The Nation Newspaper

Category: Femi Abbas

  • MSSN: IVC’s permanent site

    MSSN: IVC’s permanent site

    Islamic Vacation Course (IVC) is one of the most vital organs of the Muslim Students Society of Nigeria (MSSN). It was initiated at the inception of that Society in 1954 to furnish Muslim students with the required basic Islamic education that could serve as their foundation in life. IVC is so-named because of its design to take place during long school vacations. For more than 54 years after its establishment, IVC had been moved from State to State where public or private school premises were used for the educative programme. But with the increasing population of its members it became difficult to use one single school premise for the vital regular training given to members. Thus, as a token of progress, the thought of stabilizing the Association by establishing permanent sites got a consensus. And each of the two major zones of the Association (A and B zones) was given a go ahead to provide a permanent site for the programme while the Head Office is sited in Abuja.

    It was for the purpose of laying the foundation stone of B Zone’s permanent site that many Muslim organizations and individual personalities assembled in Ibadan on a Sunday. And who could have been more fitting for laying such a foundation than His Eminence, the Sultan Muhammad Sa’ad Abubar III. As usual, he was personally present to perform the historic duty.

    Also present were the Otaru of Auchi, Oba Aliru Momoh, the Onitaji of Itaji Ekiti, Oba Adamo Babalola, the late Aare Musulumi of Yorubaland Alhaji Abdul Aziz Arisekola Alao, the former Secretary General of the Supreme Council for Islamic Affairs, late Dr. Abdul-Lateef Adegbite, late Justice Bola Babalakin (retired), the former and pieoneer Secretary General of Muslim Ummah of South West of Nigeria, Professor DOS Noibi and a host of other highly respected Muslim personalities too many to mention here, who came from all parts of the country. Most of these personalities were members of the MSSN at one time or another.

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    Also present at the occasion were many Muslim Organizations across the country including MSSN itself, the National Council of Muslim Youth Organizations (NACOMYO) Jam’atu Nasrul Islam, Nasru Llah Al-Fatih (NASFAT), Fathu Quareeb, Federation of Muslim Women Association of Nigeria (FOMWAN), The Companion, The Criterion and a host of other Organizations.

    At the occasion, the Sultan was so impressed by a four year old boy’s recitation of the Qur’an that he instantly awarded him full scholarship from the primary school to the University. It was his second time of doing that in 2008 alone. When he came to Ibadan for the inauguration of MUSWEN earlier this year, he announced three personal and automatic scholarships for three female Muslim students who could gain admission into the University to read medicine. And at the foundation laying ceremony he made a personal donation of three million naira which he called first installment.

    There is no part of this country that this Sultan has not personally visited formally as Amirul Mu’minin thereby confirming that Sultanate is rather for the entire country than just Sokoto as erroneously believed by many and echoed by the Nigerian Press.       

    Perhaps it was in consideration of this new reality that the conglomerate of the above named Muslim Organizations declared in Ibadan that the office of the Sultan for Nigeria as a whole and not for Sokoto alone. And the proposal was made by the Southern Muslims who might have realized an error in restricting the title to a single city (Sokoto) for many years.

    SULTAN is an Islamic title which means AUTHORITY. Whoever is legally crowned in that venerable office is legitimately vested with the authority to give Fatwa or delegate such power to any other competent Muslim Cleric. The office should therefore be for the entire Muslim society in Nigeria and not just a city, state or tribe. Sultanate came to replace Caliphate at a time when Caliphate was becoming irrelevant because of the gross abuse to which it was subjected through power struggle. To try to restrict it to a locality here in Nigeria, therefore, is like limiting the scope of Islam by sheer whim and caprice. No sensible oceanographer will want to confine the movements and operations of a whale to a brook. This new reality is long overdue.

    The emphasis on Sokoto whenever the title of SULTAN is addressed in Nigeria was a design by the colonialist not only to impress the restriction of Islam to a locality in Nigeria but also to stress their imaginary superiority of the British monarchy over Sultanate. Such a design which came to be inherited by Nigerian political elite is suggestive of the possibility of having a Sultan in any locality where Muslims are found. That was one of their many ways of degrading Islam. And this grossly contradicts the Islamic norm by which the Sultanate office was established.

    There are four Sultanates in the world today. They are the Sultanate of Oman, the Sultanate of Bahrain, the Sultanate of Brunei and of course our own Sultanate of Nigeria. It will be noticed that each of the first three Sultanates was mentioned in relation to its country of domain and not of localities. Why should that of Nigeria be different?  Afterall, the other three Sultanates put together are by far smaller in area size and in population than that of Nigeria. Why then should we as Muslims accept an imposition on us by those who didn’t know how Sultanate came about?

    Since the title belongs to Islam and the Muslims alone, it should be the exclusive right of only the Muslims to redefine that title appropriately and call it its befitting name without consulting any non-Muslim. And that was what the Nigerian Muslims did in Ibadan that Sunday, during the foundation laying of the MSSN permanent site in Ibadan.

    Afterall, this is not the first time that the Muslims in Southern Nigeria would initiate Islamic action that would become a national affair. Such initiatives have rather always come to strengthen the Unity of the Nigerian Muslim Ummah. Examples of these are many. Muslim Students Society of Nigeria is one. NACOMYO is another. FOMWAN is another. CRITERION is another. And yet, there are also NASFAT and FAT’HU QUARIB. All of these and many more are National Muslim Organizations initiated from the South-West but to which millions of Nigerian Muslims belong today by choice without any tribal or sectional bias.

    Incidentally, all these organizations were present or ably represented at the foundation-laying ceremony of the Islamic Vacation Course (IVC) permanent site where the declaration of the SULTAN OF NIGERIA was made last Sunday and there was no single dissenting voice. If the proposal or that declaration had been made by any Northern Muslim Organization it would have been perceived as Northern gimmick to laud it over the South. But here is a declaration made in the South by the Southern Muslims on their own volition. What else can anybody say to controvert it?

    Going by that declaration therefore, it becomes a reality that this only African Sultanate is of Nigeria and not of Sokoto as hitherto assumed. And Sultan Sa’ad Abubakar III has confirmed this by his utterances and actions. He has shown Nigerians the difference between leadership and rulership. And by his example we have come to realize that what Nigeria has always lacked is not rulership but leadership. As Muslims, we prayed for good leadership and Allah in His mercy granted us one. It is now left to us to appreciate it by not abusing it. We pray the Almighty Allah to further guide and protect this Sultanate that the Nigerian Muslim Ummah may fall asunder.

  • MssN: The almond tree

    MssN: The almond tree

    “Do you not see how Allah sets forth a parable? Pleasant word is like a splendid tree which roots are firmly entrenched in the earth while its branches sprout protectively into the sky yielding fruits every season by the grace of Allah. Allah talks to men in parables that they may be mindfully alert”. Q.14:24

    Almond tree, for those who know it, is splendid to behold. It is magnificent in appearance. It is grandiose environmentally. But much more than all these, it is highly curative in substance and in essence. No soil whether in the forest or in the savanna or even in the desert is objectionable to this great tree for a dwelling. Wherever it is found, Almond tree creates a serene environment and serves as a protective umbrella for other living organisms around. It is one unique tree that wears the crown of a king and bears the scepter of a generalissimo. What other tree can compare favourably with this wonder tree?

    Believed to be an original native of Morocco in North Africa, Almond is not just about roots, stem and leaves. It is also a medicinal tree with invaluable medicinal properties. Its medicinal virtues are evident in its pharmaco-dynamic action of copper, iron, phosphorus and vitamins B1, B2, B3, B4 and B6 which exert synergic action in man and boost the formation of new blood cells and haemoglobin even as they maintain smooth physiological function of the brain, the nerves, the bones, the heart and the liver.

    The summarized analytical description here is not much about Almond tree per se as it is about the parable which its existence seeks to interpret. The similitude of the MUSLIM STUDENT SOCIETY OF NIGERIA (MSSN) is like that of the Almond tree. It was planted like a Mustard seed. It germinated into an enlivening plant with no irrelevant part.

    Most Nigerian Muslims of the current generation, including this columnist, do not know or cannot remember how MSS came into existence. They can now afford to take it for granted either because they were not part of the struggle that brought their spiritual harmony to bear or because the struggle has taken a different form which they are yet to be conscious of.    

    MSS is a revolution which quietly crept into the Nigerian society at the very right time that a revolution was required. If Islam enjoys a hitherto denied official recognition in Nigeria today, it is mostly due to that miraculous revolution.

    How and when did this gargantuan SOCIETY come into existence? Who were the irrigators that watered its seed into a tree? What suckers have since sprung from this tree and where are the farmers planting and nursing those suckers? Should MSS be called an Institution? Who actually are its alumni today and where are they? What further height is this tree aspiring to attain? These and many other questions had spurred ‘THE MESSAGE’ to fetch water from its very source for the sake of originality and genuineness.

    In a one on one interview with a man who joined hands with others to plant its seed, who was its chief irrigator from the very beginning, who grew and towered with the tree and who is more authoritative than others in telling its story, these questions were answered. Dr. Abdul-Lateef Adegbite, the first and longest serving National President of MSS (and former Secretary General of the Supreme Council for Islamic Affairs by the grace of God) went the memory lane and relayed it all for posterity sake. It must be recalled that Dr. Adegbite as pioneer President served five terms of one year each from 1954 to 1959. That length of service turned out to be a saving grace for the infant SOCIETY.

    ‘THE MESSAGE’ decided to put the interview in a prose form for lucidity and proper perspective rather than a question and answer rhetoric. Here we go:

                   “It all started like a dream in April 1954. A student of Methodist Boys High School (BBHS) Lagos, Tajudeen Aromasodu, clairvoyantly muted a unique idea. He proposed an association of all Muslim students in Nigeria starting with Lagos secondary schools. The intention was to create a forum of unity and identification with Islam. Such a forum was also to enable them pursue and defend their common interest.

    Aromasodu’s idea had emanated from the constitution of the Muslim Students Society of Burma which he accidentally came across. He read the constitution and became fascinated by it. That was at a time when Muslim children could hardly pass through secondary schools in Southern Nigeria without getting converted. Muslim children seeking Western education in those days were seen as trespassers or intruders except they were ready to cross to the other side of the   bridge against their faith and the wish of their parents.

    Aromasodu’s focus at that time was probably not beyond Lagos which was the federal capital of Nigeria and the seat of the colonial rulers. He quickly contacted a few other Muslim students of like minds and, together, they decided to invite two delegates from each of seven most prominent schools in Lagos at that time. Thus, fourteen of such students (boys and girls) formed the pioneer nucleus of what was destined to become a formidable SOCIETY. The schools were Kings College, Lagos; Queens College; Yaba, Methodist Boys High School, Lagos; CMS Grammar School, Bariga; Ahmadiyya College (now Anwarul Islam Model College), Agege; Methodist Girls High School, Yaba and Baptist Academy, Obanikoro.

    The nucleus body held its inaugural meeting at Ansar-ud-Deen Primary School, Alakoro, Lagos, on May 30, 1954. It was at that meeting that a proposal which had earlier been sent out to the mentioned schools was formally adopted. And, a resolution was taken to draft the constitution of the SOCIETY which was ratified thereafter.

    With the constitution in place, some members of the first executive body were elected into office. Dr. Adegbite was unanimously elected President while Shuaib Oloritu of Kings College and Saidat Anibaba (now Professor (Mrs.) Mabadaje) of Queens College became first and second Vice Presidents respectively. Dr. Adegbite’s election was quite timely and coincidental because he was not just the Chairman of the Library and Debating Society of Lagos secondary schools, at that time, which made him a first among, he too was planning a common forum for Muslim students.

    Other officers were elected and given responsibilities. Duties were delegated with trust and virtually everybody lived up to the trust.

    What would have been a major hindrance to the realization of that dream was money with which to run the new SOCIETY. But nothing fails at the dream level which has the hands of Allah in it. With strong determination and commitment, the young boys and girls levied themselves one shilling each monthly. Besides, each of them bore the cost of transportation when assigned to a duty outside the immediate environment.

    If the first national conference of the SOCIETY, held in Lagos in 1954, drew the attention of many people to it and attracted many new members, that of 1956 held in Ijebu-Ode was a watershed. It was at that conference that the SOCIETY can be said to have become a real national body. Some members especially of northern origin who later became prominent in that body joined in 1956. These included Shehu Musa, Adamu Ciroma, Yerima Abdullah and a host of others.  It was about the same year that some other Lagos students like Lateefat Oyekan (now Alhaja Lateefat Okunnu) joined the SOCITY and boosted its growth with indefatigable activities. At this time, Islam was not yet known to have significantly reached what is now called South East or South South of Nigeria.

