies clamoring for a chance of another life in any other country but Nigeria? Surely it did not include my Dad, who had his business run to the ground by greedy government officials insistent on getting paid undocumented business taxes? Surely it did consist of the Nigerians Fela had in mind when he sang…
Everyday my people dey inside bus, Shuffering and Shmiling
49 sitting 99 standing, Shuffering and Shmiling
Dem go pack dem self in like Sardine, Shuffering and Shmiling
Dem dey faint dem dey wake like cock, Shuffering and Shmiling
Dem go reach e house, water no dey, Shuffering and Shmiling
Dem go reach e bed, power no dey, Shuffering and Shmiling
Dem go reach e road, go-slow go halt, Shuffering and Shmiling
Dem go reach e road, police go slap, Shuffering and Shmiling
Dem go reach e road, Army go whip, Shuffering and Shmiling
Dem go look pocket, money no dey, Shuffering and Shmiling
Dem go reach e work, query ready, Shuffering and Shmiling
Everyday nah de same
But unfortunately it did. The survey consisted of the same suffering Nigerians who had somehow found a reason to smile for the World Value Survey; with a happiness ranking higher than both America and the United Kingdom combined. A ranking so economically illogical that it warranted a personal investigation by myself into the mechanisms that produced the survey results. The original article as published by the British New Scientist Magazine showed the survey results were determined from two key questions. The first question asked how “happy” an individual was at a particular moment. Under this context Nigerians came out on top. The second question asked how “satisfied” an individual was with life as a whole, finances and health. In this category Nigeria ranked near the middle for satisfaction. Both results were arithmetical averaged and Nigeria was determined to be the happiest nation in the world.
However, behind the survey science lay a trend that was hidden from much of news media outlets, out of all the countries surveyed, Nigeria was the only country in which its people were happy despite being less satisfied with life. Only Fela could have said it best, “Nigerians were suffering and smiling,” a situation that he blamed on the religiously influenced dogmatic optimism that possessed Nigeria. An optimism that not only isolated Nigerians from the apparent poverty they faced but also isolated the Government from its social responsibility to its people. Somehow according to Fela religion had made Nigeria dangerously optimistic.
This notion of religiously fueled dangerous optimism pushed my memories all the way back to my early childhood. A childhood in Nigeria that had religion as a mandatory part of life, almost everything involved religion...As a child I experienced my fair share of religious enthusiasm as a student at a catholic elementary school. Our morning assemblies consisted of both impromptu and memorized prayers that lasted up to an hour. And prayer did not simply stop at the assembly it continued in the classrooms at 12 noon when the bell rang for our prayer to Mary Magdalene. This was the norm for me, I just showed up and prayed whenever I was required to.
My religious innocence however became challenged as I got older and more socially conscious. A consciousness that sparked an internal battle between my religious and social spirits. I wanted to go out and do the things those teenagers my age did, unfortunately there was a slight problem. The problem was my mum; she was as religious as you could get. A missionary in Church, she prayed in the morning, listened to scriptures in the afternoons and preached to us at night. We went to Church almost every other day, Tuesday was bible study, Wednesday was prayer meeting, Saturday was Youth service and Sunday was the dreaded general service that lasted up to five hours long, it was terrifying. As a family we spent 50% of our lives in church, not even including the other 10% we spent at home praying. Suffice it to say, our family was as holy as you could possibly get.
Church sermons at that time revolved around a common theme, call on God for all your problems and he would answer you. This theme was spread through the sound systems of a myriad of churches across the nation. The theme focused on God as the solution of all of our nation’s problems, family problems, personal problems and even electric problem. Ironically I had a problem with this, one that was suppressed for years in Nigeria but only allowed to mature in America. In sharp contrast to Nigeria, church services in America were exceedingly short and straight to the point. But the key contrast did not reside in the length of the service, but rather in the theme of the service. A theme that, similar to churches in Nigeria spoke about God as the solution to all problems, but only if intertwined with an effort from the congregation. From their view point it was not alright to accept ones position of poverty with a hope that God in his time would make it better, you had to be willing to do something about your poverty. But ironically this part of religion is mostly overlooked in Nigeria, where God is pushed to the masses as the ultimate solution without demanding anything from the citizens. And the citizens in return don’t demand anything from their Government, instead they bypass the government and look up to God for hope. In doing so they expect little from the Government and little for themselves, this concept of little gives birth to the distorted conception by the world value survey analysis that somehow Nigerians are happy.
In the words of Desmond Tutu "When the missionaries came to Africa they had the Bible and we had the land. They said "Let us pray." We closed our eyes. When we opened them we had the Bible and they had the land." A statement that lays emphasis on what happens when religion is drunk without the consumption of social issues. Nigeria and Africa as a whole have to take a page from the American religious system. We have to charge people to demand more from themselves and government, while simultaneously praying to God as a catalyst for the solution. Only then can we experience true happiness.
Wednesday, August 6, 2008
GOing GOing, back back
"SO what is Nigeria like?", I was asked by a colleague last night. IMMIGRANT'S DILEMMA (to borrow from ofilispeaks ;))! I want to uncloak the veil of ignorance of this Oxford graduate so he can be quick to tell his family/friends/ acquaintances that Nigeria isn't just this oil-exporting country that can't ever seem to get it right (guerillas in the niger delta, 419-stereotypes, corruption, etc). I want him to know that it is this eclectic melange of cultures, beliefs, attitudes, work ethics, and BLAH. The people are resilient and vibrant (some would say aggressive/loud, others would say life of the party), and the current mood is "hopeful limbo". But i know he wants performance ratings, economic growth/development stats - a clean-cut success/failure story (he was afterall making polite conversation). So instead, I talk about the slow/ unsure exodus of "patriotic" (some would say "jaded with the west") generation X, the safety concerns and the LAGOS HUSTLE. I tell him that Nigeria has its issues/problems like many a country out there (though we take the cake when it comes to the SCALE of these problems), but that with "a little bit of luck and a lot of work", we will one day get it right... How's that for 2 cents!
Reverse brain drain as ambitious Nigerians come home - By Nick Tattersall (REUTERS article)
LAGOS (Reuters) - From cocktails with hip-hop stars to sushi with smooth-suited bankers, it's no wonder Nigerians moving back after decades in New York or London feel right at home among the high-rolling elite of Lagos.
This urban sprawl of 14 million people, the chaotic hub of Africa's most populous nation, may epitomise what many foreigners fear most about megacities in the developing world: violent crime, corrupt police and crumbling infrastructure.
Yet legions of young Nigerians, educated at English public schools and U.S. Ivy League universities, are leaving highly paid careers with Wall Street banks and City of London consultancies to return to the Lagos hustle.
The draw?
Not just a pay package that approaches or matches what is on offer in the United States or Europe, but a dash of patriotism -- a chance to help fulfil an ambition of building world-class Nigerian businesses as an example to the rest of Africa.
"In the States, it's an established economy. You can't create another Apple, you can't create another Microsoft, you can't really create another Disney," said Michael Akindele, who left U.S. consultancy firm Accenture to set up his own business investing in Nigerian media and entertainment.
"I'm stepping away from that salary, that comfortable, stable environment where you have power all the time, you have water all the time. But here I can create the lifestyle I want."
Nigeria is the world's eighth biggest oil exporter but its economy has been hobbled by decades of endemic corruption and unemployment is high. A power sector crisis, which means much of the country can go without electricity for weeks or months, has closed hundreds of factories and cut thousands of jobs in sub-Saharan Africa's largest economy after South Africa.
Many wealthy Nigerians of Akindele's generation were sent to boarding schools in England or the United States in the late 1980s and 1990s, when Nigeria was a military dictatorship with little foreign investment and a disintegrating education system.
They watched with cautious optimism as it began to return to democracy in 1999 with the election of Olusegun Obasanjo after three decades of military rule, and welcomed the reforms he started to push through after winning a second term in 2003.
When Nigeria used $12 billion (6.1 billion pounds) of oil savings to pay back debts owed to the Paris Club of rich creditor nations in 2005, and won the write-off of a further $18 billion in return, foreign investors and diaspora Nigerians sat up and took note.
"I was following all this from London and started to believe now was the time to start planning to come back," said Kayode Akindele, 28, no relation to Michael, who returned to work for United Bank for Africa's (UBA) investment banking arm, UBA Global Markets.
ENTREPRENEURIAL SPIRIT
Kayode Akindele, an Oxford graduate who lived in Britain for more than 16 years, was working on structured derivatives for Lloyds TSB in London when he was introduced to Tony Elumelu, chief executive of UBA, two years ago. Elumelu was looking to build a world-class investment bank in Nigeria and Akindele's skills were exactly what he needed.
"There was a sense of patriotism. I have always regarded myself as Nigerian and planned to return to Nigeria eventually," said Akindele, now a vice president at UBA Global Markets.
Financial sector reforms in 2005 forced Nigeria's banks to consolidate, creating multibillion-dollar institutions with the capacity to branch out into sophisticated new markets and pay salaries on a par with some of their Western peers.
Banks have also seen explosive growth on the back of record oil prices and a growing middle class among Nigeria's 140 million people, and have been aggressively raising capital and increasing their capacity to lend. Diaspora Nigerians -- with experience in banking but also the cultural knowledge to navigate the complexities of doing business in Nigeria -- have been in high demand ever since.
"I think there's a window that will be there for maybe another 18 months to two years," said Chuka Mordi, head of business development at First City Monument Bank.
"That's the view at the moment, that people moving back understand exotic products ... but it will percolate to the local sector and people will learn these things and there won't be any need to drag investment bankers from New York or London."
Nigeria's $95 billion stock market was one of the best performing emerging markets in the world last year, attracting private equity and hedge fund investors from Europe, Asia and the United States.
THE LAGOS HUSTLE
The world of vanilla interest rate swaps may seem a million miles from the realities of life on the streets of Lagos, where hawkers selling everything from phone charge cards to electric irons ply their trade among belching minibuses and moped taxis.
But bankers hope that building strong financial institutions will help open credit lines to millions of would-be entrepreneurs, allowing them to develop small businesses and lift themselves out of the informal sector, which accounts for a major part of the active workforce.
"When you see the hustle on the streets of Lagos, all those traders selling all those products, you know the street works," said Obi Asika, an Eton-educated entrepreneur whose own record label sells albums through market traders and street sellers.
"You formalise distribution in Nigeria today, it's a billion dollar business. Because everybody needs distribution. Everybody's got products," he said.
The idea of making money as a businessman in Nigeria -- long spurned by some of the elite as inferior to a high-powered job in the public sector -- is catching the popular imagination, demonstrating to an ambitious young generation that you don't have to be in the pay of government to get rich.
It is a point hammered home by "The Apprentice Africa", a reality TV show co-produced by Michael Akindele's Executive Group and Asika's Storm Media based on the hit U.S. series, in which aspiring entrepreneurs compete for a job with a top businessman.
"You get up in the morning and you see all of Lagos on the move, young boys trying to make ends meet. It's an eye-opener," said Isaac Dankyi-Koranteng, winner of the first series, aired on free-to-view TV in Ghana, Kenya, Uganda and Nigeria. The government is still the largest official single employer in Nigeria, and the vast majority of people still live on less than $2 a day, but the new private sector elite hope that if they avoid the mistakes of their kleptocratic predecessors, Nigeria may haul itself out of poverty and corruption.
"There are issues. It's not Valhalla. We're not in Milton's Paradise yet," said Asika. "But I believe in Nigeria, I'm positive about this country."
Reverse brain drain as ambitious Nigerians come home - By Nick Tattersall (REUTERS article)
LAGOS (Reuters) - From cocktails with hip-hop stars to sushi with smooth-suited bankers, it's no wonder Nigerians moving back after decades in New York or London feel right at home among the high-rolling elite of Lagos.
This urban sprawl of 14 million people, the chaotic hub of Africa's most populous nation, may epitomise what many foreigners fear most about megacities in the developing world: violent crime, corrupt police and crumbling infrastructure.
Yet legions of young Nigerians, educated at English public schools and U.S. Ivy League universities, are leaving highly paid careers with Wall Street banks and City of London consultancies to return to the Lagos hustle.
The draw?
Not just a pay package that approaches or matches what is on offer in the United States or Europe, but a dash of patriotism -- a chance to help fulfil an ambition of building world-class Nigerian businesses as an example to the rest of Africa.
"In the States, it's an established economy. You can't create another Apple, you can't create another Microsoft, you can't really create another Disney," said Michael Akindele, who left U.S. consultancy firm Accenture to set up his own business investing in Nigerian media and entertainment.
"I'm stepping away from that salary, that comfortable, stable environment where you have power all the time, you have water all the time. But here I can create the lifestyle I want."
Nigeria is the world's eighth biggest oil exporter but its economy has been hobbled by decades of endemic corruption and unemployment is high. A power sector crisis, which means much of the country can go without electricity for weeks or months, has closed hundreds of factories and cut thousands of jobs in sub-Saharan Africa's largest economy after South Africa.
Many wealthy Nigerians of Akindele's generation were sent to boarding schools in England or the United States in the late 1980s and 1990s, when Nigeria was a military dictatorship with little foreign investment and a disintegrating education system.
They watched with cautious optimism as it began to return to democracy in 1999 with the election of Olusegun Obasanjo after three decades of military rule, and welcomed the reforms he started to push through after winning a second term in 2003.
When Nigeria used $12 billion (6.1 billion pounds) of oil savings to pay back debts owed to the Paris Club of rich creditor nations in 2005, and won the write-off of a further $18 billion in return, foreign investors and diaspora Nigerians sat up and took note.
"I was following all this from London and started to believe now was the time to start planning to come back," said Kayode Akindele, 28, no relation to Michael, who returned to work for United Bank for Africa's (UBA) investment banking arm, UBA Global Markets.
ENTREPRENEURIAL SPIRIT
Kayode Akindele, an Oxford graduate who lived in Britain for more than 16 years, was working on structured derivatives for Lloyds TSB in London when he was introduced to Tony Elumelu, chief executive of UBA, two years ago. Elumelu was looking to build a world-class investment bank in Nigeria and Akindele's skills were exactly what he needed.
"There was a sense of patriotism. I have always regarded myself as Nigerian and planned to return to Nigeria eventually," said Akindele, now a vice president at UBA Global Markets.
Financial sector reforms in 2005 forced Nigeria's banks to consolidate, creating multibillion-dollar institutions with the capacity to branch out into sophisticated new markets and pay salaries on a par with some of their Western peers.
Banks have also seen explosive growth on the back of record oil prices and a growing middle class among Nigeria's 140 million people, and have been aggressively raising capital and increasing their capacity to lend. Diaspora Nigerians -- with experience in banking but also the cultural knowledge to navigate the complexities of doing business in Nigeria -- have been in high demand ever since.
"I think there's a window that will be there for maybe another 18 months to two years," said Chuka Mordi, head of business development at First City Monument Bank.
"That's the view at the moment, that people moving back understand exotic products ... but it will percolate to the local sector and people will learn these things and there won't be any need to drag investment bankers from New York or London."
Nigeria's $95 billion stock market was one of the best performing emerging markets in the world last year, attracting private equity and hedge fund investors from Europe, Asia and the United States.
THE LAGOS HUSTLE
The world of vanilla interest rate swaps may seem a million miles from the realities of life on the streets of Lagos, where hawkers selling everything from phone charge cards to electric irons ply their trade among belching minibuses and moped taxis.
But bankers hope that building strong financial institutions will help open credit lines to millions of would-be entrepreneurs, allowing them to develop small businesses and lift themselves out of the informal sector, which accounts for a major part of the active workforce.
"When you see the hustle on the streets of Lagos, all those traders selling all those products, you know the street works," said Obi Asika, an Eton-educated entrepreneur whose own record label sells albums through market traders and street sellers.
"You formalise distribution in Nigeria today, it's a billion dollar business. Because everybody needs distribution. Everybody's got products," he said.
The idea of making money as a businessman in Nigeria -- long spurned by some of the elite as inferior to a high-powered job in the public sector -- is catching the popular imagination, demonstrating to an ambitious young generation that you don't have to be in the pay of government to get rich.
It is a point hammered home by "The Apprentice Africa", a reality TV show co-produced by Michael Akindele's Executive Group and Asika's Storm Media based on the hit U.S. series, in which aspiring entrepreneurs compete for a job with a top businessman.
"You get up in the morning and you see all of Lagos on the move, young boys trying to make ends meet. It's an eye-opener," said Isaac Dankyi-Koranteng, winner of the first series, aired on free-to-view TV in Ghana, Kenya, Uganda and Nigeria. The government is still the largest official single employer in Nigeria, and the vast majority of people still live on less than $2 a day, but the new private sector elite hope that if they avoid the mistakes of their kleptocratic predecessors, Nigeria may haul itself out of poverty and corruption.
"There are issues. It's not Valhalla. We're not in Milton's Paradise yet," said Asika. "But I believe in Nigeria, I'm positive about this country."
Sunday, July 27, 2008
WITH LOVE
The response below is from yet another friend of tAB, Bimbo, who is part of remarkable initiative trying to change the circumstances of underprivileged children in Nigeria for the better...one step at a time. With Love From Friends (WLFF) is a not-for-profit organisation founded by some six friends who came together to make a positive contribution to the advancement of quality education in Africa. WLFF aims to assist charities and community school projects in Nigeria to raise funds, improve infrastructure and provide basic resources. Do stop by their blog, and if you're in the city of London this upcoming weekend, come out to learn more about this inspirational group of friends 'becoming the change they want to see' (as well as enjoy a 90s soul night out of course!)
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BUT, BUT WHY MUMMY? - Bimbo Taiwo
Reading Okechukwu Ofili's 'Please Spare The Rod' piece really resonated with me. I think we are all familiar with the 'treat the child harshly' temperament that most Nigerian parents subscribe to. Slaps, flogging, abuses and curses are rained on children by their own parents and not just when a child has been bad, sometimes just because.
No really, WHY???
I put it down mostly to the daily frustrations of living. Allow me to demonstrate...
Parent returns home from work:
Business was bad today, what do you do - Give that child a hot slap!
THE RESULT: A nation of cold, angry, frustrated parents and children(no thanks to the former). Its a cycle that ensures no one goes untouched and psychology will tell us that if it was done to us we are likely to flog/curse/hit our children too.
What about a kiss and some cuddle time for the children when a Nigerian parent gets back from work, yes even for the older ones - i've never heard of it! I dont even think I had heard of the custom of Parent/Children hugs till I really clued into cable tv where it seemed to be freely given at any and every opportunity.
How many times have you watched a film where the child runs away/does something really stupid and dangerous; the scene where the Parents are reconciled with their child never ceases to frustrate me. The parents run up to their child, hug her, ask if shes okay, throw in a 'you really scared us you know' line in a pukey patronising tone, more cuddles, more kisses - WHAT?
The world and the way it works is cold and frustrating enough without us having to relate to others that way too.
With Love,
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On this project, we are partnering with African Child Development Initiative (ACDI), a charitable organization with a vision to promote lasting improvements in the lives of local underprivileged children. Like us, they also believe education is the key to empowering poor communities in the longer term. One of their current projects is the rehabilitation of Premier Foundation Primary school, an extremely ill-eqiupped primary school in Makoko, a slum lagoon in the densely populated Nigerian city of Lagos. Check out the site for details on this and other projects:
EVENTS: We have two major events this year... a fundraiser (summer) and a benefit evening (autumn). More info on the summer event below.
In the meantime, in order to keep updated please register to become a friend on the site and we will send you details of our upcoming events.
WLFF would like to invite you to come and have a fabulous nite at the..
"With Love From Friends" (WLFF) Official Launch Event!!
Attractions on the nite include:
FABULOUS venue in the heart of the city of London
Great Soul and 90's r'n'b music
Caricaturist
Games room dedicated to games of snooker.
All the chocs and sweets you can eat.
Enter into the Raffle on the night to get in with a chance to win:
Free tickets to the Ball at the Millenium Hotel Gloucester Road 4th October.
and lots more..
********************
BUT, BUT WHY MUMMY? - Bimbo Taiwo
Reading Okechukwu Ofili's 'Please Spare The Rod' piece really resonated with me. I think we are all familiar with the 'treat the child harshly' temperament that most Nigerian parents subscribe to. Slaps, flogging, abuses and curses are rained on children by their own parents and not just when a child has been bad, sometimes just because.
No really, WHY???
I put it down mostly to the daily frustrations of living. Allow me to demonstrate...
Parent returns home from work:
Business was bad today, what do you do - Give that child a hot slap!
NEPA has been terrible, you've been sat in the dark for a few hours now and already spent a gross mount on diesel this week, what do you do - Give that child a flogging!
Your mother-in-law has been irritating you, talking behind your back to the rest of your husband's family, what do you do - Give that child a never ending round of torture with words!
THE RESULT: A nation of cold, angry, frustrated parents and children(no thanks to the former). Its a cycle that ensures no one goes untouched and psychology will tell us that if it was done to us we are likely to flog/curse/hit our children too.
What about a kiss and some cuddle time for the children when a Nigerian parent gets back from work, yes even for the older ones - i've never heard of it! I dont even think I had heard of the custom of Parent/Children hugs till I really clued into cable tv where it seemed to be freely given at any and every opportunity.
How many times have you watched a film where the child runs away/does something really stupid and dangerous; the scene where the Parents are reconciled with their child never ceases to frustrate me. The parents run up to their child, hug her, ask if shes okay, throw in a 'you really scared us you know' line in a pukey patronising tone, more cuddles, more kisses - WHAT?
I can't count how many times I've screamed in my head (& admittedly at the TV) - somebody give that child.. a hot slap, a round of flogging, some real punishment, anybody!!!
Ahh..The feeling of (the African upbringing is the best) smugness only subsides when i'm with an apparently married/loving Nigerian couple and the closest they get to physical contact ever, in the presence of company is one putting the house keys in the others pocket. It seems even when we Nigerians do want to be loving and expressive and caring to the people we love we just can't. Is it the cycle, a curse, the psychologist's theory all over again? Then I start thinking.. well maybe those hugs are not such a bad idea.
The world and the way it works is cold and frustrating enough without us having to relate to others that way too.
With Love,
Bimbo
WLFF
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Project this year: CHILDREN OF IWAYA PROJECT - BOOK FUND
On this project, we are partnering with African Child Development Initiative (ACDI), a charitable organization with a vision to promote lasting improvements in the lives of local underprivileged children. Like us, they also believe education is the key to empowering poor communities in the longer term. One of their current projects is the rehabilitation of Premier Foundation Primary school, an extremely ill-eqiupped primary school in Makoko, a slum lagoon in the densely populated Nigerian city of Lagos. Check out the site for details on this and other projects:
EVENTS: We have two major events this year... a fundraiser (summer) and a benefit evening (autumn). More info on the summer event below.
In the meantime, in order to keep updated please register to become a friend on the site and we will send you details of our upcoming events.
WLFF would like to invite you to come and have a fabulous nite at the..
"With Love From Friends" (WLFF) Official Launch Event!!
Attractions on the nite include:
FABULOUS venue in the heart of the city of London
Great Soul and 90's r'n'b music
Caricaturist
Games room dedicated to games of snooker.
All the chocs and sweets you can eat.
Enter into the Raffle on the night to get in with a chance to win:
Free tickets to the Ball at the Millenium Hotel Gloucester Road 4th October.
and lots more..
Sunday, July 20, 2008
Memoirs of an Immigrant: Please Spare the Rod
Another thought-provoking article from Okechukwu Ofili. I'm sure many of us have experienced the scene he describes below, and thought: I'm going to raise my kids the "African" way - with discipline, and none of this "talk anyhow" business. Having passed through a primary school where flogging/caning was condoned, I agree that some teachers/parents take the act too far too often. One can only wonder how many dyslexic or ADHD kids passed through our school systems battered/ bruised and stripped of any self-confidence in their unique abilities. (I remember a kid who was caned often because of his unsightly handwriting, when the fact that the teacher forced him to write with his right hand instead of his natural left, was the main cause of the terrible handwriting in the first place!) Having never raised any kids of my own, anything i say is easier said than done...but nonetheless, we would love to hear your reasons (views) for(on) sparing the rod versus not.
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Memoirs Of An Immigrant: Please Spare The Rod
On a hot 1995 summer morning my family gathered for breakfast in the reception of a hotel. It was the same sweet breakfast routine, tea, bread and a little family talk, the moment was beautiful. However in the space of less than 30 seconds what seemed like a beautiful breakfast gathering became a bitter family experience. From the corner of the room came the words “I hate you Mum,” “Your Stupid Mum,” and other words not fit for the public. It was a kid barely 10 years old raining words of insult on his mum, the whole room froze as the kid went on for what must have been a whole minute of diatribe against his Mum. Something about this picture was wrong, I knew it was wrong because I saw the look on my fathers face and the movement of my Mothers hand, they were thinking the same thing “why hasn’t someone knocked this kid out?” Then I remembered we were in America…
Growing up in Nigeria my parents favorite bible passage was “spare the rod and spoil the child,” a phrase they turned into action on numerous occasions. To make matters worse my Mum was an elementary school teacher in the most conservative “beat your kids” country of Nigeria. Armed with backing from the Nigerian government and a skill set developed from years of flogging her elementary school students she could be described as a well versed mercenary of flogging. For instance if the hotel scene had played out in Nigeria, the poor kid would have been rushed to the Igbobi General hospital before he could say “Mum.” And he would have been put there because of slipper projectile flung from my mum from 50 feet across his room. But he was in America and all my parents could do was stare in disgust. In their minds they probably blamed the lack of respect on the Liberal American Society, a society that deemed it atrocious for a parent to flog a child. Nigeria was the complete opposite, where children could not talk to their parents without first gaining permission to speak. Flogging was ubiquitous, everyone flogged, and it could be your aunty, your uncle, even your Mums best enemy. If you stepped out of line and your mum was not around someone was there to put you back in line, with a little belt help. This freedom of flogging instilled a degree of respect in the Nigerian community that is all but rare in the American community. Too many times I observe kids in the American community talking back to their parents or questioning their actions; on the flip side the immigrant kids especially from Africa are silent. A silence that is most likely a direct result of flogging.
But sometimes the flogging loses its focus and becomes abuse. I faced that sort of aimless abuse in elementary school during a morning Yoruba class. The topic of the day was numbers, for the first time we did not just stop at 10, but went all the way to 20. The teaching on that day was done in a strictly oratorical style, the teacher made the class repeat the numbers first in English and then in Yoruba “One-Okan” “Two-Meji” “Three-Meta” “Four-Merin” over and over again till we were almost sore in the lungs. After what seemed like an eternity of numerical recitation, our teacher wiped the chalk board clean and instructed the entire class to write down the Yoruba numbers from 1 to 20 in our notebooks. As was customary our teacher went around the class monitoring and assisting the students with the assignment. She finally made it around to my table, were I was apparently struggling with the assignment. I swear I could recite the whole thing when she stood in front of the class, but once I had to do it on my own, my mind went blank. She stood over me asking me to write down something but I couldn’t, I couldn’t remember a thing and then it began. She hit me on the back with a 30 cm wooden yellow ruler as if to knock out the words stuck in my mind, but that didn’t seem to work, a fact reinforced when pieces of her ruler came shattering down on the cold concrete floor. An action that prompted her to utilize a high yield strength cane to get the words out, a cane which she intermittently landed on my back over and over again. I remember sitting down waiting for the ordeal to end, I had no idea what to do except sit and absorb the pain. I tried to write but my words didn’t make sense. I felt like a failure, why me out of a class of 50 people, why me? The image of incoherent words scribbled on a notebook drenched with tears from my own eyes and torn with confusion from my own pen, was permanently etched in my mind.
It would take years for me to recover from that incident, years of low self confidence in my academic ability. But when I finally overcame it, it was because of something other than the rod I was used to. It was my second year high school class report that unraveled a potential that had been beat down for years. That year I brought my worst report home, I had performed miserably. I expected the worst from my Mum, she was definitely going to be angry or upset and I knew I was going to get flogged, it was inevitable. I gathered myself and presented my report to my Mum. I never could tell if she was extremely busy or simply worried at that moment, regardless of the circumstances, she did not say a word. She just kept silent, a silence so loud that it shook the very foundations of intelligence that had been beat down for years. Something about the silence stung me, more than any cane or belt had stung me. At that moment, I made a decision that the next time I brought my report home it would not be met with silence but with loud sounds of praise. That moment was the day I discovered myself, and made a turn around in academic and leadership performance that has bolstered me through life till this moment. Unfortunately lots of children might never have the chance to discover themselves. They are trapped in a society monopolized by flogging as the only path towards respect and intelligence. A society that flogs first and asks questions never. I recall many instances where I saw kids beat over and over again for being too slow or hyperactive, but when I look back at the words of Bill Cosby in his book “Common People” and contrast my life experience in the States, I can’t help but think that some of those kids never deserved to be beat. In his book Bill Cosby talks about kids that are motivated more with words as opposed to the rod. A strong argument he reinforces via a simple juxtaposition of the African American and Asian American community when it comes to child discipline. In the African American community an astonishing 94% of parents believe in flogging as sharp contrast to the Asian community where only 34% of parents approve of such acts. With such lopsidedness, you would expect the Asian community to be less respectful of their elders, but it’s the reverse. Asians for years have shown a level of respect for their elders that exceeds that of the African Immigrant community. Their children are involved in less crimes and are known for their academic accomplishments, all this in a system that frowns down against flogging children. But worse are those kids that grow up with medical problems, deemed too stupid for society, instead of visiting doctors they endure sessions of flogging. They grow up physically abused and mentally confused, the same confusion I faced staring at my tear drenched notebook as my back was beat over and over again.
Am not advocating one extreme or the other, because we know this issue like many others is not about right or wrong, but rather flexibility in determining when right is right and wrong is wrong. The African community and American community can learn a bit from themselves, a fusion of ideologies measured in the right amount would create atmosphere of love and respect that would catalyze the growth of well rounded children. In raising our children or younger siblings; it is our responsibility to ensure our attempts to use the rod is diluted with an attempt to give words of love, encouragement and support. Only then can we raise children with the best ideologies from both worlds.
Okechukwu Ofili
Copyright © 2008 Ofili Speaks, Inc. All rights reserved
----------------------------
Memoirs Of An Immigrant: Please Spare The Rod
On a hot 1995 summer morning my family gathered for breakfast in the reception of a hotel. It was the same sweet breakfast routine, tea, bread and a little family talk, the moment was beautiful. However in the space of less than 30 seconds what seemed like a beautiful breakfast gathering became a bitter family experience. From the corner of the room came the words “I hate you Mum,” “Your Stupid Mum,” and other words not fit for the public. It was a kid barely 10 years old raining words of insult on his mum, the whole room froze as the kid went on for what must have been a whole minute of diatribe against his Mum. Something about this picture was wrong, I knew it was wrong because I saw the look on my fathers face and the movement of my Mothers hand, they were thinking the same thing “why hasn’t someone knocked this kid out?” Then I remembered we were in America…
Growing up in Nigeria my parents favorite bible passage was “spare the rod and spoil the child,” a phrase they turned into action on numerous occasions. To make matters worse my Mum was an elementary school teacher in the most conservative “beat your kids” country of Nigeria. Armed with backing from the Nigerian government and a skill set developed from years of flogging her elementary school students she could be described as a well versed mercenary of flogging. For instance if the hotel scene had played out in Nigeria, the poor kid would have been rushed to the Igbobi General hospital before he could say “Mum.” And he would have been put there because of slipper projectile flung from my mum from 50 feet across his room. But he was in America and all my parents could do was stare in disgust. In their minds they probably blamed the lack of respect on the Liberal American Society, a society that deemed it atrocious for a parent to flog a child. Nigeria was the complete opposite, where children could not talk to their parents without first gaining permission to speak. Flogging was ubiquitous, everyone flogged, and it could be your aunty, your uncle, even your Mums best enemy. If you stepped out of line and your mum was not around someone was there to put you back in line, with a little belt help. This freedom of flogging instilled a degree of respect in the Nigerian community that is all but rare in the American community. Too many times I observe kids in the American community talking back to their parents or questioning their actions; on the flip side the immigrant kids especially from Africa are silent. A silence that is most likely a direct result of flogging.
But sometimes the flogging loses its focus and becomes abuse. I faced that sort of aimless abuse in elementary school during a morning Yoruba class. The topic of the day was numbers, for the first time we did not just stop at 10, but went all the way to 20. The teaching on that day was done in a strictly oratorical style, the teacher made the class repeat the numbers first in English and then in Yoruba “One-Okan” “Two-Meji” “Three-Meta” “Four-Merin” over and over again till we were almost sore in the lungs. After what seemed like an eternity of numerical recitation, our teacher wiped the chalk board clean and instructed the entire class to write down the Yoruba numbers from 1 to 20 in our notebooks. As was customary our teacher went around the class monitoring and assisting the students with the assignment. She finally made it around to my table, were I was apparently struggling with the assignment. I swear I could recite the whole thing when she stood in front of the class, but once I had to do it on my own, my mind went blank. She stood over me asking me to write down something but I couldn’t, I couldn’t remember a thing and then it began. She hit me on the back with a 30 cm wooden yellow ruler as if to knock out the words stuck in my mind, but that didn’t seem to work, a fact reinforced when pieces of her ruler came shattering down on the cold concrete floor. An action that prompted her to utilize a high yield strength cane to get the words out, a cane which she intermittently landed on my back over and over again. I remember sitting down waiting for the ordeal to end, I had no idea what to do except sit and absorb the pain. I tried to write but my words didn’t make sense. I felt like a failure, why me out of a class of 50 people, why me? The image of incoherent words scribbled on a notebook drenched with tears from my own eyes and torn with confusion from my own pen, was permanently etched in my mind.
It would take years for me to recover from that incident, years of low self confidence in my academic ability. But when I finally overcame it, it was because of something other than the rod I was used to. It was my second year high school class report that unraveled a potential that had been beat down for years. That year I brought my worst report home, I had performed miserably. I expected the worst from my Mum, she was definitely going to be angry or upset and I knew I was going to get flogged, it was inevitable. I gathered myself and presented my report to my Mum. I never could tell if she was extremely busy or simply worried at that moment, regardless of the circumstances, she did not say a word. She just kept silent, a silence so loud that it shook the very foundations of intelligence that had been beat down for years. Something about the silence stung me, more than any cane or belt had stung me. At that moment, I made a decision that the next time I brought my report home it would not be met with silence but with loud sounds of praise. That moment was the day I discovered myself, and made a turn around in academic and leadership performance that has bolstered me through life till this moment. Unfortunately lots of children might never have the chance to discover themselves. They are trapped in a society monopolized by flogging as the only path towards respect and intelligence. A society that flogs first and asks questions never. I recall many instances where I saw kids beat over and over again for being too slow or hyperactive, but when I look back at the words of Bill Cosby in his book “Common People” and contrast my life experience in the States, I can’t help but think that some of those kids never deserved to be beat. In his book Bill Cosby talks about kids that are motivated more with words as opposed to the rod. A strong argument he reinforces via a simple juxtaposition of the African American and Asian American community when it comes to child discipline. In the African American community an astonishing 94% of parents believe in flogging as sharp contrast to the Asian community where only 34% of parents approve of such acts. With such lopsidedness, you would expect the Asian community to be less respectful of their elders, but it’s the reverse. Asians for years have shown a level of respect for their elders that exceeds that of the African Immigrant community. Their children are involved in less crimes and are known for their academic accomplishments, all this in a system that frowns down against flogging children. But worse are those kids that grow up with medical problems, deemed too stupid for society, instead of visiting doctors they endure sessions of flogging. They grow up physically abused and mentally confused, the same confusion I faced staring at my tear drenched notebook as my back was beat over and over again.
Am not advocating one extreme or the other, because we know this issue like many others is not about right or wrong, but rather flexibility in determining when right is right and wrong is wrong. The African community and American community can learn a bit from themselves, a fusion of ideologies measured in the right amount would create atmosphere of love and respect that would catalyze the growth of well rounded children. In raising our children or younger siblings; it is our responsibility to ensure our attempts to use the rod is diluted with an attempt to give words of love, encouragement and support. Only then can we raise children with the best ideologies from both worlds.
Okechukwu Ofili
Copyright © 2008 Ofili Speaks, Inc. All rights reserved
Thursday, July 10, 2008
Saturday, July 5, 2008
MEMOIRS OF AN IMMIGRANT: THE STOP SIGN
Another guest post by a pretty amazing indivdual, who is, in my favorite words, "being the change he wants to see". Check out ofilispeaks.com to learn more about how he's doing that. This article brought to mind the discussion over tobacco companies currently going on on NigerianCuriosity. Who's responsible for stopping cigarettes from falling into the hands of children? Profit-hungry tobacco companies or governments elected to serve their people? And what systems are in place to ensure the former is kept in check when they try to cross the lines in their marketing tactics in developing countries? Okey's article recounts an experience that highlights the ubiquitous and permeating significance of a system, down to something as mundane as a stop sign...
