The Nation Newspaper

Category: Friday

  • Challenges to peace-building

    Challenges to peace-building

    An article published in this column in 2011 was entitled ‘A VOICE FROM HARVARD’. It contained a brief analysis and excerpts from the lecture delivered by His Eminence, Dr. Muhammad Sa’ad Abubakar III, the Sultan of Sokoto at Harvard University in the United States of America on October 3, 2011. The title of the lecture was ‘ISLAM AND PEACE BUILDING IN WEST AFRICA’. It is recalled here because of its relevant to this time in Nigeria. Here it goes:

    “….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 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 a different conclusion. 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 have witnessed in recent years, 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 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.

    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, politicians exercise no restraint in aggravating the socio-religious and ethnic cleavages, which characterize 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. After all, 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 him. 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…

    “….The Nigeria Inter-Religious Council [NIREC] provided the right platform for this engagement. The Council, itself 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 break-out of violence, we work together to restore law and order and ask the quarrelsome questions later. We take this approach to minimize 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.

    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 organized by the Christian Association of Nigeria [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….

    “….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% 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 specializations necessary for sustaining the socio-economic development of the society?….

    “….Finally, we should not neglect the impact of the International environment on Nigeria’s ethno-religious crises. Happenings in the US, Iraq, Afghanistan, Norway, Netherlands, the UK and France 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 shape the fate of humanity….”

  • Fafowora’s memoir and Nigeria’s moral abyss

    Fafowora’s memoir and Nigeria’s moral abyss

    Ambassador Dapo Fafowora belongs to the golden era of the country’s Foreign Service. He was nurtured in the best of British civil service traditions of that epoch. His 549-page biography entitled: ‘Lest I forget: Memoirs of a Nigerian Career Diplomat’ was formally launched yesterday at the Nigerian Institute of International Affairs (NIIA), Victoria Island, Lagos. Though yours sincerely is yet to settle down with the book, Kunle Abimbola of our Editorial Board, in his earlier column in the week, gave a good adumbration of the book. He described it as ‘rich in anecdotes and even richer in sound knowledge of modern history.’

    The book, ostensibly, reveals Fafowora’s betrayal by notable figures in Nigeria’s public firmament, including General Joe Garba and Professor Ibrahim Gambari, both foreign ministers under Murtala-Obasanjo and Buhari/Idiagbon military administrations respectively, and of course, Lawal Rafindadi, the demised Director-General of defunct Nigerian Security Organisation (NSO). The ‘treacherous’ acts of the trio according to Fafowora’s memoirs, led to his early retirement by the Buhari-Idiagbon regime. While Garba and Rafindadi were no more living to defend themselves, Gambari is very much alive to give his riposte to allegations of backstabbing and ethnic jingoism levelled against him by Fafowora. No doubt, the enlightened public, especially the media will feast on this for some time to come – not with the rigorously scathing review accorded the book by our luminous Professor Adebayo Williams.

    The best part that appealed to me in the book is where Fafowora gleefully declares that he has never in his glorious public service life ‘given or received’ bribe. He effusively stated in the book: ‘I have never in my entire public career, spanning nearly 50 years now, either given or received bribes, or any other form of gratification. I find doing so repugnant and personally demeaning.’ In a country where corruption has been elevated to the status of national ethos; where if possible, inhabitants are ready to bribe God, it is heart warming to know that someone of notable standing can still publicly make this kind of statement. Of course, to make such avowal means that the Ambassador is very sure of himself. Perhaps, few ‘countable number’ of Nigerians can stand tall in the podium of public arena to make such. Fafowora has done that and till now, nobody has come out to controvert it. The public is watching!

    The declaration of Ambassador Fafowora reminds me of the truism in the aphorism of Italian diplomat Niccolò Machiavelli that is fondly remembered for writing ‘The Prince’, a handbook for ruthless public officials to wit: “It is not titles that honour men, but men that honour titles.” In this era of dearth of impeachable men in the nation’s Foreign Service, it is good to still note that a man like Ambassador Fafowora once passed through that path and still exist to give honour to that title of an ambassador that has now been widely bastardised.

    It is not only in the Foreign Service that the nation needs moral/ethical revival. In Law, Engineering, Medicine, Architecture, Banking and Finance, Public Administration, Political Science, Mass Communication, Sociology, the artisans, and even history all witnessed a situation where experts unabashedly distort facts – unfortunately, experts without honour that see what others are but forget what they are. How many of today’s experts in the country are able to conquer that hunger of the flesh which has become a terror that incarcerates men. Most men’s inability to conquer the flesh has created a society where it is very difficult to live above board. Those that are custodians of honour are the most dishonourable in public and private enterprises.

    Most men, especially those in the corridors of power in our society have no deference for honour of the mind- they are conscienceless human beings. They see no sense in the words of that renowned English essayist, Joseph Addison, where he said it is ‘better to die ten thousand deaths’ than for a man to ‘wound his honour.’ For as long as their flesh are appeased, to hell with honour and integrity.