    The third conference was held in Ilesha in 1957. It was hosted by M.A Smith. The fourth and fifth conferences were held in Ibadan and Abeokuta in 1958 and 1959 respectively.

    The conference had to be held consistently in the South-West because most of the initial members were students in that region. There were only two Higher Institutions in the country at that time. The two (Yaba College of Technology and University College, Ibadan) were situated in Lagos and Ibadan respectively. And all northern students seeking higher education in Nigeria had to attend these two Institutions.

    The MSS annual conference had by now become a meeting point for almost all Muslim students in Nigeria because of the awareness it created in those students and the spiritual succour it engendered in their parents.

    Despite their young age and little experience, the founders of the SOCIETY were foresighted enough to know that they would need the guidance and support of some elderly prominent men and women in the society to survive. They therefore appointed some of such people as patrons and matrons.

    Among them were Alhaji (Sir) Abubakar Tafawa Balewa; the then Prime Minister of Nigeria, Alhaji (Sir) Ahmadu Bello (the Sardauna of Sokoto and Premier of Northern Nigeria); Alhaji Adegoke Adelabu, (a Federal Minister); Alhaji Dauda Adegbenro (a Minister in the Western Region); Professor Saburi Biobaku; Alhaji Ekemode; Mr. H.A.P Adebola (a labour leader); Alhaji M.A Smith; Alhaja Humani Alaga (from Ibadan) and Alhaja A. Shodeinde (from Lagos).

    The contribution of these Patrons and Matrons to the phenomenal growth of MSSN was invaluable. And its spread across the country within a very short time was due to providence. Abdul-Lateef Adegbite, the President of the SOCIETY had completed his secondary education at Kings College in 1957. He had wanted to vacate the office of the President for someone else but others would not hear of that. They persuaded him to continue having appreciated his cool-headedness and the leadership ability in him.

    Providence set in to play a role in the life of Abdul-Lateef and that of MSSN simultaneously. He got a job as a researcher at the Historical Research Scheme in Ibadan in which he was engaged while awaiting admission to read English at UI. At this time, Abdul-Lateef experienced a repeat of providence working for him against his wish. He did not succeed in getting admission into the Premier University but that was a blessing for MSSN. If he had been admitted as he wished, he would have had less time for the SOCIETY in its infancy and he would not have become a lawyer that he happily became later. He also would have studied English at UI without any scholarship. His patience and faith paid off as he later got admission into the University of Southampton where he obtained his Bachelor’s Degree in Law before proceeding to the University of London for his Masters’ and Ph.D. on scholarship.

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    Earlier in his life, he had experienced a similar fate. While seeking admission into secondary school, his desire was to be a student of Government College, Ibadan which his brother Saburi Biobaku had attended. But as providence would have it, his Primary school   Headmaster mistakenly filled Kings College, Lagos, in his form. And that was how he became a student of Kings College.

    If he had attended Government College, Ibadan, he would have probably not been part of the formation of MSSN and his leadership quality that nursed that SOCIETY from inception would not have been of such great benefit. And if he had got admission into UI at the time he desired, perhaps the history of MSSN would have been different today.

    As a researcher always on the road, Adegbite used his time, his energy and the car attached to his office to spread the good tidings of MSSN to many other Muslim students, especially in the Western Region, who later became members.

    By the time he eventually travelled to United Kingdom for his University education in 1959, a solid foundation had been on ground for the SOCIETY. He therefore had no fear on what would become of it in his absence especially when he had confidence in those who succeeded his tenure.

    One major fear that had been averted before he travelled was that of the interaction of male and female students. That was the fear of the parents who didn’t want immorality to debase the good intention with which the SOCIETY was established. This sensitive aspect was carefully handled through the enforcement of discipline. Marriage among members was not forbidden but modalities were laid down for such based on the guidelines of the Qur’an and Sunnah.

    Realizing the implications of talking any of the sisters into marriage, the President himself avoided any act that could set a bad precedent for others. When it was time for him to choose a marital partner, he made sure that his wife to be (Miss Taibat Yetunde Carew, of blessed memory) was not a member of the SOIETY. Although he met her at an MSS forum, the latter just escorted her friend to that forum.

    When he returned into the country in 1965 with Ph. D degree, he was surprised at the growth rate of MSS across the country. All the secondary schools have fully become members and most of the foundation members had either graduated from Higher Institutions or about to graduate.

    He therefore thought of a higher pedestal for the SOCIETY’s alumni to operate Islamically. Fortunately, he was appointed Attorney General and Commissioner for Justice in the Western State.  

    Today, most of those members are great men and women in various public and private sectors. The current Sultan, some Emirs,   Ministers, Governors, Vice Chancellors, Professors and, even President Umar Musa Yar’Adua were members of that great SOCIETY.

    It is however disturbing that despite the greatness of this SOCIETY and its alumni, there was no permanent office that could be called its national headquarters even by the time its 50th anniversary was celebrated in 2004. An attempt was once made to site such office in Ilorin being the midway between the north and the south. But that attempt was unsuccessful. It was only when the elders decided to pay   attention to the issue of headquarters, recently, that work began on a befitting office in Abuja which may soon be completed.

    Dr. Abdul-Lateef Adegbite’s appointment as Commissioner also helped tremendously in bridging the religious gap between the north and the south especially in respect of the Supreme Council for Islamic Affairs in which he was to play a major role to bring to life.

    His actions that led to the formation of ‘WEST JOMO’; how he contributed to the formation of the Supreme Council for Islamic Affairs; How he became the Secretary General of that Islamic apex body and other Islamic activities he has engaged in will become a subject in this column in a foreseeable future. In sha’a Llah.

  • Resilient Professionals, Resilient Nation

    Resilient Professionals, Resilient Nation

    • By Thabit Wale Sonaike

    I am delighted to be here with you today on the occasion of your annual convention 2025 themed: Resilient Professional: Resilient Nation. I can tell you that there has never been a more important time to advocate for resilience than this very moment in the history of our fatherland. Many thanks to the leadership of this great guild of Muslim professionals who have done quite well in coming up with such thought provoking theme that hinges on RESILIENCE as a core component in the matrix of nation building and at such a crucial time of ours.

     So, what is RESILIENCE?

    According to Luther, 2006. Resilience is simply positive adaptation during adversity. That is, the process of developing favorable adjustment patterns and beneficial outcomes when navigating challenging terrains. If we expand this definition to capture a nation as an entity, then it becomes the ability of a nation to protect itself from threats by adjusting to an evolving reality.

     In a recent report on the Global Investment Risk and Resilience Index of 2025, seven out of the 10 least resilient countries in the world are from Africa, these includes: Egypt, Mali, Ethiopia, Burundi, Chad, Sierra Leone, and our very own Nigeria.

    Yes, Nigeria, the giant of Africa. The truth is that Nigeria is frequently ranked within this bracket due to a convergence of intense and overlapping crisis that limits Nigeria’s ability to absorb shocks and adapts to changes as a nation even in the face of individual adaptive characteristics of an average Nigerian. Factors like infrastructure deficit, economic vulnerability, high poverty rate, debt and fiscal constraints, insecurity amongst others have compounded the situation even further. Worthy of particular mention is Nigeria’s structural dependence on the oil and gas sector which drives roughly between 80-90% of foreign exchange earnings and about 60% of government revenue. This fundamental structural weakness is exacerbated by several interconnected systemic issues including weak governance, endemic corruption and price volatility.

    As a result of the foregoing, development is hugely hampered, stability is stifled and implications for future posterity seems unfavourable. Such situations trap the government into series of quick fixes and short term survival strategies rather than a long term strategic planning that will promote growth and stability. This is where we have found ourselves within our recent history.

    So, having mentioned briefly the state of the Nation in the face of resilience or the lack of it, how do we then navigate our path to permanent posterity, particularly leveraging on the assets of our people as professionals?

    Let me quickly say here that RESILIENCE as we used to know it has transitioned from a bouncing back mentality to a pro-active strategic game changing value that thrive on set backs as a catalyst for positive growth and development. Such type of resilience is built upon the strength of organised and well structured professionals that cut across sectors including Digital Infrastructure, Health care services, Engineering and Technology, Energy Management etc. All of which can work together as a driving force for a highly efficient mechanism that will power a resilient nation.

    To break this down a little, upon taking office in 2023, the new government faced low growth and rising poverty. Between 2014 and 2023, real per capita GDP declined on average by 0.7 percent annually. In 2023, the poverty rate stood at 42 percent. This difficult situation was compounded by limited access to dollars, which meant that people had to turn to the parallel currency market and thereby pay a much higher price than the official rate. In the meantime, public finances were strained by an opaque fuel subsidy system, which also caused recurrent petrol scarcity. And central bank financing of the fiscal deficit pushed up inflation.

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    In response to these challenges, government embarked on a series of bold reforms over the last two years. In 2023 the new government and the Central Bank of Nigeria liberalized the foreign exchange market, stopped central bank financing of the fiscal deficit, and reformed fuel subsidies. The government also strengthened revenue collection, which is still one of the world’s weakest.

    Since these reforms were implemented, international reserves have increased, and anyone can now access foreign exchange in the official market. Nigeria successfully returned to international capital markets last December and was recently upgraded by rating agencies. A new domestic, private refinery is positioning Nigeria up the value chain in a fully deregulated market.

    While progress has been encouraging, significant challenges remain. Inflation still exceeds 14 percent. Poor infrastructure, especially for electricity, inhibits economic activity. Poverty and food insecurity remain high. Nigeria lacks an effective social safety net to cushion the impact of shocks on the most vulnerable.

    In addition, the global environment is posing new challenges with elevated uncertainty and high borrowing costs. Nigeria is especially affected by volatile international oil prices since oil revenues account for a large proportion of government revenues—a figure that stood at 30 percent in 2024.

    To address these challenges, Nigeria should focus on three key priorities:

    First, the country needs stronger and more sustained growth to lift millions of people out of poverty and food insecurity, this does not happen overnight, it takes proactive and deliberate strategies.

    Second, as an essential ingredient for economic development, Nigeria needs an effective budget framework. Delivering effective investments in people and infrastructure requires realistic budget assumptions, strong expenditure management, and transparent implementation and reporting—which, in turn, can strengthen accountability. For its part, monetary policy should continue to decisively tackle inflation and reduce economic uncertainty.

    Third, the government should continue to increase domestic revenues. This is essential given Nigeria’s substantial funding needs in growth-enabling areas such as agriculture, digital technology, infrastructure, including access to electricity, and climate adaptation.

    Central to all of these is a resilient workforce acting as the foundational engine for economic recovery and social stability.

    In today’s world, the ability to adapt and thrive amidst constant change is critical. A key component of this essential strength is a resilient workforce who are adaptable, flexible, and equipped to handle the pressures and uncertainties of the modern workplace

    A resilient workforce is a foundational pillar in nation-building, enabling a country to adapt to economic, social, and environmental challenges without halting progress. A resilient workforce contributes to stability, continuous productivity, and faster recovery from crises.

    BENEFITS OF RESILIENT PROFESSIONALS

    Sustained Economic Growth and Stability: Resilient workers help maintain productivity during economic downturns, market volatility, and operational disruptions. By lowering employee turnover and reducing burnout, they ensure long-term stability and competitiveness in a dynamic market.

    Rapid Crisis Recovery: In the face of national emergencies—such as pandemics, natural disasters, or conflicts—a resilient workforce is better equipped to adapt and recover quickly.

    Enhanced Productivity and Innovation: Resilient employees tend to be more engaged, motivated, and solution-oriented rather than focusing solely on problems. They are more likely to seek new opportunities and develop innovative solutions to challenges.

    Improved Public Health and Reduced Social Costs: By effectively handling stress, resilient workers experience better mental and physical health, leading to lower absenteeism and reduced healthcare expenditures, which alleviates pressure on public resources.

    Adaptability to Structural Shifts: As industries change due to technological advancements or shifting demographics, a resilient workforce is more willing to upskill, reskill, and adapt to new roles, ensuring the nation remains relevant in a global economy.

    Stronger Social Cohesion: A resilient culture fosters stronger relationships and teamwork, reducing internal friction and promoting collaboration.

    Let’s consider the following case studies.

    Case Study 1:

    The Finland’s Model.