MEMOIRS OF AN IMMIGRANT: THE STOP SIGN - Okechukwu Ofili
It was dark when we arrived, but the light from the full-moon did little to conceal the faces of nervousness that stood in line that morning. In the cold December morning we all stood together in a line that must have wrapped around the entire building. We waited for what seemed like an eternity, and finally the doors opened, we all shuffled in and were instantly handed out individual numbers. Numbers that would be used to control and direct the crowd of people already forming in the building. I waited for what seemed another eternity till my number was called out, all my documents were intact and I could start the test…I cranked the ignition of the car and it rattled gently, enough proof that it was time. I pulled the car to the back side of the building into a tunnel with a score of other cars and their equally nervous drivers. In the distance I could spot two poles, the “parallels of disaster” disguised subtly by their resplendent yet cautionary yellow color. The poles were the true test of any driver, I was ready, the engine was revving, everything was steady. But I never drove; instead I froze, stopped in my tracks by a system…
I was frustrated and annoyed. I had woken up as early as 5 am in the morning to make it to the DPS office in time for my driving test. But I was prevented from driving, because my car lacked the necessary documents needed to take the driving test. A simple paper that showed auto insurance coverage on my car was what stood before me and my driver’s license. I went home understandably frustrated; I had been counting down the days towards my driver’s license and did not anticipate this roadblock. I was tired of using the public transportation system, but more tired of having to call friends for a ride into town. I had to find a friend with a car that had proper documents. After more than 4 hours of calling and pleading I found a car, a silver Mazda. It was perfect, it had all the insurance papers and the handling was pristine…
It was time again, another round of “get up,” “line up,” “drive up” and like that I was where I was just 2 days ago. But this time I had all the necessary documents even my Exxon Mobil gas receipt, I passed the document check test, I was ready to hit the road. But there was one more test, the car check test. A test to ensure that my car was fully equipped for a drivers test. Everything was checked, the wipers, the trafficator, the steering and finally the horn. I pressed the horn hard but it didn’t make a sound, it was silent. Silence that was only pierced by the stern words of the Test Officer informing me that my car did not pass the “car check test.”
If I was in Nigeria this would have made sense, I could not go anywhere in Lagos without a horn. But this was America and I could not recall the last time I actually used a horn while driving. But that was the rule and thus it was another wasted morning. My new mission was to find a fully functional car with proper documentation and horn. I called around and was able to get my hands on pristine Luxury Toyota Camry equipped with sunroof and fully leather enclosed working horn, perfect…Everything checked out, the documents, the horn and even the luxury sunroof. Finally I was cleared to drive. My first task was to move my car into a space, aptly distinguished by two yellow poles, the dreaded “parallels of disaster.” I started slowly as I had practiced, edged the car a few feet ahead of the primary pole, flicked the traficator light, checked my mirrors and slowly started my motion between the poles…I don’t know if it was the excitement, or the sunroof, but I heard the sound of metal grazing concrete. The passenger side of the car jacked up a few extra inches in the air as if powered by hydraulics straight out of a hip-hop video. I had committed the divine car-test sin “I climbed the curb.” The look of shock and awe on the Testing Officer’s face was enough to confirm my biggest fears…
The fourth time around I made it past the “parallels of disaster” and onto the streets, everything went well. I honked when necessary and inspected my rear view mirror even when it was not necessary. This was too easy, the smile on the Testing Officer’s face was enough to boost my confidence to the next level, unfortunately the next level was not very accommodating...it was the last turn and I could have sworn the road was free. However, the screeching brake from the Ford Focus skidding past us was enough evidence to argue otherwise. The result was all but predictable and was reinforced by the words printed my test document dangerous driving…
After more than 100 miles of test driving, I finally received my American driver’s license. As I slipped the card into my wallet I came to the realization that I had not just received a permit to drive, but rather a validation from the state government that affirmed my understanding of the American driving system. A system that told me that without proper documents or a fully functional albeit inconsequential horn, I could not legitimately drive in the US. This was a sharp contrast to my Nigerian driver’s license experience. Unlike America I did not have to wake up at 5 am in the morning to line up, I simply walked into the Nigerian licensing office sometime around noon. When I arrived I was greeted by a host of people crammed into a small tiny room, a number of people were fully asleep on the floor of the office. I was shocked and confused. In less than 10 minutes, I walked out of the office with a promise to have a Nigerian license delivered to my front door in less than a week. No tests, no verification of driving ability just a mysterious fee to the only guy wide awake. I could have been a wanted criminal for all I knew and still I would have qualified for a license.
My license finally arrived 6 months after I had departed from Nigeria. As I slipped the card into my wallet I came to the realization of what was inherently wrong with the Nigerian system. Simply put we had no system; we simply operated on a system where the loudest and most powerful at any given moment in time defined the system. My uncle a longtime resident of both countries realized this salient fact all too
well. He made this known to me on my first day in the America. On that day he did not talk about the large malls, or the fancy cars, or the permanent electric supply, rather he talked about the STOP sign. A simple hexagonal sheet of metal with the words STOP was the object of his fascination. A simple metallic inanimate object controlled million of cars at road-junctions across America, but it was never really about the sign, but rather about the system. Because in reality the system is what gave power to the sign, power that caused cars from all corners to stop and give the right of way to the cars that arrived before them. In Nigeria inanimate objects are powerless because systems are extinct. This system extinction is the catalyst behind the numerous traffic jams in Nigeria, where devoid of a human figure traffic almost always comes to a stand still, turning a seemingly simple street congestion into a massive statewide traffic jam.
But our problem is bigger than the traffic congestions that plague our streets; it lies instead in the congestion that blocks our nation’s advancement. A congestion that occurs at junctions where our nation’s talents and resources should advance, but they collide and freeze. Fortunately this situation can be avoided and the solution like every other is simple, “create a transparent and practical system.” But who creates the system? The government. And who selects the government? The people. We can redefine the Nigerian system.
Okechukwu Ofili
Copyright © 2008 Ofili Speaks, Inc. All rights reserved
MEMOIRS OF AN IMMIGRANT: THE STOP SIGN - Okechukwu Ofili
It was dark when we arrived, but the light from the full-moon did little to conceal the faces of nervousness that stood in line that morning. In the cold December morning we all stood together in a line that must have wrapped around the entire building. We waited for what seemed like an eternity, and finally the doors opened, we all shuffled in and were instantly handed out individual numbers. Numbers that would be used to control and direct the crowd of people already forming in the building. I waited for what seemed another eternity till my number was called out, all my documents were intact and I could start the test…I cranked the ignition of the car and it rattled gently, enough proof that it was time. I pulled the car to the back side of the building into a tunnel with a score of other cars and their equally nervous drivers. In the distance I could spot two poles, the “parallels of disaster” disguised subtly by their resplendent yet cautionary yellow color. The poles were the true test of any driver, I was ready, the engine was revving, everything was steady. But I never drove; instead I froze, stopped in my tracks by a system…
I was frustrated and annoyed. I had woken up as early as 5 am in the morning to make it to the DPS office in time for my driving test. But I was prevented from driving, because my car lacked the necessary documents needed to take the driving test. A simple paper that showed auto insurance coverage on my car was what stood before me and my driver’s license. I went home understandably frustrated; I had been counting down the days towards my driver’s license and did not anticipate this roadblock. I was tired of using the public transportation system, but more tired of having to call friends for a ride into town. I had to find a friend with a car that had proper documents. After more than 4 hours of calling and pleading I found a car, a silver Mazda. It was perfect, it had all the insurance papers and the handling was pristine…
It was time again, another round of “get up,” “line up,” “drive up” and like that I was where I was just 2 days ago. But this time I had all the necessary documents even my Exxon Mobil gas receipt, I passed the document check test, I was ready to hit the road. But there was one more test, the car check test. A test to ensure that my car was fully equipped for a drivers test. Everything was checked, the wipers, the trafficator, the steering and finally the horn. I pressed the horn hard but it didn’t make a sound, it was silent. Silence that was only pierced by the stern words of the Test Officer informing me that my car did not pass the “car check test.”
If I was in Nigeria this would have made sense, I could not go anywhere in Lagos without a horn. But this was America and I could not recall the last time I actually used a horn while driving. But that was the rule and thus it was another wasted morning. My new mission was to find a fully functional car with proper documentation and horn. I called around and was able to get my hands on pristine Luxury Toyota Camry equipped with sunroof and fully leather enclosed working horn, perfect…Everything checked out, the documents, the horn and even the luxury sunroof. Finally I was cleared to drive. My first task was to move my car into a space, aptly distinguished by two yellow poles, the dreaded “parallels of disaster.” I started slowly as I had practiced, edged the car a few feet ahead of the primary pole, flicked the traficator light, checked my mirrors and slowly started my motion between the poles…I don’t know if it was the excitement, or the sunroof, but I heard the sound of metal grazing concrete. The passenger side of the car jacked up a few extra inches in the air as if powered by hydraulics straight out of a hip-hop video. I had committed the divine car-test sin “I climbed the curb.” The look of shock and awe on the Testing Officer’s face was enough to confirm my biggest fears…
The fourth time around I made it past the “parallels of disaster” and onto the streets, everything went well. I honked when necessary and inspected my rear view mirror even when it was not necessary. This was too easy, the smile on the Testing Officer’s face was enough to boost my confidence to the next level, unfortunately the next level was not very accommodating...it was the last turn and I could have sworn the road was free. However, the screeching brake from the Ford Focus skidding past us was enough evidence to argue otherwise. The result was all but predictable and was reinforced by the words printed my test document dangerous driving…
After more than 100 miles of test driving, I finally received my American driver’s license. As I slipped the card into my wallet I came to the realization that I had not just received a permit to drive, but rather a validation from the state government that affirmed my understanding of the American driving system. A system that told me that without proper documents or a fully functional albeit inconsequential horn, I could not legitimately drive in the US. This was a sharp contrast to my Nigerian driver’s license experience. Unlike America I did not have to wake up at 5 am in the morning to line up, I simply walked into the Nigerian licensing office sometime around noon. When I arrived I was greeted by a host of people crammed into a small tiny room, a number of people were fully asleep on the floor of the office. I was shocked and confused. In less than 10 minutes, I walked out of the office with a promise to have a Nigerian license delivered to my front door in less than a week. No tests, no verification of driving ability just a mysterious fee to the only guy wide awake. I could have been a wanted criminal for all I knew and still I would have qualified for a license.
My license finally arrived 6 months after I had departed from Nigeria. As I slipped the card into my wallet I came to the realization of what was inherently wrong with the Nigerian system. Simply put we had no system; we simply operated on a system where the loudest and most powerful at any given moment in time defined the system. My uncle a longtime resident of both countries realized this salient fact all too
well. He made this known to me on my first day in the America. On that day he did not talk about the large malls, or the fancy cars, or the permanent electric supply, rather he talked about the STOP sign. A simple hexagonal sheet of metal with the words STOP was the object of his fascination. A simple metallic inanimate object controlled million of cars at road-junctions across America, but it was never really about the sign, but rather about the system. Because in reality the system is what gave power to the sign, power that caused cars from all corners to stop and give the right of way to the cars that arrived before them. In Nigeria inanimate objects are powerless because systems are extinct. This system extinction is the catalyst behind the numerous traffic jams in Nigeria, where devoid of a human figure traffic almost always comes to a stand still, turning a seemingly simple street congestion into a massive statewide traffic jam.
But our problem is bigger than the traffic congestions that plague our streets; it lies instead in the congestion that blocks our nation’s advancement. A congestion that occurs at junctions where our nation’s talents and resources should advance, but they collide and freeze. Fortunately this situation can be avoided and the solution like every other is simple, “create a transparent and practical system.” But who creates the system? The government. And who selects the government? The people. We can redefine the Nigerian system.
Okechukwu Ofili
Copyright © 2008 Ofili Speaks, Inc. All rights reserved
Sunday, June 29, 2008
ANOTHER BARACK IN THE MAKING?
A thousand apologies for the radio silence. There has been a cross atlantic move to the UK (good to be back, though i miss NY terribly!) and a homecoming visit to Lagos & Accra in between. Wanted to blog about the motherland, our resilience in the face of (seemingly) neverending frustration and our constant settling for less ("wetin man go do" attitude); then wanted to vent about Mugabe and what African leaders can do to get him out; and finally wanted to take stock (no pun intended) of the Nigerian stock market's current trajectory... but as you can see, June 2008 has come and gone without activity. However, thanks to the guest post below from Nigerian Curiosity (Thanks a bunch Solo!), tAB is back! Good to see that Nigerians around the world are aspiring to great heights. As Dan Hoyle would say, Tings Dey Happen!
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ANOTHER BARACK IN THE MAKING - NIGERIAN CURIOSITY
By now, many of us are aware that Barack Obama is the presumed Democratic nominee and will become the first African American to run for President under a major American political party. Congratulations to him. But, now, the battle for the White House against John McCain actually begins. Given what he went through to clinch the nomination, he should be battle hardened and ready for everything the Republican Party will throw at him. And, believe me, when I say 'everything', I mean everything including the kitchen sink!
Considering the giddiness I feel at knowing that the Democratic nomination process is finally over, I got even more excited to learn recently that there is potentially another 'Obama' in the making in Kansas. His name is K.C. Ohaebosim and he is seeking a State Senate seat in Kansas' 29th District. K.C. is running on the Democratic ticket and is currently leading his opponent by 5 points in the latest poll (as of June 6th).
Oh, did I mention that he has ties to Nigeria? His first name is Kelechi which in Igbo means "Thank God" and his father is Dr. Linus Ohaebosim, a respected doctor in Kansas. Kelechi, or K.C. is only 29 and if he wins his seat, he would be one of the youngest, if not the youngest State Senator in the history of Kansas. He would also be the first individual of Nigerian heritage to hold such an office.
Here is an excerpt from his campaign website - www.kcforkansas.com
"K.C. values hard work by giving well more than is expected, and sees honesty as the key to unlock the doors of communication in any relationship. He believes that the best leader must be a better servant and is convinced that even those who are silent, still have a voice. K.C. desires to listen, to even the quietest voices, learn from those who have blazed trails well before him and effectively lead those who will follow."
Politics is not for the faint hearted, and for this man to seek a State Senate seat this early in life is respectable and quite encouraging. K.C. is a Nigerian America who all Nigerians and Americans should be proud of - a young man who is committed to improving the lots of others.
Could K.C. be another Barack Obama in the making? Only time will tell. But it will do us all a lot of good to watch this young politician who has a bright future ahead of him. Or better yet, you can encourage those you know to contribute to his campaign and vote for him come election day.
***************
ANOTHER BARACK IN THE MAKING - NIGERIAN CURIOSITY
By now, many of us are aware that Barack Obama is the presumed Democratic nominee and will become the first African American to run for President under a major American political party. Congratulations to him. But, now, the battle for the White House against John McCain actually begins. Given what he went through to clinch the nomination, he should be battle hardened and ready for everything the Republican Party will throw at him. And, believe me, when I say 'everything', I mean everything including the kitchen sink!
Considering the giddiness I feel at knowing that the Democratic nomination process is finally over, I got even more excited to learn recently that there is potentially another 'Obama' in the making in Kansas. His name is K.C. Ohaebosim and he is seeking a State Senate seat in Kansas' 29th District. K.C. is running on the Democratic ticket and is currently leading his opponent by 5 points in the latest poll (as of June 6th).
Oh, did I mention that he has ties to Nigeria? His first name is Kelechi which in Igbo means "Thank God" and his father is Dr. Linus Ohaebosim, a respected doctor in Kansas. Kelechi, or K.C. is only 29 and if he wins his seat, he would be one of the youngest, if not the youngest State Senator in the history of Kansas. He would also be the first individual of Nigerian heritage to hold such an office.
Here is an excerpt from his campaign website - www.kcforkansas.com
"K.C. values hard work by giving well more than is expected, and sees honesty as the key to unlock the doors of communication in any relationship. He believes that the best leader must be a better servant and is convinced that even those who are silent, still have a voice. K.C. desires to listen, to even the quietest voices, learn from those who have blazed trails well before him and effectively lead those who will follow."
Politics is not for the faint hearted, and for this man to seek a State Senate seat this early in life is respectable and quite encouraging. K.C. is a Nigerian America who all Nigerians and Americans should be proud of - a young man who is committed to improving the lots of others.
Could K.C. be another Barack Obama in the making? Only time will tell. But it will do us all a lot of good to watch this young politician who has a bright future ahead of him. Or better yet, you can encourage those you know to contribute to his campaign and vote for him come election day.
Thursday, May 29, 2008
The Afro Beat Remembers
Today marks the 9th Year of "Democracy" in Nigeria and a full year of the Yar'Adua administration. Thanks to encouragement from bloggers like Nigerian Curiosity, constantly thinking of creative ways to unite Nigerian (African) bloggers on common issues that make us tick, I'm dedicating this post to the memory of the initial advent of democracy (independence) and my hope for Nigeria in the next 50 years.
PART 1: Reflections of a Tired yet Optimistic Mother on the BUILDING of Nigeria - Independence.
(This part was cut abruptly short as my mother typed away on her email and NEPA struck before she could save the later part of this write-up...how apt! Thanks Mum!)
--------------
My memory of 1st October 1960 is an easily recalled part of my memory.
Days leading to it were like expectations of a great party. I was 7 years old and in primary 3. There was clearing up of the school grounds and rehearsals for the ‘march’. We were to be on our best behaviour and wear our best uniforms for the Independence Day celebrations.
At home, at my mother’s beer parlour where men gathered most evenings, there were loud arguments about the handing over of government. Not that I understood the discussions but their loudness and laughter, (especially as the men got more alcohol in their systems) signaled the coming of a great event. I thought independence would be one long celebration.
We lived in a small village divided in two by the Ogun River in the old Western state . It was a small village and while the men on one side were mostly farmers, those on the other side were fishermen. I did not know much about the villagers other than that some of their children were my school mates. There was however government presence in the village- the Boys’ approved School (a reformatory) of which my father was the Principal during this period. So there was also a lot of preparations as the boys prepared for the “march past” for the celebrations and visitors to the school which had a white lady as head visitor.
On that day, all pupils received branded cups, plates and the green white green flag which to us was the symbol of our independence. The flag was hoisted that day and we religiously sang to it everyday from then on. It was usual to see it proudly displayed in peoples’ parlours. There was feasting at school, at the town hall and everywhere.
In those early days, we marched round the village once a week to spread the message of free education for all by Awolowo and encourage the villagers to allow their children come to school before they joined them on the farms in the afternoon.
I bet the current state of the nation is a nightmare for the men and women of the 60s. At Independence they had a dream of a great Nigeria: now that is a dream deferred.
If we take a cue from the developments in Lagos State in the past year. I believe the good old days will return but at a price...ARE WE SET TO PAY?
--------
Part 2: Hope for the Future
In addition to a Nigeria with all the "basics" of a developed country (civil peace, quality education, functional healthcare system, social security, state-of-the-art infrastructure, environment that spurs entrepreneurship and innovation), my hope for Nigeria in 2058 is for a Nigeria that celebrates its internal differences but stands united in the pursuit of a Nigerian dream - be it "Pursuit of Happiness", "Liberty & Justice for All", "Equality & Fraternity". Beyond the semantics, today, as a nation, we need something to inspire us, something (a sort of call to arms/ action) that can rally Nigerians from around the world, from the grassroots up, to think beyond themselves and begin the task of actually RENOVATING this nation.
What is that common thing that makes us tick/ jump into action? I would say Injustice Against the Helpless, but we as a people have become jaded by our leaders' "misactions" in that department, I'm not too sure that still holds.
Hope for our Children's Future? Traditionally, Africans worked to enable their children's prosperity, so as to ensure theirs in old age. And for those who weren't wealthy in monetary terms, they would work hard to bequeath an honourable name their children could at least be proud of. Though this varies from ethnic group to ethnic group, I believe that this is still something that most Africans still value, though the "honourable name" part has been supplanted by the quest for material wealth - a new sort of "Get rich or die trying" mentality reigns today.
True, with the growing wave of emmigration from Nigeria, many of our children will have some place else to call home, but will it ever really be 100% their true home? Perhaps. However, they deserve more. They deserve a choice. A choice to call Nigeria home. If for the sake of our children alone, Nigerians can come together to begin to work towards RENOVATING our nation, together with our leaders, then I think we stand a chance. If not, tAB will be commemmorating Democracy Day in 2058 with a similar post, as though none of this ever really was.
What's your hope/vision for Nigeria in 2058? What legacy do you want Nigeria to be for your children? Happy Democracy Day!
PART 1: Reflections of a Tired yet Optimistic Mother on the BUILDING of Nigeria - Independence.
(This part was cut abruptly short as my mother typed away on her email and NEPA struck before she could save the later part of this write-up...how apt! Thanks Mum!)
--------------
My memory of 1st October 1960 is an easily recalled part of my memory.
Days leading to it were like expectations of a great party. I was 7 years old and in primary 3. There was clearing up of the school grounds and rehearsals for the ‘march’. We were to be on our best behaviour and wear our best uniforms for the Independence Day celebrations.
At home, at my mother’s beer parlour where men gathered most evenings, there were loud arguments about the handing over of government. Not that I understood the discussions but their loudness and laughter, (especially as the men got more alcohol in their systems) signaled the coming of a great event. I thought independence would be one long celebration.
We lived in a small village divided in two by the Ogun River in the old Western state . It was a small village and while the men on one side were mostly farmers, those on the other side were fishermen. I did not know much about the villagers other than that some of their children were my school mates. There was however government presence in the village- the Boys’ approved School (a reformatory) of which my father was the Principal during this period. So there was also a lot of preparations as the boys prepared for the “march past” for the celebrations and visitors to the school which had a white lady as head visitor.
On that day, all pupils received branded cups, plates and the green white green flag which to us was the symbol of our independence. The flag was hoisted that day and we religiously sang to it everyday from then on. It was usual to see it proudly displayed in peoples’ parlours. There was feasting at school, at the town hall and everywhere.
In those early days, we marched round the village once a week to spread the message of free education for all by Awolowo and encourage the villagers to allow their children come to school before they joined them on the farms in the afternoon.
I bet the current state of the nation is a nightmare for the men and women of the 60s. At Independence they had a dream of a great Nigeria: now that is a dream deferred.
If we take a cue from the developments in Lagos State in the past year. I believe the good old days will return but at a price...ARE WE SET TO PAY?
--------
Part 2: Hope for the Future
In addition to a Nigeria with all the "basics" of a developed country (civil peace, quality education, functional healthcare system, social security, state-of-the-art infrastructure, environment that spurs entrepreneurship and innovation), my hope for Nigeria in 2058 is for a Nigeria that celebrates its internal differences but stands united in the pursuit of a Nigerian dream - be it "Pursuit of Happiness", "Liberty & Justice for All", "Equality & Fraternity". Beyond the semantics, today, as a nation, we need something to inspire us, something (a sort of call to arms/ action) that can rally Nigerians from around the world, from the grassroots up, to think beyond themselves and begin the task of actually RENOVATING this nation.
What is that common thing that makes us tick/ jump into action? I would say Injustice Against the Helpless, but we as a people have become jaded by our leaders' "misactions" in that department, I'm not too sure that still holds.
Hope for our Children's Future? Traditionally, Africans worked to enable their children's prosperity, so as to ensure theirs in old age. And for those who weren't wealthy in monetary terms, they would work hard to bequeath an honourable name their children could at least be proud of. Though this varies from ethnic group to ethnic group, I believe that this is still something that most Africans still value, though the "honourable name" part has been supplanted by the quest for material wealth - a new sort of "Get rich or die trying" mentality reigns today.
True, with the growing wave of emmigration from Nigeria, many of our children will have some place else to call home, but will it ever really be 100% their true home? Perhaps. However, they deserve more. They deserve a choice. A choice to call Nigeria home. If for the sake of our children alone, Nigerians can come together to begin to work towards RENOVATING our nation, together with our leaders, then I think we stand a chance. If not, tAB will be commemmorating Democracy Day in 2058 with a similar post, as though none of this ever really was.
What's your hope/vision for Nigeria in 2058? What legacy do you want Nigeria to be for your children? Happy Democracy Day!
Thursday, May 22, 2008
The Spring of Hope
Meant to do this 2 weeks ago but better late than never! In an attempt to learn more about our Nigerian heroes, we promised sometime last year to profile a local hero as often as we could. Another one of THOSE resolutions, but we shan't go there...
For as long as I can remember, Abraham Adesanya has always been one of those names uttered with the deepest respect and admiration among many Nigerians. From my early days at family gatherings, whenever Nigerian politics (and inevitably, NADECO - for my grandfather was a close friend of Awolowo's) came up, Adesanya's tiredless work in the pro-democracy struggle would surface somewhere in the discussion. I never knew much about the man to be honest, who he was and what his personal accomplishments were (besides being a major force of NADECO (national democratic coalition)).
This allAfrica.com article tries to summarize Adesanya's life in a page, but i can only imagine the hundreds of pages his biography could fill. With the likes of Pa Onasanya, Pa Rewane, Pa Dawodu (Nigerians and their "Pa's"), Chief Ige having crossed over to the other side, it feels like the end of an era, one that i was never really a part of but one I grew up in - an era of frustration yet immense hope for this so-called DEMOCRACY that everyone went on about.
["Nigeria will never be at peace without democracy", i used to hear.]
"It was the It was a time when we had principles... there was a "Nigerian Dream" - to live FREELY under a civilian government elected BY the people, FOR the people; to live to see your children have access to better opportunities than you; to pass on a good name to your children, that they could be PROUD of. I remember things were hard then, not just from an economic stance(Remember good old SAP days?), but also from a human rights point of view. But yet, there is still a sense of nostalgia when i think back to those days. May Nigerians once more (one day) feel that hunger/thirst for something more than the individual good.
As Children's Day approaches next week, think of something you can do for a child in your community. Volunteer to read at a children's hospital (Even though most countries, might not celebrate it (e.g. the US!), make a note to mark it for at least ONE child.
-----------
Pa Abraham Adesanya (1922-2008) - allAfrica.com
Senator Abraham Aderibigbe Adesanya who died the other day at the age of 85 years was truly remarkable. As an ethnic leader, he vigorously pursued, promoted and, to a recognizable degree, represented the collective yearnings and idiosyncrasies of his people - the Yoruba.
And as a nationalist, he was at the forefront of his country's quest for democracy. The latter meant, to a large extent, direct confrontation with the military which had become Nigeria's major impediment to representative governance.
For Senator Adesanya, commitment to democratic practice, justice and fairness was non-negotiable. He chose the platform upon which to nurture and watch those principles grow when he studied law at the Holborn College of Law in London and graduated in 1960. And when he returned to the country soon afterwards, in addition to legal practice, he joined the progressive brand of politics, symbolised at the time by the likes of late Chief Obafemi Awolowo. During the Second Republic, he was elected into the Senate on the ticket of the defunct Unity Party of Nigeria (UPN) and, until that dispensation was sacked in December 1983, served as the Senate Minority Leader.
In striking ways, the period that followed brought out the best in Pa Adesanya. The General Ibrahim Babangida era ended hurriedly and ushered the country into one of its most traumatic periods. The agitation for the actualisation of the presidential mandate given to the late Chief Moshood Abiola via the June 12, 1993 election but which was annulled led to the realignment of forces, largely under the umbrella of the National Democratic Coalition (NADECO). Up to the point that democracy was restored in May 1999, the organisation was vehement and combative in the condemnation of the existing political leadership.
As, first the deputy chairman of NADECO under late Chief Adekunle Ajasin and, at Ajasin's demise, its chairman, Adesanya was in the middle of the struggle with all its precariousness. In January 1997 during the government of the late General Sani Abacha, a killer squad sprayed his car with bullets. But the brave man from Ijebu Igbo in Ogun State was unstoppable. Instead of fear, that incident further instilled in him fresh courage and a renewed resolve to fight against the forces of repression and evil.
In 1998, Adesanya was made the leader of Afenifere and, by implication, the Yoruba - in the footsteps of Awolowo and Ajasin. From that point to 2004 when he was struck with the ailment that stayed on till his death, he remained the rallying point of the socio-cultural and political life of the Yoruba. But he was more than an ethnic champion. He used his position to demand and promote the virtues of minority rights, equality, federalism and nationalism. It was his conviction about the supremacy of democratic doctrines that partly led to the formation of The Patriots - a group which seeks to defend the Fourth Republic - in conjunction with other patriotic, respected Nigerians.
So, the death of Pa Adesanya is not only a loss to the South-West but also the entire country. His tenacity and sense of purpose will surely be missed by a nation still in dire need of focused leadership.
The greatest tribute the Yoruba can pay to one of its illustrous leaders, therefore, is to mend the fences that had started cracking, notably at Adesanya's incapacitation four years ago. The various factions that now contest for the soul of the Yoruba should come together, iron out their differences and work for the unity of the region and the nation as a whole.
No doubt, Pa Adesanya also deserves the respect of the rest of the country. His attributes of humility, modesty and forthrightness should be emulated by today's leaders, for the nation to gravitate more towards national cohesion and prosperity.
-------
"It was the best of times, it was the worst of times, it was the age of wisdom, it was the age of foolishness, it was the epoch of belief, it was the epoch of incredulity, it was the season of Light, it was the season of Darkness, it was the spring of hope, it was the winter of despair, we had everything before us, we had nothing before us, we were all going direct to heaven, we were all going direct the other way - in short, the period was so far like the present period, that some of its noisiest authorities insisted on its being received, for good or for evil, in the superlative degree of comparison only. "
- Charles Dickens, A Tale of Two Cities.
For as long as I can remember, Abraham Adesanya has always been one of those names uttered with the deepest respect and admiration among many Nigerians. From my early days at family gatherings, whenever Nigerian politics (and inevitably, NADECO - for my grandfather was a close friend of Awolowo's) came up, Adesanya's tiredless work in the pro-democracy struggle would surface somewhere in the discussion. I never knew much about the man to be honest, who he was and what his personal accomplishments were (besides being a major force of NADECO (national democratic coalition)).
This allAfrica.com article tries to summarize Adesanya's life in a page, but i can only imagine the hundreds of pages his biography could fill. With the likes of Pa Onasanya, Pa Rewane, Pa Dawodu (Nigerians and their "Pa's"), Chief Ige having crossed over to the other side, it feels like the end of an era, one that i was never really a part of but one I grew up in - an era of frustration yet immense hope for this so-called DEMOCRACY that everyone went on about.
["Nigeria will never be at peace without democracy", i used to hear.]
"It was the It was a time when we had principles... there was a "Nigerian Dream" - to live FREELY under a civilian government elected BY the people, FOR the people; to live to see your children have access to better opportunities than you; to pass on a good name to your children, that they could be PROUD of. I remember things were hard then, not just from an economic stance(Remember good old SAP days?), but also from a human rights point of view. But yet, there is still a sense of nostalgia when i think back to those days. May Nigerians once more (one day) feel that hunger/thirst for something more than the individual good.
As Children's Day approaches next week, think of something you can do for a child in your community. Volunteer to read at a children's hospital (Even though most countries, might not celebrate it (e.g. the US!), make a note to mark it for at least ONE child.
-----------
Pa Abraham Adesanya (1922-2008) - allAfrica.com
Senator Abraham Aderibigbe Adesanya who died the other day at the age of 85 years was truly remarkable. As an ethnic leader, he vigorously pursued, promoted and, to a recognizable degree, represented the collective yearnings and idiosyncrasies of his people - the Yoruba.
And as a nationalist, he was at the forefront of his country's quest for democracy. The latter meant, to a large extent, direct confrontation with the military which had become Nigeria's major impediment to representative governance.
For Senator Adesanya, commitment to democratic practice, justice and fairness was non-negotiable. He chose the platform upon which to nurture and watch those principles grow when he studied law at the Holborn College of Law in London and graduated in 1960. And when he returned to the country soon afterwards, in addition to legal practice, he joined the progressive brand of politics, symbolised at the time by the likes of late Chief Obafemi Awolowo. During the Second Republic, he was elected into the Senate on the ticket of the defunct Unity Party of Nigeria (UPN) and, until that dispensation was sacked in December 1983, served as the Senate Minority Leader.
In striking ways, the period that followed brought out the best in Pa Adesanya. The General Ibrahim Babangida era ended hurriedly and ushered the country into one of its most traumatic periods. The agitation for the actualisation of the presidential mandate given to the late Chief Moshood Abiola via the June 12, 1993 election but which was annulled led to the realignment of forces, largely under the umbrella of the National Democratic Coalition (NADECO). Up to the point that democracy was restored in May 1999, the organisation was vehement and combative in the condemnation of the existing political leadership.
As, first the deputy chairman of NADECO under late Chief Adekunle Ajasin and, at Ajasin's demise, its chairman, Adesanya was in the middle of the struggle with all its precariousness. In January 1997 during the government of the late General Sani Abacha, a killer squad sprayed his car with bullets. But the brave man from Ijebu Igbo in Ogun State was unstoppable. Instead of fear, that incident further instilled in him fresh courage and a renewed resolve to fight against the forces of repression and evil.
In 1998, Adesanya was made the leader of Afenifere and, by implication, the Yoruba - in the footsteps of Awolowo and Ajasin. From that point to 2004 when he was struck with the ailment that stayed on till his death, he remained the rallying point of the socio-cultural and political life of the Yoruba. But he was more than an ethnic champion. He used his position to demand and promote the virtues of minority rights, equality, federalism and nationalism. It was his conviction about the supremacy of democratic doctrines that partly led to the formation of The Patriots - a group which seeks to defend the Fourth Republic - in conjunction with other patriotic, respected Nigerians.
So, the death of Pa Adesanya is not only a loss to the South-West but also the entire country. His tenacity and sense of purpose will surely be missed by a nation still in dire need of focused leadership.
The greatest tribute the Yoruba can pay to one of its illustrous leaders, therefore, is to mend the fences that had started cracking, notably at Adesanya's incapacitation four years ago. The various factions that now contest for the soul of the Yoruba should come together, iron out their differences and work for the unity of the region and the nation as a whole.
No doubt, Pa Adesanya also deserves the respect of the rest of the country. His attributes of humility, modesty and forthrightness should be emulated by today's leaders, for the nation to gravitate more towards national cohesion and prosperity.
-------
"It was the best of times, it was the worst of times, it was the age of wisdom, it was the age of foolishness, it was the epoch of belief, it was the epoch of incredulity, it was the season of Light, it was the season of Darkness, it was the spring of hope, it was the winter of despair, we had everything before us, we had nothing before us, we were all going direct to heaven, we were all going direct the other way - in short, the period was so far like the present period, that some of its noisiest authorities insisted on its being received, for good or for evil, in the superlative degree of comparison only. "
- Charles Dickens, A Tale of Two Cities.
Tuesday, May 20, 2008
BABA RULE OF LAW SPEAKS...
After a somewhat long silence, Yar'Adua speaks! Unfortunately, it wasn't to a local newspaper, but to the Financial Times of LONDON! Hopefully, a local 1-year anniversary interview will be granted to the Nigerian media so that those who can't get access to this prestigious London daily can hear what Baba Rule of Law has to say on his first year as President. Nonetheless, the FT interview touches on the issues on the mind of foreign investors and some of the Nigerian people's concerns. He seems to acknowledge that he really hasn't done anything this year besides preserve the rule of law in Aso Rock (if only this would extend to the police force country-wide, we would all shut up about his baba go slow-ness). He does however claim that Nigerians will reap the benefits of his inactivity in the 2nd year of his administration. About his frequent health visits to Germany, the President unashamedly admits:
I am not a super-human being, I don't know one yet, but certainly I'm not one. I am a normal human being who can fall sick, who can recover, who can die, who can have feelings, who can be angered, who can laugh…
FT: And who is fit enough to be president?
YAR'ADUA: Yes, and who is fit enough to be president, and who can have headaches, and can have fever. You see…all my medical records are in Germany, and I have been going to Germany since 1986, and I do my check-ups in Germany every year. In fact sometimes every six months, and this has been going since 1986…Now the fact that I'm president today, doesn't mean that when I feel there's something that I think is wrong and needs to checked I shouldn't go to my doctors, where all my records for the past 22 years are there. It is the most practical things to do…They know the background of everything about me medically.
Looking ahead,
FT: What else do you think we're going to see in terms of economic reforms going forward into your second year? What's next on your list of priorities?
YAR'ADUA: Power. We are working out, I have said we will declare a national emergency in the power sector, which we are working out the programmes to do that. The restructuring of NNPC, which is aimed at making NNPC a national oil company that will go out and compete with another oil companies like IOCs, use its assets to access funds from the capital market, it is going to be quite a major shift in policy and restructuring. This will mean that the national budget will be freed from the joint venture cash calls, which will make funds available to put into security, which is one of our key agendas, into providing adequate security, maintenance of law and order, education and health. The other thing that we are doing is ensuring that we bring in the private sector to invest in infrastructure. We are working out the regulatory framework so that major infrastructure, private sector can come in and provide infrastructure, railways, waterways, take over the running of airports, sea ports, major trunk roads, so that they provide services, they charge for these services, and that will relieve government from heavy investment.