    That is why the few men of integrity in the country today, like Ambassador Fafowora, have hard-to-believe tales of injustice to tell in the course of their service to fatherland. He, like others in his shoes, sustained wounds for the sake of conscience. In a society facing dearth of honourable men, Fafowora must be ready to forgive the unjustifiably blows of forceful retirement at an unripe age of 43 that a thankless country like ours inflicted on him. I hope ambassador as we fondly call him on the Editorial Board of The Nation takes solace in that 18th-century English poet, Alexander Pope, best known for his epic poem, ‘The Rape of the Lock’, and his translation of Homer’s Iliad when he said: ‘Act well your part, there all the honour lies.’ Ambassador has really done well. Congrats sir!

     

    Airtel/NCC and ruse of SIM card registration?

    Does the SIM card registration work? This question becomes pertinent in view of my experience this week with my new Airtel mobile network line. Sometime last month, I requested a special line from Airtel and was initially allotted one that was embargoed, presumably on the orders of a top notch after I had paid the charged fees and collected receipt at its Ikorodu outlet. After I threatened to sue the company, I was offered another special number (07011117777) which I reluctantly accepted in order to save the job of the employee that duly issued the payment receipt after complying with requirements for award of special numbers.

    Sometime this week, a text from Airtel requested me to answer ‘Yes’ or ‘No’ to an inquiry regarding whether or not I had problem with my line. Once I answered yes, the Airtel network service immediately disappeared from my Nokia handset that Tuesday afternoon. By Wednesday afternoon when l went to lodge my complaints at the Airtel office on Oba Akran Road, Ikeja, I was surprisingly informed that my SIM card had been swapped and the thousands of naira on it transferred.

    Now, the questions: How can an Airtel SIM card duly registered with my thumb prints duly taken be re-registered by another person so effortlessly in less than 24 hours? Were my details no longer in NCC/Airtel information banks? Could such criminal act have been done without the connivance of an insider? Is someone that is not pleased with the number acting funny? Of what essence is the entire SIM card registration, including thumb prints that gulped not less than six billion naira of tax payers’ money – if this kind of fraud could go unchecked? I demand answers to these questions from the network and NCC, otherwise, the need for judicial recourse might become inevitable soon.

  • Why Baga matters

    Despite the denial of the Nigerian security forces that laid siege on Baga in mid-April, burned down more than two thousand houses, which they later derogatively referred to as thatched dwellings as if that sign of the poverty of a people justified official arson, and massacred more than 100 innocent civilians, thanks to satellite technology, Human Rights Watch has confirmed the original media reports.

    It is not beyond the conscience of the agents of government and most assuredly, not a few members of the public with sadistic orientation to dismiss the justified outrage from all corners as misplaced. For such mindsets, what happened in Baga pales significantly in the face of the horror of the Boko Haram initiated assaults on innocent members of the public. I think they are wrong.

    First, it is morally unjustifiable to respond to the barbarism of Boko Haram with a government authorised act of barbarism, and this is what Baga meant in reality. What is unfortunate about this is that we have seen too much of its kind. Reprisal attack on villages and towns in which some security personnel were harmed has been a regular occurrence since the beginning of this republic.

    We remember Odi in 1999 with all its rawness and crudity. We cannot forget the attack on militants in villages of Benue State in 2001, an attack that killed more than 200 people, mostly innocent civilians. Nor can anyone forget the 2010 raid in the Niger Delta. In each of these cases, the modus operandi was similar. Set villages on fire, shoot escapees and deny involvement. Whether it is the case of the police avenging an assault on fellow officer, or a group of navy ratings dueling for a pound of flesh in the streets of Lagos, Nigerians have not been protected from official hooliganism run amok.

    Second, those who would defend the outrageous conduct of security forces in Baga are better reminded of the old-age principle that even in cases of civilian-to-civilian atrocities, two wrongs don’t make a right. This is why, in its wisdom, society came up with a system of justice with the purpose of rational adjudication of inevitable cases of conflict, knowing that one cannot impartially be the aggrieved, the prosecutor and the judge in one’s own case. Therefore even in cases of obvious aggression on the part of an individual or a group, it is expected that an independent arbitrator be allowed to pronounce on the guilt or innocence of the accused.

    Third, it is also an age-old principle that in the matter of judgment and punishment, the accused must not be lumped together with the innocent. This principle is so ingrained in our pre-colonial cultures that the symbolism of the unity of a hand is invoked to drive home the point. Thus despite that observed unity, and the fact that it is difficult for a hand to operate without the collective involvement of the fingers, our people insist that in the matter of guilt and innocence, we must be scrupulous in the assignment: ika to se lobaa ge (the king orders the cutting of only the offending finger). The reasoning is clear. Even in such a difficult situation of assigning responsibility, it is important to find who the culprit is and he or she alone must be punished. If our traditional cultures could be so sensitive to the fundamental principle of criminal justice, why is our so-called modern sensibility so compromised?

    In the Baga case, the consistency of the story across multiple media reports about what happenedcannot be brushed aside no matter what the official report of the government investigation comes up with. With gasoline in hand, soldiers reportedly doused and set thatched-roof houses on fire, then shot residents as they tried to escape. One is reminded of the practice of dry-season hunting when bushes are deliberately torched so bush rats are forced out and shot. Even little children are not given the benefit of probable innocence in a case beyond their understanding. One report suggested that a child was even snatched and thrown back in the flame. In the end, more than two hundred were slaughtered.