    Finland’s strategy, refined from a history of geopolitical challenges, treats national resilience as a shared responsibility across government, businesses, NGOs, and individual citizens.

    Integrated Workforce Roles: The private sector is deeply embedded in national preparedness. Through the National Emergency Supply Agency (NESA), companies are organized into “pools” to ensure the continuity of critical infrastructure, such as food supply, energy, and digital payment systems.

    The “72-Hour” Citizen Readiness: Resilience starts at the individual level. Citizens are educated to manage independently for at least 72 hours during a crisis, ensuring that the emergency workforce can focus on the most critical recovery efforts.

    Psychological Resilience: One of Finland’s seven “vital functions” is psychological resilience. This involves proactive media literacy programs to counter disinformation and national defense courses for leaders across all sectors to ensure a unified response.

    Case Study 2: The Singapore’s Model.

    Singapore focuses on “Employment Resilience” to maintain national stability amidst economic volatility.

    Adaptability as a National Asset: The nation views worker adaptability as the core of its resilience. Initiatives like the SkillsFuture program and the Research, Innovation and Enterprise (RIE) 2030 plan aim to keep the workforce employable despite rapid technological shifts or global disruptions.

    Adaptive Business Practices: Following the pandemic, Singaporean firms accelerated flexible and remote work models, creating “fresh reservoirs of resilience” that allow the economy to function even during restricted movement.

    These are some of the models across the world showcasing resilient professionals as a prime driver of a resilient nation.

    ACTIONABLE STRATEGIES FOR A RESILIENT FUTURE

    Strategic Upskilling & “Future-Ready” Development

    Resilience in 2026 will be increasingly tied to digital fluency and human-centric skills.

    Targeted Reskilling: Organizations are prioritizing training in AI literacy, big data, and cybersecurity—the fastest-growing skills needed for national competitiveness.

    Skills-Based Hiring: Move toward “build-versus-buy” decisions by investing in internal talent marketplaces that open new career pathways, reducing national unemployment and skills gaps.

    Dual Education Models: Governments can adopt successful models (like those in Switzerland or Germany) that combine classroom learning with hands-on vocational training to ensure the workforce meets modern industry demands.

    2. Holistic Well-being as a National Asset

    A resilient nation requires a workforce that is not mentally or physically depleted.

    Proactive Mental Health: 81% of employees in 2025 prioritize mental health support. Strategies include implementing Employee Assistance Programs (EAPs) and normalizing “mental health days” to prevent widespread burnout.

    Flexible Agility: Officially adopting remote, hybrid, or four-day workweek models allows for business continuity during national disruptions while supporting worker work-life balance.

    3. Fostering Inclusive & Transparent Culture

    Trust between the workforce and leadership is a prerequisite for national stability during crises.

    Transparent Communication: High-performance leaders use “realtime sentiment capture” to understand employee concerns and share organizational/national goals openly, which reduces anxiety and misinformation.

    Psychological Safety: Build environments where individuals feel safe to innovate and report risks. This “risk-aware” culture helps prevent minor issues from escalating into major national or economic shocks.

    Diversity as Strength: Embedding Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion (DEI) into core strategies broadens the talent pool and fosters the creative problem-solving required for complex national challenges.

    4. Strategic Partnerships & National Infrastructure

    A resilient workforce cannot function in a vacuum; it requires a robust supporting ecosystem.

    Public-Private Collaborations: Join national movements (e.g., Singapore’s SkillsFuture) where the government, employers, and individuals share responsibility for continuous learning.

    Support for Small Businesses: MSMEs (Micro, Small, and Medium Enterprises) are the backbone of local stability. Governments can streamline regulations to allow these businesses to focus on job creation and community resilience.

    Infrastructure Redundancy: Resilience is bolstered by protecting “lifeline” systems like the power grid, water, and digital access, ensuring economic activity can continue even during acute shocks.

    Finally, I strongly believe that if we can be deliberate about the action points that I have shared here today and with the kind of initiative, energy and resilience that organisations like Guild of Muslim Professionals continue to put into action, I strongly believe that we can beat our chest proudly to say that the Nigeria that lies ahead is the resilient Nation that will take her rightful position among the giants in the committee of Nations.

    Alhaji Sonaike, the Deputy President II of the Muslim Ummah of Southwest Nigeria (MUSWEN), delivered this lecture at the 13th Annual Convention of the Guild of Muslim Professionals (GMP) at Ijebu-Ode, Ogun State.

  • Fake prophecy

    Fake prophecy

    There is something strange about prophecy which remains a puzzle to mankind. It is like the night which is invisibly pregnant but delivers wonders in the day. Genuine prophecy is neither by coinage nor by pretext. Its roots are firmly planted in the rich soil of divinity.

    And only Allah appoints prophets for an appropriate nation with an appropriate mission at an appropriate time. But this has been bastardised by self-styled prophets of the modern world who see prophecy as an umbrella of fortune under which they can hide to mine gold and silver. Such people only sooth-tell satanic dreams to their ignorant and parochial victims who are callously milked in the name of prophecy.

    Except for King Daud (David) and his son King Sulayman (Solomon) who were divinely guided to show the world how wealth is legitimately acquired and managed, no prophet of Allah was stupendously rich. This can be compared with today’s situation where prophecy is measured in terms of billions of dollars or naira at the disposal of fraudsters parading themselves as prophets. Today, prophecy in religion has been fully turned into a platform for preaching prosperity rather than posterity at the expense of godliness and humanitarianism.

    Genuine Prophecy

    It is not by clandestinely predicting the number of Kings who will die in a locality in the coming year or the governors who will lose their seats to opponents that a person can proclaim self a prophet. Genuine prophets are known not by words of mouth alone or amount of wealth they possess but by the exemplary actions that may serve humanity in good stead for many, many centuries. Prophets Isa (Jesus) and Muhammad (SAW) are good examples of this.

    Prophecy, therefore, is not to be judged on the basis of yearly predictions. Virtually all the religious tenets and regulations in Christianity and Islam today are reflections of the prophecies of the two great men mentioned above in the past two millennia or thereabout.

    In contrast, however, fake prophecy today is a product which finds a large market in Nigeria. Ignorant and parochial people queue up in multitudes before fraudsters with the intention of moulding their future to suit their wishes or solve insuperable problems. Such people are forced to carry out satanic instructions which eventually bring ruins to them and pave ways for those fraudsters to zoom into material fortune without any care for conscience. Most broken homes and criminal activities of Nigerian youths today are traceable to fake prophecies and insensitive display of wealth in Churches and Mosques in this country.

    Prophet Muhammad (SAW) had forewarned the Muslim Ummah, over 1400 years ago, against the calamity which false prophecy could bring to them. Addressing his disciples on a particular occasion, he said:

    “There will be calamity!” He repeated this three times. But rather than asking him of its cause, the disciples simply asked for the solution. They had no cause to doubt him. And he told them to look for the solution in the legacy he was leaving behind. That legacy is the rule of law contained in the Qur’an and Sunnah.

    Rule of law

    The Prophet emphasised to them that nothing besides the rule of law would ever bring them the needed harmony in the world. He described the Qur’an as the all-time permanent solution to the various problems of all times reiterating that only individuals, groups or nations that hold it (Qur’an) tenaciously would never go astray.

    The Qur’an, according to Prophet Muhammad (SAW) is the mirror with which to view the past retrospectively and draw a lesson from its experience. It is the effective compass with which to find the way in the hazy wilderness of the present. It is also the impeccable telescope with which to view the future. In other words, the Qur’an is an everlasting prophecy recalling the occurrences of the past, serving as the guidance of the present and tuning focus on the future.

    By asking the world to follow the rule of law in all their ways, the Prophet never aimed at rising from his grave to govern any particular nation or region of the world. Neither did he leave any heir behind who would inherit the governance of the world. His objective, according to the mission he bore, was for the world to be in harmony.

    And, it is only in the interest of mankind to uphold the rule of law for the sake of their harmonious co-existence.

    To marry according to the rule of law; to divorce, if need be, according to the rule of law; to raise families according to the rule of law; to transact businesses according to the rule of law; to play politics according to the rule of law; to give judgment according to the rule of law; to conduct elections according to the rule of law; to legislate according to the rule of law; to govern according to the rule of law, these and more are the elements of the mission preached by Prophet Muhammad (SAW). And, is there any individual, group or nation not affected by all these in the world today?

    Every aspect of life has its rule of law. We work in the day and rest in the night not by our own volition but in accordance with the natural rule of law that guide our existence. The sun rises in the East and sets in the West to obey the rule of law that controls its operations. Fishes live in water. Plants grow generically and are fed by their roots in obedience to the natural rule of law that governs them. Harmony becomes disrupted when deviation occurs in any of these.

    Carnivores like lions, vipers and eagles will never voluntarily feed on plants. Neither will herbivores like elephants, camels and goats, feed on flesh. To force them to do otherwise, in the name of experiment, is to cause disharmony in the animal kingdom.

    Cause of disharmony

    The world is in disharmony today because of deliberate deviation from the rule of law by those in power. Stronger nations want to dominate weaker nations as in the case of America in Iraq and Afghanistan.

    Governments want to enslave the governed as in the case of Nigeria between 1999 and 2014. Groups want to exploit individuals as in the case of the business elite and the consumers. It is all an evidence of dogs eating dogs in the stable of greed. Why won’t disharmony prevail?

    But Allah so much loves mankind that He does not leave them permanently in the hands of devilish pirates. From time to time, Allah sends conscientious individuals either as rulers or as counselors to rescue the oppressed people. That was the fortune of Nigeria when Umaru Musa Yar’Adua emerged as President.

    His insistence on rule of law first sounded odd to some lawless elements who took such stand for granted because they never experienced rule of law in Nigeria. But that is the blessing which our country needed as a solid foundation for a strong building. Rule of law is the first sign of sanity in a society.

     It is an evidence of decency in a people.

    Remembering Yar’Adua

    In beaming the light of rule of law on Nigeria, Yar’Adua was not a mere touch-bearer he also recognized the fact that one did not necessarily have to be governed by Shari’ah to abide by rule of law.

    What the Qur’an teaches which the Prophet emphasised is for everybody to follow the rule of the law by which he or she is governed. To do this is to follow the guidance of the Qur’an.

    If we had a President in Yar’Adua who could voluntarily return his annual security vote of about two billion naira to the national treasury because he did not see the need to spend it and he did not see it as a personal booty; if we had a President in him who could return the budget to the National Assembly for amendment because he felt it was unnecessarily inflated at the expense of the populace; if we had a President in him who could promptly react positively to the cry of the people on high cost of food items in the market, who could cause the price of cement to crash in favour of the downtrodden masses and suspend any increase on price of petrol indefinitely until his death, it was only because he had the fear of Allah at heart. Thus with him in power it was becoming crystal clear that Nigerians were beginning to appreciate the fact that harmony was truly in sight. And such great gestures which had eluded this country for a long time before he became President came to add greater values to the lives of Nigerians. Rule of law is about conscience and decency of character.

    It marks the difference between man and beast.

    If Yar’Adua did not achieve anything beyond establishing the rule of law in Nigeria that singular achievement was great enough for posterity. And what is more, he achieved much more by bringing a ray of hope to millions of Nigerians in less than two years of his leadership in a country where the sky had been dangerously cloudy. No sane person will sensibly compare sleep with death.

    Lost Paradise

    Prophet Muhammad never spoke in a vacuum. His utterances were divinely guided. And the Qur’an confirms this thus: ‘’He (Muhammad) never spoke out of sheer whim; his expressions are no other than inspired revelations; he is taught by the One who is mighty in power…”

    Nigerians of today have become like the Israelis of yore who after being rescued by Prophet Musa (Moses) from the scourge of Pharaoh, showed ingratitude to Allah and were thrown into the wilderness of life. Having suffered in the hands of a blind and deaf Nigerian Pharaoh for eight terrible years and having been liberated by an unexpected Moses, it only behooved conscientious people to be grateful not necessarily to that Moses but to God who used him for this divine gesture. The sharp difference between the road to hell and the one to paradise which Nigerians have experienced within one decade had shown how wonderful Allah is in His deeds. It also confirms the genuineness of Prophet Muhammad prophesy as attested in Qur’an 20 verse 124 thus:

    “When my guidance is revealed to you, he who follows it shall never err nor be afflicted; but he who gives no heed to My warning shall live in distress and be raised blind on the Day of Resurrection…”

    In his message to the nation on the occasion of Mawlidu-n-Nabiyy and

    Easter of 2008, President Yar’Adua appealed to Nigerians, with humility, to exercise patience with his administration saying there was need for thoroughness and decency to take off. He neither used any abusive language that was the hall-mark of his predecessor nor did he ask Nigerians to continue to bear the unbearable while his own family lived aristocratically.