FT: When do you think we will see these regulations?
YAR'ADUA: They are almost completed. Since we came we have been working on hem. And I think we are almost finished now. Next year will be really a very, very interesting year for this country, very interesting.
FT: It's interesting you say that. A lot of Nigerians I speak to say you have been very slow in your reform programme? What do you say when you hear Nigerians saying that you are moving slowly?
YAR'ADUA: I smile, because I know, I have been a governor for eight years, I have also had some challenges to sort out, some problems. Because I know the quality of what you can achieve depends on how you plan a programme. You cannot make major achievements by just trying to rush things. The quality of your planning, the quality of your programmes, determine the nature of their achievements…What we have to learn to know is that you cannot achieve anything without planning, and planning is a long-term process. That is why I am saying that we need to produce a national plan to the year 2020.
To be fair, I've spent most of my life hearing Nigerians complain about one of the root causes of Nigeria's infrastructure is LACK OF PLANNING. So shouldn't we be overjoyed that we finally have a President who's all about due process and planning? With the President's new 12-month reform plan (Which I trust he will be publishing soon), we shall finally have some milestones by which to judge his (in)actions. I hate to say it, but in this case (moreso than usual), ONLY TIME WILL TELL.
I am not a super-human being, I don't know one yet, but certainly I'm not one. I am a normal human being who can fall sick, who can recover, who can die, who can have feelings, who can be angered, who can laugh…
FT: And who is fit enough to be president?
YAR'ADUA: Yes, and who is fit enough to be president, and who can have headaches, and can have fever. You see…all my medical records are in Germany, and I have been going to Germany since 1986, and I do my check-ups in Germany every year. In fact sometimes every six months, and this has been going since 1986…Now the fact that I'm president today, doesn't mean that when I feel there's something that I think is wrong and needs to checked I shouldn't go to my doctors, where all my records for the past 22 years are there. It is the most practical things to do…They know the background of everything about me medically.
Looking ahead,
FT: What else do you think we're going to see in terms of economic reforms going forward into your second year? What's next on your list of priorities?
YAR'ADUA: Power. We are working out, I have said we will declare a national emergency in the power sector, which we are working out the programmes to do that. The restructuring of NNPC, which is aimed at making NNPC a national oil company that will go out and compete with another oil companies like IOCs, use its assets to access funds from the capital market, it is going to be quite a major shift in policy and restructuring. This will mean that the national budget will be freed from the joint venture cash calls, which will make funds available to put into security, which is one of our key agendas, into providing adequate security, maintenance of law and order, education and health. The other thing that we are doing is ensuring that we bring in the private sector to invest in infrastructure. We are working out the regulatory framework so that major infrastructure, private sector can come in and provide infrastructure, railways, waterways, take over the running of airports, sea ports, major trunk roads, so that they provide services, they charge for these services, and that will relieve government from heavy investment.
FT: When do you think we will see these regulations?
YAR'ADUA: They are almost completed. Since we came we have been working on hem. And I think we are almost finished now. Next year will be really a very, very interesting year for this country, very interesting.
FT: It's interesting you say that. A lot of Nigerians I speak to say you have been very slow in your reform programme? What do you say when you hear Nigerians saying that you are moving slowly?
YAR'ADUA: I smile, because I know, I have been a governor for eight years, I have also had some challenges to sort out, some problems. Because I know the quality of what you can achieve depends on how you plan a programme. You cannot make major achievements by just trying to rush things. The quality of your planning, the quality of your programmes, determine the nature of their achievements…What we have to learn to know is that you cannot achieve anything without planning, and planning is a long-term process. That is why I am saying that we need to produce a national plan to the year 2020.
To be fair, I've spent most of my life hearing Nigerians complain about one of the root causes of Nigeria's infrastructure is LACK OF PLANNING. So shouldn't we be overjoyed that we finally have a President who's all about due process and planning? With the President's new 12-month reform plan (Which I trust he will be publishing soon), we shall finally have some milestones by which to judge his (in)actions. I hate to say it, but in this case (moreso than usual), ONLY TIME WILL TELL.
Thursday, May 15, 2008
Bloggers Unite For Human Rights
Thanks for encouraging us to get on this, Solo!
Today the BA boycott begins! Once again, just a reminder that KLM and Lufthansa have waived the schengen transit visa requirement for passengers who have a valid visa for their final destination. Vote with your feet, wallet, mouths and whatever else you've got. Vote whichever way you want, but stand for something!
I can't call what the outcome of this boycott against BA will be, but even if a handful of Nigerians come together and actively take a stance against the illtreatment of our compatriots, then we would have achieved something.
But today, as bloggers around the world focus on Human Rights Issues, I would like to call on those passionate individuals who have answered this "call to arms" to put things in perspective. As we rally against illtreatment of paying BA customers and Nigerian deportees wherever, let us remember to rally with our brothers and sisters not too far away in Sudan, Somalia and Zimbabwe for starters. As we have screamed "foul" from the top of our lungs against "Brutish Airways", let us (ME, for starters) replenish our voice boxes to scream "NO WAY" to Mugabe's unfair call for a presidential run-off vote, "NOT ON OUR WATCH" to the humanitarian crises in Somalia and in the Sudan (particularly, Darfur), to name a few. Myanmar and China will get the airtime they deserve, but these injustices won't.
Let us remember to save some air in our lungs for those living in the Niger Delta. When do we "boycott" Shell, Mobil and Chevron? When ONE person is poisoned by toxic waste from oil company operations? Well, in that case, the boycott should have begun decades ago.
Oh, and if nothing but a short breath is saved for the "Child witches" in Akwa-Ibom, that would still make a difference.
As Nigerians test their ability to "unite against mistreatment", let's start to think of ways we can unite against murder, environmental racism, genocide, and civil war and child trafficking. Macroissues, way bigger than you and me. But we are THE largest black population in the world, so I'd say we have more than a critical mass. What's missing is the will and the "how". And I sure as heaven don't have the answers. But for today, I'll start by telling ONE MORE person about JUST ONE of these issues, and learning ONE MORE thing about a human rights violation occuring today and how JUST ONE PERSON out there CAN make a difference.
HAPPY BOYCOTTING!
Today the BA boycott begins! Once again, just a reminder that KLM and Lufthansa have waived the schengen transit visa requirement for passengers who have a valid visa for their final destination. Vote with your feet, wallet, mouths and whatever else you've got. Vote whichever way you want, but stand for something!
I can't call what the outcome of this boycott against BA will be, but even if a handful of Nigerians come together and actively take a stance against the illtreatment of our compatriots, then we would have achieved something.
But today, as bloggers around the world focus on Human Rights Issues, I would like to call on those passionate individuals who have answered this "call to arms" to put things in perspective. As we rally against illtreatment of paying BA customers and Nigerian deportees wherever, let us remember to rally with our brothers and sisters not too far away in Sudan, Somalia and Zimbabwe for starters. As we have screamed "foul" from the top of our lungs against "Brutish Airways", let us (ME, for starters) replenish our voice boxes to scream "NO WAY" to Mugabe's unfair call for a presidential run-off vote, "NOT ON OUR WATCH" to the humanitarian crises in Somalia and in the Sudan (particularly, Darfur), to name a few. Myanmar and China will get the airtime they deserve, but these injustices won't.
Let us remember to save some air in our lungs for those living in the Niger Delta. When do we "boycott" Shell, Mobil and Chevron? When ONE person is poisoned by toxic waste from oil company operations? Well, in that case, the boycott should have begun decades ago.
Oh, and if nothing but a short breath is saved for the "Child witches" in Akwa-Ibom, that would still make a difference.
As Nigerians test their ability to "unite against mistreatment", let's start to think of ways we can unite against murder, environmental racism, genocide, and civil war and child trafficking. Macroissues, way bigger than you and me. But we are THE largest black population in the world, so I'd say we have more than a critical mass. What's missing is the will and the "how". And I sure as heaven don't have the answers. But for today, I'll start by telling ONE MORE person about JUST ONE of these issues, and learning ONE MORE thing about a human rights violation occuring today and how JUST ONE PERSON out there CAN make a difference.
HAPPY BOYCOTTING!
Tuesday, May 13, 2008
Before we boycott BA...
This write-up by Tolu Ogunlesi shares a different perspective on the Nigerian defence mechanism that has been set up as a result of the BA incident/call for boycott. 'Tis rather long but i think Tolu's last paragraph sums up his point:
"I do not attempt to minimize the import and the gravity of the punishment and embarrassment meted out to Mr. Omotade. Nothing will ever justify that. I sympathise with him. BA should apologise, genuinely, and overhaul their crisis management response. But we (Nigerians) should also step back and be at least a bit more dispassionate in our evaluation. The ranting and the calls for boycott will not do us any good. A country without its own international airline has no business making the kind of noise we are currently making, ordering the world to "respect" us. We should instead keep our mouths sealed and wallow in our collective shame of airline-lessness. And of course, we should enroll in International Diplomacy 101 – and learn to more often than not, temper our abrasive quest for justice with some measure of reason. It’s the season of the rule of law, after all."
A bold perspective, but if everyone sat and waited for the utopian Nigeria (where we have our choice of quality local airlines) before they opened their mouth to scream "foul", then I can only imagine where we'd be...we'd be worse than Baba Rule of Law - a nation of 200 million full/fool vessels (too full to make a sound!)
******
In other news, yours truly spent almost an hour of paid time today trying to circumvent the BA-monster. I thought it was punishment for all my talk and talk against the corporation - the cheapest NYC-LONDON flight i could find was BA (almost $200 cheaper than Virgin, and this is a work-related flight so i couldn't but choose the cheapest "name" option (Air India was really the cheapest but hmm...)I was about to put up a poll and ask what to do, when lo and behold, an angel appeared by the name of Delta Airlines, a tad bit cheaper than BA though I've never flown them internationally, (but if their domestic flights are anything to go by, I'm in for the longest 7 hours of my life). Well, all's well that starts well.
In other OTHER news, Lufthansa and KLM have waived the Schengen Visa requirements for Nigerian passengers with final destination visas...The heat is on.
----------
Before we boycott BA - by Tolu Ogunlesi
I should start by saying I am not a spokesperson for British Airways. And this is not a press release on their behalf. What I am is a Nigerian, asking questions that I think we should all ask ourselves before we, in our collective rage, consign the poor airline to the (dust)bin of boycott.
The story has been repeated time without number, so the details are clear to most of us. A Nigerian citizen, concerned about the manner in which another Nigerian citizen was being deported, voiced his displeasure to the policemen carrying out the deportation, and ended up being bundled out of the plane. Other Nigerians on the flight protested vehemently, things got unruly [BA claims its crew was "subjected to both verbal abuse and physical assault"], and 133 passengers were ejected by police from that flight. 64 were allowed to re-board before take-off, while the others were later put on other plane[s]. The man at the centre of the protest, was arrested, detained for hours, had his money and luggage confiscated, and was banned from flying BA.
This is where I have to ask my first question. Was the deportee actually maltreated by the British police officers or not? None of the accounts or newspaper reports I have read have implied in any way that the unnamed deportee was maltreated in the deportation process.
The only pointer to that fact, or the only plank upon which we may nail such an allegation is the “I go die o” that the man was said to have been screaming repeatedly as he was being put onto the plane. But I want to ask, is the screaming of “I go die” sufficient proof upon which to come to a conclusion of maltreatment? Does anyone honestly believe that a man (or woman) being deported will sit quietly, and smile through the entire repatriation process? Certainly not. Deportation is to be instinctively resisted, because of what it signifies: The suddenness, the shame, the blacklisting. So the fact that a man being deported is screaming that he will die is not proof that he is anywhere near death.
At this point, let’s listen to the account of the man at the centre of it all, Ayodeji Omotade: “I pleaded with the officers not to kill him and my exact words were ‘please don’t kill him.’ The British Airways staff said the officers were doing their jobs and that nothing was going to happen. The noise became louder and other passengers started getting concerned and were complaining especially about their safety.”
This is where I ask my second question. Are the British police/immigration authorities STUPID (emphasis mine) enough to murder a Nigerian on a plane to Lagos, in full view of tens of Nigerians. If they wanted to kill him wouldn’t it have made more sense for them to have done so before boarding the plane.
Why am I demonstrating this brand of skepticism? A number of people must have read the letter sent to Dele Momodu (and published in the This Day newspaper of Sunday, May 11, 2008) by Olu Ayodeji, a Nigerian who works as a Cabin Services Director with the British Airways in London. I read it and immediately came to the conclusion that Nigerians should pause and do a bit of soul-searching before hanging British Airways (after all we’ve already given the dog a bad name).
And it is Mr. Ayodeji’s article that has emboldened me to share my own perspective on the matter. Mr. Ayodeji is quick to point out that he is not writing as an official spokesperson for the airline, and even the tone of his voice makes it quite evident that this is someone who just wants to set forth his thoughts, and hopefully enable the watching world to get a more balanced view of events. In the last few weeks much of what we have heard has been muddled up in the noise of Nigerian protest – mostly accusations of racism targeted at the “white establishment” that is British Airways.
I don’t know how this may sound, and it will probably not earn me any cheers from this side of the divide, but I can’t shake off the feeling that, instead of stepping back to weigh the issues at hand, Nigerians have resorted to a defence mechanism whose deployment we have perfected over the years: namely, to wield the “Identity” Card. Don’t we all know that, by Nigerian standards, corrupt politicians are not tried or jailed because they have stolen money, but because they are from a certain ethnic group? This is the same card we have played in this case: BA has maltreated us because we are Nigerians - and we MUST fight back. (At this point though I must quickly add a caveat: that none of this is to in any way minimize the reality or extent of racism in high and low places.)
Let’s hear what Mr. Ayodeji (who speaks as someone who has “witnessed at close quarters the attitude of fellow Nigerians on BA flights”) has to say: “When I first joined BA, I used to stand up to my colleagues, at the risk of losing my job, to defend fellow Nigerians' integrity. Sadly, over the years, I've since abandoned that attitude having witnessed and experienced firsthand the embarrassing attitude of Nigerians.” He gives examples; examples which many of us as Nigerians, if we were honest enough to admit to ourselves, would admit are more often the rule than the exception. He speaks of a “generation of Nigerians who see every shortcoming on the part of BA as a basis for confrontation, verbal or physical assault,” and goes on to give examples, which I’m sure every Nigerian traveler will easily identify with.
We don’t need psychologists to officially diagnose us as brash people. Yes, we are the happiest people on earth, and we have learned to match every ounce of happiness with two ounces of brashness. It is a collective brashness, a loudness and argumentativeness that must intimidate other nationalities when they encounter us. Next time you fly international, watch out for how we treat cabin crew. Watch how we flaunt our sense of entitlement – for airline food and wine. How we rush onto planes whose seats are numbered because our “hand-luggage” is “arm-and-leg” luggage that needs infinite space in the overhead compartments.
But the most interesting part of it all is this: what I call the Grand Irony: Everyday Nigerian airlines treat Nigerians worse than animals – overbook flights and reduce boarding to a Darwinian-cum-100m-dash; cancel flights and divert planes to other routes with reckless abandon; hoard tickets and hand over sales to touts; hike prices in a way that would make air travel the envy of Sotheby's. Time after time our honourable politicians shut down the airspace so their executive and chartered flights can land undisturbed; our Big Men delay flights (even international ones) for hours in order not to be late for their shopping binges; and our runways admit cows to graze merrily and watch planes land up close and personal.
All of these happen, and all we do is whimper, perhaps grumble, and life goes on. We dey kampe! Nothing dey happen! No shaking! How I wish that (we)Nigerians were as vocal in our protestations against the inhuman treatments meted out to us by domestic airlines, as we now are against BA. A few years ago an entire plane-load of Nigerian citizens was consumed by flames while a crowd (parents, relatives, and friends) watched, helpless, because an airport had insufficient fire-fighting capability. And life went on. It didn’t occur to us to boycott our airports until basic facilities were put in place.
But when an international airline, concerned about the commotion aboard a flight that was their responsibility, chooses to take steps they deem necessary to safeguard the flight, before you can say “control tower”, an entire nation has risen and whipped out the race card. We have done it the way we have learnt to do it – the “Do You Know Who I Am”? Way. Pause and watch next time two cars collide near you in a traffic jam, or when someone jumps a queue in a bank and tempers flare; and count the number of “Do You Know Who I am?” that you will hear fired from angry lips.
It is our nature. We will continue to spurn the “organized” route, because things work faster that way – at least within our country. The Rule of Gra-gra makes things happen, and makes them happen fast. But we fail to learn that things may not always work that way outside our borders.
Again I say it, I do not attempt to minimize the import and the gravity of the punishment and embarrassment meted out to Mr. Omotade. Nothing will ever justify that. I sympathise with him.....(See excerpt above)
------------
Tolu Ogunlesi is a short fiction writer, journalist, poet, and juggles all this with a day job! Do check out his blog.
"I do not attempt to minimize the import and the gravity of the punishment and embarrassment meted out to Mr. Omotade. Nothing will ever justify that. I sympathise with him. BA should apologise, genuinely, and overhaul their crisis management response. But we (Nigerians) should also step back and be at least a bit more dispassionate in our evaluation. The ranting and the calls for boycott will not do us any good. A country without its own international airline has no business making the kind of noise we are currently making, ordering the world to "respect" us. We should instead keep our mouths sealed and wallow in our collective shame of airline-lessness. And of course, we should enroll in International Diplomacy 101 – and learn to more often than not, temper our abrasive quest for justice with some measure of reason. It’s the season of the rule of law, after all."
A bold perspective, but if everyone sat and waited for the utopian Nigeria (where we have our choice of quality local airlines) before they opened their mouth to scream "foul", then I can only imagine where we'd be...we'd be worse than Baba Rule of Law - a nation of 200 million full/fool vessels (too full to make a sound!)
******
In other news, yours truly spent almost an hour of paid time today trying to circumvent the BA-monster. I thought it was punishment for all my talk and talk against the corporation - the cheapest NYC-LONDON flight i could find was BA (almost $200 cheaper than Virgin, and this is a work-related flight so i couldn't but choose the cheapest "name" option (Air India was really the cheapest but hmm...)I was about to put up a poll and ask what to do, when lo and behold, an angel appeared by the name of Delta Airlines, a tad bit cheaper than BA though I've never flown them internationally, (but if their domestic flights are anything to go by, I'm in for the longest 7 hours of my life). Well, all's well that starts well.
In other OTHER news, Lufthansa and KLM have waived the Schengen Visa requirements for Nigerian passengers with final destination visas...The heat is on.
----------
Before we boycott BA - by Tolu Ogunlesi
I should start by saying I am not a spokesperson for British Airways. And this is not a press release on their behalf. What I am is a Nigerian, asking questions that I think we should all ask ourselves before we, in our collective rage, consign the poor airline to the (dust)bin of boycott.
The story has been repeated time without number, so the details are clear to most of us. A Nigerian citizen, concerned about the manner in which another Nigerian citizen was being deported, voiced his displeasure to the policemen carrying out the deportation, and ended up being bundled out of the plane. Other Nigerians on the flight protested vehemently, things got unruly [BA claims its crew was "subjected to both verbal abuse and physical assault"], and 133 passengers were ejected by police from that flight. 64 were allowed to re-board before take-off, while the others were later put on other plane[s]. The man at the centre of the protest, was arrested, detained for hours, had his money and luggage confiscated, and was banned from flying BA.
This is where I have to ask my first question. Was the deportee actually maltreated by the British police officers or not? None of the accounts or newspaper reports I have read have implied in any way that the unnamed deportee was maltreated in the deportation process.
The only pointer to that fact, or the only plank upon which we may nail such an allegation is the “I go die o” that the man was said to have been screaming repeatedly as he was being put onto the plane. But I want to ask, is the screaming of “I go die” sufficient proof upon which to come to a conclusion of maltreatment? Does anyone honestly believe that a man (or woman) being deported will sit quietly, and smile through the entire repatriation process? Certainly not. Deportation is to be instinctively resisted, because of what it signifies: The suddenness, the shame, the blacklisting. So the fact that a man being deported is screaming that he will die is not proof that he is anywhere near death.
At this point, let’s listen to the account of the man at the centre of it all, Ayodeji Omotade: “I pleaded with the officers not to kill him and my exact words were ‘please don’t kill him.’ The British Airways staff said the officers were doing their jobs and that nothing was going to happen. The noise became louder and other passengers started getting concerned and were complaining especially about their safety.”
This is where I ask my second question. Are the British police/immigration authorities STUPID (emphasis mine) enough to murder a Nigerian on a plane to Lagos, in full view of tens of Nigerians. If they wanted to kill him wouldn’t it have made more sense for them to have done so before boarding the plane.
Why am I demonstrating this brand of skepticism? A number of people must have read the letter sent to Dele Momodu (and published in the This Day newspaper of Sunday, May 11, 2008) by Olu Ayodeji, a Nigerian who works as a Cabin Services Director with the British Airways in London. I read it and immediately came to the conclusion that Nigerians should pause and do a bit of soul-searching before hanging British Airways (after all we’ve already given the dog a bad name).
And it is Mr. Ayodeji’s article that has emboldened me to share my own perspective on the matter. Mr. Ayodeji is quick to point out that he is not writing as an official spokesperson for the airline, and even the tone of his voice makes it quite evident that this is someone who just wants to set forth his thoughts, and hopefully enable the watching world to get a more balanced view of events. In the last few weeks much of what we have heard has been muddled up in the noise of Nigerian protest – mostly accusations of racism targeted at the “white establishment” that is British Airways.
I don’t know how this may sound, and it will probably not earn me any cheers from this side of the divide, but I can’t shake off the feeling that, instead of stepping back to weigh the issues at hand, Nigerians have resorted to a defence mechanism whose deployment we have perfected over the years: namely, to wield the “Identity” Card. Don’t we all know that, by Nigerian standards, corrupt politicians are not tried or jailed because they have stolen money, but because they are from a certain ethnic group? This is the same card we have played in this case: BA has maltreated us because we are Nigerians - and we MUST fight back. (At this point though I must quickly add a caveat: that none of this is to in any way minimize the reality or extent of racism in high and low places.)
Let’s hear what Mr. Ayodeji (who speaks as someone who has “witnessed at close quarters the attitude of fellow Nigerians on BA flights”) has to say: “When I first joined BA, I used to stand up to my colleagues, at the risk of losing my job, to defend fellow Nigerians' integrity. Sadly, over the years, I've since abandoned that attitude having witnessed and experienced firsthand the embarrassing attitude of Nigerians.” He gives examples; examples which many of us as Nigerians, if we were honest enough to admit to ourselves, would admit are more often the rule than the exception. He speaks of a “generation of Nigerians who see every shortcoming on the part of BA as a basis for confrontation, verbal or physical assault,” and goes on to give examples, which I’m sure every Nigerian traveler will easily identify with.
We don’t need psychologists to officially diagnose us as brash people. Yes, we are the happiest people on earth, and we have learned to match every ounce of happiness with two ounces of brashness. It is a collective brashness, a loudness and argumentativeness that must intimidate other nationalities when they encounter us. Next time you fly international, watch out for how we treat cabin crew. Watch how we flaunt our sense of entitlement – for airline food and wine. How we rush onto planes whose seats are numbered because our “hand-luggage” is “arm-and-leg” luggage that needs infinite space in the overhead compartments.
But the most interesting part of it all is this: what I call the Grand Irony: Everyday Nigerian airlines treat Nigerians worse than animals – overbook flights and reduce boarding to a Darwinian-cum-100m-dash; cancel flights and divert planes to other routes with reckless abandon; hoard tickets and hand over sales to touts; hike prices in a way that would make air travel the envy of Sotheby's. Time after time our honourable politicians shut down the airspace so their executive and chartered flights can land undisturbed; our Big Men delay flights (even international ones) for hours in order not to be late for their shopping binges; and our runways admit cows to graze merrily and watch planes land up close and personal.
All of these happen, and all we do is whimper, perhaps grumble, and life goes on. We dey kampe! Nothing dey happen! No shaking! How I wish that (we)Nigerians were as vocal in our protestations against the inhuman treatments meted out to us by domestic airlines, as we now are against BA. A few years ago an entire plane-load of Nigerian citizens was consumed by flames while a crowd (parents, relatives, and friends) watched, helpless, because an airport had insufficient fire-fighting capability. And life went on. It didn’t occur to us to boycott our airports until basic facilities were put in place.
But when an international airline, concerned about the commotion aboard a flight that was their responsibility, chooses to take steps they deem necessary to safeguard the flight, before you can say “control tower”, an entire nation has risen and whipped out the race card. We have done it the way we have learnt to do it – the “Do You Know Who I Am”? Way. Pause and watch next time two cars collide near you in a traffic jam, or when someone jumps a queue in a bank and tempers flare; and count the number of “Do You Know Who I am?” that you will hear fired from angry lips.
It is our nature. We will continue to spurn the “organized” route, because things work faster that way – at least within our country. The Rule of Gra-gra makes things happen, and makes them happen fast. But we fail to learn that things may not always work that way outside our borders.
Again I say it, I do not attempt to minimize the import and the gravity of the punishment and embarrassment meted out to Mr. Omotade. Nothing will ever justify that. I sympathise with him.....(See excerpt above)
------------
Tolu Ogunlesi is a short fiction writer, journalist, poet, and juggles all this with a day job! Do check out his blog.
Friday, May 2, 2008
VOTE WITH YOUR FEET
I agree that it's almost always fruitless to collectively act without an end in mind (in the case of a BA boycott - apology/explanation from BA? better treatment by BA? more flight options on the Lagos-London route?) and outcomes to measure success (what constitutes better treatment and just HOW MUCH is better - no more kicking people off flights? no insectiside spraying?)
I also agree that sometimes Nigerians aren't the best-behaved passengers out there, but I have seen poorly-behaved passengers of various nationalities on many a flight, and so, as an airline/ airhost/ customer-facing employee of an airline, it would be integral not to act on generalizations about an entire nationality (wouldn't be easy), in the name of "customer service". Now, in the name of customer safety, as BA has belatedly pointed out, their decision to kick the 133 passengers of the plane was done in consultation with the UK police and was for the safety of the aircrew and other passengers (we had been made aware of the latter from the start).
Now that the exercise in frustration and venting has been carried out, as Naapali and Atutu have pointed out, it's time for a due diligence on the system and on ourselves. For those who consider themselves the best-behaved passengers out there (cough*yours truly*cough) and believe that BA and other foreign "service delivery" companies consistently overstep the line in their disregard/disrepect for your patronage/naira, you(we) know what you(we) need to do. Same goes for those who are tired and frustrated by the way they are treated by the institutions that govern us, and the way we treat (and mistreat) ourselves.
--------------
British Airways, yesterday, rationalised the offloading of Nigerian passengers on board BA75 flight to Lagos last month.
It said the decision was taken in consultation with the United Kingdom Police in order to ensure safety of the said aircraft and passengers.
In a statement made available to THISDAY, the airline said the "disruption" on board the aircraft required the presence of policemen to contain the situation which it said was regretable.
"We regret the upset that the events onboard the BA75 to Lagos on 27th March have caused in Nigeria. We have made it clear that the decision to offload passengers was made in consultation with and on the advice of the UK police, and the sole aim of this decision was to ensure the safety of our passengers, aircraft and crew.
"Offloading passengers is not a decision that is taken lightly and is a rare occurrence. However the disturbance on board the BA75 service to Lagos on Thursday 27th March was a very serious incident which required the presence of 20 uniformed police officers to regain control of the situation" the statement said.
It further noted that "Given the level of disruption on board the plane as it was preparing to depart, it was not possible to pinpoint which passengers were the most involved. In addition our crew were subjected to both verbal abuse and physical assault which, in the confined space of an aircraft, can be a particularly serious issue. Hence the police decided, with the agreement of the Captain, that it would be unwise to let all the passengers travel on the aircraft as their behaviour could pose a safety risk".
The statement said that "Of the 133 passengers offloaded following the disturbance 64 re-boarded the flight before take-off. Those offloaded were of various nationalities including British & American passengers. There was also a mix of nationalities among those who flew including Nigerian passengers".
On the arrest of one of the passengers, the airline stated that "The arrest and detention of one of the passengers involved was a police decision and is not something that British Airways can comment on.
The remaining offloaded passengers were offered overnight accommodation where appropriate and were rebooked on alternative flights".
"British Airways has a long and proud history of serving Nigeria and its people.
For over 70 years the Airline has flown from the UK to Nigeria, connecting the country to the rest of the world. We are working with the Nigerian government to ensure we continue to provide our Nigerian passengers with the high standard of customer service British Airways is renowned for", it said.
I also agree that sometimes Nigerians aren't the best-behaved passengers out there, but I have seen poorly-behaved passengers of various nationalities on many a flight, and so, as an airline/ airhost/ customer-facing employee of an airline, it would be integral not to act on generalizations about an entire nationality (wouldn't be easy), in the name of "customer service". Now, in the name of customer safety, as BA has belatedly pointed out, their decision to kick the 133 passengers of the plane was done in consultation with the UK police and was for the safety of the aircrew and other passengers (we had been made aware of the latter from the start).
Now that the exercise in frustration and venting has been carried out, as Naapali and Atutu have pointed out, it's time for a due diligence on the system and on ourselves. For those who consider themselves the best-behaved passengers out there (cough*yours truly*cough) and believe that BA and other foreign "service delivery" companies consistently overstep the line in their disregard/disrepect for your patronage/naira, you(we) know what you(we) need to do. Same goes for those who are tired and frustrated by the way they are treated by the institutions that govern us, and the way we treat (and mistreat) ourselves.
--------------
British Airways, yesterday, rationalised the offloading of Nigerian passengers on board BA75 flight to Lagos last month.
It said the decision was taken in consultation with the United Kingdom Police in order to ensure safety of the said aircraft and passengers.
In a statement made available to THISDAY, the airline said the "disruption" on board the aircraft required the presence of policemen to contain the situation which it said was regretable.
"We regret the upset that the events onboard the BA75 to Lagos on 27th March have caused in Nigeria. We have made it clear that the decision to offload passengers was made in consultation with and on the advice of the UK police, and the sole aim of this decision was to ensure the safety of our passengers, aircraft and crew.
"Offloading passengers is not a decision that is taken lightly and is a rare occurrence. However the disturbance on board the BA75 service to Lagos on Thursday 27th March was a very serious incident which required the presence of 20 uniformed police officers to regain control of the situation" the statement said.
It further noted that "Given the level of disruption on board the plane as it was preparing to depart, it was not possible to pinpoint which passengers were the most involved. In addition our crew were subjected to both verbal abuse and physical assault which, in the confined space of an aircraft, can be a particularly serious issue. Hence the police decided, with the agreement of the Captain, that it would be unwise to let all the passengers travel on the aircraft as their behaviour could pose a safety risk".
The statement said that "Of the 133 passengers offloaded following the disturbance 64 re-boarded the flight before take-off. Those offloaded were of various nationalities including British & American passengers. There was also a mix of nationalities among those who flew including Nigerian passengers".
On the arrest of one of the passengers, the airline stated that "The arrest and detention of one of the passengers involved was a police decision and is not something that British Airways can comment on.
The remaining offloaded passengers were offered overnight accommodation where appropriate and were rebooked on alternative flights".
"British Airways has a long and proud history of serving Nigeria and its people.
For over 70 years the Airline has flown from the UK to Nigeria, connecting the country to the rest of the world. We are working with the Nigerian government to ensure we continue to provide our Nigerian passengers with the high standard of customer service British Airways is renowned for", it said.
Monday, April 28, 2008
BA boycott updates
Like we've said before, BA hopes this "fiasco" will die down and Nigerians will continue to "siddon n sharrap" as the elite continue to patronize BA (the airline just reported a 100% load factor on the Lagos-London route for March-April by the way) and business goes back to normal. Thanks to blogville (bloggers like NigerianCuriosity and Chxta), the Naija online network (fora like NVS and RespectNigerians.com), the media, and Nigerians (shout out to those who haven't HAD to fly BA this month) for making sure this doesn't happen.
I somehow suspect that Wednesday (April 30th - deadline for BA to apologize or face the consequences) will come and go and our not-so-dear Willie Walsh will still have nothing to say to the Nigerian passengers kicked off BA075 on March 27th. In terms of a boycott against BA for life, i'm not convinced that we (nor BA) will see the impact required to wake the sleeping airline and prove us to be more than a mere irritation to be ignored.
Would a short, directed (ONE WEEK, ZERO BA) collective action be more measurable, get more media coverage and give people more time to re-organize their affairs to other airlines? Are Nigerians really capable of COLLECTIVELY swearing off BA for life while the Lagos-London route keeps being serviced by only 3/4 airlines? What would it take to get you to boycott BA for life? We'd like to know, so we can start COLLECTIVELY TRYING to get those factors in order...
I somehow suspect that Wednesday (April 30th - deadline for BA to apologize or face the consequences) will come and go and our not-so-dear Willie Walsh will still have nothing to say to the Nigerian passengers kicked off BA075 on March 27th. In terms of a boycott against BA for life, i'm not convinced that we (nor BA) will see the impact required to wake the sleeping airline and prove us to be more than a mere irritation to be ignored.
Would a short, directed (ONE WEEK, ZERO BA) collective action be more measurable, get more media coverage and give people more time to re-organize their affairs to other airlines? Are Nigerians really capable of COLLECTIVELY swearing off BA for life while the Lagos-London route keeps being serviced by only 3/4 airlines? What would it take to get you to boycott BA for life? We'd like to know, so we can start COLLECTIVELY TRYING to get those factors in order...
Friday, April 18, 2008
British Airways: Apologize to Nigerians or Prepare For a Boycott!
Time and time again, Nigerians have been unfairly treated by various airlines during their travels. Recently, this kind of unfair treatment was meted out by British Airways to a Nigerian passenger, Mr. Ayodeji Omotade. Here is the story in his own words. Please read and sign the call for BA to apologize or face a boycott!
(From Nigerian Village Square)
Before you read Mr. Omotade's letter... Decide which course of action you are going to take. You can do one of the following:
1. Sign the online Nigerian Village Square petition compelling BA to apologize or face boycott
2. Send an e-mail to the CEO of British Airways, Willie Walsh, protesting over this mistreatment. (willie.walsh@ba.com?
3. Phone British Airways to register your protest by calling British Airways Customer Relations department on 0844 493 0 787 (from within the UK); +44 1293 666245 (from outside the UK).
4. Write in to: British Airways, Customer Relations (S506), PO Box 5619, Sudbury, Suffolk CO10 2PG
5. Write about your own experience here.
On the 27th of March 2008 at about 12:30pm, I boarded the British Airways flight BA75 and I went straight to seat 53C. On getting to my seat, there were noises from an individual being forcibly restrained but who was not visible because some police officers and some plain clothes people held him down. The noise continued for more than 20 minutes and I was concerned because the individual was screaming in agony and shouting in pidgin English "I go die" meaning, I will die. I pleaded with the officers not to kill him and my exact words were "please don't kill him". The British Airways staff said that the officers were doing their jobs and that nothing was going to happen. The noise became louder and other passengers started getting concerned and were complaining especially about their safety. The situation continued for another 15 minutes after I got on.
Eventually, a member of the cabin crew announced that the passenger was going to be removed and the passenger was removed from the plane and we all thought that was the end of the situation. Five minutes later, two members of the cabin crew arrived with about 4 police officers and told me to get off the plane. I asked what the matter was and they said that I was not going to travel with the airline because the cabin crew thought I had been disruptive by questioning the noise being caused by the person that was removed. I pleaded with them that I was going for my brother's wedding and that I had all his stuff with me. I was dragged out of the plane as if I was resisting arrest. As we got to the corridor that linked the plane with the terminal building, I was slammed against the wall and made to sit on the floor. I was still pleading with them telling them that they had completely misunderstood me and that I was only complaining about the situation regarding the disturbances caused by the deportee they were trying to restrain and subdue. I was on the floor for about 20 to 25 minutes. Another passenger was brought to the corridor as well and he was also pleading with the officers.
I was later put in the back of the police van at about 1:50pm and I was locked up there for about an hour or more still handcuffed. I was formally arrested approximately 2:30pm and my rights were read to me. Before the arrest in the van, I managed to reach for my pocket and brought out my mobile phone. I made some phone calls to my wife, sister and a friend while the low battery sign was on because I was all alone and still handcuffed.
I was later driven to the police station where I was formally checked in. I was in police custody for almost 8 hours and later released on bail after the interview with the duty solicitor and the detectives. I had £473.00 on me which was seized as well as £90.00 sent to my mother in-law from my sister in-law and £1,050.00 given to me by my cousin who is a doctor for the upkeep of his parents in Nigeria. All the money together was £1,613.00. I was told that I would appear in a magistrate court to prove the money was not meant for crime or proceeds of crime. The officer told me that they will like to see traceability and that I needed my payslips and bank account detailing my payments and withdrawals as well as my cousin's payments and withdrawals.