    The story line from the military is that Boko Haram militants are solely responsible for the Baga tragedy.In that narrative it was the militants, armed with machine guns, rocket-propelled grenades and homemade bombs that resisted the military from positions around local people and their homes. In other words, Boko Haram used people as shields. Assume that this was true; the question is what should be the reaction of the military in that regard? If it was determined that the militants were camped around people’s homes, making them hostages in their own homes, should the military retreat and reengage later or should it still go ahead with planned assault paying no attention to the risk to civilians?

    That question may be answered one way by the military and another way by reasonable people confronted with the irrepressible conscience of humanity. But even that position of the military has been countered and it is unclear why it should be accepted in view of the fact that it has always been the recourse of the Nigerian Armed Forces whether at Odi or the Kalakuta republic. When will it stop?

    What the military response to Boko Haram in general, and in this instance in particular has done is to provide the group with a favorability rating in eyes of the poor and dispossessed that the government would normally want to get on its side. For the ultimate goal of the response to an insurgency cannot just be to kill it but to make it so unpopular that the citizens would have nothing to do with it. However, when you make no distinction between the insurgents and the civilian populations that are caught in the cross hairs of the battle, then you end up creating more insurgents or at least insurgency sympathisers.

    In 21st century Nigeria, our official conduct has failed to match the moral sensibilities of the 18th century village ethics in the matters of dealing with our own. We have not demonstrated the respect for human lives and community integrity that our forebears understood and practiced. If in the currents of the world religions that we claim to embrace, our systems of responding to cases of minority infractions are so morally outrageous, then we have to rethink the foundations of our so-called democracy. The world is watching.

  • Useful idiots (1)

    Useful idiots (1)

    An Ivy League education without ethics makes a trust fund ‘baby’ an expensive toy without batteries. Substandard education makes the middling youth even worse; it moulds him into a broken toy without appeal. They are both disposable but they enjoy patronage anyway – by the ones Wole Soyinka eloquently described as the wasted generation.

    The Nigerian youth is a breed with all the personality of a paper cup. Thus like paper cups, we are used and disposed by men and women unfit to be elders. Yet whatever callousness we are forced to endure, our elders are not to blame. They shall not be blamed, for we made ourselves unbidden offering on the altar of vultures.

    It is the malady of this age that the youth are too busy preaching that they have no time left to learn. In Nigeria, we are too busy dumbing down that we barely have time left to grow. It is a sad manifestation of stunted growth that we evolve into foetal adults and spend the rest of our lives seeking the comfort of debilitating “life boats.”

    It is even more disheartening to see us adopt as a favourite past time, the pillorying of our elders and the rapacious ruling class. Many a Nigerian youth love to prophesy the worst about our fatherland thus it is never surprising to hear the average Nigerian youth pronounce with emphatic pessimism and relish that “This country is doomed,” and “Nigeria is finished.”

    The Igbo youth laments his persistent marginalization from the scheme of things/bounties. He believes Nigeria is skewed to work against him and fellow Igbo because his peers from other ethnic groups are wary of his towering acumen, industry, courage and political savvy. The Hausa youth believes he has inalienable right to statutorily and heavenly accorded rights to reign supreme and lord it over his peers irrespective of merit. And the Yoruba youth, goaded by sentiments of his higher wisdom, towering depth in diplomacy, culture and politics believes that he is entitled to the best the country has to offer, on a platter of gold.

    Every youth desperately perpetuates his sense of victimhood and entitlement. The idea is to keep whining until he gets lucky and corners an immense portion of the proverbial national cake – with minimal exertion and at no cost.

    We used to be regarded as the promising youth, the gifted generation that would rescue Nigeria from the brink of irredeemable ruin. But that spell of hopefulness has dissipated now. Our “wasted” elders have seen through the swollen belly of our pride. They know we are increasingly handicapped by greed and lack of creed. By creed, I mean a coherent and specific set of goals, a consistent series of norms according to which society is to be remade.

    Since we have learnt to blame the ruling class for everything, what is it that we want from the ruling class? We don’t need their permission to make something of the world where they have failed but we still live our lives seeking their permission to evolve positively and mature.

    It takes courage and an enormous reserve of decency to evolve a humane ideology and establish it. We haven’t the courage and will, and this interferes with our ability to accomplish progressive change. More worrisome are our violent attempts to be radical; eventually they resonate too feebly as a kind of rudderless activism.

    We identify all that is wrong with our society but we are never specific about what must be done to correct them. It is relatively easy to join a picket line and tirelessly castigate our elders and ruling class for everything that is wrong with our lives but these actions, while they demonstrate frustration, in some instances even heroism, deal generally with symptoms of· our problems and not the solutions. All the picket lines in the world will not resolve ills of fraudulent and impatient youth, perverted values, greed, racism, disillusionment with study and substandard education.

    A broad wave of disillusionment and darkness persists above the silver linings we desperately wish to succeed our darksome clouds. Yet with precision and unfaltering devotion, we work ourselves up into such a state that we can only see the volcanic flare of our destructive acts as glitters of grandeur. We have perfected the art of standing on barrel-heads to spout and be seen, while we engage in pursuit and acquisition of mostly unearned wealth and greatness. Eventually, we luxuriate and spread out like a green forest with sour fruits and severed roots.