    Having a man like him at the helm of affairs while he was alive was a special blessing of Allah which Nigerians only came to realize after his demise. And today, that reality is a lost paradise. The Qur’anic verse quoted above must always be a reference point for all decent, law-abiding people. From all indications then, there was a sign of light at the end of our tunnel. When one compares the governing style of today with that of yesterday and weighs the one with the other, it will be obviously realised that the difference is clear. It is impossible for a man to give what he does not possess. For both the rulers and the ruled the only panacea to Nigeria’s plight, especially in a situation where ordinary feeding has become a luxury, is the rule of law. Anything contrary may only pave the way to waterloo. For rulers and politicians, to rely on fake prophesy, as now prevalent in Nigeria, is to cling desperately to a sinking straw. Those who did it in the past are now part of the debris of history. The dreamers of today cannot be different tomorrow. Let those who have ears heed this axiomatic warning.

    “Allah does not change a people’s lot unless they change what is in their hearts. If He seeks to afflict them with a misfortune, none can ward it off. Besides Him, there is no protector (for any rational being).” Q.13:11. God save Nigeria!

    Watch Out!

    In an effort to rejuvenate the Nigerian Muslim Ummah educationally against the ongoing emasculation by the power that be, the Nigerian

    Supreme Council for Islamic Affairs (NSCIA) has started a quarterly

    Magazine titled ‘Prime Renaissance’. The magazine being packaged by the Media Committee of the Council has a variety of issues that will serve the Ummah in good stead. And yours sincerely is its Editor-in-Chief.

    To know some details about the aims and objectives of the magazine, please read the opening of its maiden edition entitled ‘OUR MISSION’ below:

    Intention is a mission upon which every human action is based. This fact was emphasised in the very first Hadith of Prophet Muhammad (SAW) in which he said that: “all actions are surely based on intention and everybody’s action shall be judged according to intention…”.

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    The intention of this timely noble magazine is to genuinely carry out the three basic objectives of journalism: Information, Education and entertainment which have been grossly abused and even bastardised by agents of bias through the colouration of politics and religion. This modest effort is aimed at putting the records straight by bringing genuine, unpolluted knowledge and correct information to the teeming population of Nigerian Muslims and others who are desirous of genuine and undeniable facts and figures. And this is why the magazine is rightly titled ‘PRIME RENAISSANCE’….

    In the course of our publications, we intend not only to right the wrong in terms of information and education dissemination but also in terms of character building in our youths and harmonisation of the society, especially the Ummah, for the purpose of peace and tranquility.

    Thus, the activities of the Nigerian Supreme Council for Islamic

    Affairs (NSCIA) as well as those of the regional or provincial Muslim organisations in the country will be projected and highlighted for the generality of Nigerian Ummah. Muslim women in Nigeria will occupy their rightful place in this magazine as much as the Muslim children, the handicapped, the underprivileged and the crème de la crème of Nigerian society.

    This magazine shall be purely religious in contents and in outlook.

    But religiousness here does not mean that such areas as politics, economy, social events and international trends will be non-Grata.

    Every aspect of human life is encompassed in Islam and none shall be compromised in this magazine for whatever reason. It is our mission to make this magazine a compendium of knowledge and genuine information that will serve as a worthy reference for generations of yet unborn Nigerian Muslims…

    With this unprecedented step from the apex body of Islamic Affairs in

    Nigeria, one of the hitherto missing points can be said to have been found. It is hoped that sustaining it should not be a problem. Readers, Muslim and non-Muslims alike, are welcome on board of this new ship as it cruises on the storming sea of this era.

  • EFCC: Nigeria’s own Sphinx

    EFCC: Nigeria’s own Sphinx

    Preamble

    Sophocles, a Greek playwright and dramatist of renown who lived between 496 and 406 B.C produced a tragic play entitled Oedipus Rex in 411 B.C. The play has drawn tremendous ovation from literary men and women through the centuries not only for its wonderful setting but also for the allusive purpose it has served since then.

    In the play, we learn of a curse that fell on the land of Thebes (a capital city in ancient Greece). On the land not only were people sick and dying in quick succession with the cattle being afflicted by an epidemic of rinderpest but even the crops were blighted. At that time, Oedipus was the King.

    Our concern here is not how Oedipus became the King or what later became of him. The allusion we want to draw here is that when Oedipus was young he saved Thebes from a similar curse: the depredation of the monstrous sphinx (a winged monster with a woman’s head and a lion’s body).

    When Oedipus was young a sphinx took her permanent seat on a rock by the main road that divided the city into two. This sphinx had a riddle which she put across to every passer-by and she promptly devoured anyone who could not solve the riddle. For a very long time, the city of Thebes remained under the plague of this sphinx who was feeding fat on the flesh and blood of living things in the city. As a result, many people took to hunger strike while many more embarked on a permanent seclusion. That was the situation in Thebes until the young Oedipus suddenly emerged as a hero of his time by solving the riddle of the sphinx. The sphinx thereby, in despair, leaped from her rock seat and dashed out her life.

    Thus, the veil of curse was lifted on the city of Thebes while Oedipus was immortalized as the saviour of the Thebesians.

    Today, Nigeria is masquerading in the cloak of a similar spell. The only difference is that while the Thebesians of yore were consciously aware of their plight and were desperately making efforts to find a solution to it the Nigerians of the 21st century remain largely unbothered.

    For almost the whole length of her life as a country, Nigeria has advertently lived with a self imposed sphinx without any serious attempt to eliminate it.

    Corruption is Nigeria’s own sphinx today. This sphinx has grown into such a monster that it is almost becoming impossible to conquer. For more than a decade since 1999, two statutory bodies have been set up to curb the scourge of corruption in Nigeria. One is Independent Corrupt Practices and related offences Commission (ICPC). The other is Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC). Both bodies were established for the same purpose through different modalities.

    Subsequent to that of the ICPC, the establishment of Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) in 2003 was rather in response to the pressure from the Financial Action Task Force on Money Laundering which named Nigeria as one of the 23 non-cooperative countries in the international community’s efforts to fight money laundering than the government’s self-consciousness and determination to fight corruption.

    Although some individuals and groups believed that fighting corruption was a potent means of developing the country, the behaviour of the governments at the federal and state levels did not suggest an all out support for Commission. This is understandable because most of the people suspected to be massively involved in corruption were government officials including some State Governors.

    By September 2006, the EFCC had had 31 of Nigeria ‘s 36 state governors under investigation for corruption. Most of these Governors appeared indifferent despite the negative publicity about them in the media. In December 2007, the Nigerian Federal Government, after extensive investigations by EFCC and other organizations, cleared the Vaswani brothers who had been deported from Nigeria for suspected corruption of any wrongdoing and invited them back into the country.

    Leading Nigerian daily newspapers reported the facts of their clearance quoting text from Federal Government’s issued directives. In April 2008, the EFCC began investigations into the activities of the daughter of the former Nigerian President, Senator Iyabo Obasanjo-Bello over an alleged corrupt utilization of N10 million ($100,000) from previous year’s unspent funds of the Ministry of Health. Also charged was the then Health Minister Professor Adenike Grange and her deputy over an alleged stealing over N30 million from the ministry’s unspent funds of the previous year. Investigations were carried out but nobody was convicted. Some of the affected persons remain as government functionaries either in the executive or legislative wing of the government. There were many other cases of the like.

    This development threw a new dimension into the whole idea of establishing supposed independent bodies to check corruption in the country and raised a big question on the intention behind it. Thus, people became suspicious of the government’s intention to fight corruption even as they considered the exercise as a political witch-hunt strategically used by the ruling party against opponents. And for this reason, the international community did not see any seriousness on the part of Nigerian government in fighting corruption. The government’s hand in glove about funding EFCC and its counterparts further strengthened the suspicion.

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    It was in this melee that a change of guards occurred at the topmost echelon of the EFCC and a woman, Chief (Mrs) Farida Mzamber Waziri, emerged as the new Chairperson of the Commission and was sworn into office on June 6, 2008. On assumption of office, Mrs. Waziri said emphatically that she would step on toes. But she prayed God to guide her against stepping on innocent toes. And ever since, the Commission’s website has continued to contain a long list of the country’s most wanted criminals while the Chairperson has since proved her mettle as a woman of substance.

    Going by her published profile, Mrs. Waziri has all it takes constitutionally and educationally as well as experience to revolutionize the anti-corruption crusade in Nigeria. And she is generally considered the ideal choice for the post of the Chairman.

    Although the Commission, under her Chairmanship has performed wonderfully well in tracking down and prosecuting many corrupt elements in the country and in recovering some of the loots, the citizenry believe that the woman would have performed better if she had full cooperation of the government. This is not just because the Commission seems to be handicapped by government’s inaction to bring those caught to book but also in campaigning seriously against corruption in all spheres of life especially through the mass media.

    Corruption is not about embezzlement of public funds alone. And fighting it should not be restricted only to government officials and agencies.

    So far, the Commission is a success story but that much is not known to most Nigerian and the international community because there is no media back up that can showcase that success. Professor Doris Akunyili succeeded so tremendously as the Director General of NAFDAC because she had the benefit of media publicity provided for in her Agency’s budget. This has not been applicable in the case of EFCC. The impression here is that giving that Agency the full power to operate is like providing the nose with which to hang those in government.

    If the Thebesian authorities did not cooperate with Oedipus, how could he have saved that city from the scourge of the sphinx? Nigerians should ask the government the same question in respect of EFCC. Without the government’s cooperation, is there any possibility of getting an Oedipus to defeat Nigeria ’s sphinx? This is a food for thought.

  • Challenges to peace-building

    Challenges to peace-building

    Preamble

    The words of elders are words of wisdom. If they do not materialise in the morning they will surely materialize in the evening”.

    The above quotation is a Yoruba axiom that can only be faulted at one’s own peril. Now that reasoning seems to be finding its way back to Nigeria’s base of power especially in respect of insecurity problem and its possible solution, it becomes necessary to take a realistic recourse to that adage.

    The news that former President Goodluck Jonathan belatedly met with former President Olusegun Obasanjo in Abuja sometime to discuss the way out of the Boko Haram insurgency problem is a confirmation of that adage. Hitherto, sheer ego and whim of power had prevented that meeting even when sensible advice and suggestions were offered to the government by well-meaning Nigerians. Among such advice was that of His Eminence, Alhaji Muhammad Sa’ad Abubakar the Sultan of Sokoto.

    Voice of reason

    As far back as October 3, 2011, the Sultan of Sokoto and President-General, Nigerian Supreme Council for Islamic Affairs (NSCIA), had delivered a lecture entitled ‘Islam and Peace Building in West Africa’ at Harvard University. When the lecture was published in this column thereafter, it was re-entitled ‘A Voice from Harvard’. In the 33 page lecture, His Eminence enumerated the causes and effects of violent crises in the West African sub region with particular reference to Nigeria. He blamed such crises on three major issues: (1) political struggle for supremacy between the elite and the poor masses (2) bad governance on the part of the ruling class and (3) primordial ethno-religious sentiments. The most prominent of these three issues is bad governance which engenders corruption, joblessness, poverty, exploitation, suspicion and general bitterness in the land. Three years after that lecture, Nigeria is still in rigmarole searching for a possible oasis in a self-inflicted wild desert.

    For the benefit of those who did not read it at that time the lecture is being brought here again because of its relevance and the possible solution it may proffer to the multifaceted problems confronting Nigeria. An excerpt from the lecture is as follows:

    Impression

    “….Many people (outside our country) consider Nigeria as a theatre of absurd conflicts and interminable crises.  They may be justified in holding this view; with the Jos crises festering for years, with post-election violence and suicide-bombings, it is difficult  to think otherwise.  When we consider Nigeria’s population of more than 150 million, half the population of West Africa, its over 250 ethnic and language groups, its regional and geo-political configurations, its landmass and its diversity in religion and culture, we may be constrained to reach different conclusions. Nigeria may, after all, be a paragon of stability which, as God Almighty has willed, shall undergo all the trials allotted it early enough in its national history.