I was released but without the money. I made my way to terminal 4 and arrived there at about 12:30am but the British Airways kiosks were closed. I was directed to the staff room and told them that I wanted to rebook my trip to Lagos. A lady told me to give her my ticket and she stated that British Airways has banned me from travelling with them indefinitely and that only the managers can use their discretions because I was a 'disruptive passenger'. I requested for my 2 piece luggage and she told me that the section will be opened later at about 5:30am and I will be escorted in to collect them. I slept on the chair and waited till about 5:30am and attempted to rebook my ticket but was told that British Airways refused to take me. I decided to go and pick up my stuff and I was told that my luggage were missing. I was handed a form with reference number LONBA90924. At this point, I became totally stranded because I could not leave without my luggage because it contained my brother's wedding suit, shirts and accessories.
I was on the phone with my wife and she wanted to book an alternative flight that departs at 10:15am so that I could make it for the wedding. This was not possible because British Airways refused to disclose where my luggages were and did not remove my luggage from the flight when they called the police to arrest me.
On Monday 31st of March, I appeared at the Magistrate court but was told that a decision was made about the £1,613.00 that was seized from me. The police had been granted a further 90 days to hold on to the money pending their investigation. I was given the officer's details . He requested 12 months bank statements and 6 months payslip to prove that the £473.00 that belongs to me was not proceeds of crime and also requested that the £1,050.00 that was given to me by my cousin for his parents should also be traced to my cousin's 12 months bank statement and 6 months payslip. DC Webster has promised to write me detailing these requests.
Still on Monday 31st of March 4 days after I was taken off the plane, I made extra efforts to find out the whereabouts of my 2 piece luggage (LONBA90924), because they have not been sent to my address as promised by calling the lost baggage section at 13:44hrs and spoke to a man called Neil who said that, it is difficult for them to trace my bags and that there is a strong possibility that they might be in Lagos. He suggested that I should call back in 24 hours.
Eventually, one week and one day later, my bags were brought to me at home. One was badly damaged and the other was intact. British Airways deliberately made sure I missed the wedding because if they were kicking me off their flight, they would have removed my bags from the flight. They were all there when the police officers made me to sit on the floor and heard me pleading to allow me fly for my brother's wedding. I could have made either KLM or Virgin Nigeria the following Friday morning.
I will not want to believe that the authorities involved in the situation deliberately or cleverly punished me unnecessarily out of frustration for not being able to restrain or subdue a deportee or that I as a fee paying passenger was accused of affray with violence when I was voicing my concerns about the disturbances caused by the deportees. I never mentioned any abusive or swear words neither was I physically threatening anyone. My luggage mysteriously was lost and I have been banned on all British Airways flights without a chance to say my part of the story to redeem myself. 135 passengers were asked to leave the flight because they expressed displeasure regarding the disturbances caused by the deportees and the officers trying to restrain him. My ticket was even refused to be endorsed by BA to enable me to fly with another airline. I need full compensation of my loss and also a letter of apology from British Airways.
Regards
Ayodeji Omotade
(From Nigerian Village Square)
Before you read Mr. Omotade's letter... Decide which course of action you are going to take. You can do one of the following:
1. Sign the online Nigerian Village Square petition compelling BA to apologize or face boycott
2. Send an e-mail to the CEO of British Airways, Willie Walsh, protesting over this mistreatment. (willie.walsh@ba.com?
3. Phone British Airways to register your protest by calling British Airways Customer Relations department on 0844 493 0 787 (from within the UK); +44 1293 666245 (from outside the UK).
4. Write in to: British Airways, Customer Relations (S506), PO Box 5619, Sudbury, Suffolk CO10 2PG
5. Write about your own experience here.
On the 27th of March 2008 at about 12:30pm, I boarded the British Airways flight BA75 and I went straight to seat 53C. On getting to my seat, there were noises from an individual being forcibly restrained but who was not visible because some police officers and some plain clothes people held him down. The noise continued for more than 20 minutes and I was concerned because the individual was screaming in agony and shouting in pidgin English "I go die" meaning, I will die. I pleaded with the officers not to kill him and my exact words were "please don't kill him". The British Airways staff said that the officers were doing their jobs and that nothing was going to happen. The noise became louder and other passengers started getting concerned and were complaining especially about their safety. The situation continued for another 15 minutes after I got on.
Eventually, a member of the cabin crew announced that the passenger was going to be removed and the passenger was removed from the plane and we all thought that was the end of the situation. Five minutes later, two members of the cabin crew arrived with about 4 police officers and told me to get off the plane. I asked what the matter was and they said that I was not going to travel with the airline because the cabin crew thought I had been disruptive by questioning the noise being caused by the person that was removed. I pleaded with them that I was going for my brother's wedding and that I had all his stuff with me. I was dragged out of the plane as if I was resisting arrest. As we got to the corridor that linked the plane with the terminal building, I was slammed against the wall and made to sit on the floor. I was still pleading with them telling them that they had completely misunderstood me and that I was only complaining about the situation regarding the disturbances caused by the deportee they were trying to restrain and subdue. I was on the floor for about 20 to 25 minutes. Another passenger was brought to the corridor as well and he was also pleading with the officers.
I was later put in the back of the police van at about 1:50pm and I was locked up there for about an hour or more still handcuffed. I was formally arrested approximately 2:30pm and my rights were read to me. Before the arrest in the van, I managed to reach for my pocket and brought out my mobile phone. I made some phone calls to my wife, sister and a friend while the low battery sign was on because I was all alone and still handcuffed.
I was later driven to the police station where I was formally checked in. I was in police custody for almost 8 hours and later released on bail after the interview with the duty solicitor and the detectives. I had £473.00 on me which was seized as well as £90.00 sent to my mother in-law from my sister in-law and £1,050.00 given to me by my cousin who is a doctor for the upkeep of his parents in Nigeria. All the money together was £1,613.00. I was told that I would appear in a magistrate court to prove the money was not meant for crime or proceeds of crime. The officer told me that they will like to see traceability and that I needed my payslips and bank account detailing my payments and withdrawals as well as my cousin's payments and withdrawals.
I was released but without the money. I made my way to terminal 4 and arrived there at about 12:30am but the British Airways kiosks were closed. I was directed to the staff room and told them that I wanted to rebook my trip to Lagos. A lady told me to give her my ticket and she stated that British Airways has banned me from travelling with them indefinitely and that only the managers can use their discretions because I was a 'disruptive passenger'. I requested for my 2 piece luggage and she told me that the section will be opened later at about 5:30am and I will be escorted in to collect them. I slept on the chair and waited till about 5:30am and attempted to rebook my ticket but was told that British Airways refused to take me. I decided to go and pick up my stuff and I was told that my luggage were missing. I was handed a form with reference number LONBA90924. At this point, I became totally stranded because I could not leave without my luggage because it contained my brother's wedding suit, shirts and accessories.
I was on the phone with my wife and she wanted to book an alternative flight that departs at 10:15am so that I could make it for the wedding. This was not possible because British Airways refused to disclose where my luggages were and did not remove my luggage from the flight when they called the police to arrest me.
On Monday 31st of March, I appeared at the Magistrate court but was told that a decision was made about the £1,613.00 that was seized from me. The police had been granted a further 90 days to hold on to the money pending their investigation. I was given the officer's details . He requested 12 months bank statements and 6 months payslip to prove that the £473.00 that belongs to me was not proceeds of crime and also requested that the £1,050.00 that was given to me by my cousin for his parents should also be traced to my cousin's 12 months bank statement and 6 months payslip. DC Webster has promised to write me detailing these requests.
Still on Monday 31st of March 4 days after I was taken off the plane, I made extra efforts to find out the whereabouts of my 2 piece luggage (LONBA90924), because they have not been sent to my address as promised by calling the lost baggage section at 13:44hrs and spoke to a man called Neil who said that, it is difficult for them to trace my bags and that there is a strong possibility that they might be in Lagos. He suggested that I should call back in 24 hours.
Eventually, one week and one day later, my bags were brought to me at home. One was badly damaged and the other was intact. British Airways deliberately made sure I missed the wedding because if they were kicking me off their flight, they would have removed my bags from the flight. They were all there when the police officers made me to sit on the floor and heard me pleading to allow me fly for my brother's wedding. I could have made either KLM or Virgin Nigeria the following Friday morning.
I will not want to believe that the authorities involved in the situation deliberately or cleverly punished me unnecessarily out of frustration for not being able to restrain or subdue a deportee or that I as a fee paying passenger was accused of affray with violence when I was voicing my concerns about the disturbances caused by the deportees. I never mentioned any abusive or swear words neither was I physically threatening anyone. My luggage mysteriously was lost and I have been banned on all British Airways flights without a chance to say my part of the story to redeem myself. 135 passengers were asked to leave the flight because they expressed displeasure regarding the disturbances caused by the deportees and the officers trying to restrain him. My ticket was even refused to be endorsed by BA to enable me to fly with another airline. I need full compensation of my loss and also a letter of apology from British Airways.
Regards
Ayodeji Omotade
Thursday, April 17, 2008
Governor Fashola's Reading List - by Tolu Ogunlesi
Good to know our leaders are reading and getting smart about those issues that plague our country but are not unique to us. And that some of them are embracing untinted windows!
-----------------
From The Guardian Newspaper
FEW Nigerian stereotypes are more deeply rooted than the "Nigerians don't read" one. Every so often some publisher or University don or educationist is to be found screaming this to the highest heavens. But this stereotype is patently one of the most erroneous labels anyone could ever stick on the Nigerian citizen. Never before this time has Nigeria witnessed such an explosion of newspapers, magazines and book publishing...
But when it comes to our "Big Men" (and I use this term to refer to both men and women) - politicians, high profile CEOs, business moguls, high-level Government functionaries, etc - the issue of reading gets a bit more interesting.
A past President of Nigeria was once quoted to have said he does not read newspapers. Interestingly, he it was who also embarked on the construction of the biggest and costliest library (a personal one at that) ever seen in this country, a project for which billions of naira have been raised (and hopefully, spent). In the light of this, perhaps he was misquoted on the newspaper matter. (It is very possible. Dictaphones and Voice Recorders have been known to occasionally embark on grand acts of journalistic mischief, taking laws - or better still, words - into their hands).
Do our Big Men read? If yes, what? Newspapers? This would seem likely (of course there will be exceptions). With the sheer volume of shamelessly-biased opinion let loose on the pages of our newspapers, our Big Men need to know what truths and what lies are being peddled about them in the media. Let's move over to books. One is tempted to wonder what books our Big Men feed their eyes (and minds) on - apart from cheque-books? It is interesting to note that there is such a thing (albeit unofficial) as a "Presidential Reading List" in the United States. An article in The Guardian (UK) in August 2005 mentioned the three books that President George Bush was taking along on that year's summer vacation...Huge debates arose in the American media at that time because that revelation essentially demanded a recasting of Mr. Bush's "anti-intellectual" image.
The books a person reads say a great deal about the person - character, passions, personality, aspirations. Show me your books and I will tell you who you are. For example I'd give anything to know what books President Musa Yar'Adua has on his bedside reading table (next to that spiral-bound copy of the 2008 Budget), or in the glove-box of the Presidential Limo.
This morning I glimpsed something that seized my attention and gladdened my heart to no small end. "The Gubernatorial Reading List" of Lagos State. I found myself (and I can assure you this was no breach-of-security issue) a few feet from Governor Fashola's official SUV, where it was parked at the venue of an event on Victoria Island. Awed as I am by such trappings of power, I found myself gazing into the car. (And this is further confirmation in my opinion that Governor Fashola is of a different breed - his car windows are transparent; no malevolent-faced "tinted" windows on the vehicle, the way you'd see with many other Big Men. Perhaps this is a symbol of his style of governance).
I digress. Inside the official vehicle of the Executive Governor of Lagos State I glimpsed a substantial pile of books, stacked on the arm rest that divides the back seat into two. Also in the car were a stack of newspapers, but it was the books that I was interested in. I craned my neck to catch a glimpse of the titles. I managed to see three: Planet of Slums (by Mike Davis), Giving (by Bill Clinton) and Economics For Dummies (by Sean Masaki Flynns).
Do not be misled by the title of the last book, it certainly is not a book for "dummies" in the "dullard" sense of the word; the title bears that strange phrase because (1) It is a tongue-in-cheek way of letting on that the book, like every other book in the series to which it belongs (manuals and guidebooks covering topics ranging from computing to finances to sports and leisure) is aimed at tutoring "non-experts" (2) Tongue-in-cheek titles often sell books better than placid ones.
I quickly checked out the books on the internet (having read none of them), seeking more information. Bill Clinton's Giving is described on Oprah Winfrey's website as "an inspiring look at how individual endeavors can save lives and solve problems, and it offers compelling examples of both citizen and corporate activism at work in the world today."
Publishers Weekly tells us that in Planet of Slums, "Urban theorist Davis takes a global approach to documenting the astonishing depth of squalid poverty that dominates the lives of the planet's increasingly urban population, detailing poor urban communities from Cape Town and Caracas to Casablanca and Khartoum."
And from the Dummies.Com website, we learn that "Economics For Dummies helps you see how your personal financial picture is influenced by the larger economic picture... the next time you need to understand an economic theory or calculation, whether it's on the nightly news or on a spreadsheet at work, you'll no longer be in the dark. Economics For Dummies covers all the history, principles, major theories, and terminology..."
There were other books in the Governor's mobile library, only I couldn't see the titles from where I stood, half-expecting a (stray) bullet from the one of the armed guards who prowled the area. I immediately called the attention of a colleague to what my eyes had just seen. And I left the scene strangely excited, and brimming with ideas. Our leaders are reading! The English philosopher Francis Bacon was right on target when he declared that "reading maketh a full man." There is hope for Nigeria only when leadership is by "full men", and not empty barrels.
I have now begun looking forward to the day when one of our TV or radio-show hosts will start a book segment on their show, to which they will invite our "Big Men" to discuss "books". Books they have read, or are currently reading, books that have changed their lives and shaped their philosophies, books that influence their leadership styles. Purpose? To show the world that "BigManism" and "Bookishness" are not mutually exclusive; that "Big Men" can be "Book Men."
I once listened to Mr. Reginald Ihejiani (CEO of Fidelity Bank) discuss his reading habits, and the books that had shaped him; at a literary workshop sponsored by his bank and facilitated by the award-winning writer Chimamanda Adichie. It was an inspiring session. Such discussions should be on TV, on radio. And should extend to the dizzying heights of our corridors of power.
I look forward to hearing Governor Fashola discuss those three books, live on television. I'm sure I'll phone-in to ask him a question or two...
Ogunlesi is a company executive in Lagos (and a good friend of tAB).
--------------
P.S. The Issues" discussion is still going on so please share your views and ideas.
-----------------
From The Guardian Newspaper
FEW Nigerian stereotypes are more deeply rooted than the "Nigerians don't read" one. Every so often some publisher or University don or educationist is to be found screaming this to the highest heavens. But this stereotype is patently one of the most erroneous labels anyone could ever stick on the Nigerian citizen. Never before this time has Nigeria witnessed such an explosion of newspapers, magazines and book publishing...
But when it comes to our "Big Men" (and I use this term to refer to both men and women) - politicians, high profile CEOs, business moguls, high-level Government functionaries, etc - the issue of reading gets a bit more interesting.
A past President of Nigeria was once quoted to have said he does not read newspapers. Interestingly, he it was who also embarked on the construction of the biggest and costliest library (a personal one at that) ever seen in this country, a project for which billions of naira have been raised (and hopefully, spent). In the light of this, perhaps he was misquoted on the newspaper matter. (It is very possible. Dictaphones and Voice Recorders have been known to occasionally embark on grand acts of journalistic mischief, taking laws - or better still, words - into their hands).
Do our Big Men read? If yes, what? Newspapers? This would seem likely (of course there will be exceptions). With the sheer volume of shamelessly-biased opinion let loose on the pages of our newspapers, our Big Men need to know what truths and what lies are being peddled about them in the media. Let's move over to books. One is tempted to wonder what books our Big Men feed their eyes (and minds) on - apart from cheque-books? It is interesting to note that there is such a thing (albeit unofficial) as a "Presidential Reading List" in the United States. An article in The Guardian (UK) in August 2005 mentioned the three books that President George Bush was taking along on that year's summer vacation...Huge debates arose in the American media at that time because that revelation essentially demanded a recasting of Mr. Bush's "anti-intellectual" image.
The books a person reads say a great deal about the person - character, passions, personality, aspirations. Show me your books and I will tell you who you are. For example I'd give anything to know what books President Musa Yar'Adua has on his bedside reading table (next to that spiral-bound copy of the 2008 Budget), or in the glove-box of the Presidential Limo.
This morning I glimpsed something that seized my attention and gladdened my heart to no small end. "The Gubernatorial Reading List" of Lagos State. I found myself (and I can assure you this was no breach-of-security issue) a few feet from Governor Fashola's official SUV, where it was parked at the venue of an event on Victoria Island. Awed as I am by such trappings of power, I found myself gazing into the car. (And this is further confirmation in my opinion that Governor Fashola is of a different breed - his car windows are transparent; no malevolent-faced "tinted" windows on the vehicle, the way you'd see with many other Big Men. Perhaps this is a symbol of his style of governance).
I digress. Inside the official vehicle of the Executive Governor of Lagos State I glimpsed a substantial pile of books, stacked on the arm rest that divides the back seat into two. Also in the car were a stack of newspapers, but it was the books that I was interested in. I craned my neck to catch a glimpse of the titles. I managed to see three: Planet of Slums (by Mike Davis), Giving (by Bill Clinton) and Economics For Dummies (by Sean Masaki Flynns).
Do not be misled by the title of the last book, it certainly is not a book for "dummies" in the "dullard" sense of the word; the title bears that strange phrase because (1) It is a tongue-in-cheek way of letting on that the book, like every other book in the series to which it belongs (manuals and guidebooks covering topics ranging from computing to finances to sports and leisure) is aimed at tutoring "non-experts" (2) Tongue-in-cheek titles often sell books better than placid ones.
I quickly checked out the books on the internet (having read none of them), seeking more information. Bill Clinton's Giving is described on Oprah Winfrey's website as "an inspiring look at how individual endeavors can save lives and solve problems, and it offers compelling examples of both citizen and corporate activism at work in the world today."
Publishers Weekly tells us that in Planet of Slums, "Urban theorist Davis takes a global approach to documenting the astonishing depth of squalid poverty that dominates the lives of the planet's increasingly urban population, detailing poor urban communities from Cape Town and Caracas to Casablanca and Khartoum."
And from the Dummies.Com website, we learn that "Economics For Dummies helps you see how your personal financial picture is influenced by the larger economic picture... the next time you need to understand an economic theory or calculation, whether it's on the nightly news or on a spreadsheet at work, you'll no longer be in the dark. Economics For Dummies covers all the history, principles, major theories, and terminology..."
There were other books in the Governor's mobile library, only I couldn't see the titles from where I stood, half-expecting a (stray) bullet from the one of the armed guards who prowled the area. I immediately called the attention of a colleague to what my eyes had just seen. And I left the scene strangely excited, and brimming with ideas. Our leaders are reading! The English philosopher Francis Bacon was right on target when he declared that "reading maketh a full man." There is hope for Nigeria only when leadership is by "full men", and not empty barrels.
I have now begun looking forward to the day when one of our TV or radio-show hosts will start a book segment on their show, to which they will invite our "Big Men" to discuss "books". Books they have read, or are currently reading, books that have changed their lives and shaped their philosophies, books that influence their leadership styles. Purpose? To show the world that "BigManism" and "Bookishness" are not mutually exclusive; that "Big Men" can be "Book Men."
I once listened to Mr. Reginald Ihejiani (CEO of Fidelity Bank) discuss his reading habits, and the books that had shaped him; at a literary workshop sponsored by his bank and facilitated by the award-winning writer Chimamanda Adichie. It was an inspiring session. Such discussions should be on TV, on radio. And should extend to the dizzying heights of our corridors of power.
I look forward to hearing Governor Fashola discuss those three books, live on television. I'm sure I'll phone-in to ask him a question or two...
Ogunlesi is a company executive in Lagos (and a good friend of tAB).
--------------
P.S. The Issues" discussion is still going on so please share your views and ideas.
Thursday, April 10, 2008
Issues...
"Every well-meaning Nigerian must rise up and be vocal in denouncing any attempt to legalise abortion in Nigeria. Abortion is anti-God. It is against our culture. We should not kill a soul we cannot create. An unborn child has a right to live."
- Andrew Odigie, President, Catholic Knights of Ibadan Archdiocese
Any person who, with intent to procure miscarriage of a woman whether she is or is not with child, unlawfully administers to her or causes her to take any poison or other noxious thing, or uses any force of any kind, or uses any other means whatever, is guilty of a felony, and is liable to imprisonment for fourteen years.
- Nigeria's Criminal Code Act 228
The Nigeria Health Review 2006 says that about 10,000 Nigerian women die annually due to abortion-related complications. This is out of the more than 610,000 abortions carried out annually in the country. The report says that many more women, who survive the complications, suffer permanent disabilities.
- "Nigeria: Unsafe Abortion - Need to find a Lasting Solution (allAfrica.com)
"Women need to be educated about their rights over their body and given opportunities to plan their families, but it must be done in a way that protects public morality."
- Saving Nigerians from Risky Abortions, BBC Africa
We've all heard the "what would you do" scenarios...Wife/daughter/self gang-raped and becomes pregnant. Should abortion be an option? Or should she be forced to have the baby and perhaps, give it up for adoption?
With so many pressing issues in Nigeria, it's almost easy to see how abortion has sat on the back burner for so long. (Then again, our Ministhief ;) of Health has had some pressing issues of her own to deal with too). Being one of the people referred to in the allAfrica.com article as the "middle liners" (basically, in search of some approach that allows women to responsibly opt for abortions on a need basis, which would need to be well thought out), i would like to see a lasting solution to this issue, seeing as so many women are having these abortions regardless.
Anti-abortionist groups call for a change in focus from trying to legalize abortion to working to improve the care and support that women receive during pregnancy. But does that address the fact that there are women out there who still feel that abortion is their only option? And what about those who decide that it IS their only option, only to realize (too late) that it wasn't? Would legalizing abortion really lead to rampant promiscuity in our society? Perhaps, but the current law isn't working as is. So what next?
I apologize if this issue has been discussed in the past on other blogs, but I'm curious to hear your thoughts on this sensitive issue, especially your reactions to this BBC article. Read excerpt below:
Abortion is a taboo subject in Nigeria. The BBC couldn't find any woman who had an abortion willing to speak about it openly.
But 12 women responded to questionnaires about their experiences. The women were contacted though a doctor who arranges abortions by trained doctors at a medical clinic in the capital Abuja.
"People know I am into women's issues," she says, "so when a woman comes to an organisation looking for help, they send them to me." The doctor did not want to be identified because she feared the authorities would prevent her from providing a service she says saves lives.
All but one of the 12 women are single, and all are below the age of 27. Two are still in secondary school. Two women said they had abortions before, and two other women said their boyfriends refused to let them use contraception. Two attempts to change the law were stopped by conservative women's groups.
They say a change in the law would promote promiscuity, and weaken the moral fibre of Nigeria. "Making more abortions available is not the answer," says Saudata Sani, a female member of the House of Representatives for Kaduna state, in northern Nigeria. "Women need to be educated about their rights over their body and given opportunities to plan their families, but it must be done in a way that protects public morality."
Other medical specialists say that the law is just a part of the picture.
"Even if it was possible to get a legal abortion, many women would not be able to get a safe one," said Dr Francis Ohanyido, the president of the International Public Health Forum.
"Medical facilities vary widely and it is almost impossible to guarantee quality."
Cultural taboos mean even if there was a clinic in their town, it would be impossible for most women to go there, he said.
Among the 12 women the BBC questioned, five said they believed it would be wrong to make abortion more easily available. Sharle, a 25-year-old university student, who had an abortion so she could continue her education, said she regretted what she did, saying it was against God's commandments.
Also check out pyoo wata's post on/endorsment of Dr. Ejike Oji, an advocate of women's reproductive rights.
---------
Meanwhile, if you happen to be in the NYC area, be sure to check out the African Film Festival this week (April 9 to May 26th) as it showcases African cinema at its finest.
- Andrew Odigie, President, Catholic Knights of Ibadan Archdiocese
Any person who, with intent to procure miscarriage of a woman whether she is or is not with child, unlawfully administers to her or causes her to take any poison or other noxious thing, or uses any force of any kind, or uses any other means whatever, is guilty of a felony, and is liable to imprisonment for fourteen years.
- Nigeria's Criminal Code Act 228
The Nigeria Health Review 2006 says that about 10,000 Nigerian women die annually due to abortion-related complications. This is out of the more than 610,000 abortions carried out annually in the country. The report says that many more women, who survive the complications, suffer permanent disabilities.
- "Nigeria: Unsafe Abortion - Need to find a Lasting Solution (allAfrica.com)
"Women need to be educated about their rights over their body and given opportunities to plan their families, but it must be done in a way that protects public morality."
- Saving Nigerians from Risky Abortions, BBC Africa
We've all heard the "what would you do" scenarios...Wife/daughter/self gang-raped and becomes pregnant. Should abortion be an option? Or should she be forced to have the baby and perhaps, give it up for adoption?
With so many pressing issues in Nigeria, it's almost easy to see how abortion has sat on the back burner for so long. (Then again, our Ministhief ;) of Health has had some pressing issues of her own to deal with too). Being one of the people referred to in the allAfrica.com article as the "middle liners" (basically, in search of some approach that allows women to responsibly opt for abortions on a need basis, which would need to be well thought out), i would like to see a lasting solution to this issue, seeing as so many women are having these abortions regardless.
Anti-abortionist groups call for a change in focus from trying to legalize abortion to working to improve the care and support that women receive during pregnancy. But does that address the fact that there are women out there who still feel that abortion is their only option? And what about those who decide that it IS their only option, only to realize (too late) that it wasn't? Would legalizing abortion really lead to rampant promiscuity in our society? Perhaps, but the current law isn't working as is. So what next?I apologize if this issue has been discussed in the past on other blogs, but I'm curious to hear your thoughts on this sensitive issue, especially your reactions to this BBC article. Read excerpt below:
Abortion is a taboo subject in Nigeria. The BBC couldn't find any woman who had an abortion willing to speak about it openly.
But 12 women responded to questionnaires about their experiences. The women were contacted though a doctor who arranges abortions by trained doctors at a medical clinic in the capital Abuja.
"People know I am into women's issues," she says, "so when a woman comes to an organisation looking for help, they send them to me." The doctor did not want to be identified because she feared the authorities would prevent her from providing a service she says saves lives.
All but one of the 12 women are single, and all are below the age of 27. Two are still in secondary school. Two women said they had abortions before, and two other women said their boyfriends refused to let them use contraception. Two attempts to change the law were stopped by conservative women's groups.
They say a change in the law would promote promiscuity, and weaken the moral fibre of Nigeria. "Making more abortions available is not the answer," says Saudata Sani, a female member of the House of Representatives for Kaduna state, in northern Nigeria. "Women need to be educated about their rights over their body and given opportunities to plan their families, but it must be done in a way that protects public morality."
Other medical specialists say that the law is just a part of the picture.
"Even if it was possible to get a legal abortion, many women would not be able to get a safe one," said Dr Francis Ohanyido, the president of the International Public Health Forum.
"Medical facilities vary widely and it is almost impossible to guarantee quality."
Cultural taboos mean even if there was a clinic in their town, it would be impossible for most women to go there, he said.
Among the 12 women the BBC questioned, five said they believed it would be wrong to make abortion more easily available. Sharle, a 25-year-old university student, who had an abortion so she could continue her education, said she regretted what she did, saying it was against God's commandments.
Also check out pyoo wata's post on/endorsment of Dr. Ejike Oji, an advocate of women's reproductive rights.
---------
Meanwhile, if you happen to be in the NYC area, be sure to check out the African Film Festival this week (April 9 to May 26th) as it showcases African cinema at its finest.
Monday, March 31, 2008
Make we join hands...
...to make Nigeria better! (not quite sure why that NTA theme song came to mind)
**********
As the merry month of March comes to an end, we hope you've enjoyed tAB's positive focus on the goings-on in our dear country. It's been slightly challenging to focus solely on the positives but it's been a great exercise for us to celebrate some of the great initiatives underway. There were quite a couple of things we didn't get to talk about (including the recently launched Lagos Bus Rapid Transit system; Duet Victoire Africa Index Fund, the first sub-Saharan African index tracking fund; the African Leadership Academy (NOT Oprah's!!), among others) but from now on, we'll try harder to maintain a healthy balance in our mood/tone.
Ok, so this may not make most people go WOW, but hey, Talib Kweli riding an okada on the streets of lagos is definitely not an everyday occurence; so for this and many other reasons, we hope you enjoy his Hostile Gospel video.
Totally unrelated but a friend (thanks Jide!) shared this clip the other day and we thought it was pretty interesting (you've probably seen this before). Minister Louis Farrakhan is the acting head of the Nation of Islam (a religious and social/political organization with the self-proclaimed goal of resurrecting the Spiritual, mental, social, and economic condition of the black man and woman of America) and is well-known as an advocate for African American interests and a critic of American society.
While there are some eyebrow-raising ("let's help them") phrases in this clip, you've got to admire how Farrakhan shuts down Wallace's nonchalant, non-factbased blanket statement about corruption in Nigeria. If Wallace at least backed up his initial statement with some Transparency International figures or some other data (e.g. what other countries has he covered?), he would have had some grounding for his over-ambitious claims.
Note: This is not to say that we don't acknowledge the fact that Nigeria is ranked 30-sth on the list of most corrupt countries in the world. However, i can think back to not so long ago when we and our brother, Pakistan, we ranked the most corrupt countries in the world, and now we don't feature in the top 10 list anymore. So yes, progress has been made and we certainly still have a long way to go.
-----------
P.S: Long overdue on tAB's part but check out this great review of the Vagina Monologues on Funmi Iyanda's blog. It seems it lived up to all the hype aferall.
**********
As the merry month of March comes to an end, we hope you've enjoyed tAB's positive focus on the goings-on in our dear country. It's been slightly challenging to focus solely on the positives but it's been a great exercise for us to celebrate some of the great initiatives underway. There were quite a couple of things we didn't get to talk about (including the recently launched Lagos Bus Rapid Transit system; Duet Victoire Africa Index Fund, the first sub-Saharan African index tracking fund; the African Leadership Academy (NOT Oprah's!!), among others) but from now on, we'll try harder to maintain a healthy balance in our mood/tone.
Ok, so this may not make most people go WOW, but hey, Talib Kweli riding an okada on the streets of lagos is definitely not an everyday occurence; so for this and many other reasons, we hope you enjoy his Hostile Gospel video.
Totally unrelated but a friend (thanks Jide!) shared this clip the other day and we thought it was pretty interesting (you've probably seen this before). Minister Louis Farrakhan is the acting head of the Nation of Islam (a religious and social/political organization with the self-proclaimed goal of resurrecting the Spiritual, mental, social, and economic condition of the black man and woman of America) and is well-known as an advocate for African American interests and a critic of American society.
While there are some eyebrow-raising ("let's help them") phrases in this clip, you've got to admire how Farrakhan shuts down Wallace's nonchalant, non-factbased blanket statement about corruption in Nigeria. If Wallace at least backed up his initial statement with some Transparency International figures or some other data (e.g. what other countries has he covered?), he would have had some grounding for his over-ambitious claims.
Note: This is not to say that we don't acknowledge the fact that Nigeria is ranked 30-sth on the list of most corrupt countries in the world. However, i can think back to not so long ago when we and our brother, Pakistan, we ranked the most corrupt countries in the world, and now we don't feature in the top 10 list anymore. So yes, progress has been made and we certainly still have a long way to go.
-----------
P.S: Long overdue on tAB's part but check out this great review of the Vagina Monologues on Funmi Iyanda's blog. It seems it lived up to all the hype aferall.
Thursday, March 27, 2008
I believe the children are our future...
ok, so Whitney's not exactly the role model of the year these days but....
This one's very near and dear to tAB. Check out The IMPACT Initiative's website and email impactnigeria@gmail.com if you've got any ideas or would like to get involved in some way. At the moment, they're currently working on planning the next youth forum and trying to organize an event for university undergraduates in Nigeria (possibly a career explorer program or a career fair) so watch this space.
-------------------------
Mentoring pupils for leadership positions - By Mudiaga Affe (Punch Newspaper)
Published: Friday, 11 Jan 2008
Exposing youths to various educational opportunities at an early stage may just be the spring board that will prepare them into leadership positions in the country.
At the second Annual Youth Forum in Lagos last Friday, pupils from various secondary schools in the state converged for a mentoring programme aimed at redirecting their focus towards assuming leadership roles in their various fields of endeavour.
The Founder and Chief Executive Officer of the IMPACT initiative, Ms Jemine Rewane, noted that, "The current resource constraint of the Nigerian education system and the dearth of organisations providing academic guidance, professional support and forums to encourage community activism do not encourage youths to tap into their leadership potential early. The earlier youth are able to do this, the greater their impact in their communities will be. It is this impact that is required to take our nation a step further to create a better Nigeria."
IMPACT is a newly established organisation focused on leadership development and maximising an individual's capacity to contribute to the community.
According to her, "Our vision is to help develop a Nigeria full of motivated individuals willing to maximise opportunities for themselves and their fellow citizens, to improve the quality of life for all, hence allowing our great country to achieve its true potential." As part of measures aimed at achieving this goal, IMPACT she said, is poised to substantially increase the impact that our youth have on their respective communities as well as reduce the number of Nigerians who are forced to settle for mediocre circumstances because of poor planning or guidance.
Already, there are existing approaches to this problem, one of which is LEAP Africa, a non-profit organisation offering programmes targeted at youths who will develop into leaders to spearhead Africa's drive towards sustainable development.
The LEAP Youth Leadership program offers exceptional youth activities and training programmes in cities across Nigeria targeted at building their leadership skills.
Another is Junior Achievement, a non-profit organisation that seeks to educate and inspire young people to value free enterprise, business and economics to improve the quality of their lives. Junior Achievement Nigeria (JAN) offers High School programmes which help students make informed, intelligent decisions about their future, and fosters skills that will be highly useful in the business world.
Students at the IMPACT Youth Forum, who were drawn from Corona Secondary School, Christ the Cornerstone School, CMS Grammar School, Dowen College, International School, Lagos, King's College, Lagoon Secondary School, Oxbridge College, Igbobi College, St. Gregory's College, Holy Child College, Victoria Island Secondary School, among others, expressed optimism that the programme would mentor them into a vantage leadership position.
A pupil of Methodist Girls High School, Yaba, Esther Afolayan, expressed optimism that the programme would address students' areas of deficiency, "There are lots of things happening in our community that youths are not aware of. So, this is a very good initiative. Personally, it has given me so many ideas of things that youths are supposed to do in their present generation."
Another pupil of Methodist Boys High School, Victoria Island, Michael Abuaja-Chinonso, expressed joy that through the programme, he had been able to double his academic challenges to attain leadership skills..."Through this medium, my concentration in my academics will improve because there is nothing than making the decision which you have always wanted to pursue and make it real. So, I really think my choices in life will systematically bring more opportunities my way in life," he said.
--------------
Oh, Doja, the other blog you were asking about...well now you know. It isn't really active yet but once it is, it'll be open to the public and will let you know.
This one's very near and dear to tAB. Check out The IMPACT Initiative's website and email impactnigeria@gmail.com if you've got any ideas or would like to get involved in some way. At the moment, they're currently working on planning the next youth forum and trying to organize an event for university undergraduates in Nigeria (possibly a career explorer program or a career fair) so watch this space.
-------------------------
Mentoring pupils for leadership positions - By Mudiaga Affe (Punch Newspaper)
Published: Friday, 11 Jan 2008
Exposing youths to various educational opportunities at an early stage may just be the spring board that will prepare them into leadership positions in the country.
At the second Annual Youth Forum in Lagos last Friday, pupils from various secondary schools in the state converged for a mentoring programme aimed at redirecting their focus towards assuming leadership roles in their various fields of endeavour.
The Founder and Chief Executive Officer of the IMPACT initiative, Ms Jemine Rewane, noted that, "The current resource constraint of the Nigerian education system and the dearth of organisations providing academic guidance, professional support and forums to encourage community activism do not encourage youths to tap into their leadership potential early. The earlier youth are able to do this, the greater their impact in their communities will be. It is this impact that is required to take our nation a step further to create a better Nigeria."
IMPACT is a newly established organisation focused on leadership development and maximising an individual's capacity to contribute to the community.