    Apparently, we suffer a throwback to the 70s – the era that launched a trend in which Nigerians became preoccupied with themselves more than the survival of the nation. Self preservation has become an inexorable obsession of many youths seeking to escape the slow, steady path with its craters of mishap and socio-economic vagaries. What Joshua Lubin identifies as the “Me” decade has indeed, recoiled inward rather than concern itself with crucial national issues, like national progress and ethical rebirth. Therefore, popular culture attracts dubious labels such as “narcissistic” and “decadent” from critics and the “wasted”older generation.

    The Nigerian youth has become so self-involved that almost every action and train of thought perpetuated by him serves as an instrumental resource to situate this generation in historical context, as perfect illustration of the much-hackneyed and over-exploited “Lost Generation.”

    Our inordinate quest for self-fulfillment further establishes us as the worst that could possibly happen to a heavily endowed nation like Nigeria.

    But we aren’t actually so bad. If we could look inwards to summon latent will and channel it towards the rejuvenation of outdated mores of morality and simple decencies, our lot might yet change, for better.

    It shouldn’t hurt to evolve faith and be steadfast in it. If we could discard our sentiments about the lifestyle of Tuface Idibia, we would find in the musician some worthy anecdote about the quality of faith. Tuface Idibia believed in his dream of stardom. And he relentlessly pursued it through the stark streets of Festac, the wilderness of hunger spasms and institutional adversities to become whoever he is and whatever he is today. If I had used Soyinka, or Late Babatunde Jose, many would claim they grew up when Nigeria neither smothered dreams nor murdered hope. Hence my choice of Idibia, the minion who managed to become a poster icon for generations of Nigeria’s music hopeful.

    Yet many would read this and consider it “Pollyannaish.” To this lot, any hearty lunge at hope or belief in a brighter tomorrow manifest as blind optimism and a pathetic attempt to be patriotic even while it’s absolutely idiotic to do so. They would love to see the nation ruin in order to justify their inordinate cynicism and yearnings about the pointlessness of the Nigerian dream. They continually affirm their ill will and prayers of doom for the nation by tirelessly projecting separation and insurmountable bleakness on the Nigerian state. Individually, their contribution towards nation building is virtually non-existent or abysmally low, they are amazingly adept at sowing seeds of doubt and disillusionment amongst their peer and younger generation. But they love to be seen as heroes of truth and the new world.

  • Presidency, Amaechi and the zero-sum game

    Presidency, Amaechi and the zero-sum game

    It was the late M.K.O Abiola, (may his soul find peace) who popularized the Yoruba saying about taking cover behind a solitary finger. Of course this saying exemplifies self-deceit of the most confounding type. There you are ducking behind one finger, knowing that the whole world can see you and the follies you indulge in yet you revel in the pretence that we cannot see you. The whole watching world cringes and suffer painful embarrassment on your behalf, yet you simply stoop there, behind one finger, perhaps stark-assed just doing your thing. It is a state of mind that must have severe psychological underpinnings.

    This is the picture that comes to mind as we watch the unfolding drama between the presidency and Governor Chibuike Rotimi Amaechi of Rivers State. It is without doubt, all about 2015 presidential election, it is all so obvious and apparent that even babies in diapers can see it. But the Presidency insists it is not, it lives in denial and tries to convince the rest of us that the new-found Amaechi-hounding is an aspect of its so-called Transition Agenda. And in what is clearly becoming a most undignified motor park brawl, is a zero-sum game. The Presidency seems to be stuck with the mindset that so long as this fellow, Amaechi remains standing, it cannot rise or achieve its desired objectives therefore Amaechi must fall.

    However, for fear of sounding like Amaechi’s advocate-in-chief, the Rivers State governor, it must be said, is not the problem of the Presidency; not by a long shot. True, the governor is not particularly an easy to like fellow. He is given to being brash and self-assured to the point of cockiness. He is not your diplomatic kind and over the years, he has proven to be a man with a mind of his own who can also stand his ground. Remember his public tiff with the wife of the president, Dame Goodluck Jonathan a few years back during his first term. During an inspection of the Port Harcourt dingy Waterside which Amaechi had proposed to bring down, Mrs. Jonathan had practically wrenched the microphone from the governor and reprimanded him to tread softly about demolishing the shanties right there before the television cameras, all and sundry. Of course Amaechi had gone on with his outlined programme as the elected governor of the state and naturally, to the chagrin of the Presidency.

    Since then, close watchers had noticed that there has not been love lost between the first family of Nigeria and the first family of Rivers State. The dam however bust when the first signals emerged that Governor Amaechi who is on his last term as governor, had presidential ambition. To drive home the message, soon enough, posters of Amaechi, appearing as presidential running mate to Governor Sule Lamido of Jigawa State. Lamido, considered one of the up-and-doing governors from the north combining with Amaechi, a much touted champion performer would unsettle any sitting president who still has an ambition to continue in the top job.