    But in all fairness, systemic ethno-political and religious crises, like the ones we witnessed in recent years or are witnessing currently, do not have a long history in Nigeria.  They all began in the late 1980s, following the intense competition for power and influence especially among the western educated elite; the Kafanchan crisis of 1987, in Southern Kaduna, was quickly followed by the Zangon Kataf and other crises; all in the same vicinity.  The democratic dispensation, which began in 1999 also came with its own set of problems, the most visible being the Shari’ah crisis and the first Jos crisis which led to the declaration of state of emergency in Plateau State.

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    Primacy of politics

    But these crises, varied as they were, reveal the multi-dimensional nature of Nigeria as a political entity. We witness the primacy of politics in almost all these conflicts.  In the struggle for power and political supremacy as politicians exercise no restraint in aggravating the socio-religious and ethnic cleavages, which characterise the geo-politics of the Nigerian state.  It should not be forgotten that the second Jos crisis of November 2008 was also ignited by a botched Chairmanship election in Jos North Local Government.

    The second dimension to these crises, especially in Kaduna and Plateau States, is the indigene/settler dichotomy, which is yet to be addressed properly by the Nigerian state.  Many ethnic groups in these conflict areas see the other ethnic groups as foreigners who should not enjoy the full rights of bona fide residents.  Most of these disenfranchised Nigerians also happen to be Muslims.  However, those who oppose this dichotomy argue that these so-called settlers had spent more than two hundred years in the areas they reside.  Moreover, as Nigerian citizens, they have the full right to reside wherever they wish and pursue their legitimate business without let or hindrance.

    Afterall, they cannot be settlers in their own country.

    The third dimension of Nigeria’s ethno-religious crises is their potential to become a systematic national crisis.  When a person is killed in any of the areas of conflict, his co-religionists, especially in the cities react violently and begin to kill anyone they think is related to the killer(s).  This often triggers further reprisals from other parts of the country where victims come from.  It took a lot of effort by the Nigeria Inter-Religious Council (NIREC) which I co-chair, and other state authorities, to treat each crisis independently and reduce the risk of systemic reprisals.

    The fourth dimension of Nigeria’s crises is poor leadership and the bad governance usually associated with its management.  Many of those charged with authority in the states where these conflicts occur are also parties to the crises.  They make feeble efforts to control the violence and do so only when much of the damage has been done…

    “….The issue of poor leadership and bad governance also explains how the Boko Haram movement has been able to transform itself from a small Hijrah group in Yobe State, escaping from the uncertainties and contradictions of the Nigerian state, to a militant movement able to wreak havoc and destruction once provoked.  Those in authority were prepared to court the leaders of this group when it suited them and to trample on them like flies when they were no longer useful…However, the recent bombing of the United Nations Office in Abuja has introduced an international dimension to terrorist’s activities, a development, which is hitherto entirely new to Nigeria.

    The promise of dialogue

    “….When I became the Sultan of Sokoto in November 2006, some of the major problems I found on ground were the after-effects of the riots, especially in Kaduna, Jos and some parts of the North East as well as a disturbing atmosphere of mistrust, fear and hostility, especially between the leaderships of Nigeria’s two major religions: Islam and Christianity.

     To resolve these knotty issues, we chose the path of positive engagement, which we thought would engender meaningful discourse, improve communication and understanding and change the dynamics of our operating environment to that of trust and confidence…

    Role of NIREC

    “….The Nigeria Inter-Religious Council (NIREC) provided the right platform for this engagement. The Council, a product of Nigeria’s ethno-religious crises, was composed of 25 members each from the two religions and co-chaired by myself, in my capacity as the President-General of the Nigerian Supreme Council of Islamic Affairs, and the President of the Christian Association of Nigeria (CAN). The approach of NIREC was simple and practical. Firstly, we affirmed the sanctity of human life, Muslim and Christian, and insisted that anybody who takes the law into his hands, regardless of the circumstances, must bear the full legal consequences of his action.

    You cannot believe it, but despite the frequency of these disturbances, only a few people have ever been punished for perpetrating any act of violence. The masterminds go scot-free.

    Secondly, while appreciating the fact that we are required to look after the interest of our co-religionists, we must pay attention to the other dimensions of our conflicts. As many were preparing to declare a religious war in Jos, for example, we laboured hard to draw attention to the other dimensions of the crisis. It was a conflict between Muslims and Christians quite alright, but it was not a conflict between Islam and Christianity. When Nigeria’s President called for a parley among stakeholders, we made bold to declare the Jos crisis a political crisis. Thirdly, we adopted a tactical approach to conflict resolution. Whenever, there is a breakout of violence, we work together to restore law and order and ask the quarrelsome questions later. We take this approach to minimise loss of life and to ensure that the crisis is contained in the primary area it occurred.

    Also, we devised a quarterly meeting schedule that took us to all parts of the country. It was heartening to many to see us working together and preaching peaceful co-existence and religious harmony even in areas, which never registered an ethno-religious conflict.

    Recommendation

    I must point out that it was also our view that inter-faith action should transcend conflict resolution. For it to be effective, it must affect the life of the common man. NIREC floated the Nigeria Inter-Faith Action Association (NIFAA) to take up this challenge and NIFAA has been very active in the control of the dreaded tropical disease: Malaria. We also find that we must act together to address issues related to electoral reform, good governance and anti-corruption. I am also glad to state that the goodwill and understanding which these activities were able to generate, have given impetus to the development of inter-faith dialogue to a new level. I always remember, with happiness, the seminar organised by the CAN in April 2010, on ‘Knowing Your Muslim Neighbour’, where I presented a paper on the topic. The Nigerian Supreme Council of Islamic Affairs (NSCIA) gracefully reciprocated by inviting CAN members to its formal meeting in Kaduna, where the CAN representative gave a lecture on Islam in the eyes of a Christian and both Muslim and Christian scholars, gave inspiring responses on the scriptural basis of mutual co-existence. Despite serious setbacks in recent months, many of us remain committed to this positive engagement and to the promise that dialogue offers the resolution to Nigeria’s ethno-religious crises.

    Looking ahead

    ‘’…Understanding the multifarious nature of Nigeria’s ethno-religious crises should strengthen our resolve and determination to deploy all the energies and resources at our disposal to see to their resolution.  Our inability and reluctance to take meaningful action go to challenge not only our common humanity but also our self-worth.  It is therefore important for us to appreciate, first and foremost, the importance of consensus building within the polity, with a view to ameliorating the current state of political polarization in it.  The Nigerian political class must be able to speak and understand one another as well as to develop a minimum national agenda to chart the way forward.  The political class must also be able to open dialogue on a variety of national issues, including the perennial problem of power rotation and willingly enter into agreements that they can honour with dignity….

    Governance

    “….Also, governance at all levels must translate into tangible benefits for all Nigerians regardless of their ethnic and religious affiliation.  Nigeria has the resources to make life more pleasant for its people.  It is equally imperative to address the poverty problem as well as the needs of the youth population both in all the geo-political areas of the country.  In a situation where over 50 per cent of our population is jobless at less than 19 years of age, we are definitely sitting on a time bomb much deadlier than that of Boko Haram unless we take urgent action to defuse it….

    “….Furthermore, there should be renewed determination to address both the Jos and Boko Haram sectarian crises.  The Federal Government must take seriously its security responsibilities and effectively contain these crises.  But beyond that, a genuine dialogue must be initiated, to begin healing festering wounds and to bring genuine understanding and reconciliation amongst the entire people of Plateau State and beyond.  The social dimension of the Boko Haram cannot also be resolved by the mere use of force.  This is the reason why I have consistently suggested dialogue and education to counteract its message, especially those aspects dealing with modern education.

    Millions of Muslim pupils are already outside the school system.

    Millions more will definitely follow if urgent intervention is not undertaken to enlighten the younger generations.  And the question I have always asked is What kind of society can we build in the 21st century when our youth turn their back on science and technology and are unable to produce the next generation of doctors, engineers and other specialisations necessary for sustaining the socio-economic development of the society?….”

    Conclusion

    “….Finally, we should not neglect the impact of the international environment on Nigeria’s ethno-religious crises.  Happenings in the United States, Iraq, Afghanistan, Norway, Netherlands, the United Kingdom, France, Palestine, Ukraine, Gaza, Russia and Sudan are as current and relevant as events in Jos, Maiduguri and Abuja. We must preach international tolerance and moderation. The fight against extremist groups should never be perverted to become a fight against Islam and its doctrines.  We should all remember that in the final analysis, it is not what the perpetrators of violence do that really counts.  It is the actions we take, individually and collectively, that would (eventually) shape the fate of humanity….”

    Now, with this new development, the hope of redeeming Nigeria from impending disintegration may be rekindled if the motive is not political especially with the 2027 elections becoming fast-approaching.

  • The message in retrospect

    The message in retrospect

    Preamble

    The Ability to speak or write is a special gift from the AlmightyAllah. With time, such ability may become a hobby and eventually grow into a skill. Speaking, no matter how eloquently, cannot be as important as getting audience. So is the case with writing. A speaker can be classified as an orator only by his audience. Radio and television broadcasters as well as public motivational speakers can attest to this. Similarly, an author or a columnist can be celebrated or denigrated only by his readers. Any writer who takes his readers for granted, therefore, can only do so at his own peril. Such a writer may not be qualified for an author or a columnist.

    A Column by accident Memory lane

    Ever since yours sincerely started writing this column in The Nation newspaper, in September, 2006, no week has passed by without a barrage of reations reaching me even on some occasions when the column is not published for one reason or another.

    This is not just because I called the column a participatory one in its maiden edition but mostly because some readers who had long been familier with it since its inception in Concord newspaper, in 1982, acknowledge its quality and appreciate the methodology with which it is presented to showcase Islam to the world every Friday. For instance on a particular topic entitled: NO! MR. PRESIDENT, NO!, published in this column on February 2, 2007, when a onetime Army General from the Southwest, (Chief) Olusegun Okikiolakan Aremu Obasanjo was at the twilight of his second term of four years in office as Nigerian PresidentI, I received 189 phone calls, 107 text messages and 1143 written comments through the e-mail. That was about five months after the commencement of this column in The Nation newspaper. After I left Concord newspaper in 1989,  most readers of this column followed it to other Nigerian newspapers like Vanguard, The Monitor and The Nation. Some even followed it to some foreign magazines such as The Inquiry, Al-Afkar, Africa Now, At-Tawheed  and a host of others including some academic journals. Thus, questions, observations and comments kept coming consistently into this column from various parts of the world in form of reactions.

    Comment

    Now, 13 yeas after the column debut in The Nation newspaper, I consider it fair to refresh the memories of its original readers by recalling some of those reactions in retrospect if only to further confirm that readers, like customers, are kings and queens in their own rights, in the market of literacy. After all, it is only a novice writer that will close his ears or eyes to readers’ comments even if such comments are negative and bitterly reprobative. Ordinarily, as a columnist, I often feel psychologically elated when reactions to my column come in torrents from different conceivable angles, based on different perceptions.

    Some Published Reactions

    It should be noted that the few reactions received over some publications, over a decade ago, and published below were randomly selected from the piling chunk in my kitty at that time. Those reactions were, however, not necessarily more important than many others which were not published then. Meanwhile, in the spirit of participatoriness, some reactions to this column will, henceforeth, resume publication from time to time, as space may permit. This may strengthen the trust of the readers in the interactiveness of the column.

    While thanking all the readers of this 37 years old column, particularly those who have been reacting to it (home and abroad), since its inception, for their encouragement and well wish. I pray the Almighty Allah to appreciate their good intentions and encouraging actions as He (Allah) alone can reward them abundantly.

    First meeting with the Sultan

    It came as an undreamt surprise when my telephone rang at exactly 11.50 am on the first Sunday in February, 2007. My first reaction after pickimg the call was: “who is on the line, please?” especially when the call came without an identity. The caller simplay identified himself as SA’AD Abubakar. I immediately searched my brain for a possible familiarization with that identity. But while doing that, I did not know that I was repeating the name Sa’d Abubakar in a seeming soliloquy until His Eminence said: Ah!Don’t you know anybody bearing that name?. And in my reaction, I said the only person I can think of that bears that name is the new Sultan. It was then that His Eminence said: alright, this is the Sultan. At that moment, dumpfounded. The only clear words that I could utter were “Your Eminence!” before I went stammering. I was overwhelmed. In that telephone conversation,

    With a tone of commendation, His Eminence appreciated my writings and said that he had been reading my column since the now defunct Concord days. He counselled me never to relent especially in calling a spade a spade as I had been doing. And, as the Commander of the Muslim faithful, (Amirul Muminin), he showered royal prayers on me and promised to be calling again in future.