According to her, "Our vision is to help develop a Nigeria full of motivated individuals willing to maximise opportunities for themselves and their fellow citizens, to improve the quality of life for all, hence allowing our great country to achieve its true potential." As part of measures aimed at achieving this goal, IMPACT she said, is poised to substantially increase the impact that our youth have on their respective communities as well as reduce the number of Nigerians who are forced to settle for mediocre circumstances because of poor planning or guidance.
Already, there are existing approaches to this problem, one of which is LEAP Africa, a non-profit organisation offering programmes targeted at youths who will develop into leaders to spearhead Africa's drive towards sustainable development.
The LEAP Youth Leadership program offers exceptional youth activities and training programmes in cities across Nigeria targeted at building their leadership skills.
Another is Junior Achievement, a non-profit organisation that seeks to educate and inspire young people to value free enterprise, business and economics to improve the quality of their lives. Junior Achievement Nigeria (JAN) offers High School programmes which help students make informed, intelligent decisions about their future, and fosters skills that will be highly useful in the business world.
Students at the IMPACT Youth Forum, who were drawn from Corona Secondary School, Christ the Cornerstone School, CMS Grammar School, Dowen College, International School, Lagos, King's College, Lagoon Secondary School, Oxbridge College, Igbobi College, St. Gregory's College, Holy Child College, Victoria Island Secondary School, among others, expressed optimism that the programme would mentor them into a vantage leadership position.
A pupil of Methodist Girls High School, Yaba, Esther Afolayan, expressed optimism that the programme would address students' areas of deficiency, "There are lots of things happening in our community that youths are not aware of. So, this is a very good initiative. Personally, it has given me so many ideas of things that youths are supposed to do in their present generation."
Another pupil of Methodist Boys High School, Victoria Island, Michael Abuaja-Chinonso, expressed joy that through the programme, he had been able to double his academic challenges to attain leadership skills..."Through this medium, my concentration in my academics will improve because there is nothing than making the decision which you have always wanted to pursue and make it real. So, I really think my choices in life will systematically bring more opportunities my way in life," he said.
--------------
Oh, Doja, the other blog you were asking about...well now you know. It isn't really active yet but once it is, it'll be open to the public and will let you know.
Wednesday, March 19, 2008
PlayPump System = Child Labor?
The post below is from Wadami of FashionAfrica.com. Thanks Dammie! It's definitely an interesting take on what seems a well-meaning concept/idea, and we would love to hear your thoughts...
*******************
The PlayPump system is a new movement to bring cleaner water to sub-saharan Africa. PlayPumps International’s mission is to help improve the lives of children and their families by providing easy access to clean drinking water, enhancing public health, and offering play equipment to millions across Africa.
PlayPumps International is an NGO registered in South Africa as well as a sister 501(c) 3 organization in the U.S. and by 2010 they will have carried out their mission by installing 4,000 PlayPump® water systems in 10 countries across sub-Saharan Africa
How do they intend to achieve this? By building "Merry - go - rounds" that children will play on whilst simultaneously pumping water from the ground.
The project has begun in a few parts of sub-saharan Africa, where girls are responsible for fulfilling the jobs of water carriers. The girls are usually late for school, often having to join the boys later on in the day because they are expected to carry water back from springs and lakes. The PlayPump system aims to involve all kids in the process, and hopefully improve education opportunities for the young female population.
Watch the National Geographic feature on Play Pumps:
This will definitely be beneficial to developing countries in Africa and worldwide, but it has been brought to my attention that there are possibilities of child labour/abuse because of what has been called "the movement's deceptive nature".
**********
So now we ask, is there really potential for this project to open the door to child labour issues, where children are made to "work" to provide their villages with water? Are they not just being saved the time it would take for them to trek the distance to fetch water, and at the same time, being given the opportunity to play? Could a follow-up headline sometime in 2009 read: "Children forced into manual labour to pump water in rural Africa"?
*******************
The PlayPump system is a new movement to bring cleaner water to sub-saharan Africa. PlayPumps International’s mission is to help improve the lives of children and their families by providing easy access to clean drinking water, enhancing public health, and offering play equipment to millions across Africa.
PlayPumps International is an NGO registered in South Africa as well as a sister 501(c) 3 organization in the U.S. and by 2010 they will have carried out their mission by installing 4,000 PlayPump® water systems in 10 countries across sub-Saharan Africa
How do they intend to achieve this? By building "Merry - go - rounds" that children will play on whilst simultaneously pumping water from the ground.
The project has begun in a few parts of sub-saharan Africa, where girls are responsible for fulfilling the jobs of water carriers. The girls are usually late for school, often having to join the boys later on in the day because they are expected to carry water back from springs and lakes. The PlayPump system aims to involve all kids in the process, and hopefully improve education opportunities for the young female population.
Watch the National Geographic feature on Play Pumps:
This will definitely be beneficial to developing countries in Africa and worldwide, but it has been brought to my attention that there are possibilities of child labour/abuse because of what has been called "the movement's deceptive nature".
**********
So now we ask, is there really potential for this project to open the door to child labour issues, where children are made to "work" to provide their villages with water? Are they not just being saved the time it would take for them to trek the distance to fetch water, and at the same time, being given the opportunity to play? Could a follow-up headline sometime in 2009 read: "Children forced into manual labour to pump water in rural Africa"?
Wednesday, March 12, 2008
10,000 Women
Thanks to Kome for sharing this!
**********************
Launched by Goldman Sachs, 10,000 Women is a significant new initiative that will:
• Increase the number of underserved women receiving a business and management education
• Improve the quality and capacity of business and management education around the world
The initiative has six components:
• 10,000 Women Over Five Years Will Receive a Business and Management Education:
Over the next five years, GS will support partnerships with universities and development organizations that will lead to 10,000 women receiving a business and management education. The initial partnerships will fund business and management education certificates in countries around the world. These innovative certificate programs are pragmatic, flexible and shorter term and will help open doors for thousands of women whose financial and practical circumstances prevent them from ever receiving a traditional business education. These programs will provide women with the opportunity to develop specific skills, such as drafting a business plan, accounting, public speaking, marketing, management and accessing capital. There will also be a select number of MBA and BA scholarships funded.
• Build Quality and Capacity Through Global Business Sister School Partnerships: To strengthen the quality and capacity of business schools in developing nations, GS will support new partnerships between business schools and universities in the US and Europe and business schools in developing and emerging economies. Through these partnerships, the schools will collaborate to train professors, exchange faculty, develop curriculum and create local case study material.
• Establish Mentoring and Post-Graduation Support for Women Entrepreneurs: In addition to funding tuition for business and management education, 10,000 Women will seek to establish mentoring and networking channels for women and to encourage career development opportunities that will extend the benefits of the program beyond the classroom, leveraging the overall impact of their educational experience.
• Work with Leading Research and Women’s Development Organizations: Many outstanding
organizations are working on the ground to give girls, young women and potential entrepreneurs a sense of their future potential. 10,000 Women will work with these organizations to better understand the local challenges these girls and women must overcome so more of them can ultimately realize their potential through access to greater economic opportunity.
• Develop Partnerships in the United States to Help Disadvantaged Women: As part of 10,000 Women, Goldman Sachs will establish parallel programs and partnerships to provide more business and management education for disadvantaged women in the United States.
• Commit $100 Million in Addition to the Time and Dedication of Goldman Sachs People: Goldman Sachs will commit $100 million over the next five years to 10,000 Women. In addition, the people of Goldman Sachs will contribute their time and expertise through classroom instruction and mentoring.
PARTNERSHIP WITH PAN-AFRICAN UNIVERSITY, NIGERIA- is projected to educate 250 Nigerian women over 5 years. It will:
�� Expand well-established 5-month certificate program at the Enterprise Development Services (EDS) that uses a hands-on case study approach to develop core skills of women owners of small and medium-sized businesses, such as sales and marketing, strategies for growth and writing a business plan.
�� Goldman Sachs will provide scholarships for additional women, expanding access to those who would otherwise be unable to afford the tuition.
10,000 WOMEN KEY BIOGRAPHIES - I've only highlighted the African names on the list
Peter Bamkole is the Director of Enterprise Development Services at the Pan-African University of Nigeria. EDS provides support and capacity-building services to small- and medium-scale businesses. Mr. Bamkole was previously a member of upper management at the Lagos State Water Company and was at Elf Oil Nigeria.
Ronke Fetuga, Nigeria
Ronke Fetuga is the Managing Director of Florence & Lambard, a publishing company in Lagos.
Eucharia Nwabuike, Nigeria
Eucharia Nwabuike is the owner and manager of Lagos-based Kontinental Foods, a maker of dairy products and fruit juices.
Tonia Overmeyer, University of Cape Town Graduate School of Business Director, Raymond Ackerman Academy of Entrepreneurial Development
Tonia Overmeyer is the Director of the Raymond Ackerman Academy of Entrepreneurial Development in the University of Cape Town Graduate School of Business. She holds a bachelor’s degree and MBA from the University of Cape Town.
Jeanne d’Arc Mujawamariya, Minister of Education, Rwanda
Jeanne d’Arc Mujawamariya is the Minister of Education in Rwanda. Most recently, she served as Minister of State for Primary and Secondary Education and Minister of State for Higher Education. Prior to her government positions, She earned a BSc from People’s Friendship University of Russia and an MSc in chemistry from Moscow State University. She was awarded a Ph.D. in chemistry and physics from the Indian Institute of Technology (Roorkee).
******************
Also check out NigerianCuriosity and Pyoo Wata's respective blogs as they've shone the spotlight on the WOW element of the Samuel Peter win last weekend.
**********************
Launched by Goldman Sachs, 10,000 Women is a significant new initiative that will:
• Increase the number of underserved women receiving a business and management education
• Improve the quality and capacity of business and management education around the world
The initiative has six components:
• 10,000 Women Over Five Years Will Receive a Business and Management Education:
Over the next five years, GS will support partnerships with universities and development organizations that will lead to 10,000 women receiving a business and management education. The initial partnerships will fund business and management education certificates in countries around the world. These innovative certificate programs are pragmatic, flexible and shorter term and will help open doors for thousands of women whose financial and practical circumstances prevent them from ever receiving a traditional business education. These programs will provide women with the opportunity to develop specific skills, such as drafting a business plan, accounting, public speaking, marketing, management and accessing capital. There will also be a select number of MBA and BA scholarships funded.
• Build Quality and Capacity Through Global Business Sister School Partnerships: To strengthen the quality and capacity of business schools in developing nations, GS will support new partnerships between business schools and universities in the US and Europe and business schools in developing and emerging economies. Through these partnerships, the schools will collaborate to train professors, exchange faculty, develop curriculum and create local case study material.
• Establish Mentoring and Post-Graduation Support for Women Entrepreneurs: In addition to funding tuition for business and management education, 10,000 Women will seek to establish mentoring and networking channels for women and to encourage career development opportunities that will extend the benefits of the program beyond the classroom, leveraging the overall impact of their educational experience.
• Work with Leading Research and Women’s Development Organizations: Many outstanding
organizations are working on the ground to give girls, young women and potential entrepreneurs a sense of their future potential. 10,000 Women will work with these organizations to better understand the local challenges these girls and women must overcome so more of them can ultimately realize their potential through access to greater economic opportunity.
• Develop Partnerships in the United States to Help Disadvantaged Women: As part of 10,000 Women, Goldman Sachs will establish parallel programs and partnerships to provide more business and management education for disadvantaged women in the United States.
• Commit $100 Million in Addition to the Time and Dedication of Goldman Sachs People: Goldman Sachs will commit $100 million over the next five years to 10,000 Women. In addition, the people of Goldman Sachs will contribute their time and expertise through classroom instruction and mentoring.
PARTNERSHIP WITH PAN-AFRICAN UNIVERSITY, NIGERIA- is projected to educate 250 Nigerian women over 5 years. It will:
�� Expand well-established 5-month certificate program at the Enterprise Development Services (EDS) that uses a hands-on case study approach to develop core skills of women owners of small and medium-sized businesses, such as sales and marketing, strategies for growth and writing a business plan.
�� Goldman Sachs will provide scholarships for additional women, expanding access to those who would otherwise be unable to afford the tuition.
10,000 WOMEN KEY BIOGRAPHIES - I've only highlighted the African names on the list
Peter Bamkole is the Director of Enterprise Development Services at the Pan-African University of Nigeria. EDS provides support and capacity-building services to small- and medium-scale businesses. Mr. Bamkole was previously a member of upper management at the Lagos State Water Company and was at Elf Oil Nigeria.
Ronke Fetuga, Nigeria
Ronke Fetuga is the Managing Director of Florence & Lambard, a publishing company in Lagos.
Eucharia Nwabuike, Nigeria
Eucharia Nwabuike is the owner and manager of Lagos-based Kontinental Foods, a maker of dairy products and fruit juices.
Tonia Overmeyer, University of Cape Town Graduate School of Business Director, Raymond Ackerman Academy of Entrepreneurial Development
Tonia Overmeyer is the Director of the Raymond Ackerman Academy of Entrepreneurial Development in the University of Cape Town Graduate School of Business. She holds a bachelor’s degree and MBA from the University of Cape Town.
Jeanne d’Arc Mujawamariya, Minister of Education, Rwanda
Jeanne d’Arc Mujawamariya is the Minister of Education in Rwanda. Most recently, she served as Minister of State for Primary and Secondary Education and Minister of State for Higher Education. Prior to her government positions, She earned a BSc from People’s Friendship University of Russia and an MSc in chemistry from Moscow State University. She was awarded a Ph.D. in chemistry and physics from the Indian Institute of Technology (Roorkee).
******************
Also check out NigerianCuriosity and Pyoo Wata's respective blogs as they've shone the spotlight on the WOW element of the Samuel Peter win last weekend.
Saturday, March 8, 2008
"Things that make you go wow" Celebration
Thanks to NigerianCuriosity for this great idea!
*************************
Hello fellow Naija bloggers,
I hope this finds you well. This note finds me at the thawing point of another bout of prolonged frustration with the state of the nation and all things wrong ("not as right as they should be") with Naija. Hence, the idea to take a forced vacation from blogging about my usual tirade of issues/problems in the country. I would like to enlist your help in celebrating the positives in/around/about Nigeria in the coming week (or 2). Be it tales from Nigerians at home (private or public sector) making note-worthy accomplishments that affect Nigerian lives positively, or Nigerians in the diaspora doing amazing projects that affect nigeria, or a local/state government achievement in the past year that went unblogged about... If it's positive and "makes you go wow", then blog about it and share it with the rest of us. I've been trying and i guess not knowing where to look has made me a bit nervous about being able to sustain this for a whole month, which is the yardstick i've set myself, but i have faith that there are tonnes of things out there going uncelebrated and i would greatly appreciate your help in learning about some of them. I thank you in advance and look forward to seeing what we can all come up with. If you do decide to blog about it, pls shoot a "reply-all" to this note* so that we can all know when to direct others to your blog for some positive/"feel good" reading.
Thanks a bunch and stay blessed!
theafrobeat
* Either email me at info@theafrobeat.com or drop your "blog faithfuls" a comment about your post so that we know you've put something up and can check it out.
*************************
Hello fellow Naija bloggers,
I hope this finds you well. This note finds me at the thawing point of another bout of prolonged frustration with the state of the nation and all things wrong ("not as right as they should be") with Naija. Hence, the idea to take a forced vacation from blogging about my usual tirade of issues/problems in the country. I would like to enlist your help in celebrating the positives in/around/about Nigeria in the coming week (or 2). Be it tales from Nigerians at home (private or public sector) making note-worthy accomplishments that affect Nigerian lives positively, or Nigerians in the diaspora doing amazing projects that affect nigeria, or a local/state government achievement in the past year that went unblogged about... If it's positive and "makes you go wow", then blog about it and share it with the rest of us. I've been trying and i guess not knowing where to look has made me a bit nervous about being able to sustain this for a whole month, which is the yardstick i've set myself, but i have faith that there are tonnes of things out there going uncelebrated and i would greatly appreciate your help in learning about some of them. I thank you in advance and look forward to seeing what we can all come up with. If you do decide to blog about it, pls shoot a "reply-all" to this note* so that we can all know when to direct others to your blog for some positive/"feel good" reading.
Thanks a bunch and stay blessed!
theafrobeat
* Either email me at info@theafrobeat.com or drop your "blog faithfuls" a comment about your post so that we know you've put something up and can check it out.
Thursday, March 6, 2008
100 Nigerian Universities To Become Digital Campuses
As promised, more things that make you go "wow!". I met Nam almost 2 years ago while he was a Reuters Digital Fellow at Stanford. I remember the first time I heard about this mammoth project and thought, wow, is he serious? A network of Digital campuses in Nigeria when we're still grappling with basic NEPA problems? Well, eighteen months later, Nam is hard at work in Abuja making steady progress on the ICE network . Watch this space.
Coming to a campus near you.
ICE network is a broadband wireless network initiative that will transform 100 Nigerian universities into digital campuses by connecting them to each other and to the world. The digital campuses will serve as hubs for digital cities whose success will fuel a regional rollout. This affordable community-driven infrastructure/content play is sustained by a scalable subscription business model.
The venture is being developed in partnership with Cisco Systems (the world's largest networking company), NeGSt Global (Nigeria's eGovernment process managers), and other leading global ICT partners. With local and international patners, icenetwork is building virgin internet capacity in the emerging markets — the next frontier for IP-related business people — by first interconnecting 1.5 million subscribers in 100 higher-education campuses in Nigeria. Icenetwork will expand services to communities around the campuses and provide broadband voice, video, data, internet, and multi-media services to more than 10 million on-campus and off-campus subscribers in Nigeria and sub-sahara Africa over the next 5 years.
Users will also be able to browse the web, share and create applications and content, do research, and interact with those on other networks in other regions and continents.
To get involved in ICE as an investor, donor, business developer, or technical assistor, please email Founder, Nam Mokwunye, at diginam@icecampus.net.
Coming to a campus near you.
ICE network is a broadband wireless network initiative that will transform 100 Nigerian universities into digital campuses by connecting them to each other and to the world. The digital campuses will serve as hubs for digital cities whose success will fuel a regional rollout. This affordable community-driven infrastructure/content play is sustained by a scalable subscription business model.
The venture is being developed in partnership with Cisco Systems (the world's largest networking company), NeGSt Global (Nigeria's eGovernment process managers), and other leading global ICT partners. With local and international patners, icenetwork is building virgin internet capacity in the emerging markets — the next frontier for IP-related business people — by first interconnecting 1.5 million subscribers in 100 higher-education campuses in Nigeria. Icenetwork will expand services to communities around the campuses and provide broadband voice, video, data, internet, and multi-media services to more than 10 million on-campus and off-campus subscribers in Nigeria and sub-sahara Africa over the next 5 years.
Users will also be able to browse the web, share and create applications and content, do research, and interact with those on other networks in other regions and continents.
To get involved in ICE as an investor, donor, business developer, or technical assistor, please email Founder, Nam Mokwunye, at diginam@icecampus.net.
Saturday, March 1, 2008
New Month, New Theme
Sorry for the hiatus folks - i've been very ill but i'm back (THANK GOD). To be honest, the absence hasn't only been due to illness (30%) and general work craziness (70%), it's also been due to a general lack of positivity about my homeland (100%)...(yes, i missed that addition class in pre-K). I won't go on the usual tirade of how so many things are not right with Nigeria at the moment. Nope, we're not going there, not this month.
In honour of the merry month of March (yeah, i made that up, i'm a March baby so i'm allowed), all posts this month (i'll try my best to make sure there are more than 4 ;)) will be about positive things going on in the country/continent - Things that make you go YAY! I talk as if i actually know what i'm going to write about - nope, no clue. But if i don't find the positive stuff (which i'm hoping you guys will send my way - info@theafrobeat.com, even if it's just a name and where i can find more info about it), then i won't write. C'est simple. Happy March people!
******************
The Vagina Monologues Coming to Nigeria
This play has been performed in Nigeria for a few years now but I believe (please correct me if i'm wrong) that this is the first time a nigerianized version will be performed, with monologues written by and for nigerian women. The play always gets people talking but I am so pleased that this time, it's been written for your average Nigerian to relate to. This is a great initiative being funded by several organizations in Nigeria, and I hope this will not only spur the dialogue on ending violence against women but will also continue to raise the standards and general appreciation of the arts & entertainment industry in Nigeria.
----------------
Vagina Monologues again - By Sunday Ojeme (PUNCH Newspapers)
The Kudirat Initiative for Democracy, with support from the Catholic Organisation for Relief and Development Aid based in Netherlands, has announced that the Nigerian version of the controversial Eve Ensler’s play, The Vagina Monologues, will be held this year.
Through this version, KIND, in collaboration with Project Alert on Violence Against Women, Media Concern for Women and Children, Civil Liberties Organisation, and the Ajegunle Community Project, intends to draw more attention to the plight of many women in the society.
“Two cosmopolitan cities, Abuja and Lagos, have been selected as the venues for the play with the premiere performance taking place in Abuja,” the organisers add.
As with previous editions of the show, this year’s edition will reflect the traumatic plight of many women in Nigeria. It will focus on themes such as rape, battery, incest, female genital mutilation sexual slavery and emotional repression. CEO of Jason Vision Productions, Wole Oguntokun, has been chosen to direct this year’s production.
According to KIND’s Programme Manager, Amy Oyekunle “The Nigerian monologues will be a unique experience and a must-see. This year, we have a collection of over 150 women telling their stories. Some of these stories are humorous; some are sober but all very real.
With Wole Oguntokun directing the play, it will be interesting to see the male perspective to women issues.’
The Monologues are parts of the contributing efforts of the V-Day celebrations taking place in Africa.
-------------------
"V Monologues" opens in Abuja on March 6th and will also be showing in Lagos on the 12th, 13th, 19th and 20th.
In honour of the merry month of March (yeah, i made that up, i'm a March baby so i'm allowed), all posts this month (i'll try my best to make sure there are more than 4 ;)) will be about positive things going on in the country/continent - Things that make you go YAY! I talk as if i actually know what i'm going to write about - nope, no clue. But if i don't find the positive stuff (which i'm hoping you guys will send my way - info@theafrobeat.com, even if it's just a name and where i can find more info about it), then i won't write. C'est simple. Happy March people!******************
The Vagina Monologues Coming to Nigeria
This play has been performed in Nigeria for a few years now but I believe (please correct me if i'm wrong) that this is the first time a nigerianized version will be performed, with monologues written by and for nigerian women. The play always gets people talking but I am so pleased that this time, it's been written for your average Nigerian to relate to. This is a great initiative being funded by several organizations in Nigeria, and I hope this will not only spur the dialogue on ending violence against women but will also continue to raise the standards and general appreciation of the arts & entertainment industry in Nigeria.
----------------
Vagina Monologues again - By Sunday Ojeme (PUNCH Newspapers)
The Kudirat Initiative for Democracy, with support from the Catholic Organisation for Relief and Development Aid based in Netherlands, has announced that the Nigerian version of the controversial Eve Ensler’s play, The Vagina Monologues, will be held this year.
Through this version, KIND, in collaboration with Project Alert on Violence Against Women, Media Concern for Women and Children, Civil Liberties Organisation, and the Ajegunle Community Project, intends to draw more attention to the plight of many women in the society.
“Two cosmopolitan cities, Abuja and Lagos, have been selected as the venues for the play with the premiere performance taking place in Abuja,” the organisers add.
As with previous editions of the show, this year’s edition will reflect the traumatic plight of many women in Nigeria. It will focus on themes such as rape, battery, incest, female genital mutilation sexual slavery and emotional repression. CEO of Jason Vision Productions, Wole Oguntokun, has been chosen to direct this year’s production.
According to KIND’s Programme Manager, Amy Oyekunle “The Nigerian monologues will be a unique experience and a must-see. This year, we have a collection of over 150 women telling their stories. Some of these stories are humorous; some are sober but all very real.
With Wole Oguntokun directing the play, it will be interesting to see the male perspective to women issues.’
The Monologues are parts of the contributing efforts of the V-Day celebrations taking place in Africa.
-------------------
"V Monologues" opens in Abuja on March 6th and will also be showing in Lagos on the 12th, 13th, 19th and 20th.
Friday, February 15, 2008
Things that make you go, "WHYYY?"
Another one of those blood-boiling stories.
This hospital has been in existence (and fully-equipped) for TWO YEARS, but for more-than-silly reasons on the part of the Maiduguri state government, the people of Maiduguri have been deprived of the "world-class" treatment this hospital could have provided. And then the governor dares to talk about how the people would have benefitted had it not been burned down!
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Unused hospital razed in Nigeria - BBC Africa
A fully-equipped hospital that lay unused for two years has burned to the ground in northern Nigeria.
The General Hospital in Maiduguri was built in 2006 but the state government refused to open it until the president came to cut the ribbon.
Several surgical theatres, the intensive care ward, and the clinical section which held millions of dollars of equipment were all destroyed.
The president was due to visit the hospital next month to open it.
Borno State Governor Ali Modu Sheriff blamed the fire on arsonists who wanted to damage his political reputation.
The governor had refused to open the hospital, which was ready for patients in June 2006, until former President Olusegun Obasanjo came to the state.
His visit was postponed several times, the last being just two months before the election in 2007.
His successor Umaru Yar'adua was due to visit later next month.
Measles outbreak
Borno was recently hit by a measles outbreak that killed hundreds of children across three states.
Existing hospitals in Borno are poorly equipped and overcrowded.
Angry residents of Bulunkutu, where the hospital was situated, gathered around the burned hospital and shouted abuse at the alleged arsonists, local papers reported.
The governor addressed the arsonists through the media.
"There is not one hospital in the country owned by a state government that has the type of world class equipment we had in there. It is their people that would have benefitted," he told reporters at the scene.
This hospital has been in existence (and fully-equipped) for TWO YEARS, but for more-than-silly reasons on the part of the Maiduguri state government, the people of Maiduguri have been deprived of the "world-class" treatment this hospital could have provided. And then the governor dares to talk about how the people would have benefitted had it not been burned down!
------------------------------------
Unused hospital razed in Nigeria - BBC Africa
A fully-equipped hospital that lay unused for two years has burned to the ground in northern Nigeria.
The General Hospital in Maiduguri was built in 2006 but the state government refused to open it until the president came to cut the ribbon.
Several surgical theatres, the intensive care ward, and the clinical section which held millions of dollars of equipment were all destroyed.
The president was due to visit the hospital next month to open it.
Borno State Governor Ali Modu Sheriff blamed the fire on arsonists who wanted to damage his political reputation.
The governor had refused to open the hospital, which was ready for patients in June 2006, until former President Olusegun Obasanjo came to the state.
His visit was postponed several times, the last being just two months before the election in 2007.
His successor Umaru Yar'adua was due to visit later next month.
Measles outbreak
Borno was recently hit by a measles outbreak that killed hundreds of children across three states.
Existing hospitals in Borno are poorly equipped and overcrowded.
Angry residents of Bulunkutu, where the hospital was situated, gathered around the burned hospital and shouted abuse at the alleged arsonists, local papers reported.
The governor addressed the arsonists through the media.
"There is not one hospital in the country owned by a state government that has the type of world class equipment we had in there. It is their people that would have benefitted," he told reporters at the scene.
Tuesday, February 12, 2008
Open Letter to African Leaders
This letter resonated with me (in particular, the call for political leaders to be servant-leaders) and so, just thought I would share it. The Fellows call for a "rediscovery of our true identity as Africans, to embrace and inculcate the moral base of honesty, love, peace and integrity," a call that I too once shared (and still do, for the most part). I wonder if we really have a true identity as Africans, or in the spirit of the world's changing individualistic culture juxtaposed against the growing global citizen, if there is any room for an African identity...when we can hardly get the national one right, and the tribal one is often a tool for selfish demands (at least in the political realm). Is Africa just the one true border that we all share (as opposed to the arbitrary man-made ones that exist throughout all continents) - a "motherland" of sorts- or is it something deeper that we can develop and learn to embrace - a state of being? I'd love to hear your thoughts on this...
----------------------
Young African leaders are disillusioned with and disappointed by the current
leaders in Africa. As stated in the Open Letter to African Leaders below,there has been a crisis of leadership in Africa.
The hopes and dreams of the citizens of this continent have been dashed by our post colonial leaders. The 2007 Archbishop Tutu Fellows are no longer content to remain silent. They believe that silence and inaction in the face of yesterday's challenges are responsible for the anomalies we see across the continent today. They lend their voices to the call for African leaders – today, and in the future – to consider the common good over personal fears or greed. It is time for leadership behaviour to change in Africa, and the Fellows recommend a 5 point Agenda for Change in the attached Open Letter.
- Peter Wilson, African Leadership Institute
LETTER:
From Angola to Zimbabwe, questions abound about Africa’s present state. All capitals listed between Abidjan to Zanzibar, are not new to the rising voices of Africa’s sons and daughters who wish to know the fate of their land. Some express this concern through silent hope, others through evident fear, and many others look in no other direction than that of their leaders – those we have come to know as the captains of the ship of the state. Others even argue that Africa’s answers remain with future leaders, and not today’s. But there has been a crisis of leadership in Africa. The hopes and dreams of the citizens of this continent have been dashed by our post colonial leaders – from the heroes of the liberation struggles through to the leaders of opposition parties that subsequently emerged.
The citizens of Africa deserve a brighter future, and that begins with visionary leaders who can answer the challenges that Africa faces as part of a global community in the 21st century. Recent events across the continent are cause for serious concern: from the crisis of corruption in Nigeria, the political tensions in South Africa leading to the 2009 election, or the political crisis in Kenya which is turning a once prosperous country into one that is marred by bloodshed and ethnic tensions. The ongoing conflict in Sudan, the current crisis in Chad, or the socio-political and economic meltdown obtaining in Zimbabwe have all caused great instability in the lives of millions of Africans across the continent.
We do not seek to play the usual game of just listing the problems but join our voices to that of over 920 million Africans to demand fair play in political processes. Though all of our democracies are young we expect our leaders to be men and women of excellence who respect the electoral process and as such the wishes of the people. As young people in Africa who are leaders in politics, business, health and information technology, we stand together and recommit ourselves to the ideals of true leadership, and we make the following recommendations:
(a) The establishment of a high-level African Union led campaign to fight tribalism and inequality in all its forms across the continent. Each country should establish a Commission Against Tribalism and Inequality (CATI) to fight the scourges, and to protect vulnerable 2007 Archbishop Desmond Tutu Leadership Fellows minority groups. CATI should bring politicians using ethnic manipulations to perpetrate violence to justice and stop them from participating in future political contests;
(b) Political leaders must be servant leaders and use their power and influence as a tool for socio-economic change rather than oppression and fuelling personal greed;
(c) The establishment and strengthening of relevant institutions (judiciary, electoral commissions, etc) that ensure independence of the Electoral Regulatory Authorities in each country; and the establishment of an AU Electoral monitoring body which monitors election and has a clear, well defined set of guidelines which it uses to determine if the process is free or fair;
(d) The rediscovery of our true identity as Africans, to embrace and inculcate the moral base of honesty, love, peace and integrity. We believe that people of integrity would not allow a beautiful, socially and economically stable country like Kenya to collapse into political disarray;
(e) The strengthening of our national economies, and systems to ensure the provision of adequate health care, education and other social services that will equip all Africans to partake in a better future.
As young leaders in our own various spheres of influence, we as the 2007 Archbishop Desmond Tutu Leadership Fellows1 find silence at this critical moment inconvenient. We believe that silence and inaction in the face of yesterday’s challenges are responsible for the anomalies we see across the continent today. We lend our voices to the call for African leaders – today, and in the future – to consider the common good over personal fears or greed. We are proud of those who have shown us that leadership is about service and call on all other leaders to remain true to the spirit of purposeful leadership.
Signed: 2007 Archbishop Desmond Tutu Fellows [Brilliant Mhlanga (Zimbabwe), Dan Kidega (Uganda), Ed Mabaya (Zimbabwe), Erik Charas (Mozambique), ‘Gbenga Sesan (Nigeria), Grace Ofem (Nigeria), Hassan Usman (Nigeria), Herine Otieno (Kenya), Ipeleng Mkhari (South Africa), Lisa Kropman (South Africa), Mezuo Nwuneli (Nigeria), Niven Postma (South Africa), Saida Ali (Kenya), Takalani Musekwa (South Africa), Tariro Makadzange (Zimbabwe), Terence Sibiya (South Africa), Tracey Webster (South
Africa), Yohannes Mezgebe (Ethiopia), Yolan Friedmann (South Africa)]
----------------
1 Each year, 20 high potential individuals from across sub-Saharan Africa are awarded the prestigious Archbishop Tutu Leadership Fellowship, following a rigorous competitive selection process. The Awards are aimed at the cream of the continent’s future leaders, specifically targeting the next generation of Africa’s leaders in all sectors of society, between the ages of 25 and 39. The fellowship program is coordinated by African Leadership Institute, and it includes a training program coordinated by the SAID Business School at Oxford University. For more information
about the Fellowship, please visit www.alinstitute.org.
----------------------
Young African leaders are disillusioned with and disappointed by the current
leaders in Africa. As stated in the Open Letter to African Leaders below,there has been a crisis of leadership in Africa.
The hopes and dreams of the citizens of this continent have been dashed by our post colonial leaders. The 2007 Archbishop Tutu Fellows are no longer content to remain silent. They believe that silence and inaction in the face of yesterday's challenges are responsible for the anomalies we see across the continent today. They lend their voices to the call for African leaders – today, and in the future – to consider the common good over personal fears or greed. It is time for leadership behaviour to change in Africa, and the Fellows recommend a 5 point Agenda for Change in the attached Open Letter.
- Peter Wilson, African Leadership Institute
LETTER:
From Angola to Zimbabwe, questions abound about Africa’s present state. All capitals listed between Abidjan to Zanzibar, are not new to the rising voices of Africa’s sons and daughters who wish to know the fate of their land. Some express this concern through silent hope, others through evident fear, and many others look in no other direction than that of their leaders – those we have come to know as the captains of the ship of the state. Others even argue that Africa’s answers remain with future leaders, and not today’s. But there has been a crisis of leadership in Africa. The hopes and dreams of the citizens of this continent have been dashed by our post colonial leaders – from the heroes of the liberation struggles through to the leaders of opposition parties that subsequently emerged.
The citizens of Africa deserve a brighter future, and that begins with visionary leaders who can answer the challenges that Africa faces as part of a global community in the 21st century. Recent events across the continent are cause for serious concern: from the crisis of corruption in Nigeria, the political tensions in South Africa leading to the 2009 election, or the political crisis in Kenya which is turning a once prosperous country into one that is marred by bloodshed and ethnic tensions. The ongoing conflict in Sudan, the current crisis in Chad, or the socio-political and economic meltdown obtaining in Zimbabwe have all caused great instability in the lives of millions of Africans across the continent.
We do not seek to play the usual game of just listing the problems but join our voices to that of over 920 million Africans to demand fair play in political processes. Though all of our democracies are young we expect our leaders to be men and women of excellence who respect the electoral process and as such the wishes of the people. As young people in Africa who are leaders in politics, business, health and information technology, we stand together and recommit ourselves to the ideals of true leadership, and we make the following recommendations:
(a) The establishment of a high-level African Union led campaign to fight tribalism and inequality in all its forms across the continent. Each country should establish a Commission Against Tribalism and Inequality (CATI) to fight the scourges, and to protect vulnerable 2007 Archbishop Desmond Tutu Leadership Fellows minority groups. CATI should bring politicians using ethnic manipulations to perpetrate violence to justice and stop them from participating in future political contests;
(b) Political leaders must be servant leaders and use their power and influence as a tool for socio-economic change rather than oppression and fuelling personal greed;
(c) The establishment and strengthening of relevant institutions (judiciary, electoral commissions, etc) that ensure independence of the Electoral Regulatory Authorities in each country; and the establishment of an AU Electoral monitoring body which monitors election and has a clear, well defined set of guidelines which it uses to determine if the process is free or fair;
(d) The rediscovery of our true identity as Africans, to embrace and inculcate the moral base of honesty, love, peace and integrity. We believe that people of integrity would not allow a beautiful, socially and economically stable country like Kenya to collapse into political disarray;
(e) The strengthening of our national economies, and systems to ensure the provision of adequate health care, education and other social services that will equip all Africans to partake in a better future.
As young leaders in our own various spheres of influence, we as the 2007 Archbishop Desmond Tutu Leadership Fellows1 find silence at this critical moment inconvenient. We believe that silence and inaction in the face of yesterday’s challenges are responsible for the anomalies we see across the continent today. We lend our voices to the call for African leaders – today, and in the future – to consider the common good over personal fears or greed. We are proud of those who have shown us that leadership is about service and call on all other leaders to remain true to the spirit of purposeful leadership.