    Though Amaechi has denied that he had no such ambition but the fact of his denial can be said to be true to type for the Nigerian politician (they keep denying until “after a far-reaching consultation with their families, associates and the good people of their constituency who would insist that they are God-sent for the job.”) Since then, the line was drawn, so to speak, between Amaechi and the presidency. Amaechi also sat atop the all-powerful Nigerian Governor Forum (NGF) which could swing not a few important national decisions especially on the political realm. When Amaechi’s first term of two years as NGF chairman ended early in the year, the Presidency made its first decisive move against ‘enemy’ Amaechi by making sure he never returns. The move remains stalemated till date. Even the hurried formation of the ruling party’s own governors’ forum (which makes up the majority of governors in Nigeria) has not won the Presidency any silverware yet in the ‘war’ to oust Amaechi and claim the soul of Rivers State.

    As the day draws by, the Presidency gets frantic if not desperate, getting itself deeper and deeper into an affray most murky. Today the States party executive instigated to turn against the governor and its leader in the State and render him ineffectual and impotent. It has never happened before; it is just like the ruling party sidetracking the president, its very heart and leader at the centre. Can the tail wag the dog? As this move did not seem to work, another day breaks and the Task force (one wants to wager that there must be a Task Force to Rein in Amaechi sequestered somewhere ‘working’ frantically on this important national ‘project’) throws up the Rivers State government jet shenanigan. All of a sudden the big men’s private jets have become a matter for due process and all that jazz. I want to wager again that no big man’s jet in Nigeria can stand any thorough due process check: yes, from the Presidency to the men of God; hardly any of them craft can stand a serious scrutiny.

    Yet another gambit seems to corral the State House of Assembly to ‘putsch’ the governor out of office. When that one too collapsed around their bumbling ears, they seek to ostracise the pro-Amaechi honorable members which happen to be in the majority. Left with remnants that cannot constitute a majority, who can tell what the next move would be.

    Make a note of it, this fight will be like the fight of the eunuchs: long, bloody and sustained. The Jonathan’s Presidency has continued to pinion itself as unforgiving especially at the president’s home-front – ask Ibori, ask Timipreye Silva and Governor Emmanuel Uduaghan to some extent. How this particular sword fight will play out is uncertain but let us remind also that Amaechi is hard-headed, a dogged fighter, along distance runner and somewhat cerebral to boot. He has also not done badly in running the affairs of the state even though this column thinks he has not adopted the right template like most other Nigerian governors of today, but on a scale, he has been outstanding.

    While this fight simmers, Nigerian are the ones caught in the cross fire, picking up the stray bullets. Need it be repeated that Amaechi is not the problem of the Presidency. The presidency is simply a victim of its own inefficiency and inability to deliver on its election promises. We think that the Presidency can simple choose to ignore Amaechi and Rivers State to ‘death’, pull a few strategic triggers and have the entire citizenry campaigning for it. I think Nigerians wish for a Presidency that will simply see Amaechi as the distraction he truly is and face the crucial job at hand. Nigeria is in crisis, very deep crisis. If, therefore, a dozen Amaechi’s are brought to their knees or even put down, the president will not stand taller than he is. In fact, in the midst of all this, the president seems to grow smaller while Amaechi grows larger.

  • Nigeria’s quest for drinkable water

    Nigeria’s quest for drinkable water

    ‘Water is the driving force in nature’
    – Leonardo da Vinci

    This week, I have found it irresistible to shun the lure of political discourse in preference for an area we have often ignored – happenings in our environment – at our collective peril. There is hardly any pointer to the fact that most governments are deeply concerned about our environment despite significant admonition signals from environmental disasters that have become a recurring decimal in countries around the world. In Japan, China, India, Afghanistan and others, earth tremors/quakes and other related disasters have become routine. While one is not praying for such misfortunes in the country, it is pertinent for our government at the federal and state levels to take proactive steps to prevent such catastrophes from happening in their domains in future.

    My fears for the country’s environment are not misplaced, and have indeed been reinforced by Mrs. Sarah Reng Ochekpe, Minister of Water Resources. She raised the alarm last weekend on the peril posed by indiscriminate drilling of boreholes in the country. And in reiterating the obvious, she said such a habit could have shattering effects on our environment if not checked. The negative impacts of such a trend according to her, could result, now or in the foreseeable future, in over abstraction of ground water-which effects include salt intrusion, aquifer depletion and water quality degradation amongst other environmental hazards.

    The minister seems to know the panaceas when she said: “The need for proper and effective regulation of groundwater abstraction is of utmost importance. The public needs to be sensitised on this.” But it is doubtful if the federal government is doing anything to stop the habit in form of regulation or awareness campaigns. Obviously, this reality would not have officially become a public issue if not for the courtesy visit on the minister by members of the Association of Water Well Drilling Ring Owners and Practitioners in Abuja.

    It would not be inconsiderate to say that the states, and especially the federal government, are the worst culprits in this increasing land degrading attitude because of their tongue-in-cheek approach to environmental and water issues in the country. The truth is that the impact of the Ministry of Water Resources and even water corporations of most states in the nation, unlike in the past, is not being felt by inhabitants of this country despite the billions of naira officially budgeted and claimed to have been spent on potable water provisions. Where is free flow of drinkable water in most parts of Nigeria? The tradition of public water supply that used to be enjoyed by the citizenry until the mid-80s in major towns and cities has suddenly disappeared in states across the federation. It is, to say the least, unsettling and ridiculous, seeing states, and even federal government, sink boreholes and go ahead to shamelessly celebrate such with disturbing pomp and ceremony. And it is worrisome that no one seems perturbed by these curious happenings!