    That was one call that made, not just my day, but probably my year. It was one reaction that confirmed my observation once expressed in an article in this column about this new Sultan shortly after his instalation.

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    By that surprise call alone, the new Sultan added to the chain of “FIRSTS which I listed in the mentioned article. In my 25 years of experience in journalism, as at that time, I could not remember when any public figure of Sultan’s status ever made a similar call to any common journalist except when seeking a media favour.

    A Launch with his eminence

    About two weeks after the above narrated encounter with him on the telephone, His Eminence called again to invite me to Kaduna from Ibdan for a launch with him. And, at his palace in Kaduna, This great Sultan sat down with me on bare carpet where we took a special launch together. That was my first experience of royal conduct in Nigeria’s Sultanate.

    By his conduct and actions so far, since he came to the exhalted throne, Sultan Muhammad Sa’ad Abubakar, CFR, mni, has shown, by all means, an exemplary leadership for other Nigerian leaders or aspiring leaders to emulate. With him, Nigerian Muslims are being reminded of the Caliphate time of Umar Bn Khattab and Umar Bn Abdul Aziz when it was established and entrenched that leadership is neither by vicious display of force nor by crude bully and animalistic brutality. May the Almighty Allah be merciful to Nigerian Muslim Ummah by preserving the life of this Sultan with divine guidance and protection for the good of this life and that of the Hereafter. We also pray that the glow of His Eminence’s crescent may be brazenly kindled for a long, long time to come without experiencing an eclipse. Amin.

     Some reders reactions

    Femi, EFCC is on the side of the poor that is why the thieves in high places want to destroy it. Someday, state power will become the oppressed and the oppressors will fall to rise no more”. Amos Ejimonye, Kaduna.

    “Mr. Femi Abbas, your write -up on EFCC made my day glorious. Tafa Balogun, former IGP, saw danger in the enormous power conferred on the youthful Ribadu. Ehinderos greed for power conspired with Ribadu to oust him. The same Obasanjo will consume both Ribadu and Ehindero after April polls. You have said it all. Keep watching. God bless you”. Afolabi, ACP, (rtd).

    “Salam alaikun,

    I read The Nation Newspaper published on February 2, 2007. In fact, I like the way you advised Mr. President. May Allah reward you abundantly. Keep it up, it is part of Jihad.

    May Allah SWT, continue to protect you as He may continue to enrich your thinking. Last Friday’s essay was prophetic”. A.A. Amoo, Ede .

    “Dear Brother, your write-up on Mr. Presidents inconsistencies last Friday was very superb. May Allah continue to increase your knowledge”. Owolabi Abdullah.

    “Your article: NO! Mr. President NO! is a great piece and a great voice of hope at a time of sickening sycophancy. God bless you for it”. Dele, Lagos .

    “Femi, your 02-02-07 article brought out tears from my eyes, I found it hard to eat. Seriously, I became sleepless. May God see us through this terrible mess? Segun Eleshin.

    “Salam!

    Good write-up in The Nation this morning. Please keep it up”. Lai Olurode, UNILAG.

    “Salam,

    Brother Abbas, thank you for your great contribution on Muslim family. What I read on The Nation newspaper last December 2006 concerning Muslim-Family was a good Article. I will be expecting more from you”. Abdul -Yekeen Mustapha. Owo Poly, H.N.D 2, BAM, Ondo State . Mas-salam.

    “Dear Femi Abbas, your article today on the atrocities of the current regime under the topic: NO! MR, PRESIDENT, NO! is an eye opener. It reminds me of your powerful column in the good old days of Concord newspaper.

    You are a special gift to Islam in Nigeria. I hope that one day you will be recognized by Nigerian Muslim community as the late Abul Ala Al- Maududi was recognized in India or Ahmad Deeda in South Africa. And, if not, may Allah recognize you and shower you with the rewards of the Prophets great scribe, Zayd bn Thabit. Jazakumu – Llah khayran”. Idris Mustapha, Zaria .

    “Brother Femi Abbas, I did not know that you write a column in The Nation newspaper until my attention was drawn to it this morning. The last time I read your article was in Vanguard and that was over five years ago. The analysis on the EFCC is fantastic as usual. I had always believed that the establishment of the EFCC was a good action based on a dirty intention.

     The recent developments in the country concerning that commission have vindicated my belief. And, your analysis tallied with my thought on the commission. I totally agree with you that the commission is a peculiar mess to Nigeria, created by the current peculiar ruling class to further oppress the populace in the name of fighting corruption. Now that I know of this column, The Nation automatically becomes my paper. God bless you”. Sherifah Abdullah, Lagos.

    “Femi, thank you for your brilliant Friday sermons, coming up in form of a column. Without a gun or sword, you have voluntarily chosen to be the people’s soldier defending us fiercely against the raging tsunami of the satanic forces who, unfortunately, happen to be our rulers today. I particularly enjoy your writing on Mr. President’s perception of national security and of course, the one on EFCC. If columnists like you were many, who can call a spade its real name, perhaps Nigeria would not have slipped into the hands of devils. Please fire on. Your pen is mightier than their missiles”. Bayo Jemitan, Ilorin .

    “Hello! Femi, Reading your column every Friday is like drinking cold, fresh water after a long trek in a hot desert. I am not a Muslim, but I see your column as one for all good Nigerians and not Muslims alone. With your article: ‘NO! MR. PRESIDENT, NO!’ published on February 2, 2007, you have endeared me to The Nation Newspaper. If what you are doing in that column is what Muslims call Jihad then I am for it. Don’t rest on your oars. May God strengthen your fortress in all directions?” James Ahamisu, Asaba.

    “Thank you for reminding us of the late great leader, General Murtala Muhammed, in your article of last Friday titled-‘EFCC: LET THE TRUTH BE TOLD’. If anybody is qualified to be called the father of modern Nigeria it is General Muhammed and not the leopard called Obasanjo, now parading himself as such. Through your article, we still remember that great leader (Murtala Muhammaed)’ revolution, reformation and reorientation of Nigeria within six months of his governance. Murtala was an impartial creator and executor of ideas. He was an exemplary leader who started reformation of our society with himself. He surrendered his personal property to the state because he believed that he wrongly used his office to acquire it before he became Head of State. And, he never sold any state property to himself at give-away price. Neither did he flout the law of the land despite the fact that he was a military Head of State. That was a leader by all standards. He and not the current impostor, self-styled messiah (Obasanjo), should be called and recognized as the father of modern Nigeria” . Ademola Atolagbe, Owu, Abeokuta .

    “Hello! Femi, you are not alone in your opinion on President Obasanjo’s misconception of national security. Having moved from the prison to the Presidency without rehabilitation and reorientation, the man lost touch with modern reality and ruled with a prisoner’s vision. He has forgotten how Abacha started and ended. Such is the characteristic of African leaders. By the time he leaves the office very soon, and joins the league of former Presidents, God willing, his eyes will be open to the reality of what Nigeria is. Those who refuse to learn from history will surely bear the brunt of history”.

    Okey Ibeabuchi, Owerri.

    “Mr. Abbas, with your article published on December 1, 2006, entitled ‘- GOD! GIVE US A LEADER….’ You touched the hearts of most living Nigerians. That prayer was a precise summary of all prayers which most Nigerians have been offering especially about leadership. What remains for us is simply to say Amen. God bless you”. Daniel Akpan, Calabar.

    NB: Very soon, this column may begin a Jihad against two major scourges threatening to devour our dear country soul and body. One of the scourges is corruption. The other is religious hate speeches. The damages done to Nigeria by these two vices in the past three decades are better left to imagination. As a religious column, it becomes necessary to address these two vices for the sake of peaceful co-existence of the citizens in the present and in the future. In doing this, issues causing both scourges will be examined and assessed from all angles with a view to educating the populace on how to overcome them. Readers are expected to contribute to this Jihad if only to enable peace and prosperity reign in our country. And, by the grace of God, we shall not fail to succeed. Welcome on board. Meanwhile a second part of this article may be written in this column next week. Watch out for it.

  • Renaming Nigeria

    Renaming Nigeria

    “Man is history after his demise. Therefore, endeavour to be a pleasant history for others to read after you might have left the stage”. – Arab poet

    Preamble

    Man is both a product and a producer of history. He lives by history and leaves history behind as his legacy at the time of his departure from this ephemeral world. This confirms the fact that man and history are like Siamese twins. The one cannot do without the other. History makes man just as man makes history. The synergy between the two makes them look like a pair of scissors in which one blade cannot effectively function without the other.

    This is a period in Nigeria when recalling history is a necessity. How did Nigeria come into being a country and has a name? Is this name fitting and appropriate for the country that bears it? Can the name be changed and can changing it make any reasonable difference? These are some of the questions that ‘The Message’ seeks to answer today.

    Accident of history

    On January 8, 1897, an article appeared in Financial Times which suggested a name for the vast land around river Niger which had then been colonised by the Royal Niger Company on behalf of the British Empire. The suggested name was Nigeria (from Niger Area) and the author of the article was one Miss Flora Shaw, a 45-year-old journalist. She was then the colonial editor of Financial Times as well as the writer of a weekly column named ‘The Colony’ in that newspaper.

    In coining the name ‘Nigeria’, Flora Shaw logically took many facts into consideration. One: the area in question had no specific name by which it could be called other than a protectorate of the ‘Royal Niger Company’. Two: She considered an earlier suggested name ‘Central Sudan’ as aberrational since that name already belonged to an area around the Nile River occupied by a population of Black Africans now called Sudan. She equally considered the name ‘Slave Coast’ which the colonialists had attempted to give to this area as derogatory and finally settled for ‘Nigeria’, which she coined from ‘Niger Area’.

    Born at 2, Dundas Terrace, Woolwich, England on December 19, 1852, Miss Flora Shaw (fourth of her parent’s fourteen children) was a novelist and frontline, versatile female journalist who gained fame through her pungent analyses of African colonial economy. She was later to become ‘The Honourable Dame Flora Lugard, the wife of Frederick John Deatry Lugard of Abinger who colonised and amalgamated the southern and northern parts of what came to be known as Nigeria in 1914.

    Flora was six years older than Frederick who was born in India on January 22, 1858. The two historic personalities married in 1902 and lived together without children for the rest of their lives.

    Four historical facts are manifest here. First: the name Nigeria had come into existence far away in England long before the country that now bears that name became a country.

    Second: the name was coined five years before Flora Shaw married Frederick Lugard. Therefore, contrary to the general erroneous belief that it was Mrs. Lugard who named our country Nigeria, Flora was Miss Shaw and not Mrs. Lugard when she coined the name.

    Third: it can be said that Nigeria came into existence through the efforts of a bachelor and a spinster who later became a couple.

    Fourth: by sheer coincidence, Nigeria’s second First Lady, Flora Azikiwe, the wife of Nigeria’s first President, shared the same first name with the wife of Lugard: FLORA.

    Lord Frederick Lugard

    Baron Frederick Lugard was a military adventurer and an ardent administrator who played a major part in Britain’s colonial history between 1888 and 1945, serving in East Africa, West Africa, and Hong Kong. His name is particularly associated with Nigeria, where he served as High Commissioner (1900–06) as well as Governor and Governor-General (1912–19). He was knighted in 1901 and raised to the peerage in 1928.

    As at the time of Lugard’s incursion, most of the vast region of over 300,000 square miles (800,000 square km) was still unoccupied and even unexplored by Europeans. In the southern areas were mostly animists and in the northern areas were multitudes of Muslims with city-states and large walled cities.

    Lugard’s intention was to merge these two people with diverse cultures and spiritual inclinations and manage them as a single people in a single nation. Within three years of his expedition, he had established a British control of the large territory by diplomacy or by swift use of his meager force.

    Although in hastening to take the major states of Kano and Sokoto he engaged the hands of his more cautious home government, only two serious local revolts marred the widespread acceptance and cooperation that he obtained. His policy was to support the native states and chieftainships, their laws and their courts, forbidding slave trading and severe punishments as well as exercising control centrally through the native rulers.

    Historic marriage

    After his marriage to Flora Shaw in 1902 and the latter could not stand the Nigerian climate, Lugard felt obliged to leave Africa and accept a junior position of the governorship of Hong Kong which he held from 1907 to 1912. It was like stepping down as president to accept the position of a governor. Only a very few Africans would accept such.