Signed: 2007 Archbishop Desmond Tutu Fellows [Brilliant Mhlanga (Zimbabwe), Dan Kidega (Uganda), Ed Mabaya (Zimbabwe), Erik Charas (Mozambique), ‘Gbenga Sesan (Nigeria), Grace Ofem (Nigeria), Hassan Usman (Nigeria), Herine Otieno (Kenya), Ipeleng Mkhari (South Africa), Lisa Kropman (South Africa), Mezuo Nwuneli (Nigeria), Niven Postma (South Africa), Saida Ali (Kenya), Takalani Musekwa (South Africa), Tariro Makadzange (Zimbabwe), Terence Sibiya (South Africa), Tracey Webster (South
Africa), Yohannes Mezgebe (Ethiopia), Yolan Friedmann (South Africa)]
----------------
1 Each year, 20 high potential individuals from across sub-Saharan Africa are awarded the prestigious Archbishop Tutu Leadership Fellowship, following a rigorous competitive selection process. The Awards are aimed at the cream of the continent’s future leaders, specifically targeting the next generation of Africa’s leaders in all sectors of society, between the ages of 25 and 39. The fellowship program is coordinated by African Leadership Institute, and it includes a training program coordinated by the SAID Business School at Oxford University. For more information
about the Fellowship, please visit www.alinstitute.org.
Monday, February 11, 2008
More on Child "witches" and what YOU can do
Please visit COKERP's blog as he's done his homework and gotten a lot of information on the Akwa-Ibom authorities in a position to put a stop to the child abuse going on, as well as the pastors and evangelical ministries that are the main culprits. Other petition websites have also sprung up as a result. There's still a long way to go but at least this is a start.
Tuesday, February 5, 2008
tAB!
Our first post (below) was written a year ago today. We would like to think we started with our hearts in the right place, we knew we didn't know much about the roots of the problems plaguing Nigeria but wanted to be enlightened by those who do, and those who equally share this hunger to know and to change things for the better.
We've always wanted to do more than just talk. We want the talking to spark ideas which will in turn dictate action and create impact. We've barely scratched the surface but we will get there. Thank you all for being a part of this.
---------------
The Afro Beat is a new movement, a fresh heartbeat, a racing pulse.
It is a club/ forum/ virtual gathering place for individuals of Nigerian heritage or association, who share the collective ambition to see their country move forward.
The Afro Beat is centered on the following:
The mutual and collective enlightenment of ourselves by discussion of our country’s plight,
The development of a sense of accountability to one’s peers,
The implementation of a series of realistic projects for the benefit of every Nigerian, and
The ultimate objective of improving the situation in Nigeria, one step at a time, and one day at a time.
How The Afro Beat will be kept going:
This idea was birthed by Misan, Tokini, Bitchy and theAfroBeat, but it is not “our” club alone. We’re offering ourselves up as mere facilitators. We desire the contribution of everyone who wants to learn more about their country, its past, and most importantly, about effective methods to contribute to its future. We’ve noticed a growing interest amongst our peers, in the injustices currently plaguing Nigeria, and simply wanted to provide a way for us to group together to share ideas on how to move the nation forward, and to have fun at the same time.
We intend to start with the simplest things.
First, we’ll begin by publishing articles on this blog, written by Nigerians and others, about Nigeria, that we hope you’ll be interested in. We’ll also publish articles by The Afro Beat’s members, to provoke discussion and commentary. We’re open to receiving anything you find on the world wide web or elsewhere, or that you yourself write, that you want to share with The Afro Beat’s members, and which you feel will be for their benefit. We hope to provide a worthwhile learning experience for us all, about our country.
We’ll also be opening up discussion about the projects we would like The Afro Beat to be known for. We have several exciting ideas which we hope you’ll see potential in, and which we know would benefit immensely from your contribution and participation.
Our address is: info@theafrobeat.com
“Every sector of society has been left to fend for itself”
- an observation about Nigeria by the Vanity Fair columnist, Sebastian Junger, in his article on the Niger-Delta entitled “Blood Oil”.
If The Afro Beat works as we hope it will, no journalist will ever be able to make such a sweeping statement about Nigeria again.
---------
We've always wanted to do more than just talk. We want the talking to spark ideas which will in turn dictate action and create impact. We've barely scratched the surface but we will get there. Thank you all for being a part of this.
---------------
The Afro Beat is a new movement, a fresh heartbeat, a racing pulse.
It is a club/ forum/ virtual gathering place for individuals of Nigerian heritage or association, who share the collective ambition to see their country move forward.
The Afro Beat is centered on the following:
The mutual and collective enlightenment of ourselves by discussion of our country’s plight,
The development of a sense of accountability to one’s peers,
The implementation of a series of realistic projects for the benefit of every Nigerian, and
The ultimate objective of improving the situation in Nigeria, one step at a time, and one day at a time.
How The Afro Beat will be kept going:
This idea was birthed by Misan, Tokini, Bitchy and theAfroBeat, but it is not “our” club alone. We’re offering ourselves up as mere facilitators. We desire the contribution of everyone who wants to learn more about their country, its past, and most importantly, about effective methods to contribute to its future. We’ve noticed a growing interest amongst our peers, in the injustices currently plaguing Nigeria, and simply wanted to provide a way for us to group together to share ideas on how to move the nation forward, and to have fun at the same time.
We intend to start with the simplest things.
First, we’ll begin by publishing articles on this blog, written by Nigerians and others, about Nigeria, that we hope you’ll be interested in. We’ll also publish articles by The Afro Beat’s members, to provoke discussion and commentary. We’re open to receiving anything you find on the world wide web or elsewhere, or that you yourself write, that you want to share with The Afro Beat’s members, and which you feel will be for their benefit. We hope to provide a worthwhile learning experience for us all, about our country.
We’ll also be opening up discussion about the projects we would like The Afro Beat to be known for. We have several exciting ideas which we hope you’ll see potential in, and which we know would benefit immensely from your contribution and participation.
Our address is: info@theafrobeat.com
“Every sector of society has been left to fend for itself”
- an observation about Nigeria by the Vanity Fair columnist, Sebastian Junger, in his article on the Niger-Delta entitled “Blood Oil”.
If The Afro Beat works as we hope it will, no journalist will ever be able to make such a sweeping statement about Nigeria again.
---------
Monday, February 4, 2008
Police nko?
In the span of 20-sth odd years of living in Lagos (23 of those years being in the same house), my family has been attacked and held hostage by armed robbers in our home exactly 3 times, resulting in the deaths of 2 of our "mayguards" on separate occasions(security man seems too impersonal, as these pp had lived with us for several years and were practically part of the family). Attempted attacks probably number about 4, while roadside ones probably about 4.5 (normal for a medium-sized 4-bedroom house in a non-conspicuous location and above-average security measures?...you be the judge). In all these incidents, not once has the police ever been a reliable source of protection or order. I'm sure you all can relate. The Nigerian police force is one of those conundra(ums) that i have never quite understood how to solve, because to be honest, I don't know the answer, as it surely can't be as simple as providing adequate equipment and increasing salaries (Right?). Not only have the Nigerian police been "forced" into becoming criminals themselves but now, according to this Guardian article, other (more than well-off) people are stealing in their name...
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The Police Equipment Fund Scandal - By Reuben Abati
A FRIEND told the story of how on a certain occasion, armed robbers had laid siege on the Estate where he lives. The hoodlums moved from house to house wreaking havoc and robbing innocent persons of their lives and property. One of the neighbours who lived to tell the story put a call across to the police in utter distress, to ask for help.
"Calm down, can you give us the address?", the policeman at the other end, had asked. Help, it seemed, would be on its way at last. But the policeman asked yet another question.
"Oga, please can you tell me the kind of gun that the robbers are using?"
"How am I supposed to know the type of gun armed robbers are using and what has that got to do with your coming to help us?"
"Everything. I beg. It has everything to do with it.", said the policeman. He then implored the caller to place his phone slightly out of the window so he could transmit the sound of the gunshots, which continued to reverberate through the night. The confounded SOS caller did as instructed.
"Okay. Okay", the policeman later said furtively.
But the robbers continued with their evil operation for more than three hours. No police van showed up. The truth is that the security situation in Nigeria is compounded by the fact that the same policemen who have been recruited and mandated to protect lives and property are wont to take to their heels the moment their attention is drawn to an armed robbery incident. Similarly, Nigerian policemen run away from other criminals, preferring instead to limit their operations to safe activities such as the harassment and intimidation of hapless persons.
The explanation for this resort to cowardice as a rule of engagement is that armed robbers are better equipped than the average Nigerian policeman. Many of our policemen are carrying old rifles, whereas the armed robbers boast of superior fire-power. The sound of the robbers' gun alone could make policemen scamper for safety. This was the case a fortnight ago when armed robbers struck around Toyota bus stop, a shouting distance from Rutam House, the home of The Guardian newspapers. The hoodlums took over the expressway and shot persistently into the air.
As is often the case under such circumstances, people fled in all directions. Policemen pulled off their uniforms and rushed into companies in the neighbourhood, to beg for protection. People obliged the fleeing policemen because somehow the Nigerian public has come to accept the police establishment as one of the big jokes in Nigerian life and society. Our policemen have no communication equipment. They do not have enough vehicles. Often when people ask the police to come to their rescue, they could be told that there is no vehicle in the station or that the caller should arrange transportation for them.
Most of the police stations in the country were built around the middle of the last century, and they have also become terribly inadequate. Policemen across the nation, are holed up in a devil's slum known as police barracks, where there are no facilities that can guarantee decent living. Their take home pay is paltry, conditions of service are poor and salaries are never paid on time. In desperation, policemen earn their keep by extorting money from the public. They do so with such impunity which members of the public have also accepted. Motorists set aside "money for the police" the moment they get onto the roads.
Justice at the police station and with policemen is for sale. Far more frustrated policemen often turn their guns on the people. Police brutality remains a major issue in Nigeria. The problem with the Nigerian police is the continuing theme of many books and reports, the latest perhaps being Taiwo Kupolati's Remaking The Police: A Kaleidoscopic Inquisition (Lagos, 2007)
Nonetheless, Nigerians continue to nurse the hope that the Nigeria Police Force, despite all its imperfections could be rescued and made to serve its constitutional purpose. To this end, there has developed, in recent times, a culture of private support for the funding and equipping of the police. People buy vehicles for police stations, communities and private sector organisations raise funds for the police sometimes out of their own volition, at other times, they are blackmailed to do so. The mobilisation of private support for police funding is in itself a problem. It compromises the integrity of the police. When persons and institutions that may be investigated later by the same police directly on their own fund the institution, could there not arise a conflict of interest? There are police stations in this country that are kept going on the fuel of private goodwill. This speaks to the failure of government to provide adequately for the police and to tackle the national security challenge more seriously.
But no other case demonstrates the dangers of private funding of the police than the scandal that has now been reported in relation to the Presidential Committee on Police Equipment Fund, which was set up by the Obsanjo administration in 2006. All the details are sordid. They point further to the abuse of power that characterised the Obasanjo administration. The Police Equipment Fund was a scam from the outset. Three persons: Godson Ewulum, Joseph Agharite and Ibrahim Dumuje reportedly had a brain wave about what could be done to help the Nigerian police so they drew up a proposal on a Police Equipment Fund.
But not knowing how to get this accepted by government, they turned to Kenny Martins, Obasanjo's former brother-in-law and a self-styled man of influence. Martins took over the matter, presented it to his in-law and pronto, a Presidential Committee Police Equipment Fund was set up.
The reason the police equipment scandal has also become public knowledge is because of disagreements among the original promoters of the idea. Much of what is known has been thrown at the public by Godson Ewulum. He feels that his other colleagues, Dumuje and particularly Kenny Martins who used family influence to secure Presidential approval for the idea, have short-changed him in the management of the huge wealth at the disposal of the Police Equipment Fund. If Ewulum had been carried along and given his due, I doubt if he would have raised any alarm.
Soon after the Police Equipment Fund was established, local councils across the federation, 774 of them were forced by the Presidency to contribute 7.8 million each to the Fund and the money was deducted at source from the Federation Account, a completely illegal seizure of local council funds. State governments, companies and other institutions also contributed generously to the fund. In 2007, the Fund also took a loan of about $100 million from the US Exim-Bank and another N50 million loan from First Inland Bank. There were also donations from the Chinese government. Soon enough, the Police Equipment Fund had at its disposal a capital base of about N50 billion.
If this amount had been used to improve the welfare of Nigerian policemen, much could have been achieved. But then events moved swiftly. Kenny Martins allegedly turned himself into the main co-ordinator of the fund, Then in due course, he registered the Fund as a Non-Governmental Organisation and created a Police Equipment Foundation. This brazen diversion of the assets of the Presidential Committee on Police Equipment Fund is curious. Ewulum is asking for a probe of the management of the Fund, including where interests on monies kept in the banks are, and how the resources of the Fund have been disbursed. In the past few weeks, the public has been fed with utterly salacious details. According to one report, under the watch of Kenny Martins, N5 billion out of the police fund was spent on the purchase of luxury cars which were handed out as gifts to influential individuals and government agencies. The cars were bought at inflated price and without due process. Another hefty sum of N202.6 million was allegedly spent on a so-called pre-launch dinner. Members of the House of Representatives are angry. The House Committee on Public Petitions is conducting an inquiry into the management and conversion of the Fund.
President Yar'Adua should also take an interest in the matter. Long before Godson Ewulum went to the House of Representatives with his petition, other members of the original Presidential committee had also raised objections about how the Fund was being managed. The present Senate President, David Mark, then the Chairman of the Senate Committee on Police Affiars was said to have complained. But his observations were ignored as were those of others, because we could safely assume, President Obasanjo was in power and his "untouchable" brother-in-law Kenny Martins was the one in charge of the Police Equipment Fund.
The Yar'Adua government must not abdicate its responsibility in ensuring that the N50 billion is accounted for. The individuals who collected car gifts from the Fund should be asked to return them with immediate effect. And this should include the Yar'Adua Campaign Organisation which received 15 cars from the Fund! The EFCC also has a job to do here. Those who donated to the Police Equipment Fund did so as an expression of Corporate Social Responsibility in the honest expectation that the Fund will be used for its advertised purpose. But now, what we are faced with is a case of "obtaining money under false pretence."
This scandal is yet another explosive and embarrassing revelation from the Obasanjo past.
Reading these stories, the average policeman must be seething with anger. What has been done is like stealing from the dead. Political and family connections have been used to defraud society. The security of the lives of over 140 million Nigerians has been compromised. Rather than buy guns and bullet-proof vests for policemen, they were busy buying luxury cars and throwing lavish dinners! The last time anyone checked, policemen were still complaining about being poorly equipped, being poorly paid and being treated unfairly by the state which nevertheless expects so much from them. Lives could have been saved if the N50 billion had been well-managed. This just shows how callous and wicked some Nigerians could be.
.jpg)
But apart from the investigation of the Police Equipment Fund, the appropriate authorities must also begin to ask questions and provide answers to the conundrum of how the police is perpetually cash-strapped. The police receives its due allocations to cover its expenditure. How is this disbursed? Is anyone diverting police resources? These are questions that should be answered. To reduce the Nigeria Police Force to an organisation perpetually living off charity is unconscionable. This is certainly not how to ensure the safety of lives and property in Nigeria.
-----------
Some/Any/All insight welcome.
----------------------
The Police Equipment Fund Scandal - By Reuben Abati
A FRIEND told the story of how on a certain occasion, armed robbers had laid siege on the Estate where he lives. The hoodlums moved from house to house wreaking havoc and robbing innocent persons of their lives and property. One of the neighbours who lived to tell the story put a call across to the police in utter distress, to ask for help.
"Calm down, can you give us the address?", the policeman at the other end, had asked. Help, it seemed, would be on its way at last. But the policeman asked yet another question.
"Oga, please can you tell me the kind of gun that the robbers are using?"
"How am I supposed to know the type of gun armed robbers are using and what has that got to do with your coming to help us?"
"Everything. I beg. It has everything to do with it.", said the policeman. He then implored the caller to place his phone slightly out of the window so he could transmit the sound of the gunshots, which continued to reverberate through the night. The confounded SOS caller did as instructed.
"Okay. Okay", the policeman later said furtively.
But the robbers continued with their evil operation for more than three hours. No police van showed up. The truth is that the security situation in Nigeria is compounded by the fact that the same policemen who have been recruited and mandated to protect lives and property are wont to take to their heels the moment their attention is drawn to an armed robbery incident. Similarly, Nigerian policemen run away from other criminals, preferring instead to limit their operations to safe activities such as the harassment and intimidation of hapless persons.
The explanation for this resort to cowardice as a rule of engagement is that armed robbers are better equipped than the average Nigerian policeman. Many of our policemen are carrying old rifles, whereas the armed robbers boast of superior fire-power. The sound of the robbers' gun alone could make policemen scamper for safety. This was the case a fortnight ago when armed robbers struck around Toyota bus stop, a shouting distance from Rutam House, the home of The Guardian newspapers. The hoodlums took over the expressway and shot persistently into the air.
As is often the case under such circumstances, people fled in all directions. Policemen pulled off their uniforms and rushed into companies in the neighbourhood, to beg for protection. People obliged the fleeing policemen because somehow the Nigerian public has come to accept the police establishment as one of the big jokes in Nigerian life and society. Our policemen have no communication equipment. They do not have enough vehicles. Often when people ask the police to come to their rescue, they could be told that there is no vehicle in the station or that the caller should arrange transportation for them.
Most of the police stations in the country were built around the middle of the last century, and they have also become terribly inadequate. Policemen across the nation, are holed up in a devil's slum known as police barracks, where there are no facilities that can guarantee decent living. Their take home pay is paltry, conditions of service are poor and salaries are never paid on time. In desperation, policemen earn their keep by extorting money from the public. They do so with such impunity which members of the public have also accepted. Motorists set aside "money for the police" the moment they get onto the roads.
Justice at the police station and with policemen is for sale. Far more frustrated policemen often turn their guns on the people. Police brutality remains a major issue in Nigeria. The problem with the Nigerian police is the continuing theme of many books and reports, the latest perhaps being Taiwo Kupolati's Remaking The Police: A Kaleidoscopic Inquisition (Lagos, 2007) Nonetheless, Nigerians continue to nurse the hope that the Nigeria Police Force, despite all its imperfections could be rescued and made to serve its constitutional purpose. To this end, there has developed, in recent times, a culture of private support for the funding and equipping of the police. People buy vehicles for police stations, communities and private sector organisations raise funds for the police sometimes out of their own volition, at other times, they are blackmailed to do so. The mobilisation of private support for police funding is in itself a problem. It compromises the integrity of the police. When persons and institutions that may be investigated later by the same police directly on their own fund the institution, could there not arise a conflict of interest? There are police stations in this country that are kept going on the fuel of private goodwill. This speaks to the failure of government to provide adequately for the police and to tackle the national security challenge more seriously.
But no other case demonstrates the dangers of private funding of the police than the scandal that has now been reported in relation to the Presidential Committee on Police Equipment Fund, which was set up by the Obsanjo administration in 2006. All the details are sordid. They point further to the abuse of power that characterised the Obasanjo administration. The Police Equipment Fund was a scam from the outset. Three persons: Godson Ewulum, Joseph Agharite and Ibrahim Dumuje reportedly had a brain wave about what could be done to help the Nigerian police so they drew up a proposal on a Police Equipment Fund.
But not knowing how to get this accepted by government, they turned to Kenny Martins, Obasanjo's former brother-in-law and a self-styled man of influence. Martins took over the matter, presented it to his in-law and pronto, a Presidential Committee Police Equipment Fund was set up.
The reason the police equipment scandal has also become public knowledge is because of disagreements among the original promoters of the idea. Much of what is known has been thrown at the public by Godson Ewulum. He feels that his other colleagues, Dumuje and particularly Kenny Martins who used family influence to secure Presidential approval for the idea, have short-changed him in the management of the huge wealth at the disposal of the Police Equipment Fund. If Ewulum had been carried along and given his due, I doubt if he would have raised any alarm.
Soon after the Police Equipment Fund was established, local councils across the federation, 774 of them were forced by the Presidency to contribute 7.8 million each to the Fund and the money was deducted at source from the Federation Account, a completely illegal seizure of local council funds. State governments, companies and other institutions also contributed generously to the fund. In 2007, the Fund also took a loan of about $100 million from the US Exim-Bank and another N50 million loan from First Inland Bank. There were also donations from the Chinese government. Soon enough, the Police Equipment Fund had at its disposal a capital base of about N50 billion.
If this amount had been used to improve the welfare of Nigerian policemen, much could have been achieved. But then events moved swiftly. Kenny Martins allegedly turned himself into the main co-ordinator of the fund, Then in due course, he registered the Fund as a Non-Governmental Organisation and created a Police Equipment Foundation. This brazen diversion of the assets of the Presidential Committee on Police Equipment Fund is curious. Ewulum is asking for a probe of the management of the Fund, including where interests on monies kept in the banks are, and how the resources of the Fund have been disbursed. In the past few weeks, the public has been fed with utterly salacious details. According to one report, under the watch of Kenny Martins, N5 billion out of the police fund was spent on the purchase of luxury cars which were handed out as gifts to influential individuals and government agencies. The cars were bought at inflated price and without due process. Another hefty sum of N202.6 million was allegedly spent on a so-called pre-launch dinner. Members of the House of Representatives are angry. The House Committee on Public Petitions is conducting an inquiry into the management and conversion of the Fund.
President Yar'Adua should also take an interest in the matter. Long before Godson Ewulum went to the House of Representatives with his petition, other members of the original Presidential committee had also raised objections about how the Fund was being managed. The present Senate President, David Mark, then the Chairman of the Senate Committee on Police Affiars was said to have complained. But his observations were ignored as were those of others, because we could safely assume, President Obasanjo was in power and his "untouchable" brother-in-law Kenny Martins was the one in charge of the Police Equipment Fund.
The Yar'Adua government must not abdicate its responsibility in ensuring that the N50 billion is accounted for. The individuals who collected car gifts from the Fund should be asked to return them with immediate effect. And this should include the Yar'Adua Campaign Organisation which received 15 cars from the Fund! The EFCC also has a job to do here. Those who donated to the Police Equipment Fund did so as an expression of Corporate Social Responsibility in the honest expectation that the Fund will be used for its advertised purpose. But now, what we are faced with is a case of "obtaining money under false pretence."
This scandal is yet another explosive and embarrassing revelation from the Obasanjo past.
Reading these stories, the average policeman must be seething with anger. What has been done is like stealing from the dead. Political and family connections have been used to defraud society. The security of the lives of over 140 million Nigerians has been compromised. Rather than buy guns and bullet-proof vests for policemen, they were busy buying luxury cars and throwing lavish dinners! The last time anyone checked, policemen were still complaining about being poorly equipped, being poorly paid and being treated unfairly by the state which nevertheless expects so much from them. Lives could have been saved if the N50 billion had been well-managed. This just shows how callous and wicked some Nigerians could be.
.jpg)
But apart from the investigation of the Police Equipment Fund, the appropriate authorities must also begin to ask questions and provide answers to the conundrum of how the police is perpetually cash-strapped. The police receives its due allocations to cover its expenditure. How is this disbursed? Is anyone diverting police resources? These are questions that should be answered. To reduce the Nigeria Police Force to an organisation perpetually living off charity is unconscionable. This is certainly not how to ensure the safety of lives and property in Nigeria.
-----------
Some/Any/All insight welcome.
Friday, January 25, 2008
Good news or empty promises
Even though we can't take stock of the outcomes for the next 2 years but this Guardian article brings some welcome news. Not sure when last I was on the Lagos-Ibadan expressway but I have heard the horror stories of people killed by out-of-control lorries, or robbed because of a flat tire caused by a pothole (crater, in this case). According to the Speaker of the House of Rep, "the cost of the recurring congestion on the road is getting unbearable for the federal government". Really? Never mind the hundreds who've lost their lives on this expressway. "Over the years, public outcry about the appalling condition of the road has not yielded any positive result." Well now that we've established that our government is only human and looking out for its (leaders') best interests, we wait with baited breath to see if this development leaves up to its promise.
----------------------
Expanding the Lagos-Ibadan Expressway
THE Federal Government's decision to expand the Lagos-Ibadan Expressway and turn it into a 10-lane freeway is a welcome development. This particular road is no more than a death trap and a source of anguish to travellers. It is estimated that about 30 deaths are recorded on the road daily, due to accidents, most of which are avoidable. Something surely needs to be done to curb the carnage, and to protect lives.
The Speaker of the House of Representatives, Hon. Dimeji Bankole made the disclosure about the road expansion plan during a recent courtesy call on the Alake of Egbaland, Oba Adedotun Gbadebo. According to him, "the cost of the recurring congestion on the road is getting unbearable for the federal government". He added that the private sector will be involved in the reconstruction which is estimated to cost about $67 billion.
All the necessary details seem to have been worked out. The project is expected to be completed within two years. Apart from the engineering reconstruction of the road, including the introduction of underground tunnels, facilities will be provided along the entire stretch of the expressway. Traffic will be directed away from crowded religious centres in order to reduce congestion. Hotels and recreational facilities will also be provided at strategic spots on the highway for travellers.
The Lagos-Ibadan expressway was completed in 1978 but since then it has not undergone any major maintenance work despite the fact that it is one of the busiest roads in the nation. The road has been neglected and left to disintegrate. It is not surprising, therefore, that the Lagos-Ibadan expressway has become notorious in many respects. With massive vehicular traffic, daily, traffic congestion is perennial and disheartening. Commuters waste long hours in crippling traffic. Robbers, rapists, pick-pockets often capitalise on the chaos to attack innocent persons.
Lack of management has given rise to uncontrolled development on the highway. For instance, the many religious worship centres that occupy vast sections of the highway compound the traffic situation especially when there are major events that attract large crowds of worshippers.
Over the years, public outcry about the appalling condition of the road has not yielded any positive result. The federal authorities that ought to manage the highway occasionally send contractors who put up some appearance for a few weeks without making any difference. The Lagos-Ibadan expressway should be rescued from its present state of neglect. There is no doubt that its reconstruction is worthwhile economically. The road links Lagos to other parts of the country.
Whatever contracts that may have been awarded in the past to effect repairs on the badly damaged portions of the road have been carried out haphazardly. Indeed, the money meant for the last rehabilitation exercise was allegedly diverted by politicians to finance the ill-fated Third Term agenda of the former administration. It is instructive that the reconstruction will now be carried out by the private sector under a BOT arrangement. This will reduce pressure on the Federal Government, apart from giving the private entrepreneurs a sense of partnership. For now, however, not much is known by the public about the details of the partnership between the Federal Government and the construction company that has been granted a concession on the Lagos-Ibadan expressway. There is need for transparency and accountability. Quality should be the overriding consideration. Public information and input where necessary should be accommodated.
The Nigeria Society of Engineers may be involved in the project to help monitor progress and standards. The contractor that would handle the road should be given clear specifications on what is to be done. The company should be closely monitored at various stages of the work. Most road contracts in Nigeria fail to meet international standards because the contractors are not closely monitored or made to adhere to specifications.
Since the proposed reconstruction is a major engineering work, there should be an Environmental Impact Assessment (EIA) of the project. People and institutions that have structures that may be affected by the expansion are advised to cooperate with government. Undue litigation that may stall or delay the work should be avoided. Property owners should be aware that highways have a right of way that should be respected. Whatever disputes that may arise nonetheless should be resolved amicably with a greater emphasis on the public interest.
Road users should cooperate while the reconstruction work is going on. Bearing in mind the busy nature of the road, the work should be done expeditiously in order not to disrupt movement unduly or expose commuters to excessive hardship.
----------------------
Expanding the Lagos-Ibadan Expressway
THE Federal Government's decision to expand the Lagos-Ibadan Expressway and turn it into a 10-lane freeway is a welcome development. This particular road is no more than a death trap and a source of anguish to travellers. It is estimated that about 30 deaths are recorded on the road daily, due to accidents, most of which are avoidable. Something surely needs to be done to curb the carnage, and to protect lives.
The Speaker of the House of Representatives, Hon. Dimeji Bankole made the disclosure about the road expansion plan during a recent courtesy call on the Alake of Egbaland, Oba Adedotun Gbadebo. According to him, "the cost of the recurring congestion on the road is getting unbearable for the federal government". He added that the private sector will be involved in the reconstruction which is estimated to cost about $67 billion.
All the necessary details seem to have been worked out. The project is expected to be completed within two years. Apart from the engineering reconstruction of the road, including the introduction of underground tunnels, facilities will be provided along the entire stretch of the expressway. Traffic will be directed away from crowded religious centres in order to reduce congestion. Hotels and recreational facilities will also be provided at strategic spots on the highway for travellers.
The Lagos-Ibadan expressway was completed in 1978 but since then it has not undergone any major maintenance work despite the fact that it is one of the busiest roads in the nation. The road has been neglected and left to disintegrate. It is not surprising, therefore, that the Lagos-Ibadan expressway has become notorious in many respects. With massive vehicular traffic, daily, traffic congestion is perennial and disheartening. Commuters waste long hours in crippling traffic. Robbers, rapists, pick-pockets often capitalise on the chaos to attack innocent persons.
Lack of management has given rise to uncontrolled development on the highway. For instance, the many religious worship centres that occupy vast sections of the highway compound the traffic situation especially when there are major events that attract large crowds of worshippers.
Over the years, public outcry about the appalling condition of the road has not yielded any positive result. The federal authorities that ought to manage the highway occasionally send contractors who put up some appearance for a few weeks without making any difference. The Lagos-Ibadan expressway should be rescued from its present state of neglect. There is no doubt that its reconstruction is worthwhile economically. The road links Lagos to other parts of the country.
Whatever contracts that may have been awarded in the past to effect repairs on the badly damaged portions of the road have been carried out haphazardly. Indeed, the money meant for the last rehabilitation exercise was allegedly diverted by politicians to finance the ill-fated Third Term agenda of the former administration. It is instructive that the reconstruction will now be carried out by the private sector under a BOT arrangement. This will reduce pressure on the Federal Government, apart from giving the private entrepreneurs a sense of partnership. For now, however, not much is known by the public about the details of the partnership between the Federal Government and the construction company that has been granted a concession on the Lagos-Ibadan expressway. There is need for transparency and accountability. Quality should be the overriding consideration. Public information and input where necessary should be accommodated.
The Nigeria Society of Engineers may be involved in the project to help monitor progress and standards. The contractor that would handle the road should be given clear specifications on what is to be done. The company should be closely monitored at various stages of the work. Most road contracts in Nigeria fail to meet international standards because the contractors are not closely monitored or made to adhere to specifications.
Since the proposed reconstruction is a major engineering work, there should be an Environmental Impact Assessment (EIA) of the project. People and institutions that have structures that may be affected by the expansion are advised to cooperate with government. Undue litigation that may stall or delay the work should be avoided. Property owners should be aware that highways have a right of way that should be respected. Whatever disputes that may arise nonetheless should be resolved amicably with a greater emphasis on the public interest.
Road users should cooperate while the reconstruction work is going on. Bearing in mind the busy nature of the road, the work should be done expeditiously in order not to disrupt movement unduly or expose commuters to excessive hardship.
Sunday, January 20, 2008
A Kenyan point of view
I had planned to post this up over a week ago but due to the fact that i never received permission from the author of the email in question to post it on here (emailed but no response yet), i had put it aside. But sugabelly's comment on The Situation in Kenya spurred more rethinking on the issue so i decided to go ahead and post my preamble to the intended post, and a teeny weeny paragraph from the email which should at least give you another perspective into the violence in Kenya, i hope.
------------------
Below is an excerpt of an email from a Kenyan professor at the University of Newcastle about the crisis in his country. Reading it forced me to re-examine my earlier feelings towards the violence in Kenya. I most certainly don't condone the 500+ deaths that have resulted from Kibaki's "re-election" (Blame the pacifist in me but I don't think the loss of ONE life is ever justified, no matter how high the stakes) but I now have a better understanding of the struggle. I pitied the Kenyans for not having the fortune that we Nigerians had in seeing our elections end in peaceful (resigned) acceptance of the corrupt practices that went on across the board. But now I see how unfortunate it is that we continue to take the slaps of our leaders and turn our cheeks repeatedly because after all, we are the resilient, "happiest people in the world", right? I wish I had an answer to this problem of unaccountability in Nigeria. But I don't. I wouldn't say the Kenyans have the answer either, but at least they're not about to sit about waiting for another 4 years to see if the answer falls in their lap. They, unlike us, will not sit by and watch their government make a mockery of the people it is meant to represent.
----------------------
It is only with the restoration of peace that reason will prevail. But there can be no lasting peace without justice. There is an urgent need for an open and thorough public inquiry to determine the veracity of rigging allegations.
It is disheartening that Kenyans are losing their lives senselessly because they wish to express disapproval on a flawed process. Many of these are ordinary people who can see a 'loaded dice' but importantly refuse to let the lie go away just because the higher ups think they can get away with it! This is the biggest crisis ever for Kenya but I think we will get through it. Though the news talks about ethnic fragmentation--Kenyans as a whole tend to have a greater sense of nationalism rather than ethno-centric parochialism. We are smart enough to be rational, what hurts the average Kenyan is the senseless loss of life. We are Kenyans and part of the reason that we are the most heterogeneous African community that has never had a civil war. We believe in the State but should politicians force individuals to thinks as ethnic collections, it will be a very sad day indeed for a country that has resisted and served as an example that bucks the trend against the so called “normal” ills on the continent.
----------------------
Thank you, Funke, for sharing this email!
------------------
Below is an excerpt of an email from a Kenyan professor at the University of Newcastle about the crisis in his country. Reading it forced me to re-examine my earlier feelings towards the violence in Kenya. I most certainly don't condone the 500+ deaths that have resulted from Kibaki's "re-election" (Blame the pacifist in me but I don't think the loss of ONE life is ever justified, no matter how high the stakes) but I now have a better understanding of the struggle. I pitied the Kenyans for not having the fortune that we Nigerians had in seeing our elections end in peaceful (resigned) acceptance of the corrupt practices that went on across the board. But now I see how unfortunate it is that we continue to take the slaps of our leaders and turn our cheeks repeatedly because after all, we are the resilient, "happiest people in the world", right? I wish I had an answer to this problem of unaccountability in Nigeria. But I don't. I wouldn't say the Kenyans have the answer either, but at least they're not about to sit about waiting for another 4 years to see if the answer falls in their lap. They, unlike us, will not sit by and watch their government make a mockery of the people it is meant to represent.
----------------------
It is only with the restoration of peace that reason will prevail. But there can be no lasting peace without justice. There is an urgent need for an open and thorough public inquiry to determine the veracity of rigging allegations.
It is disheartening that Kenyans are losing their lives senselessly because they wish to express disapproval on a flawed process. Many of these are ordinary people who can see a 'loaded dice' but importantly refuse to let the lie go away just because the higher ups think they can get away with it! This is the biggest crisis ever for Kenya but I think we will get through it. Though the news talks about ethnic fragmentation--Kenyans as a whole tend to have a greater sense of nationalism rather than ethno-centric parochialism. We are smart enough to be rational, what hurts the average Kenyan is the senseless loss of life. We are Kenyans and part of the reason that we are the most heterogeneous African community that has never had a civil war. We believe in the State but should politicians force individuals to thinks as ethnic collections, it will be a very sad day indeed for a country that has resisted and served as an example that bucks the trend against the so called “normal” ills on the continent.
----------------------
Thank you, Funke, for sharing this email!
Friday, January 18, 2008
The Afro Beat Shout Out
Please check out William Kamkwamba's Malawi Windmill blog when you get a chance. 
Pretty amazing stuff he's doing to solve his village's (and eventually, his country's) electricity problems one day (one windmill) at a time. And he's only 20!! It came out of his frustration with the electricity problems in his village (na condition wey make crayfish bend, abi?) and from reading a book one day, he got this idea to try it out. Since then he's been sponsored by a tonne of social entrepreneurs from all over (probably mainly international...but i won't get started on that). The point is, this is another great example of young Africans challenging the way things are done now and making that change they want to see, one day at a time. I'm inspired people! Now, i'm off to build my own solar panels on my roof (er, spanner anyone?)
-----------
Thanks to The Afropolitan Network blog for posting his story and for inspiring us to get "Made IN Africa" (you heard it THERE first!).
Pretty amazing stuff he's doing to solve his village's (and eventually, his country's) electricity problems one day (one windmill) at a time. And he's only 20!! It came out of his frustration with the electricity problems in his village (na condition wey make crayfish bend, abi?) and from reading a book one day, he got this idea to try it out. Since then he's been sponsored by a tonne of social entrepreneurs from all over (probably mainly international...but i won't get started on that). The point is, this is another great example of young Africans challenging the way things are done now and making that change they want to see, one day at a time. I'm inspired people! Now, i'm off to build my own solar panels on my roof (er, spanner anyone?)-----------
Thanks to The Afropolitan Network blog for posting his story and for inspiring us to get "Made IN Africa" (you heard it THERE first!).
Monday, January 14, 2008
Same Ol', Same Old?