    Yet, water is so important to human existence. It remains a key component in determining the quality of lives of citizens of any nation. Those in the corridors of power could not claim ignorance of the fact that water is one of nature’s most important gifts from God to mankind. Human survival depends on drinkable water which is why people, anywhere, are concerned about the quality of water they drink. Water remains the most essential elements of good health because it is necessary for the digestion and absorption of food; it rids the body of wastes, it possibly remains one of the most noteworthy factors in weight loss; water can serve as appetite suppressant since it contains no calorie and thereby could help the body metabolize stored fat. It also serves as a natural air conditioning system. Water supplies oxygen and nutrients to body cells and helps to maintain proper muscle tone among other important functions. Why will serious governments that are genuinely interested in protecting lives of the citizenry, anywhere, not be committed to providing or fail to provide drinkable water in nooks and crannies of its corporate jurisdictions?

    Perhaps, it is sad to note that virtually all governments across the country have abandoned this responsibility of providing, in abundance, drinkable water for the citizens to enjoy for a healthy living. It has been scientifically proved that water covers over 70 per cent of the earth’s surface, but despite the fact that only one per cent of the earth’s water is available for drinking by human being, governments in responsible countries take provision of portable water as a serious matter. Why can’t Nigeria’s government?

    Government’s failure in this regard has compelled Nigerians to take the bull by the horns by forging ahead to provide water for their domestic needs. Ab initio, most households dig wells for their water needs but now, boreholes digging, perceived to be better that well’s water are in vogue. In the street where yours sincerely lives with less than 100 houses, close to a third of the houses there have boreholes dug for their personal domestic uses. Yet, a single standard borehole would have served the entire street or even more. This trend has become the norm in different parts of the country simply because governments are not doing enough to make public water system to work. Even if they failed to provide water, they ought to see the danger of indiscriminate digging of boreholes by every Tom, Dick and Harry and should have come up with legislations to moderate such menace.

    The chaotic boreholes are proved to be capable of causing earth tremor/quake. Also, since underground water is linked through percolation, the contamination in one borehole could lead to contamination of others in a particular area thereby causing devastating effects on the health of people within the vicinity. This would have defeated the purpose of providing drinkable water that is odourless and tasteless by individual households. Also, very few of borehole water are treated with chlorine that is meant to destroy disease-producing contaminants that are likely present in the water through contact with many different substances, including organic and inorganic matter and chemicals. Even the supposed public water system that is expected to provide clean, refreshing and healthier water wherever they exist could not be trusted in this regard.

    The continuing indiscriminate digging of boreholes does not guarantee clean and healthy water for the populace anymore. There should be preconditions and condition subsequent to be spelt out by government for digging of boreholes. The public are not aware of these conditions because our governments are not alert to their responsibilities. At any rate, if water is indeed considered by government as vital to human existence, quality water treatment solutions and facilities should be provided for free. The government should stop treating them as a luxury under the guise of scarcity of funds when corruption in corridors of power and other high places loom large. The president, through his minister of Water Resources, and state governors in the country, need a wake-up call in this regard and this piece should serve that essence!

  • An Amazon goes home

    An Amazon goes home

    Courageous. Honest. Humble. Smart. Tenacious. Loyal. Beautiful.These are a few of the numerous adjectives that, friends and admirers have used to describe the late Mrs. Funmilayo Olayinka, also known as Moremi Ekiti, the amiable Deputy Governor of Ekiti State until her passing on April 6, 2013. She was a noble soul whose sojourn on mother earth, though short, was wrapped in meaning. According to our human understanding she left the stage too soon; but she left behind a lasting footprint on the sands of time, and, hopefully, one that can initiate a tradition of excellence and selfless commitment to public service.

    The adjectives that describe Funmi Olayinka are commonly deployed by many of us without paying attention to the reality that they depict. The danger here is that they get applied frequently even in situations where they hardly fit. It is therefore essential to remind ourselves of what they require and why they apply so fittingly to Funmi.

    Courage is one of the most important virtues. A courageous person is one who does the right thing even when it is clearly too risky. Going into politics, especially in Nigeria, and particularly for a woman carries a lot of risk. Beside the physical threat to life, there is the threat to integrity and honour. It is said that fear and courage are cousins between who there is always sibling rivalry. Victory for one is defeat for the other. Naturally, we are disposed to fear in the face of danger. The person that faces danger head-on, knowing that she intends to fight for what is right and just and is not subdued by fear, is the courageous person. That was the decision that Funmi Olayinka and Kayode Fayemi made, going into the murky waters of Ekiti politics. They were both comfortable as successful professionals. But they saw the decay and they were moved. But they also noticed that political discourse in the Land of Honour was anything but honorable. Faint hearts would cringe. But as the famous jurist, Oliver Wendell Holmes observed, there can be no courage unless you are scared. Kayode and Funmi went ahead and plunged in. That is what courage means.

    In the course of the campaign, the election, and the subsequent thwarting of the people’s will, Funmi was steadfast. She could betray the cause as some did. She could jump ship. She could make herself available to the highest bidder. Not a few did just that. But Funmi didn’t. She stayed strong even when hope dimmed and all appeared to be lost. That was courage. It was also loyalty, not to a man, but to a cause that is larger than any human.