    But the bushwhacker from Africa achieved a surprising degree of success and, on his own initiative, founded the University of Hong Kong. Thereafter, Lugard and his wife joined the Southern and Northern parts of Nigeria in an historic marriage that is yet to prove union right.

    How far so far?

    Ever since the exit of the British colonialists in 1960, Nigeria has remained a country without focus, despite the enormous resources at her disposal. In less than half a decade after independence, the crude hands of African inexperience began to show vividly in her administration as ethnic and religious flavours were added to her republican ethos. Then came the insuperable mountain of corruption that kept overwhelming the citizenry and drowning all hopes till today. Then, a military incursion was introduced with sweet tongue to right the wrong but which eventually turned forlorn.

    Now, after 100 years of absurdity called merger, Nigeria continues to wallow hopelessly in a paroxysm of despair as the last four years became unprecedented in the country’s history of corruption. Today, the language is no longer mere corruption but corruption with unbridled impunity.

    As if in a nightmare, we suddenly found ourselves in a situation where figure 16 is said to be higher than figure 19 and theft is officially defined and treated as to outside the framework corruption. Billions of dollars are said to be missing from our treasury just as our foreign reserves are daily being depleted even as ministers and other governmental cronies are living like princes and princesses under an unquestionable emperor.

    Now, Nigeria is at a crossroads over where to go from here. Like Laurent Gbagbo’s tenure in Cote d’Ivoire Nigeria is anxiously waiting for a period of uncertainty but fervently praying that such period never comes. Typical of African greedy leaders, we now have a situation at hand where ‘the monarch must not be deposed democracy or no democracy. The rule of the game is either ethnicity or religion.

    And to prevent the deposition of the monarch, the military must be mobilised against the ‘bloody armless civilians’ for the purpose of election. Thus, election has become a war that must be fought and won with massive arsenal by the government in power no matter whose ox is gored. Where are we going from here?

    Democratic tenure

    Four years is a long period in a democratic tenure of a nation. It is long enough to lay a solid foundation for a nation. It is long enough to build a formidable edifice that can be inherited from generation to generation. If 16 years of democracy cannot do any of these in Nigeria can one century do any? If a journey of one year cannot take a traveller anywhere who says 10 years will take him anywhere?

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    As an OPEC country, we have abundant oil wealth but we must import refined fuel for domestic consumption. We have a massive army of unemployed youths and we cannot provide electricity to enable them to be self-employed. Yet, we are insisting that we must continue like this even as billions of dollars are being stolen daily. Where are we going from here?

    Obama’s counsel

    In his direct presidential address to Nigerian populace on Tuesday, March 24, 2015, the American President Barrack Obama said of tomorrow’s elections and the subsequent ones as follows: “Hello.  Today, I want to speak directly to you—the people of Nigeria.

    Nigeria is a great nation and you can be proud of the progress you’ve made.  Together, you won your independence, emerged from military rule, and strengthened democratic institutions.  You’ve strived to overcome division and to turn Nigeria’s diversity into a source of strength.  You’ve worked hard to improve the lives of your families and to build the largest economy in Africa.

    Now you have a historic opportunity to help write the next chapter of Nigeria’s progress—by voting in the upcoming elections.  For elections to be credible, they must be free, fair and peaceful.  All Nigerians must be able to cast their votes without intimidation or fear.

    So I call on all leaders and candidates to make it clear to their supporters that violence has no place in democratic elections—and that they will not incite, support or engage in any kind of violence—before, during, or after the votes are counted.

    I call on all Nigerians to peacefully express your views and to reject the voices of those who call for violence.  And when elections are free and fair, it is the responsibility of all citizens to help keep the peace, no matter who wins.

    Successful elections and democratic progress will help Nigeria meet the urgent challenges you face today.  Boko Haram—a brutal terrorist group that kills innocent men, women and children—must be stopped.

    Hundreds of kidnapped children deserve to be returned to their families. Nigerians who have been forced to flee deserve to return to their homes.  Boko Haram wants to destroy Nigeria and all that you have worked to build.  By casting your ballot, you can help secure your nation’s progress.

    I’m told that there is a saying in your country: “to keep Nigeria one is a task that must be done”. Today, I urge all Nigerians—from all religions, all ethnic groups, and all regions—to come together and keep Nigeria one.  And in this task of advancing the security, prosperity, and human rights of all Nigerians, you will continue to have a friend and partner in the United States of America”.

    Ordinarily, such a cross-Atlantic presidential speech would have been unnecessary if we had learnt from the examples of great African leaders such as Nelson Mandela of South Africa, Sam Njoma of Namibia, Julius Nyerere of Tanzania and Ahmadu Ahidjo of Cameroun.

    But since the uncheckable greed in us will not allow us to learn from good examples we must to listen to an American Obama who talks to Nigerians rather than talk with Nigerians. Whatever name we now give Nigeria, positive or negative; we shall not relent in saying: God save Nigeria!

  • Not by desperation

    Not by desperation

    “Are they (the umbelievers) claiming the possession of the right to distribute the bounties of your Lord? It is ‘We’ (Allah) that distribute among people their sources of livelihood in this world and ‘We’ exalt some in rank above others so that some may employ the services of others. Your Lord’s mercy is better by far than all their hoarded treasures”. Q. 43: 32

    Preamble

    History is resplendent with lessons for people whose steps in life are in tandem or not with Allah’s guidance. There is no life’s odyssey without a divine warning. Heeding or shunning such a warning is however a matter of choice. And the consequences or otherwise of such a choice will eventually become the heritage of the concerned person.

    We live in a world, today, that is quite different from that of the centuries past when the Qur’an was revealed to Prophet Muhammad (SAW). But surprisingly, nothing in the contemporary world has run counter to the predictions of that sacred Book or those of the last Messenger of Allah, Prophet Muhammad (SAW).

    For instance, business transactions in the time of the Prophet might not involve high technology or the sophistication of transport as of today but the norms which guided business in those days are still as vital today as they were then. Not even the introduction of mundane ideologies like capitalism, socialism, and communism has altered those norms. So far, the source of the wealth of the world has not changed from what it was in the past millennia. That source is the earth from which every atom of wealth emanates. Even the materials used to manufacture satellites or space shuttle aircraft are from the earth.

    Thus, from agriculture to nuclear device, no new norm has been introduced to warrant any new world order that can affect the faith of the Muslims. As a matter of fact, the world has witnessed the collapse of communism and that of socialism within a period of 74 years despite their overbearing influence when they held sway. It is just a matter of time for the current pervading capitalism to go the way of socialism and communism.

    Economic ideology

    An unlettered personality like Prophet Muhammad (SAW) did not need to formulate any mundane economic ideology to run a great Islamic government. He was not just a political leader but also an economic expert, a great law giver and an army general of impeccable status.

    Without necessarily going into details on how he managed the economy of the Islamic state which he established and ruled from the scratch, it is obvious that even his ascension to the seven planets which paved way for modern man’s exploration of the space is of immense economic value to the contemporary world which no sensible critic can logically dispute. Although the Quran which was revealed to an unlettered Muhammad (SAW) is seen by some ignorant people as a mere religious Book, the economic value of that Book has remained unquantifiable and will remain so forever. The fast-spreading Islamic banking in the West today is a clear evidence of that fact.

    Being the most read book in the world, the Quran has been translated into hundreds of languages making it possible for millions of people, Muslims and non-Muslims alike, to be employed at the various segments of the world’s economy. For instance, the writing of the Qur’an, its recitation, its proof-reading, its printing, its marketing, its teaching, its translation, its interpretation and even its criticism by unbelievers are all sources of economic survival for millions of people in the world irrespective of their religions. The global engagement in research on that glorious Book by various scholars and intellectuals either for acknowledgement of facts or for criticism are an attestation to the above assertion. There was no book like the Qur’an before its revelation and there will never be a book like it till the world will come to an end. The mounting hostility to it in certain quaters is largely due to ignorance about it. But that cannot continue forever.

    Islam as employer of labour

    If only one quarter of a billion people is gainfully employed in the workings of the Quran alone, today’s world economy would have been remarkably upheld by the religion of Islam. Yet, apart from the Qur’an, millions of people are engaged in various businesses relating to Hadith (Prophetic Tradition), Fiqh (Islamic Jurisprudence), Tarikh (Islamic History), Tawhid (Faith in the oneness of Allah) and Thaqafah (Islamic Culture) among others. All such specialized books which emanated from the Qur’an itself were advanced to compliment the sacred Book of Allah.

    Even, for hundreds of years that the Orientalists were busy citicising Islam through their satanic publications, it was undeniable that those destroyers were benefiting from the economic legacy of that divine religion through the sale of their evil publications.

    Today, even as the same Orientalists are busy reversing themselves on what they had maliciously published about Islam in the past they are still benefiting economically from that great religion.

    However, despite the vast economic advantages provided by Islam, some unscrupulous Muslims including Nigerians still engage in illegal businesses that contravene the tenets of that divine religion. Some of such Muslims are among the thousands of Nigerians who are now languishing in various prisons around the world. Some others are even sentenced to death, by various means, as punishment for their crimes. Incidentally, some of such people often commit their atrocities under the cover of Islam. This happened even during the time Hajj rites.

    This reminds yours sincerely of a fortuitous encounter with one of them as far back as 1981 which keeps my heart quivered even today. I had once relayed that ugly encounter in this column through an article entitled ‘Business made in Prison’. But I decided to repeat it here today because it was an experience from which young Nigerian Muslim men and women of today can draw a lesson from.

    Illicit act

    A Nigerian youth of about 30 years of age called Akram (not real name) did not have anything like poultry in his dream when he was going into Saudi Arabian prison as a convict in 1981. His only prayer was for Allah to influence the minds of the Saudi Authorities to have mercy for him and grant him amnesty after two or three years in prison. His service term was 15 years. He had earned the sentence through drug trafficking engendered by blind ambition to be quickly rich by all means.

    Akram is a quiet, easy-going young man from one of the Southwest Nigerian cities. He graduated from the Islamic University of Madinah in Saudi Arabia. I first met him in 1978 when I went for a first degree in that country. His University was in Madinah while mine was in Jeddah. He left Saudi Arabia after graduating in 1980 and settled down in Nigeria following a one year compulsory national service to the nation. In his plan, Akram did not want to work for anybody. His ambition was to be a big merchant of automobile and electronics. However, since there was no ready-made capital with which to start off such a business, he decided to take a short cut, typical of Nigerian style and he found Saudi Arabia, the country that funded his University education, as most suitable for such a dirty business. Thus, he embarked on his first illicit ‘business trip’ to the country of his Alma Mata in 1981.

    It was on my way back to school from a summer holiday of the same year that I met him at the Murtala Muhammed International Airport (MMIA), Lagos. After embracing and exchanging pleasantries, we decided to sit together in the aircraft (of the then Nigerian Airways) in order to have a chat on the good old days and our expected future. Thus, from Lagos to Jeddah (a journey of five and a half hours), we really chatted to our fill.  Then It was as if we had not spent one hour when we arrived at King Abdul Aziz Airport in Jeddah after five and a half hours.

    Youthful dream

    As bachelors, we discussed various issues ranging from marriage, bearing of children to monogamy and polygamy as well as family structure. We gossiped on the political trend in our country as championed by the then ruling party, the National Party of Nigeria (NPN). We compared Nigeria’s pace of development with that of Saudi Arabia and concluded that our government had neither focus nor plan a situation which made Nigerian youths abroad feel like orphans.

    We also talked about world peace, the then cold war between the Western Capitalist World championed by the United States and the Eastern Socialist Block championed by the now defunct Union of Soviet Socialist Republic (USSR) and the future of Islam in Africa and the Middle East. We analysed the Middle East crises and the role of the two opposing world powers in those crises. We also veered into Nigeria’s micro economy by discussing the role of small and middle scale businesses in our country compared to those of other countries with similar status like Malaysia, Indonesia, Brazil, Singapore, India, Pakistan and Egypt.

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    Without gazing through any crystal ball, we concluded that with no middle class in place, our country might have no hope except through an accidental miracle. We also reviewed the use to which Nigerian oil was put vis-a-vis that of Saudi Arabia, Libya or Algeria. On this, we concluded that oil in Nigeria was a blessing from Allah which the country’s ruling class turned into a curse. But we were not experienced enough to suggest tangible solution.

    Thus, in that long conversation which touched virtually all issues affecting the corporate life of Nigeria and her citizens, we agreed on some and disagreed on some. However, we were satisfied to have delivered our minds of their pregnancies if only to broaden our horizon.