It seems we're not the only ones writhing in that frustration that comes from the realization that hardly anything has changed when it comes to the key development issues Nigerians struggle with. This generation finds itself complaining about almost the same things our parent's complained about, if not more...we now have a flailing education sector to complain about,a dead health sector to add to our worries, a buried power generation sector, and an anti-graft sector currently in limbo. Abati laments/prophesies: "As it was in 1999, so it was in 2003 and so it is now, and so it seems it shall be for the rest of the year and beyond". We hope this is not the case. In the spirit of Nigerian Curiosity's person of 2007 Awards, we would like to know what you think is the most significant progress Nigeria had/made in 2007? It could be the obvious: The "elections"? the war on corruption? or the not-so-obvious: the war of poverty? relations with China? the commencement of the Abuja light rail? We know it'll be a tad difficult, but we hope you'll humour us...
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When Will Nigeria Ever Make It?
By Reuben Abati
There is nothing more exasperating, living in Nigeria, studying Nigeria, and analyzing Nigeria, and being Nigerian, than the realization that our lives have become one long piece of monotonous repetition of failures and uncertainties. We celebrate our capacity to manage the crisis in our lives, the optimism that is derived from our religiousity and our capacity like tragic heroes, to suffer and endure, but for a nation that seeks to make progress, the biggest challenge remains the development challenge. We seem rooted in one spot...absolutely nothing appears to work.
Even that which works, even that which appears to move eventually careers towards a dead end, and we greet the closure of our dreams, the abbreviation of our enthusiasm with a little spittle, some intra-class name-calling, the media makes the usual noises and soon, very soon, we all move on and adjust to the reality of our circumstances. Next year and the year after, almost interminably, we repeat the same patterns.
Companies manage to survive, crawling from year to year, even if the banks declare absurd balance sheets in a country where no real productivity is taking place. Tokens, mere tokens make us happy, and so we get called the happiest people on earth and we celebrate even that as if it were the badge of valour. A new year has started and there is still little to celebrate. Those of us who spend our time on public affairs would soon discover that last year is no different from this year, and that thematically, the year to come may not be different because, our nation is trapped in the vortex of half-measures, and tokenisms and sheer monotony...Check the newspaper editorials, every year they comment on essentially the same themes. Check the commentaries: the subject matter is the same.
And these are not happy stories at all, but necrophilous accounts of the lack of progress in national life. For eight years, we talked and wrote about the crisis in the energy sector, about the poor supply of electricity and how our cities are almost permanently in darkness and the power generator mafia that is smiling to the banks while electricity regulators try to increase tariffs for services they do not provide. We are starting a new year and the subject is the same because we have not moved an inch nearer the satisfaction of public expectations in this regard.
For eight years, we lamented the rot in the education sector, the collapse of such a strategic part of the national development plan. Schools are under-funded, standards are so poor, rich parents are either sending their children to private schools or abroad. Today, employers of labour prefer to travel abroad to recruit Nigerians in diaspora who are supposedly skilled because they have been exposed to a different education system.
They are compelled to do so because of a terrible skills shortage in the Nigerian environment, many of our local university graduates have skills no doubt but certainly the wrong kind of skills: the girls are adept at luring men to bed in order to secure advantages, many of the young men are graduates of cults and 419 groups. And there is the latest phenomenon of crime on campuses: the menace of "the Yahoo boys" who are simply internet fraudsters. All this while the Academic Staff Union of Universities, the umbrella association of university teachers has been asking government to pay more attention to the education sector. In 2008, it is the same crisis of funding and empowerment of the education sector that we are still talking about. Not even one step has been taken at any level to address the identified problems.
For eight years, we lamented the insecurity of life and properties, and the reign of violence in our lives. Rather than abate, the culture of violence in the Niger Delta and elsewhere has remained a problem. Armed robbers, bandits, and terrorists are so bold they even challenge the state openly. And so we continue this year again to write about unresolved murders, about armed robbery, about national insecurity. The list of the stasis in our lives, the predictable uncertainties in our lives is so long, and never short.
Government is unable to make a difference because governance in Nigeria is yet another veritable ritual. Public officials are more interested in the perks of office rather than the difference they are expected to make in the lives of the people. They want official cars, they want to live in government quarters and buy those houses later for their personal use; they want to collect fat salaries and allowances, they all want government land in choice areas for themselves and their spouses. They all want to use, abuse and advertise power and travel around in siren-bearing vehicles which enable them to chase other Nigerians off the streets.
As it was in 1999, so it was in 2003 and so it is now, and so it seems it shall be for the rest of the year and beyond. I lament. We are a terribly short-changed people, holding the wrong end of the stick. Civil servants work with every government that comes along, one after the other, but the Nigerian civil service at all levels has the largest collection of saboteurs within the national boundary. Civil servants are the ones helping the politicians to run Nigeria aground. And they are privileged and powerful, these are entrenched forces helping to sustain a tradition of national failure.
The media is the fourth estate of the realm, we probably will never get tired of documenting the rot in our lives, out of patriotism, out of a sense of obligation and out of a feeling of commitment. Nigerians can talk and there is clearly no shortage of pundits; in Nigeria, opinion is cheap, every certificate holder is an intellectual claiming to understand the issues better than the other man. But it looks like we can only do that much, charting the paths and identifying the issues for leaders who do not even read newspapers or do not listen to local news, and who are quick to boast about this.
Nigeria needs nothing short of transformation at all levels. The catalyst for that must still come from the leadership, a leadership that is willing to dispense with the boring routine that the civil servants, and political contractors have imposed, a leadership that is prepared to take the problems one after the other, day after day and slaughter the dragons that have kept us at the shore of progress. The cock is crowing in other lands; in Nigeria it is silent. Shall we prod this cock to crow or slaughter it for dinner, and damn the consequences?
---------------------
When Will Nigeria Ever Make It?
By Reuben Abati
There is nothing more exasperating, living in Nigeria, studying Nigeria, and analyzing Nigeria, and being Nigerian, than the realization that our lives have become one long piece of monotonous repetition of failures and uncertainties. We celebrate our capacity to manage the crisis in our lives, the optimism that is derived from our religiousity and our capacity like tragic heroes, to suffer and endure, but for a nation that seeks to make progress, the biggest challenge remains the development challenge. We seem rooted in one spot...absolutely nothing appears to work.
Even that which works, even that which appears to move eventually careers towards a dead end, and we greet the closure of our dreams, the abbreviation of our enthusiasm with a little spittle, some intra-class name-calling, the media makes the usual noises and soon, very soon, we all move on and adjust to the reality of our circumstances. Next year and the year after, almost interminably, we repeat the same patterns.
Companies manage to survive, crawling from year to year, even if the banks declare absurd balance sheets in a country where no real productivity is taking place. Tokens, mere tokens make us happy, and so we get called the happiest people on earth and we celebrate even that as if it were the badge of valour. A new year has started and there is still little to celebrate. Those of us who spend our time on public affairs would soon discover that last year is no different from this year, and that thematically, the year to come may not be different because, our nation is trapped in the vortex of half-measures, and tokenisms and sheer monotony...Check the newspaper editorials, every year they comment on essentially the same themes. Check the commentaries: the subject matter is the same.
And these are not happy stories at all, but necrophilous accounts of the lack of progress in national life. For eight years, we talked and wrote about the crisis in the energy sector, about the poor supply of electricity and how our cities are almost permanently in darkness and the power generator mafia that is smiling to the banks while electricity regulators try to increase tariffs for services they do not provide. We are starting a new year and the subject is the same because we have not moved an inch nearer the satisfaction of public expectations in this regard.
For eight years, we lamented the rot in the education sector, the collapse of such a strategic part of the national development plan. Schools are under-funded, standards are so poor, rich parents are either sending their children to private schools or abroad. Today, employers of labour prefer to travel abroad to recruit Nigerians in diaspora who are supposedly skilled because they have been exposed to a different education system.
They are compelled to do so because of a terrible skills shortage in the Nigerian environment, many of our local university graduates have skills no doubt but certainly the wrong kind of skills: the girls are adept at luring men to bed in order to secure advantages, many of the young men are graduates of cults and 419 groups. And there is the latest phenomenon of crime on campuses: the menace of "the Yahoo boys" who are simply internet fraudsters. All this while the Academic Staff Union of Universities, the umbrella association of university teachers has been asking government to pay more attention to the education sector. In 2008, it is the same crisis of funding and empowerment of the education sector that we are still talking about. Not even one step has been taken at any level to address the identified problems.
For eight years, we lamented the insecurity of life and properties, and the reign of violence in our lives. Rather than abate, the culture of violence in the Niger Delta and elsewhere has remained a problem. Armed robbers, bandits, and terrorists are so bold they even challenge the state openly. And so we continue this year again to write about unresolved murders, about armed robbery, about national insecurity. The list of the stasis in our lives, the predictable uncertainties in our lives is so long, and never short.
Government is unable to make a difference because governance in Nigeria is yet another veritable ritual. Public officials are more interested in the perks of office rather than the difference they are expected to make in the lives of the people. They want official cars, they want to live in government quarters and buy those houses later for their personal use; they want to collect fat salaries and allowances, they all want government land in choice areas for themselves and their spouses. They all want to use, abuse and advertise power and travel around in siren-bearing vehicles which enable them to chase other Nigerians off the streets.
As it was in 1999, so it was in 2003 and so it is now, and so it seems it shall be for the rest of the year and beyond. I lament. We are a terribly short-changed people, holding the wrong end of the stick. Civil servants work with every government that comes along, one after the other, but the Nigerian civil service at all levels has the largest collection of saboteurs within the national boundary. Civil servants are the ones helping the politicians to run Nigeria aground. And they are privileged and powerful, these are entrenched forces helping to sustain a tradition of national failure.
The media is the fourth estate of the realm, we probably will never get tired of documenting the rot in our lives, out of patriotism, out of a sense of obligation and out of a feeling of commitment. Nigerians can talk and there is clearly no shortage of pundits; in Nigeria, opinion is cheap, every certificate holder is an intellectual claiming to understand the issues better than the other man. But it looks like we can only do that much, charting the paths and identifying the issues for leaders who do not even read newspapers or do not listen to local news, and who are quick to boast about this.
Nigeria needs nothing short of transformation at all levels. The catalyst for that must still come from the leadership, a leadership that is willing to dispense with the boring routine that the civil servants, and political contractors have imposed, a leadership that is prepared to take the problems one after the other, day after day and slaughter the dragons that have kept us at the shore of progress. The cock is crowing in other lands; in Nigeria it is silent. Shall we prod this cock to crow or slaughter it for dinner, and damn the consequences?
Thursday, January 10, 2008
The show must go on...
Just when you thought Nuhu Ribadu was quietly on his way out, the EFCC strikes again! The show must go on, for this IS a show, (the last edition of The Economist conveniently dubbed it "THE GOOD, THE BAD AND THE PRESIDENT") one of high stakes (according to official estimates, corruption has cost Nigeria over $400 billion), a stellar cast (8 governors have been officially charged to date) and 200 million spectators (well, 200 million PLUS ONE, if you count our dear Presido).
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Nigeria Graft Boss Strikes Again - BBC News Africa
Nigerian anti-corruption agents have issued an arrest warrant for an eighth former governor.
Lucky Igbinedion of Edo State is accused of stealing more than $24m (£12m) through three front companies.
The BBC's Ibrahim Dosara says the warrant shows EFCC chief, Nuhu Ribadu, is trying to bring people to book before he leaves office next month.
Mr Igbinedion left Nigeria shortly after the end of his tenure as governor in May last year. His whereabouts are not known.
"Wherever he is, we have a network and we will get him," EFCC legal officer Isa Bature Gafai told the BBC.
The EFCC alleges that Mr Igbinedion channelled money through companies registered to members of his family.
The charge sheet lists 142 counts of money laundering.
Mr Igbinedion was a key figure during the election of former President Olusegun Obasanjo's chosen successor, Umaru Yar'Adua.
As the head of the Governor's Forum, he persuaded other state governors to withdraw from the party primaries in 2006 giving Mr Yar'Adua a clear run to the presidency.
The move comes just weeks before Mr Ribadu is due to leave his job in February.
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Nigeria Graft Boss Strikes Again - BBC News Africa
Nigerian anti-corruption agents have issued an arrest warrant for an eighth former governor.
Lucky Igbinedion of Edo State is accused of stealing more than $24m (£12m) through three front companies.
The BBC's Ibrahim Dosara says the warrant shows EFCC chief, Nuhu Ribadu, is trying to bring people to book before he leaves office next month.
Mr Igbinedion left Nigeria shortly after the end of his tenure as governor in May last year. His whereabouts are not known.
"Wherever he is, we have a network and we will get him," EFCC legal officer Isa Bature Gafai told the BBC.
The EFCC alleges that Mr Igbinedion channelled money through companies registered to members of his family.
The charge sheet lists 142 counts of money laundering.
Mr Igbinedion was a key figure during the election of former President Olusegun Obasanjo's chosen successor, Umaru Yar'Adua.
As the head of the Governor's Forum, he persuaded other state governors to withdraw from the party primaries in 2006 giving Mr Yar'Adua a clear run to the presidency.
The move comes just weeks before Mr Ribadu is due to leave his job in February.
Wednesday, January 2, 2008
THE SITUATION IN KENYA
The past 4 days have seen Kenya, the darling of East Africa, propelled into post-election violence, which some are now referring to as "genocide". The name, "Rwanda" keeps coming up in reports of this "unrest", which pits the majority Kikuyu (who make up ~22% of the Kenyan population) supporters of Kibaki against the 3rd largest ethnic group, the Luo (who make up ~13%), who support the opposition (Odinga). About 300 people are estimated to have died and tens of thousands have been displaced from their homes. The military has been deployed to assist in averting a humanitarian crisis but from CNN footage on the turmoil, they don't seem to be having much success in stopping the violence. According to a source in this allAfrica.com article, "Ordinary Kenyans who are dying never participated in the irregularities being cited in the electoral process. They only exercised their democratic right to vote."
The US and UK are "calling for compromise," African Union Chairman, President Kufuor, and Desmond Tutu are scheduled to visit Nairobi, as well as Condoleeza Rice and David Miliband.
This situation is more shocking specifically because Kenya has always been viewed as a stable democracy. No one would have been too surprised if our dearest "troubled giant" had found herself in this sort of mess after our 2007 elections but thankfully we didn't. Now it is up to the international powers-that-be AS WELL AS our own African leaders to put pressure on President Kibaki to put the people of Kenya first, even if it means stepping down while a full recount of the votes (under international supervision) is conducted. Unfortunately, the US and UK have stopped short of calling for this although they have noted that there have been serious irregularities in the vote-counting process (on both sides).
Why can't we get democracy RIGHT in Africa? Could it be because it wasn't MEANT for us? Then again, democracy hasn't always existed, and the democratic powers-that-be didn't get it right in one day/decade/century. Maybe it's time to start developing a theory of "Democracy LITE", that would account for our failure to get elections (government OF and BY the people) and power transitions right. All eyes on Ghana in '08 & South Africa in '09 to show us how it's done, mayhaps.
The US and UK are "calling for compromise," African Union Chairman, President Kufuor, and Desmond Tutu are scheduled to visit Nairobi, as well as Condoleeza Rice and David Miliband.
This situation is more shocking specifically because Kenya has always been viewed as a stable democracy. No one would have been too surprised if our dearest "troubled giant" had found herself in this sort of mess after our 2007 elections but thankfully we didn't. Now it is up to the international powers-that-be AS WELL AS our own African leaders to put pressure on President Kibaki to put the people of Kenya first, even if it means stepping down while a full recount of the votes (under international supervision) is conducted. Unfortunately, the US and UK have stopped short of calling for this although they have noted that there have been serious irregularities in the vote-counting process (on both sides).
Why can't we get democracy RIGHT in Africa? Could it be because it wasn't MEANT for us? Then again, democracy hasn't always existed, and the democratic powers-that-be didn't get it right in one day/decade/century. Maybe it's time to start developing a theory of "Democracy LITE", that would account for our failure to get elections (government OF and BY the people) and power transitions right. All eyes on Ghana in '08 & South Africa in '09 to show us how it's done, mayhaps.
Tuesday, January 1, 2008
Saturday, December 29, 2007
NU-who?
Some people called it, but others of us most certainly didn't see this one coming. According to the BBC, reports say Nuhu Ribadu has been told to tender his resignation in readiness for further studies, having "been ordered to attend a one-year policy and strategic studies course in central Nigeria." Any surprise that this comes on the heels of the Iyabo Obasanjo-Bello scandal (see Nigerian Curiosity's take), which Yar'Adua and Aondoakaa were quick to 'dash' the EFCC, with it's nearly full Christmas hamper? What does this mean for the EFCC? and Nigeria's fight against corruption? Chris Albin-Lackey, researcher on Nigeria at Human Rights Watch, told Reuters that if Mr Ribadu's suspension goes ahead, "the day he leaves office will be the day the credibility of Nigeria's 'war on corruption' is entirely destroyed".
Possibly.
However, the EFCC for some time now has been staggering blindly and it could just be the breaking point needed to get Nigerians to finally call Yar'Adua and his AGF to order and demand that they elucidate on their strategy to win this war on corruption, with or without the EFCC.
Possibly.
However, the EFCC for some time now has been staggering blindly and it could just be the breaking point needed to get Nigerians to finally call Yar'Adua and his AGF to order and demand that they elucidate on their strategy to win this war on corruption, with or without the EFCC.
Tuesday, December 25, 2007
Saturday, December 15, 2007
STOP THIS!!!
This story in The Observer (Guardian) has enraged all who have read it so far. We need to do something about this perverse form of child abuse. I am sure it's going on in many states in Nigeria but the situation in Akwa-Ibom is of the utmost urgency. There needs to be a way to stop these fake pastors from preaching such hateful messages that end in violence being inflicted on helpless children all in the name of promised prosperity. These ostracized children need to be cared for. The Child Rights and Rehabilitation Network (basically, the man and his wife who currently care for these kids) needs to be supported in their efforts. They are currently being supported by Stepping Stones Nigeria but this is not enough people. We need to draw the attention of Nigerians to this atrocity (among many others in the ND but the focus of this post is on these children who have been convicted on false charges (based on the prophecies of "pastors") of witchcraft and are being brutally assaulted on a growing scale). If anyone can (or knows someone who can) help us get in touch with the Governor/Deputy Governor, First Lady, or any government official of Akwa-Ibom state, please email us at info@theafrobeat.com or misan@theafrobeat.com. Any other ideas on how to stop this madness are more than welcome.
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Thanks to In My Head & Around Me and Naijablog for sharing this story.
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Thanks to In My Head & Around Me and Naijablog for sharing this story.
Thursday, December 13, 2007
Just what we needed...
Only just stumbled on this Economist article but was shocked to hear that Nigeria is West Africa's drug-trafficking hub! I've definitely heard more about drug raids in Ghana than I have in Nigeria, but it's possible that i've been living in the dark. It's one thing to be an international trafficking hub, like we were in the 80s, when most of the drug seizures were from consignments destined for the international market; but for these drugs to be so readily available on the streets of Nigeria (rural communities too!), is a whole other thing.
Drug intelligence is a costly endeavour but with so many hungry mouths at the Federal Govt's doorstep, it seems the Nigerian Drug Law Enforcement Agency (NDLEA) gets the short end of the stick. According to Ahmadu Giade (Chairman), only 13 vehicles are available to the Agency throughout the whole country to fight drug crime, while the personnel receive meagre salaries, which he fears could lure them to the side of drug traffickers. I thought that was bad till I realised there's even less $$ (sorry, NN) going into the rehabilitation sector. Most rehab clinics are private and your average Nigerian can't afford that luxury. The few public ones are underfunded and over-stretched; and NGOs are (un)fortunately too busy dealing with more pressing issues like HIV/AIDS that drug addicted persons end up alone and stuck in a downward spiral of addiction (we all know Nigerian extended families have very low tolerance for drug addiction). Not quite sure what can be done about this, but just thought The Afro Beat should put a spotlight on the situation and get your thoughts.
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Nigeria's Drug Trade, Just what they needed - The Economist
A FAIRLY typical recent morning at Murtala Mohammed, Lagos's main airport, saw four traffickers carrying cocaine, heroin or marijuana caught, arrested and X-rayed before noon. All but one of them lived abroad, in Belgium, India and Spain. Stuck without money or just looking for more, they had agreed to swallow the stuff or slip it into their luggage. Since the beginning of the year, Nigeria's Drug Law
Enforcement Agency has made 234 similar arrests at this Lagos airport. But this, according to the agency's director-general, Lanre Ipinmisho, is just grazing the surface of the country's booming drug trade.
West Africa is the newest centre for trafficking drugs into Europe. European demand for cocaine and heroin is rising fast and dealers, faced with intense scrutiny on familiar import routes, have been obliged to find new ones. Cocaine from the Andes is arriving at west Africa's ports, airports and border crossings. Heroin from Afghanistan is coming in too.
Nigeria is not the only victim of the growing trade. Guinea-Bissau, a small country emerging from civil war and a string of coups, has seen its tiny export economy overrun by illegal drugs. But as the economic hub of west Africa, Nigeria has, inevitably, also become its drug-trafficking hub. Last year 44% of the west African
drug-traffickers arrested in Europe were Nigerian (compared with 3% from Guinea-Bissau). Drugs have been trickling across Nigeria's borders since the 1980s, but over the past few years the trickle has become a torrent.
Nigeria's history of fighting the scourge is not the sort to discourage dealers. Its drug agency, founded in 1990, was immediately immersed in scandal when its own top people were themselves found to be involved in trafficking. At the end of October the country's independent commission on corrupt practices called in the agency's former chairman and eight other officials for questioning over money and drugs missing from an exhibit.
Organised criminals have also got into the business. The country's anti-graft body, the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission, says it often stumbles upon drugs during money-laundering raids. The most powerful crime syndicates are involved, says Lamorde Ibrahim, the commission's director of operations in Lagos. A six-person group from his office and the drug-enforcement agency work incognito, unknown even
to colleagues.
The network of gangs and dealers means that drugs are increasingly available on
Nigeria's streets. At the Lagos State Rehab and Vocational Training Centre former junkies tell stories of taking to drugs while at university, or jobless, or under pressure from the city's notorious gangs of "area boys". Enough cannabis to roll one cigarette can be found on the streets for as little as 20 naira (about 15 cents). The UN's drugs office estimates that heroin and cocaine cost slightly more,
at 20 to 50 naira and 80 to 100 naira a pinch.
Reform of the drug agency may have begun to be serious. Pointing to a change, Mr Ipinmisho says that traffickers are often confused by their arrest, having been promised safe passage through the airport by junior officers, who can now no longer sneak them through. The intentions may be better, but the agency still complains of its lack of equipment and manpower.
Nigeria is the only west African country on America's list of major drug-producing and transit countries. It is concerned enough to have sent Tom Schweich, the State Department's international drugs man, to Nigeria last month. He promised to supply the latest body-cavity X-ray machines to four of Nigeria's international airports. New technology like this will be installed first at the airports and then, more slowly, at ports and land borders. Not too slowly, Nigerians hope. Their country is already notorious for corruption and financial crime; the last thing it needs is narcotics too.
Drug intelligence is a costly endeavour but with so many hungry mouths at the Federal Govt's doorstep, it seems the Nigerian Drug Law Enforcement Agency (NDLEA) gets the short end of the stick. According to Ahmadu Giade (Chairman), only 13 vehicles are available to the Agency throughout the whole country to fight drug crime, while the personnel receive meagre salaries, which he fears could lure them to the side of drug traffickers. I thought that was bad till I realised there's even less $$ (sorry, NN) going into the rehabilitation sector. Most rehab clinics are private and your average Nigerian can't afford that luxury. The few public ones are underfunded and over-stretched; and NGOs are (un)fortunately too busy dealing with more pressing issues like HIV/AIDS that drug addicted persons end up alone and stuck in a downward spiral of addiction (we all know Nigerian extended families have very low tolerance for drug addiction). Not quite sure what can be done about this, but just thought The Afro Beat should put a spotlight on the situation and get your thoughts.
--------------------
Nigeria's Drug Trade, Just what they needed - The Economist
A FAIRLY typical recent morning at Murtala Mohammed, Lagos's main airport, saw four traffickers carrying cocaine, heroin or marijuana caught, arrested and X-rayed before noon. All but one of them lived abroad, in Belgium, India and Spain. Stuck without money or just looking for more, they had agreed to swallow the stuff or slip it into their luggage. Since the beginning of the year, Nigeria's Drug Law
Enforcement Agency has made 234 similar arrests at this Lagos airport. But this, according to the agency's director-general, Lanre Ipinmisho, is just grazing the surface of the country's booming drug trade.
West Africa is the newest centre for trafficking drugs into Europe. European demand for cocaine and heroin is rising fast and dealers, faced with intense scrutiny on familiar import routes, have been obliged to find new ones. Cocaine from the Andes is arriving at west Africa's ports, airports and border crossings. Heroin from Afghanistan is coming in too.
Nigeria is not the only victim of the growing trade. Guinea-Bissau, a small country emerging from civil war and a string of coups, has seen its tiny export economy overrun by illegal drugs. But as the economic hub of west Africa, Nigeria has, inevitably, also become its drug-trafficking hub. Last year 44% of the west African
drug-traffickers arrested in Europe were Nigerian (compared with 3% from Guinea-Bissau). Drugs have been trickling across Nigeria's borders since the 1980s, but over the past few years the trickle has become a torrent.
Nigeria's history of fighting the scourge is not the sort to discourage dealers. Its drug agency, founded in 1990, was immediately immersed in scandal when its own top people were themselves found to be involved in trafficking. At the end of October the country's independent commission on corrupt practices called in the agency's former chairman and eight other officials for questioning over money and drugs missing from an exhibit.
Organised criminals have also got into the business. The country's anti-graft body, the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission, says it often stumbles upon drugs during money-laundering raids. The most powerful crime syndicates are involved, says Lamorde Ibrahim, the commission's director of operations in Lagos. A six-person group from his office and the drug-enforcement agency work incognito, unknown even
to colleagues.
The network of gangs and dealers means that drugs are increasingly available on
Nigeria's streets. At the Lagos State Rehab and Vocational Training Centre former junkies tell stories of taking to drugs while at university, or jobless, or under pressure from the city's notorious gangs of "area boys". Enough cannabis to roll one cigarette can be found on the streets for as little as 20 naira (about 15 cents). The UN's drugs office estimates that heroin and cocaine cost slightly more,at 20 to 50 naira and 80 to 100 naira a pinch.
Reform of the drug agency may have begun to be serious. Pointing to a change, Mr Ipinmisho says that traffickers are often confused by their arrest, having been promised safe passage through the airport by junior officers, who can now no longer sneak them through. The intentions may be better, but the agency still complains of its lack of equipment and manpower.
Nigeria is the only west African country on America's list of major drug-producing and transit countries. It is concerned enough to have sent Tom Schweich, the State Department's international drugs man, to Nigeria last month. He promised to supply the latest body-cavity X-ray machines to four of Nigeria's international airports. New technology like this will be installed first at the airports and then, more slowly, at ports and land borders. Not too slowly, Nigerians hope. Their country is already notorious for corruption and financial crime; the last thing it needs is narcotics too.
Wednesday, December 5, 2007
Festival of Death...
Came across this on Omoigui.com:
Just before 8:30 a.m. on February 13, 1976, the following curious announcement was heard on Radio Nigeria:
"Good morning fellow Nigerians, This is Lt. Col. B. Dimka of the Nigerian Army calling. I bring you good tidings. Murtala Muhammed's deficiency has been detected. His government is now overthrown by the young revolutionaries. All the 19 military governors have no powers over the states they now govern. The states affairs will be run by military brigade commanders until further notice.
All commissioners are sacked, except for the armed forces and police commissioners who will be redeployed. All senior military officers should remain calm in their respective spots. No divisional commanders will issue orders or instructions until further notice. Any attempt to foil these plans from any quarters will be met with death. You are warned, it is all over the 19 states.
Any acts of looting or raids will be death. Everyone should be calm. Please stay by your radio for further announcements. All borders, air and sea ports are closed until further notice. Curfew is imposed from 6am to 6pm. Thank you. We are all together."
Just prior to this broadcast, then Head of State, General Murtala Ramat Muhammed, along with his ADC (Lt. Akinsehinwa), Orderly and driver, had been assassinated on his way to work in a thin skinned black Mercedes Benz car without escorts. The unprotected car had slowed down at the junction in front of the Federal Secretariat in Ikoyi, Lagos, when a hit team which allegedly included Lt. William Seri and others, casually strolled up and riddled it with bullets.
Following confirmation of Muhammed's death, Lt. Col. Buka Suka Dimka, of the Army Physical Training Corps, who (along with some others) had been up for most of the night drinking champagne, then made a quick trip to the British High Commission at about 8 am where he demanded to be put in touch with General Gowon in Britain.
-------------------------
TIME/CNN snapshot of the March 1976 executions of the coup plotters involved in the assassination of Murtala Mohammed.
Usually, Bar Beach on Nigeria's Victoria Island is dotted with sun umbrellas and gaily painted food stalls. Last week it became the scene of a kind of festival of death. Thousands of Nigerians, chanting "Traitors, traitors," jammed the beach, trampling the candy-striped awnings underfoot. A similar throng gathered not far away at Kirikiri Prison, just outside Lagos, the capital. Both high-spirited crowds were assembled to witness the public executions of some 30 soldiers, including four lieutenant colonels and six majors, and a lone civilian. A special military board had convicted them of planning the abortive coup of Feb. 13, in which Head of State Murtala Mohammed was assassinated (TIME, March 1).
"The condemned men are all in mufti," a Lagos radio correspondent announced crisply, giving a running account of the executions on Bar Beach. "Most of them look sober. Some manage to smile at newsmen." Religious confessions, Christian and Moslem, were received by two priests and a mallam (a Moslem religious leader). While the throng looked on, the 15-man firing squad opened up. The shooting lasted ten minutes, as one by one the coup plotters slumped to the blood-soaked sand.
With the executions, Lieut. General Olusegun Obasanjo, who took over the government of Black Africa's largest and richest country after the killing of Murtala, made good on his promise to dole out military justice to those found guilty. Surprisingly, one of the executed officers was former Defense Minister I.D. Bisalla, who had helped bring Murtala to power in an earlier, successful coup last July. Bisalla and many of the others were apparently implicated in the plot by Lieut. Colonel B.S. Dimka, the man who led the Feb. 13 overthrow attempt. Dimka managed to stay at large for three weeks, despite a nationwide manhunt, but he was captured at a roadblock in eastern Nigeria earlier this month.
During the investigation of the coup attempt, 125 people were arrested; 40 have been released. Aside from those already executed, several dozen others are still being interrogated, including Dimka himself. According to the Nigerian government, Dimka has also implicated Yakubu Gowon, the former head of state who was exiled after the coup that brought Murtala to power last July. Gowon, according to the government's charge, instructed Dimka to get together with Defense Minister Bisalla and attempt to overthrow the government. Their reasons for acting, said Nigeria's new defense chief, Brigadier Musa Yarduah, was the government's plan to cut the size of the army by almost half, a move that would transfer the 100,000 soldiers affected to other jobs, but which might leave a number of them out of work.
In England, where he is a political science student at Warwick University, Gowon denied any involvement in the coup attempt. Nonetheless the Nigerian government, which, after all, overthrew Gowon in the first place, seems bent on punishing him. Lagos radio said last week that "legal and diplomatic steps" are being taken to extradite Gowon to Nigeria, though it seems highly unlikely that the British government will accede to the request.
----------------
Nigeria's hate-hate affair with military rule (1966-1999) saw the loss of many great lives, and not much by way of economic development and improved standards of living for the populace. As many things as are wrong with this country, let's be thankful that we have closed the door (and thrown away the key?) on those dark days and now live in a time where we have freedom of speech and can at least demand accountability from our leaders.
Just before 8:30 a.m. on February 13, 1976, the following curious announcement was heard on Radio Nigeria:
"Good morning fellow Nigerians, This is Lt. Col. B. Dimka of the Nigerian Army calling. I bring you good tidings. Murtala Muhammed's deficiency has been detected. His government is now overthrown by the young revolutionaries. All the 19 military governors have no powers over the states they now govern. The states affairs will be run by military brigade commanders until further notice.
All commissioners are sacked, except for the armed forces and police commissioners who will be redeployed. All senior military officers should remain calm in their respective spots. No divisional commanders will issue orders or instructions until further notice. Any attempt to foil these plans from any quarters will be met with death. You are warned, it is all over the 19 states.
Any acts of looting or raids will be death. Everyone should be calm. Please stay by your radio for further announcements. All borders, air and sea ports are closed until further notice. Curfew is imposed from 6am to 6pm. Thank you. We are all together."
Just prior to this broadcast, then Head of State, General Murtala Ramat Muhammed, along with his ADC (Lt. Akinsehinwa), Orderly and driver, had been assassinated on his way to work in a thin skinned black Mercedes Benz car without escorts. The unprotected car had slowed down at the junction in front of the Federal Secretariat in Ikoyi, Lagos, when a hit team which allegedly included Lt. William Seri and others, casually strolled up and riddled it with bullets.
Following confirmation of Muhammed's death, Lt. Col. Buka Suka Dimka, of the Army Physical Training Corps, who (along with some others) had been up for most of the night drinking champagne, then made a quick trip to the British High Commission at about 8 am where he demanded to be put in touch with General Gowon in Britain.
-------------------------
TIME/CNN snapshot of the March 1976 executions of the coup plotters involved in the assassination of Murtala Mohammed.
Usually, Bar Beach on Nigeria's Victoria Island is dotted with sun umbrellas and gaily painted food stalls. Last week it became the scene of a kind of festival of death. Thousands of Nigerians, chanting "Traitors, traitors," jammed the beach, trampling the candy-striped awnings underfoot. A similar throng gathered not far away at Kirikiri Prison, just outside Lagos, the capital. Both high-spirited crowds were assembled to witness the public executions of some 30 soldiers, including four lieutenant colonels and six majors, and a lone civilian. A special military board had convicted them of planning the abortive coup of Feb. 13, in which Head of State Murtala Mohammed was assassinated (TIME, March 1).
"The condemned men are all in mufti," a Lagos radio correspondent announced crisply, giving a running account of the executions on Bar Beach. "Most of them look sober. Some manage to smile at newsmen." Religious confessions, Christian and Moslem, were received by two priests and a mallam (a Moslem religious leader). While the throng looked on, the 15-man firing squad opened up. The shooting lasted ten minutes, as one by one the coup plotters slumped to the blood-soaked sand.
With the executions, Lieut. General Olusegun Obasanjo, who took over the government of Black Africa's largest and richest country after the killing of Murtala, made good on his promise to dole out military justice to those found guilty. Surprisingly, one of the executed officers was former Defense Minister I.D. Bisalla, who had helped bring Murtala to power in an earlier, successful coup last July. Bisalla and many of the others were apparently implicated in the plot by Lieut. Colonel B.S. Dimka, the man who led the Feb. 13 overthrow attempt. Dimka managed to stay at large for three weeks, despite a nationwide manhunt, but he was captured at a roadblock in eastern Nigeria earlier this month.
During the investigation of the coup attempt, 125 people were arrested; 40 have been released. Aside from those already executed, several dozen others are still being interrogated, including Dimka himself. According to the Nigerian government, Dimka has also implicated Yakubu Gowon, the former head of state who was exiled after the coup that brought Murtala to power last July. Gowon, according to the government's charge, instructed Dimka to get together with Defense Minister Bisalla and attempt to overthrow the government. Their reasons for acting, said Nigeria's new defense chief, Brigadier Musa Yarduah, was the government's plan to cut the size of the army by almost half, a move that would transfer the 100,000 soldiers affected to other jobs, but which might leave a number of them out of work.
In England, where he is a political science student at Warwick University, Gowon denied any involvement in the coup attempt. Nonetheless the Nigerian government, which, after all, overthrew Gowon in the first place, seems bent on punishing him. Lagos radio said last week that "legal and diplomatic steps" are being taken to extradite Gowon to Nigeria, though it seems highly unlikely that the British government will accede to the request.
----------------
Nigeria's hate-hate affair with military rule (1966-1999) saw the loss of many great lives, and not much by way of economic development and improved standards of living for the populace. As many things as are wrong with this country, let's be thankful that we have closed the door (and thrown away the key?) on those dark days and now live in a time where we have freedom of speech and can at least demand accountability from our leaders.
Saturday, December 1, 2007
World AIDS Day
Came across this on allAfrica.com and thought it would be great to share. Catholic Relief Services/Nigeria
supports local organizations in addressing social injustices in communities throughout Nigeria. One such social injustice is the plight of the HIV/AIDS-infected in Nigeria. Statistics tend to be just that - stats! So we thought a personal account of what it's like to have HIV/AIDS in Nigeria would be more befitting today.
------------------
In Nigeria, A Chance Meeting, A Saved Life - By Lane Hartill
BENIN CITY, Nigeria — Sara had a plan.