    Funmi’s close friends and associates, including Erelu Bisi Fayemi, have recounted how she faced her health ordeal with courage and complete surrender to the will of her maker. Many of her colleagues in and outside the government hardly knew what she was going through. Indeed, as late as September 2012, when she must have been weakened by chemotherapy, she represented the Chairman of Action Congress of Nigeria (ACN) at an event in Ireland. She bore the fate of her life with dignity and grace. That was courage at its best.

    It is easy, but wrong, to associate loyalty with blind allegiance to a person or cause. Dictators value loyalty which they wrongly identify with patriotism. Philosopher Josiah Royce defines loyalty as “the willing and practical and thoroughgoing devotion of a person to a cause.” By a cause, Royce means something that is objective, in the sense that it is beyond oneself, and it is good. It was clear from her life story that Funmi has always placed the cause of transforming Ekiti State in the centre of her political mission. She subscribed wholly to the Fayemi administration’s eight-point agenda and was in the forefront of the implementation. Her loyalty was not blind; it was not misplaced because the governor acknowledged her contributions and respected her as an invaluable colleague by giving her the responsibilities that befit her office and skills. And she delivered.

    Loyalty to a cause also implies honesty in the pursuit of the cause. It is easy to embrace fraudulence and deceit especially in public service in our clime. It takes courage to embrace honesty as the best policy. Indeed, as Immanuel Kant puts it, honesty is not just the best policy, it is the only policy.Funmi radiated honesty and everyone around her attested to this fact. During the campaign and the struggle to reclaim their mandate, she was entrusted with the coordination of resources and she demonstrated not just the professional competence that was essential to success but also the virtues of integrity and rectitude that were indispensable to building trust among the grass-root and foot soldiers.

    All religions and moral systems consider humility as a virtue. The humble will inherit the earth. But humility can be misconstrued, especially when it is taken by others as a sign of weakness. The goodness of humility may be abused as foolishness and taken advantage of. Even in the face of such a risk, again, the courageous person does the right thing; humble herself before her God and fellow humans. The reward is what we are witnessing today in the case of Funmi. The person who showed respect for everyone around her is now receiving an unprecedented level of respect as she takes her leave. She was humble but not humbled.

    It was in this matter of the quality of Funmi’s humility that I first encountered her. Four summers ago, I was on a short vacation and had paid a visit to Asiwaju Bola Ahmed Tinubu at his Ikoyi residence. I sat in his living room with a number of guests, including Funmi who I had not met before that time. She and I exchanged greetings with her going the way of Yoruba custom and tradition. It was at that point that Asiwaju came out and asked if I had met the future Deputy Governor of Ekiti State. I was embarrassed to say no. Funmi’s gracious response was: “Prof, I am one of the fans of your column.”

    As in the matter of courage, tenacity implies hanging in even in the face of extreme difficulties. It is not being stubborn; it is being thoughtfully hopeful. A tenacious personality is persistently hopeful that things will turn around for the better while she is also action-oriented and works towards the set goal. Every aspect of her short life points to the virtue of tenacity in Funmi’s personality. You cannot have a good purposeful education without being tenacious. You cannot be on the Dean’s Honour Roll for four years without being tenacious. You cannot succeed in the murky waters of Nigerian politics without being tenacious. And in the face of the most scary health challenges that a human being can face, you cannot deal with them and still maintain your dignity and grace without the virtue of tenacity. In all of these Funmi excelled, and succeeded in teaching all of us the important lessons of life even as the avatar once taught us: it is not life that matters but the courage that you bring into it. She brought in a lot of courage and tenacity to life. For this we must be grateful.

    We must also be grateful for her smartness and the opportunity afforded the people of the Land of Honour to benefit from her intellect. It takes a lot of wit to perform successfully the oversight functions over such sensitive and strategic agencies as the Muslim Pilgrims Welfare Board, Christian Pilgrims Welfare Board, State Emergency Relief Agency, Boundary Commission, Ministry of Local Government and Chieftaincy Affairs, and many others. One anecdotal report suggests that whenever she presided over the meeting of the State Executive Council in the absence of the governor, members dared not to be late because “mama” was going to preside. In what may be perceived as a “man’s world, Funmi earned the respect of her peers and subordinates. To crown it all, as Mrs. Funso Adegbola elegantly put it, Funmi was beautiful inside out. It appeared to me that it was the inside beauty that reflected so gracefully outside. An amazon paid us a short visit and left us asking for more. So long, virtuous woman!

  • Boston’s day of vigil for justice

    Boston’s day of vigil for justice

    “Eternal vigilance is the price of liberty.” — Wendell Phillips, (1811-1884) 

    Last Friday and Saturday, the entire world stayed glued to their satellite stations watching the CNN. They were eager to witness the denouement to the search for the surviving on-the-run suspect of the Boston Marathon bombing in the United States of America (USA). That night, the US system showed the entire world why its remains world’s number one country.