    Point of departure

    On arrival at the King Abdul Aziz International Airport in Jeddah, my friend quickly dashed into the toilet and requested me to help push his baggage to the security desk for checking. He promised to join me shortly. It was almost my turn for security check before an instinct gingered me into consciousness. For more than 30 minutes after he entrusted his baggage to me and went into the toilet, my friend did not resurface. Something just told me to abandon his baggage as I was approaching the checking desk and I did. My own baggage was checked and I went out of the arrival hall to wait for him at the taxi garage. After about one hour of waiting and Akram did not surface, I decided to proceed to my hostel where he was to pass the night in my room as we had earlier agreed.

    Breaking News

    While I was still expecting him in my hostel, the electronic waves throbbed with breaking news. The Saudi Television reported the arrest of a Nigerian who smuggled drugs into the holy land. His name was ‘Akram’. That was at 9pm Saudi local time. We had arrived in Jeddah at about 9.00am that day. About one hour after the breaking news, my friend was brought to the gleer of the nation through the tube and paraded on the Saudi national television as the suspected culprit in the illicit drug trafficking. That was one of the most frightening moments of my life. Akram wanted to be rich and I was to pay the cost of his richness.

    Rumination

    What would have happened if I had not heeded the warning of my instinct? Who could have imagined that a seeming gentleman like ‘Akram’ would ever think of trafficking in drug for whatever reason? If I had been caught with Akram’s baggage, what explanation could have exonerated me? Those were some of the questions that immediately ran through me like milk runs through water and changed my mind about sentimental friendship with people, no matter how innocent they might look. There and then, I decided never to assist anybody again in carrying his or her baggage while on a journey.

    After about three months of trial, Akram was sentenced to fifteen years in jail. He was lucky that drug trafficking at that time in Saudi Arabia had not attracted death as punishment. If it were now, the punishment would have been death sentence by beheading. I was also lucky that at that time the Saudi immigration authorities had not adopted the use of secret camera to monitor passengers.

    Prison for reformation

    For 15 years thereafter (from 1981 to 1996), Akram remained behind bars languishing in Saudi Arabian prison as an inmate among criminals as he anxiously expected to be let off the hook one day. But one good thing about Saudi Arabia as a country or any other Islamic country for that matter is the concept of reformation which imprisonment entails. Inmates are not just imprisoned as punishment for crimes they are also prepared for a better post-prison life and re-orientated for better world outlook.

    Besides, prisoners are paid a specific amount of money daily for their labour in prison. And that gives them hope of reintegration into the society after leaving the prison. Such money is kept in a special bank account opened for them. The total amount is paid to each inmate after his or her prison term.

    Thus, when Akram left the prison in 1996, the post-prison money paid to him by Saudi government became his main lot in life. He was deported to Nigeria but not without that prison labour reward that became his capital for a poultry business. Thus, within a couple of years thereafter, he had become a big poultry farmer but whether or not he learnt any lesson from that incident is another matter.

    Qur’anic admonition

    Most of the young men and women of today do not seem to believe in crawling before walking. To them, what matters most in their lives is how to quickly get money to spend and not how such money is made. That is the main cause of the high rate of crimes witnessed around the world today and the entailed short life span for those youths. In Qur’an, Chapter 43, Verse 32 quoted above, Allah had warned Muslims against desperate accumulation of wealth over 1,400 years ago even when desperate quest for wealth was unfashionable. However, the refusal by today’s youths to heed that warning and the aggressive greed of the privileged elders in power constitute the main cause of restiveness and insurrection around the world today.

    In Islam, desperation for accumulation of wealth is prohibited because it encourages a focus on the end result rather than the means and its entailed immorality. In the past decades, Nigeria had sunk so deep into the valley of corruption that no one cared to ask about the source of any wealth even as corruption became the taproot of Nigeria’s tree of existence. Now, with parents, teachers and even legislators getting so desperate to become rich even right before their pupils and children what future is expected for those wards?

    Parochial wealth estimation

    Desperation is not what fetched Nigeria the enormous oil wealth of today. If desperation ever had any role to play in accumulating wealth, perhaps Nigeria would have long become a country in penury. This is because people who were more desperate in this same country and had lived and died some centuries back would have discovered this oil wealth and they would have exhausted it long before our own generation. But in consonance with the above quoted Qur’anic verse, Allah deliberately preserved it (oil) for our own generation for a reason best known to Him. Yes, oil may be the source of wealth at this time it is surely not the last source of wealth in this country.

    There are other sources of wealth preserved for the future generations which no desperate ‘awks’ in this generation can discover. Those who see oil as the climax of wealth and want to own its control or die for it should engage in a rethink. You can only have the privilege of presiding over the wealth of a nation for a while and not for all time. The experience of some past regimes in Nigeria should serve as a sufficient lesson. And those in government today should also note this very well. The privilege of the past did not extend to the present and that of the present will not extend to the future. Every era is a transit. And every transit has a term.

  • Footprints

    Footprints

    Preamble

    “I shall pass through this world but once; If, therefore, there is any good that I can do or any kindness that I can show to any human being; Let me do it now; Let me not defer or neglect it for I may not pass this way again”

     The concept of the above quotation tallies perfectly with Islamic philosophy of welfare management. It has been adopted by some humanitarians as a guiding principle of life. It serves as an irrigation nourishing the seed of kind-heartedness and philanthropy imbibed by some people. It is a summary of the real essence of wealth in the hands of a few as against abject poverty overwhelming the majority of people.

    Life is like a circle which rotates around a permanent axis. Whatever goes forth comes back. Whatever goes up comes down. The sun rises in the East and travels to set in the West. It comes back the following day to repeat the same journey without losing its track. Seasons exchange batons on a quarterly basis. Spring, autumn, winter and summer, all come at their right time without one taking the place of another.

    Children come into the world daily and grow up to become adults with time. Parents rear their children the way they themselves had been reared so that the circle of life may continue after their demise. We sleep and wake and eat and defecate daily until we are stopped by the supreme force that fixes and schedules everything. And our successors proceed from where we stop if only to keep the circle of life in continuity.

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    Human beings are like cash crops. They germinate into embryo from spermatozoa, transform biologically from stage to stage until they blossom into youthful adolescents and grow up into productive men and women just like fruitful trees. And then they begin to grey as an indication that they are starting to wither away like trees which leaves are turning into red. By the time the icy hands of death come to pluck them like ripe fruits, their transit visa in this ephemeral world would have expired. But their journey from the unknown continues into the unknown until they are summoned by their Creator to give the account of that journey.

    No man comes into the world without a mission. The mission may be positive or negative. But what is common to all is a place in history which may serve as an encouragement or a guide or a warning to the coming generations.

    In man’s initial journey into the world, the soul is firmly in harmony with the flesh. Both work in tandem physically and spiritually. At that stage, a spade is always seen and called a spade. And that is why children are said to be innocent. But after some time, the flesh outgrows the soul and becomes like a mossy stone eagerly wishing to crush the fragile lily that the soul represents.

    At that stage, Satan begins to assemble his destructive tools with which to rework or dismantle man’s engine of life to suit his own mission. No one drives a car without an engine. But when the engine is removed from the car, the body becomes disabled. So is the case with the corpse of man after the exit of the soul. But blessed are those who do not nourish the flesh at the expense of the soul.  

     Alhaji (Chief) Dr. Wahab Iyanda Folawiyo, the Baba Adini of Nigeria, was a man of flesh and soul. He combined both temporally and spiritually to the benefit of mankind while alive courting the milk of kindness with which he suckled the indigent multitudes around. He had realized early enough in his youthful days that life was worthless for anybody who passes through it without leaving a footprint on the sands of time. He therefore decided, despite his humble background, to live for his fellow human beings as much as he lived for himself. As a Muslim, he had read or heard the stories of some great men in Islamic history whose wealth was dedicated to humanitarianism. He therefore prayed Allah to grant him wealth promising to use such wealth for the cause of Islam and humanity if granted.

    Alhaji Folawiyo had particularly studied and admired the lifestyle of Abdur-Rahman bn ‘Awf, a companion of Prophet Muhammad who was stupendously rich but marvellously humble.

    Abdur-Rahman deployed his entire wealth to the course of Islam and the welfare of mankind to the admiration and blessing of Prophet Muhammad. When he was frightened by the rate at which his wealth was expanding and became afraid of his hereafter knowing very well that the rich might encounter huddles on their way to paradise, he asked the Prophet to pray for a drastic reversal of that wealth. But rather than doing that the Prophet prayed Allah to increase it and not to let Abdur-Rahman account for his wealth in the hereafter. Thus he became the wealthiest Arab of the Prophet’s time and the greatest philanthropist of that era. Yet he was so humble that most of the beneficiaries of his kind largesse never knew the man behind it.

    Conscious that the wealth entrusted to him by Allah could have been in the custody of another person, Abdur-Rahman vowed to utilize it responsibly if only to curry the favour of his Creator and Sustainer. He often expressed to whoever was ready to listen that the wealth in his possession was not for him but for others believing that he only held it in trust for the poor and the needy.

    Abdur-Rahman was not a soldier but he singularly financed several Islamic wars. He was not a king but bought many slaves into freedom even as he used his wealth to employ many people who would have been frustrated by joblessness. He cared for many widows and orphans, rescued many debtors from bondage and saved many marriages from crumbling. As one of the very few people to have been lettered in Arabia even before Islam, Abdur-Rahman strongly supported education financially and encouraged women to seek knowledge.

    To Baba Adini of Nigeria, Abdur-Rahman Bn ‘Awf, was a unique model especially for the Muslim aristocrats of the modern world to emulate. He therefore adopted a similar lifestyle and spent his wealth in the way of Allah. When the old Lagos Central Mosque became ramshackle and unbefitting to the State of Excellence in the mid 1980s, he volunteered to singularly rebuild it in the manner his role model, Abdur-Rahman Bn ‘Awf, used to bear the cost of projects all alone in the time of the Prophet.

    At the time when the Nigerian currency (the naira) was very strong, Alhaji Folawiyo undertook the building of a new Mosque for Lagos at the cost of N40 million. That amount was very intimidating in the 1980s. It is like committing N40 billion to a Mosque project today. It takes a strong Islamic conviction for an individual to commit such a huge amount to the cause of Islam at once. But that was one of his many ways of thanking Allah for His inestimable bounties.

    The Mosque was not built for observance of Salat alone as generally known with most Mosques in Nigeria. Facilities for vocational training were provided therein for Muslim youths who were in need of such training. And some of those who completed their training courses were supplied with necessary tools with which to fend for themselves.

    Also provided was a study centre of Arabic and Islamic studies in that Mosque which was equipped with copies of the Qur’an and other Islamic books. Alhaji Folawiyo did not stop at that.

    Besides employing thousands of Nigerians in his conglomerate of businesses, irrespective of tribes and religions, he also had a private scholarship scheme for indigent students to benefit from. Some of such beneficiaries studied in various countries of the world. There were many other Muslims who benefited tremendously from his annual Hajj sponsorship programme. But what many people consider as his greatest achievement was the establishment of an orphanage home in Ikeja named Babu-s-Salam.

    His passionate commitment to that orphanage was a true reflection of his kind-heartedness in a world where wickedness has virtually become a culture. Some of the orphans who passed through that home are now graduates of various disciplines from various Universities.

    As a lover of education and Progress, Alhaji Folawiyo did not only build and site several conventional secondary schools in places where schools were needed, he also contributed superlatively to the structural growth and academic development of Lagos State University (LASU) and some other Universities in the country.

    As a Vise President of Supreme Council for Islamic Affairs, he cooperated with other highly placed Muslims in the country to further the course of Islam nationally and continentally. All these he did quietly but diligently even he often shunned unnecessary propaganda through the media.

    When the chapter of his life’s odyssey was closed penultimate week, he, like others before him, became memorial words to be chronicled into history by those who were privileged to see him alive through the window of time. His philosophy has come to remind us that both the makers and the chroniclers of history will finally be returned into the womb of the mother earth. And observers of history will recall that these men or women have once passed through this world.

    This is neither a posthumous biography nor an elegy for a Muslim icon. It is rather an assessment of a life well spent which may serve as a good example for others who are still alive. One day, some people will take the trouble of writing about us just as we are now writing about others. Life is a circle. It must be allowed to run its full course without any hindrance. We are from Allah and we shall all return to Allah. May the soul of Alhaji Wahab Iyanda Folawiyo, the Baba Adini of Nigeria be divinely reposed in eternal bliss. Amin.