After picking up her HIV medication at the hospital, she would go to her two-room house, pull the small package out of her purse, tear it open, then swallow the rat poison. That would be it. She wouldn't have to endure the whispers or the rejection. She wouldn't have to hear her husband yell at her, calling her a skeleton.
About four months ago, her husband started coming home late. When she questioned him, the shouting started."I'm ashamed, I'm ashamed. You are like a skeleton," he thundered. "How can I stay in this house, you are like a skeleton. Who will I call my wife? Everyone is talking about you in the street. You look so skinny!"
Sara cried herself to sleep, remembering when her life was different.
Sara — not her real name — grew up in Warri. Her mother was a fruit seller, her father, a Nigerian Marine. She was the baby in a family of five and they showered her with attention. She came to Benin City in 1988 to join her father, who was originally from here. One evening, she wandered into a restaurant and ordered potato chips and a bottle of orange Fanta. A man sat down and started talking to her. She didn't know he owned the place. Or that he was interested in her. Two days later, he came to her house. Two years later, they were married.
When she became pregnant in 1991, she was thrilled. "When I discovered I was pregnant, I was so happy because I really loved children. After [I delivered] they told me it was a baby girl. I love baby girls because of their fancy clothes and everything."
Four year later, a second girl. The three of them were inseparable. They grinned at the animals at the Ogba Zoo here. They put on their best dresses and sipped Cokes at the swish Palmeria Hotel.
Life was good and so was Sara's business. She frequently traveled to Cotonou, where she bought gently used clothes — baled and shipped from the US and England — and sold them here. She was a working mom and life couldn't have been better.
So when the headaches started in 2002, she brushed them off. But then came the fever. And the weight loss. She went to see her sisters in Lagos. Maybe they could help. They were married to wealthy men. She hoped she could see the doctor at her brother-in-law's international company.
The Sting of Rejection
The reception caught her off guard. "Why did I come to Lagos? Why did I not call her?" Sara says her sisters shouted at her. Already a willowy woman, Sara had lost weight. Her svelte frame had been reduced to rail thin.
Her sisters were relentless with their accusations, their disgust.
"In the whole of Benin, don't they have a hospital?" they asked. "How can you come to Lagos with the way you are looking? My friends will soon be around."
Sara slowed again. "That stigma … I started crying," she says, flatly. "I said, 'You are my blood. How can you do this to me?' "
They hid her in a room, and said they would talk about it later. When they returned, they gave her about $150 and told her to return to Benin and take an HIV test. She did. Her husband, at that time, was brimming with support.
"I told my husband I wanted him to follow me to the hospital," she says. "When we were on our way, my husband was saying I should not fear anything. Even if the result comes out positive, people still survive with AIDS. They live a normal life."
But when her sisters found out that she had contracted HIV (Sara believes it was through a blood transfusion after a car accident in 2001), the storm of insults started again.
"They were shouting: 'How did you contract such a deadly disease? You've put a stain on the family name.' They said I was careless [that] I went close to the person with AIDS. I wasn't cautious."
Family bonds run deep in Africa. So when your family turns on you, there are few other places to go. This stigma of HIV in Nigeria freezes people with fear. Some HIV-positive Nigerians tell stories of villages scattering upon the arrival of an HIV-positive member. Husbands have been known to dump wives and leave home.
Sara felt this sting of rejection and it so pervaded her life, she wanted to end it. She had shrunk to 35 pounds. Her daughters had to carry her to the toilet. But it was the rejection, she says, that made her consider suicide.
During this time, she turned to her mom. But the stigma weighed so heavily that she couldn't bear to tell her mom she'd contracted HIV. Her mom took her to seven different "native doctors," — one required a trek through the bush to reach — who prescribed concoctions of herbs mixed with gin. Her mother spent more than $1,500. Unbeknownst to her, Sara didn't drink a drop.
It had all become too much. That's why she bought the rat poison.
But thanks to James, she never ate it. James, which is not his real name, is part of a support group that is facilitated by the health team at the Catholic Archdiocese of Benin City. CRS supports the Archdiocese which formed and supports this group — and the outreach team — to work with HIV-positive Nigerians.
The prevalence rate among adults in Nigeria is 3.9 percent, or about 2.9 million people. Of those, more than 92,700 people are on antiretroviral therapy. Through CRS' Seven Dioceses Community-Based Care and Support project, HIV-positive Nigerians receive home-based care from trained volunteers. They do everything from help bathe babies and deliver school supplies to counsel patients on the finer points of HIV and the importance of antiretroviral therapy.
'I'm Not Going to Die Anymore!'
Sara remembers exactly how James and his antiretroviral therapy message came into her life.
"He walked by," she says, remembering she was sitting in the hallway of the clinic. "Then he turned and looked at me. Maybe it was the tears that were in my eyes that attracted him."
He asked to see her for a moment.
She just wanted to be left alone, she said. She just wanted to end her life. He was a scam artist, and she knew it. She thought he, too, was out to make her feel bad.
"I was shouting on him. 'What do you want to see me for? I've never seen you before.' "
In his calm voice, James told her he knew her problem.
"I'm a victim too," he whispered.
She didn't believe him. James was healthy, even stocky. "I thought everybody that had the problem must be skinny like I was."
James told her he once looked like her. He'd been so sick he couldn't walk, reduced to crawling around his house. This got her attention.
He told her she could live a long time if she took her antiretroviral drugs and ate the right food. He assured her she'd be just fine.
To drive home his point, he pulled his HIV test out of his pocket. "I became calm," says Sara. "I was now interested in what he was saying." He asked for her address. He told her he would come see her. Stunned, Sara couldn't believe someone was comforting her and not rejecting her.
When she got home, James was standing in front of her house.
"I thought: Which type of human being is this?" she says. "When I opened the gate I said maybe God sent this man to restore hope to my life. Let me just give him a chance and see."
Sara opened her heart to him. She told James she'd hit bottom. She needed someone to turn to. James suggested the HIV support group at the Archdiocese of Benin City.
"On the first day that I came and I saw women as fat as this," she says, holding her hands wide, signaling they were broad across the beam. "I saw a lot of people, they were so beautiful. Wow! So these people have this problem? Me too, I will live. Oh! I'm not going to die anymore!
She hit a rough patch after she started taking the antiretroviral therapy. But soon, Sara's life was transformed. She's even working now, baking donuts and egg rolls and selling them at a school. The rice, beans and vitamins that CRS helps to provide has meant she saves almost $120 a month. She's now looking for money to buy a deep freeze. She wants to sell ice blocks and ice cream in the market. They're popular items, and she knows she can make good money.
"If CRS had not been there, a lot of people would have been long gone," she says. "They paid our children's school fees. The first day they paid my children's school fees I was so surprised. They brought books. I said, 'Wow!' "
Her husband has changed too. He calls her every day now. He's ready to come back home.
----------------
Lane Hartill is the West Africa regional information officer for Catholic Relief Services. He has visited CRS programs in Burkina Faso, Ghana, Liberia, Nigeria and Sierra Leone. Lane is based in Dakar, Senegal.
supports local organizations in addressing social injustices in communities throughout Nigeria. One such social injustice is the plight of the HIV/AIDS-infected in Nigeria. Statistics tend to be just that - stats! So we thought a personal account of what it's like to have HIV/AIDS in Nigeria would be more befitting today.
------------------
In Nigeria, A Chance Meeting, A Saved Life - By Lane Hartill
BENIN CITY, Nigeria — Sara had a plan.
After picking up her HIV medication at the hospital, she would go to her two-room house, pull the small package out of her purse, tear it open, then swallow the rat poison. That would be it. She wouldn't have to endure the whispers or the rejection. She wouldn't have to hear her husband yell at her, calling her a skeleton.
About four months ago, her husband started coming home late. When she questioned him, the shouting started."I'm ashamed, I'm ashamed. You are like a skeleton," he thundered. "How can I stay in this house, you are like a skeleton. Who will I call my wife? Everyone is talking about you in the street. You look so skinny!"
Sara cried herself to sleep, remembering when her life was different.
Sara — not her real name — grew up in Warri. Her mother was a fruit seller, her father, a Nigerian Marine. She was the baby in a family of five and they showered her with attention. She came to Benin City in 1988 to join her father, who was originally from here. One evening, she wandered into a restaurant and ordered potato chips and a bottle of orange Fanta. A man sat down and started talking to her. She didn't know he owned the place. Or that he was interested in her. Two days later, he came to her house. Two years later, they were married.
When she became pregnant in 1991, she was thrilled. "When I discovered I was pregnant, I was so happy because I really loved children. After [I delivered] they told me it was a baby girl. I love baby girls because of their fancy clothes and everything."
Four year later, a second girl. The three of them were inseparable. They grinned at the animals at the Ogba Zoo here. They put on their best dresses and sipped Cokes at the swish Palmeria Hotel.
Life was good and so was Sara's business. She frequently traveled to Cotonou, where she bought gently used clothes — baled and shipped from the US and England — and sold them here. She was a working mom and life couldn't have been better.
So when the headaches started in 2002, she brushed them off. But then came the fever. And the weight loss. She went to see her sisters in Lagos. Maybe they could help. They were married to wealthy men. She hoped she could see the doctor at her brother-in-law's international company.
The Sting of Rejection
The reception caught her off guard. "Why did I come to Lagos? Why did I not call her?" Sara says her sisters shouted at her. Already a willowy woman, Sara had lost weight. Her svelte frame had been reduced to rail thin.
Her sisters were relentless with their accusations, their disgust.
"In the whole of Benin, don't they have a hospital?" they asked. "How can you come to Lagos with the way you are looking? My friends will soon be around."
Sara slowed again. "That stigma … I started crying," she says, flatly. "I said, 'You are my blood. How can you do this to me?' "
They hid her in a room, and said they would talk about it later. When they returned, they gave her about $150 and told her to return to Benin and take an HIV test. She did. Her husband, at that time, was brimming with support.
"I told my husband I wanted him to follow me to the hospital," she says. "When we were on our way, my husband was saying I should not fear anything. Even if the result comes out positive, people still survive with AIDS. They live a normal life."
But when her sisters found out that she had contracted HIV (Sara believes it was through a blood transfusion after a car accident in 2001), the storm of insults started again.
"They were shouting: 'How did you contract such a deadly disease? You've put a stain on the family name.' They said I was careless [that] I went close to the person with AIDS. I wasn't cautious."
Family bonds run deep in Africa. So when your family turns on you, there are few other places to go. This stigma of HIV in Nigeria freezes people with fear. Some HIV-positive Nigerians tell stories of villages scattering upon the arrival of an HIV-positive member. Husbands have been known to dump wives and leave home.
Sara felt this sting of rejection and it so pervaded her life, she wanted to end it. She had shrunk to 35 pounds. Her daughters had to carry her to the toilet. But it was the rejection, she says, that made her consider suicide.
During this time, she turned to her mom. But the stigma weighed so heavily that she couldn't bear to tell her mom she'd contracted HIV. Her mom took her to seven different "native doctors," — one required a trek through the bush to reach — who prescribed concoctions of herbs mixed with gin. Her mother spent more than $1,500. Unbeknownst to her, Sara didn't drink a drop.
It had all become too much. That's why she bought the rat poison.
But thanks to James, she never ate it. James, which is not his real name, is part of a support group that is facilitated by the health team at the Catholic Archdiocese of Benin City. CRS supports the Archdiocese which formed and supports this group — and the outreach team — to work with HIV-positive Nigerians.
The prevalence rate among adults in Nigeria is 3.9 percent, or about 2.9 million people. Of those, more than 92,700 people are on antiretroviral therapy. Through CRS' Seven Dioceses Community-Based Care and Support project, HIV-positive Nigerians receive home-based care from trained volunteers. They do everything from help bathe babies and deliver school supplies to counsel patients on the finer points of HIV and the importance of antiretroviral therapy.
'I'm Not Going to Die Anymore!'Sara remembers exactly how James and his antiretroviral therapy message came into her life.
"He walked by," she says, remembering she was sitting in the hallway of the clinic. "Then he turned and looked at me. Maybe it was the tears that were in my eyes that attracted him."
He asked to see her for a moment.
She just wanted to be left alone, she said. She just wanted to end her life. He was a scam artist, and she knew it. She thought he, too, was out to make her feel bad.
"I was shouting on him. 'What do you want to see me for? I've never seen you before.' "
In his calm voice, James told her he knew her problem.
"I'm a victim too," he whispered.
She didn't believe him. James was healthy, even stocky. "I thought everybody that had the problem must be skinny like I was."
James told her he once looked like her. He'd been so sick he couldn't walk, reduced to crawling around his house. This got her attention.
He told her she could live a long time if she took her antiretroviral drugs and ate the right food. He assured her she'd be just fine.
To drive home his point, he pulled his HIV test out of his pocket. "I became calm," says Sara. "I was now interested in what he was saying." He asked for her address. He told her he would come see her. Stunned, Sara couldn't believe someone was comforting her and not rejecting her.
When she got home, James was standing in front of her house.
"I thought: Which type of human being is this?" she says. "When I opened the gate I said maybe God sent this man to restore hope to my life. Let me just give him a chance and see."
Sara opened her heart to him. She told James she'd hit bottom. She needed someone to turn to. James suggested the HIV support group at the Archdiocese of Benin City.
"On the first day that I came and I saw women as fat as this," she says, holding her hands wide, signaling they were broad across the beam. "I saw a lot of people, they were so beautiful. Wow! So these people have this problem? Me too, I will live. Oh! I'm not going to die anymore!
She hit a rough patch after she started taking the antiretroviral therapy. But soon, Sara's life was transformed. She's even working now, baking donuts and egg rolls and selling them at a school. The rice, beans and vitamins that CRS helps to provide has meant she saves almost $120 a month. She's now looking for money to buy a deep freeze. She wants to sell ice blocks and ice cream in the market. They're popular items, and she knows she can make good money.
"If CRS had not been there, a lot of people would have been long gone," she says. "They paid our children's school fees. The first day they paid my children's school fees I was so surprised. They brought books. I said, 'Wow!' "
Her husband has changed too. He calls her every day now. He's ready to come back home.
----------------
Lane Hartill is the West Africa regional information officer for Catholic Relief Services. He has visited CRS programs in Burkina Faso, Ghana, Liberia, Nigeria and Sierra Leone. Lane is based in Dakar, Senegal.
Tuesday, November 27, 2007
The Year of the Nigerian Reader
This Economist article highlights the sad truth that even though 2007 has been "the year of the Nigerian writer", it has not been the same for the Nigerian Reader. It's harder to change behaviour in grown adults than it is in our children, so the focus should be on the next generation. So, how DO we get our children excited about reading amidst the poor infrastructure around education and health in Nigeria? Should we wait till we've solved all our other "big" problems? It's good to see there are those out there who are keen to get Nigerians reading (again?). And for those who feel like doing something about it this minute, here are just some ways: One Laptop Per Child and Merry Hearts.
-----------------
BLEAK PUBLISHING HOUSES - The Economist
Award-winning novelists have more readers abroad than at home
WHEN a bookstore in Makurdi, the central state of Benue, wants to buy Chimamanda Adichie's latest novel, "Half of a Yellow Sun", it sends a text message to Muhtar Bakare in Lagos, down south. Mr Bakare, a publisher who heads Kachifo, replies with a bank account number and a price. Once the money is transferred from Makurdi to Lagos, Mr Bakare loads the books onto a public bus, which then begins a day-long trip to the other side of Africa's most populous country.
Though Ms Adichie's second novel, winner of this year's Orange Broadband Prize for Fiction, may have sold over 240,000 copies in Britain, in Nigeria it has shifted barely 5,000. Her book, like others by Nigeria's novelists, is stuck, often literally, in a publishing industry in shambles.
Nigeria was once the centre of literary publishing in west Africa—not just for local companies but international houses as well. But when military rule and economic decline saw much of the middle class flee in the 1980s, the publishers left too. Today, there is no distribution network and scant demand for fiction.
In order to survive, publishers switched from literature to textbooks, certain to be bought by students and schools. Fiction is much harder to sell. By the time a novel is printed and transported across the country, the price may be as much as a tenth of an average worker's monthly salary. Ms Adichie's novel costs N850 ($7.30) from Kachifo and goes up to N1,500 in bookshops in Abuja, the capital. Far more readers choose self-help and religious books that are supposed to have a more immediate pay-off.
So pity the enthusiasts who persist in trying to sell novels. Mr Bakare likens his business to the telecom industry, which has had to build its own infrastructure from scratch. He is not building roads or relay towers but a network of bookstores, buses, taxis and bank transfers. Cassava Republic, a publisher founded last year, operates with a low profit margin for now, in the hope that it can cultivate a loyal base of readers that will one day meet costs. The founder, Bibi Bakare-Yusuf, says she wants her customers' "intellectual hunger to be as pressing as their stomachs".
Her hard work may just be paying off. Ms Adichie says she is starting to get e-mails from all over the country—from Kaduna in the north, Lagos in the south and Makurdi in-between. She is flattered by the foreign attention but says that Nigerians are still her most important audience. "Half of a Yellow Sun" is mainly about the Biafran War, a conflict that, from 1967-1970, split Nigeria apart; its scars still linger. Ms Adichie is telling Nigerians about a history that was never taught in school—and which she wants more of her countrymen to know about.
--------------
Muhtar Bakare launched his publishing business Kachifo Limited, which trades under the name Farafina, in June 2002. (Check out their free online magazine @ www.farafinamagazine.com )Over the last couple of years, "Farafina has become one of the most energetic and forward looking book-publishing companies in Nigeria... attempting to balance cost, quality and marketing with the kind of self-confidence not common in that industry." (Nigeria Daily News)
-----------------
BLEAK PUBLISHING HOUSES - The Economist
Award-winning novelists have more readers abroad than at home
WHEN a bookstore in Makurdi, the central state of Benue, wants to buy Chimamanda Adichie's latest novel, "Half of a Yellow Sun", it sends a text message to Muhtar Bakare in Lagos, down south. Mr Bakare, a publisher who heads Kachifo, replies with a bank account number and a price. Once the money is transferred from Makurdi to Lagos, Mr Bakare loads the books onto a public bus, which then begins a day-long trip to the other side of Africa's most populous country.
Though Ms Adichie's second novel, winner of this year's Orange Broadband Prize for Fiction, may have sold over 240,000 copies in Britain, in Nigeria it has shifted barely 5,000. Her book, like others by Nigeria's novelists, is stuck, often literally, in a publishing industry in shambles.
Nigeria was once the centre of literary publishing in west Africa—not just for local companies but international houses as well. But when military rule and economic decline saw much of the middle class flee in the 1980s, the publishers left too. Today, there is no distribution network and scant demand for fiction.
In order to survive, publishers switched from literature to textbooks, certain to be bought by students and schools. Fiction is much harder to sell. By the time a novel is printed and transported across the country, the price may be as much as a tenth of an average worker's monthly salary. Ms Adichie's novel costs N850 ($7.30) from Kachifo and goes up to N1,500 in bookshops in Abuja, the capital. Far more readers choose self-help and religious books that are supposed to have a more immediate pay-off.
So pity the enthusiasts who persist in trying to sell novels. Mr Bakare likens his business to the telecom industry, which has had to build its own infrastructure from scratch. He is not building roads or relay towers but a network of bookstores, buses, taxis and bank transfers. Cassava Republic, a publisher founded last year, operates with a low profit margin for now, in the hope that it can cultivate a loyal base of readers that will one day meet costs. The founder, Bibi Bakare-Yusuf, says she wants her customers' "intellectual hunger to be as pressing as their stomachs".
Her hard work may just be paying off. Ms Adichie says she is starting to get e-mails from all over the country—from Kaduna in the north, Lagos in the south and Makurdi in-between. She is flattered by the foreign attention but says that Nigerians are still her most important audience. "Half of a Yellow Sun" is mainly about the Biafran War, a conflict that, from 1967-1970, split Nigeria apart; its scars still linger. Ms Adichie is telling Nigerians about a history that was never taught in school—and which she wants more of her countrymen to know about.
--------------
Muhtar Bakare launched his publishing business Kachifo Limited, which trades under the name Farafina, in June 2002. (Check out their free online magazine @ www.farafinamagazine.com )Over the last couple of years, "Farafina has become one of the most energetic and forward looking book-publishing companies in Nigeria... attempting to balance cost, quality and marketing with the kind of self-confidence not common in that industry." (Nigeria Daily News)
Tuesday, November 20, 2007
Lest We Forget....
This article from Nigeria Village Square brought up so many burning questions around the new twist in EFCC's mandate - from bringing corrupt criminals to justice to making deals to secure stolen loot. On the surface, there appears to be nothing wrong with this shift - true, the nigerian people cannot feed on wicked (wo)men rotting in jail, and true, the families of these looters should not indefinitely continue to live the lavish lifestyles they have grown accustomed to, courtesy of stolen Nigerian wealth - but should this be the new FOCUS of the EFCC? Will the Nigerian people be better served in this way? And who will take up the former cause of bringing the "teefs" to justice?
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Economic and Financial Confusion Commission - Sonala Olumhense
Finally, the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission has confirmed our worst fear: it has forgotten its mission.
For four years, Nigerians have seen the EFCC as the answer to the challenge of financial and economic crime in our country, acting on the side of the Nigerian people. It chairman spoke courageously and loudly about this mission, particularly about the looting of state resources by governors. He told Nigerians he would be putting many of those governors before the law as soon as their terms ended on May 29, 2007.
As one of the EFCC’s loudest supporters, I have complained since then that the anti-graft agency seemed to have lost traction and direction.
It is now official. Last week, two of its officials told the nation that the EFCC is now “more interested” in recovering Nigeria’s looted wealth than in prosecuting economic criminals or embarrassing anyone.
I beg your pardon?
According to a report in The Punch of Sunday, November 11, 2007, the EFCC has done a deal with five former governors under which they would return N50 billion to the public coffers. They risk prosecution (only) if they fail to honour this “agreement” within two weeks.
The second of The PUNCH’s EFCC sources was particularly adept at speaking through a lower orifice in his body. “Our stance on anti-corruption is not necessarily to expose and shame the looters of the collective wealth,” he said, pompously, “even though that is equally important if only to serve as a deterrent to others.”
But he was just warming up, this powerful hawker of cow manure. “It is the belief of the commission that justice will be better served with the recovery of the stolen wealth because that is what the people really need.”
And then, this political gymnast reached backwards, towards that other orifice, for this overarching contradiction: “We want to prove that the proceeds of crime cannot be the reward of crime.”
I really have to find out where they manufacture this kind of personnel at the higher levels of the EFCC. He continued: “The EFCC has done a great deal to curtail the culture of impunity and corruption in Nigeria today. Granted, we have had a lot of challenges in accomplishing this, but the important thing is that we are making progress.”
At that point, you knew a chest-pumping boast was next. The EFCC coward, and you know he is one because he did not want his name appended to his voice, then said: “ I can confidently tell you that there is an international consensus that assets recovery programme in Nigeria is the best in the world; it is the most robust and the most remarkable in the history of assets recovery.
“We are also working fervently to ensure the quick return of billions of naira looted by corrupt governors and to remit these to the government‘s coffers for the development of the country, which is what it was originally meant for,” he told the reporter.
Let me interpret the game. The EFCC is saying that contrary to previous promises to the Nigerian people to deliver on the assignment in the law by which it was established—or in violation of it—it is now on the market for deals with our powerful thieves. The broad outline of this new regime is that, in exchange for drops of the stolen funds, the EFCC will look the other way and let these men enjoy their freedom, their loot and their laughter.
So the EFCC was not investigating these people for purposes of prospection after all. All our months and years of waiting for the commission to deliver on its plans and “readiness” to do the right thing now turn out simply to be a hoax. Our worst nightmare, that the EFCC might have a hidden agenda, and serve the status quo, is emerging as our fate.
What is the EFCC saying? It will now abandon the law by which it was set up—and its own boasts about nobody being above the law—and become policeman, judge and executioner. The only problem is that even in this new plan, it is pre-determined that the criminal does not lose too much: certainly not his freedom, because that kind of punishment is reserved only for the poor. The anti-graft body will supposedly “agree” to terms with the criminal over what sounds good to be returned to the same people he had betrayed and left to starve and die.
This new age Robin Hood headed by Mr. Nuhu Ribadu will then turn to Nigerians and say, “People, take this and be grateful. It is better for you to take this and give it to the current governor than to seek justice against this man who thought you were not worthy of the same air. We recommend that you take this.”
Of course, the people may ask, “What if the current governor also steals the money?”
To which Mr. Ribadu would respond, “Ah! Ah! That is not a problem. You can see we have an internationally-celebrated track record of achievement. We will also make him refund the loot! Can’t you see you have nothing to lose?”
I laugh, but I have burning tears running down my cheeks. I laugh because this is way too serious for words. I liked Nuhu Ribadu, but the time has come when he should either deny being a part of this mess and resign his office, or simply publish his resignation letter and go home. Since this awful story broke, one week ago, nobody in the commission has denied it. And of course, no former governor has been taken to court.
This development largely confirms the popular perception that his commission is selective in its work. But that may be too generous an assessment. Perhaps the EFCC has forgotten what it was set up to do, or itself been paid for.
That is why it is laughable that the Commission this past week, the Commission’s Head of General Investigations, Umar Sanda, promised the Coalition Against Corrupt Leaders which visited to file a petition against Olusegun Obasanjo, that the Commission would investigate the allegations of corrupt enrichment against him.
Really?
The Commission would “embarrass” Obasanjo where it is now hesitant to embarrass former governors? The Commission will investigate Obasanjo, and not settle for deals as it is now doing with former governors?
I cannot wait.
But let us return to basics. The very name of the commission includes the word, crime, that is, illegalities of an economic and financial profile. When something is a crime, its perpetrators are known as criminals, and sought by the law as suspects. It is the role of the law to bring criminals to the bar of justice...In the courtroom, due process permits the accused person access to lawyers and a structured defence. In the end, the court makes a decision regarding the guilt or innocence of that suspect. If the verdict is guilty, it also determines responsibility or punishment. In that scenario, a convicted former governor would not be negotiating from behind bars how much of his loot to part with, or leave with his girlfriend, or on what foreign beach he will spend his post-stealing days.
This process is often rigorous. Otherwise wealthy or powerful suspects are carried in police trucks they would never have permitted themselves to be seen near. They may be handcuffed and shackled. Grown men have been known to sweat and weep in the sun, fall on their knees in front of a laughing, taunting throng, or even lose control of their bowels. It is not a pretty process, but it is the way of the law, known ahead of time by each and all who choose to violate its terms.
Last week, regrettably, the plan unveiled by the EFCC was one under which it would pre-empt this process and save the former governors the indignity of facing the law. This is a shame, and the most profound betrayal since Nigerian began to pretend to be fighting corruption. It makes the EFCC now just an accessory to the crime, but a criminal.
We are looking at a situation here where men who ignored the law and their people for as long as they were in office will enjoy the additional entertainment — at the expense of the people— of being treated with deference — even reverence — by that law. It is enough to make a man vomit.
But is this whom we are? Is this how much we love our Nigeria? Is this the EFCC’s tribute to the rule of law? So, all of the loud talk and reassurances and promises of Mr. Ribadu comes down to sloganeering and posturing? So, his EFCC is an agency that would chase the rule of law only when it is convenient? Perhaps that is the hole into which they have driven themselves. But Nigerians must come out of their own complacency and find ways of making it known to the EFCC that they will have nothing less than a public trial of those who commit crime, whoever they are. Contrary to the EFCC’s emerging nonsense, we are more interested in this process and in the lessons it teaches than in any trillions of Naira the thieves decide to favour us with. Give us the trial, and we will determine how much they stole, and take every penny we can find in the same way Obasanjo and the EFCC have scoured the world for Sani Abacha’s loot.
Sonala.olumhense@gmail.com
------------
In the spirit of MORE TALK, MORE ACTION, if any of you know someone in the upper echelons of the EFCC, it might be worth us all getting together to write them a letter/petition to revert to their initial raison d’être. Email us at info@theafrobeat.com.
------------
Economic and Financial Confusion Commission - Sonala Olumhense
Finally, the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission has confirmed our worst fear: it has forgotten its mission.
For four years, Nigerians have seen the EFCC as the answer to the challenge of financial and economic crime in our country, acting on the side of the Nigerian people. It chairman spoke courageously and loudly about this mission, particularly about the looting of state resources by governors. He told Nigerians he would be putting many of those governors before the law as soon as their terms ended on May 29, 2007.
As one of the EFCC’s loudest supporters, I have complained since then that the anti-graft agency seemed to have lost traction and direction.
It is now official. Last week, two of its officials told the nation that the EFCC is now “more interested” in recovering Nigeria’s looted wealth than in prosecuting economic criminals or embarrassing anyone.
I beg your pardon?
According to a report in The Punch of Sunday, November 11, 2007, the EFCC has done a deal with five former governors under which they would return N50 billion to the public coffers. They risk prosecution (only) if they fail to honour this “agreement” within two weeks.
The second of The PUNCH’s EFCC sources was particularly adept at speaking through a lower orifice in his body. “Our stance on anti-corruption is not necessarily to expose and shame the looters of the collective wealth,” he said, pompously, “even though that is equally important if only to serve as a deterrent to others.”
But he was just warming up, this powerful hawker of cow manure. “It is the belief of the commission that justice will be better served with the recovery of the stolen wealth because that is what the people really need.”
And then, this political gymnast reached backwards, towards that other orifice, for this overarching contradiction: “We want to prove that the proceeds of crime cannot be the reward of crime.”
I really have to find out where they manufacture this kind of personnel at the higher levels of the EFCC. He continued: “The EFCC has done a great deal to curtail the culture of impunity and corruption in Nigeria today. Granted, we have had a lot of challenges in accomplishing this, but the important thing is that we are making progress.”
At that point, you knew a chest-pumping boast was next. The EFCC coward, and you know he is one because he did not want his name appended to his voice, then said: “ I can confidently tell you that there is an international consensus that assets recovery programme in Nigeria is the best in the world; it is the most robust and the most remarkable in the history of assets recovery.
“We are also working fervently to ensure the quick return of billions of naira looted by corrupt governors and to remit these to the government‘s coffers for the development of the country, which is what it was originally meant for,” he told the reporter.
Let me interpret the game. The EFCC is saying that contrary to previous promises to the Nigerian people to deliver on the assignment in the law by which it was established—or in violation of it—it is now on the market for deals with our powerful thieves. The broad outline of this new regime is that, in exchange for drops of the stolen funds, the EFCC will look the other way and let these men enjoy their freedom, their loot and their laughter.
So the EFCC was not investigating these people for purposes of prospection after all. All our months and years of waiting for the commission to deliver on its plans and “readiness” to do the right thing now turn out simply to be a hoax. Our worst nightmare, that the EFCC might have a hidden agenda, and serve the status quo, is emerging as our fate.
What is the EFCC saying? It will now abandon the law by which it was set up—and its own boasts about nobody being above the law—and become policeman, judge and executioner. The only problem is that even in this new plan, it is pre-determined that the criminal does not lose too much: certainly not his freedom, because that kind of punishment is reserved only for the poor. The anti-graft body will supposedly “agree” to terms with the criminal over what sounds good to be returned to the same people he had betrayed and left to starve and die.
This new age Robin Hood headed by Mr. Nuhu Ribadu will then turn to Nigerians and say, “People, take this and be grateful. It is better for you to take this and give it to the current governor than to seek justice against this man who thought you were not worthy of the same air. We recommend that you take this.”
Of course, the people may ask, “What if the current governor also steals the money?”
To which Mr. Ribadu would respond, “Ah! Ah! That is not a problem. You can see we have an internationally-celebrated track record of achievement. We will also make him refund the loot! Can’t you see you have nothing to lose?”
I laugh, but I have burning tears running down my cheeks. I laugh because this is way too serious for words. I liked Nuhu Ribadu, but the time has come when he should either deny being a part of this mess and resign his office, or simply publish his resignation letter and go home. Since this awful story broke, one week ago, nobody in the commission has denied it. And of course, no former governor has been taken to court.
This development largely confirms the popular perception that his commission is selective in its work. But that may be too generous an assessment. Perhaps the EFCC has forgotten what it was set up to do, or itself been paid for.
That is why it is laughable that the Commission this past week, the Commission’s Head of General Investigations, Umar Sanda, promised the Coalition Against Corrupt Leaders which visited to file a petition against Olusegun Obasanjo, that the Commission would investigate the allegations of corrupt enrichment against him.
Really?
The Commission would “embarrass” Obasanjo where it is now hesitant to embarrass former governors? The Commission will investigate Obasanjo, and not settle for deals as it is now doing with former governors?
I cannot wait.
But let us return to basics. The very name of the commission includes the word, crime, that is, illegalities of an economic and financial profile. When something is a crime, its perpetrators are known as criminals, and sought by the law as suspects. It is the role of the law to bring criminals to the bar of justice...In the courtroom, due process permits the accused person access to lawyers and a structured defence. In the end, the court makes a decision regarding the guilt or innocence of that suspect. If the verdict is guilty, it also determines responsibility or punishment. In that scenario, a convicted former governor would not be negotiating from behind bars how much of his loot to part with, or leave with his girlfriend, or on what foreign beach he will spend his post-stealing days.
This process is often rigorous. Otherwise wealthy or powerful suspects are carried in police trucks they would never have permitted themselves to be seen near. They may be handcuffed and shackled. Grown men have been known to sweat and weep in the sun, fall on their knees in front of a laughing, taunting throng, or even lose control of their bowels. It is not a pretty process, but it is the way of the law, known ahead of time by each and all who choose to violate its terms.
Last week, regrettably, the plan unveiled by the EFCC was one under which it would pre-empt this process and save the former governors the indignity of facing the law. This is a shame, and the most profound betrayal since Nigerian began to pretend to be fighting corruption. It makes the EFCC now just an accessory to the crime, but a criminal.
We are looking at a situation here where men who ignored the law and their people for as long as they were in office will enjoy the additional entertainment — at the expense of the people— of being treated with deference — even reverence — by that law. It is enough to make a man vomit.
But is this whom we are? Is this how much we love our Nigeria? Is this the EFCC’s tribute to the rule of law? So, all of the loud talk and reassurances and promises of Mr. Ribadu comes down to sloganeering and posturing? So, his EFCC is an agency that would chase the rule of law only when it is convenient? Perhaps that is the hole into which they have driven themselves. But Nigerians must come out of their own complacency and find ways of making it known to the EFCC that they will have nothing less than a public trial of those who commit crime, whoever they are. Contrary to the EFCC’s emerging nonsense, we are more interested in this process and in the lessons it teaches than in any trillions of Naira the thieves decide to favour us with. Give us the trial, and we will determine how much they stole, and take every penny we can find in the same way Obasanjo and the EFCC have scoured the world for Sani Abacha’s loot.
Sonala.olumhense@gmail.com
------------
In the spirit of MORE TALK, MORE ACTION, if any of you know someone in the upper echelons of the EFCC, it might be worth us all getting together to write them a letter/petition to revert to their initial raison d’être. Email us at info@theafrobeat.com.
Monday, November 12, 2007
Spot the difference...
We're always quick to call out the gross misconduct of oil companies and our dearest federal and local government when it comes to the Niger Delta (and rightfully so, wethinks) but it's nice to hear some good news once in a while. According to the Guardian, this project, though not scheduled to be completed till the end of 2008 should at least give those quant-heavy economic development folks some actual quant data on just how terrible things are in Ogoniland (and rouse them out of their indifference) and hopefully the project can be scaled to include other badly-hit parts of the Niger Delta.
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UN bodies to assess oil-polluted sites in Ogoniland - Chinedu Uwaegbulam
A COMPREHENSIVE environmental assessment of oil-impacted sites in the Ogoni region of the Niger Delta is to be launched by the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP), in association with the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP).
The move follows a request by the Federal Government as part of the broader government-led peace and reconciliation process in the region. Local communities and partners will be supporting UNEP to undertake the evaluation.
Senior officials from UNEP began talks in Abuja yesterday to seal the final detail of the assessment, expected to be completed by the end of 2008.
The assessment will be conducted by the Post-Conflict and Disaster Management Branch (PCDMB), which leads UNEP's work in areas of the world where the environment is impacted by conflicts or disasters, or where the environment is a factor contributing to conflict and disaster impacts.
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UN bodies to assess oil-polluted sites in Ogoniland - Chinedu Uwaegbulam
A COMPREHENSIVE environmental assessment of oil-impacted sites in the Ogoni region of the Niger Delta is to be launched by the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP), in association with the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP).
The move follows a request by the Federal Government as part of the broader government-led peace and reconciliation process in the region. Local communities and partners will be supporting UNEP to undertake the evaluation.
Senior officials from UNEP began talks in Abuja yesterday to seal the final detail of the assessment, expected to be completed by the end of 2008.
The assessment will be conducted by the Post-Conflict and Disaster Management Branch (PCDMB), which leads UNEP's work in areas of the world where the environment is impacted by conflicts or disasters, or where the environment is a factor contributing to conflict and disaster impacts.