    Dzhokhar Tsarnaev, 19, and his brother, Tamerlan, 26, from the same mother and both resident in the US, were the suspected masterminds of the dastardly act that claimed three lives, critically injuring 180 others near the finish line of that marathon race. Both of them were born in former Russian territory known as Kyrgyzstan and are of Chechen descent. In their bid to escape from justice, Tamerlan was killed in Watertown, Boston while Tsarnaev escaped on foot, albeit fleetingly. The manhunt for Tsarnaev brought out the best of America’s disdain for terrorism and her readiness to protect the sanctity of human lives and property in her territory.

    The FBI and the Watertown police launched a citywide lockdown by conducting a house-by-house search for the alleged killer. The federal and the Watertown police displayed professional agility and civilised disposition in the discharge of their police duties. They were well kitted with the best of police combat costumes as they drove round Watertown in armoured patrol vehicles. This must have informed the confidence and commitment displayed by these men.

    Their ceaseless security vigil since the day the bomb blast occurred became fruitful when Tsarnaev was eventually nabbed, after a brief gun duel with the police, in a tarp-covered boat he had been hiding in the backyard of a house. The Watertown police siege scenery was a reminder of what policing in Nigeria should be but which unfortunately, it is not. The kits adorned by the American police were procured with money and it is not as if this country does not have the funds to procure such. But corruption has been the greatest inhibition to our goal of attaining that security standard. The lives of those America police are insured against the hazards of their profession. Nothing of such is available for their Nigerian counterparts. Billions of naira is yearly budgeted for police equipment, welfare, training and overall national security but the money never gets down. Yet, we expect such policemen officers to be the veritable aegis for maintaining peace and security in our country.

    It would not happen because it is what is sown that would be reaped. That brings us down to the handling of Boko Haram insurgents in the country. Quite unlike what we all witnessed in Boston, the handling of the insurgents by the Nigerian police, military and intelligence agencies has been laughable. The handling of this intractable problem by security agencies has made mockery of the nation’s competence in making her territory a safe haven for inhabitants. Could the problem be that of waning motivation among security operatives? Could it be one of incompetence or even misplaced priority of how to handle security, especially police affairs in this country?

    For instance, the police institution that is the pride of the US has become an albatross in, especially, the northern part of the country today. Even the intervention of the military through the Joint Task Force (JTF) has exposed the military as suffering from the same official lethargy that has become the lot of the police and other security agencies in the country. At the same time the US police was commendably hunting for, before eventually apprehending Tsarnaev, the Nigerian military was struggling in a battle with the Boko Haram miscreants. At the end of that battle, not less than 185 lives were lost in the gun duel between the JTF and Boko Haram insurgents.

    Most of the people killed, according to reports, were women and children. About 2000 houses and more than 50 motorcycles were burnt in the commercial town of Baga, Kukawa Local Government Area of Borno State. Baga is a fishing town on the shore of Lake Chad adjacent to the Chadian border. It is a shame that a military general commanded JTF has not succeeded in its attempts to reclaim 10 local government areas in Borno State including Marte, Magumeri, Mobbar, Gubio, Guzamala, Abadamin, Kukawa, Kaga, Nganzai and Monguno that have been taken over by Boko Haram killer members. This exercise is a complete mockery of the essence of the Nigerian military which is to quell insurrection against the state that the Boko Haram is currently championing. Yet, Mr. President could not rescue the already bad situation.

    Sometime last year January, not less than 186 people were killed in coordinated attacks by Boko Haram fighters in Kano State. Tens of others were killed, even in military barracks, by the unscrupulous sect members in other northern states at different occasions without any clue being gotten by security agencies. The approach of government has always been like begging the issue without any concrete result coming out of bombings that have become routine in the country. Could this kind of things happen in the US for this long period without a solution being arrived at by the security agencies and the government, even if there is northern elite complicity as being insinuated in the current case in the country?

    Whilst President Barrack Obama rose to the occasion as witnessed in the Boston’s case in the US, President Goodluck Jonathan of Nigeria turned to his cliché of calling for an investigation into the matter. As usual in the latest Borno state Boko Haram shootouts with the military, he has ordered a powerful probe, that would be a shameful end to the incident. He sits in the comfort of Aso-Rock Presidential Villa, Abuja, from where he is demanding from Brig.-General Austin Edokpaye, Commander of JTF in Borno State, a comprehensive brief of what transpired which even when given to him, he most possibly would not act on. The question is: Will Obama take the same position if the Boko Haram were to be in America? The question is no! The American government would have wiped them out of its territory. That is a sign of a country with serious leadership focus of how its affairs must be administered. President Jonathan’s arm-chair Commander-in-Chief approach to security matters especially, has become serious embarrassment to credible citizens of this country. The venomous situation, currently witnessed in most parts and the displayed inefficient official disposition, cannot continue if the Nigerian project is still of importance to those in the corridors of power.

    Whether against Boko Haram insurgents, unscrupulous militants or even armed robbery/kidnappers siege, when is Nigeria going to witness the type of effectively triumphant security agencies that kept vigil for humanity in Watertown, Boston last weekend? This is a food for thought for all reasonable Nigerians within the country and in Diaspora that want the country to witness peace/stability. Eternal vigilance, as deployed by America in Boston, is truly the price of liberty – apologies to that great thinker, Wendell Phillips.

  • Okonjo-Iweala, Shuaibu and the future of Nigeria

    Okonjo-Iweala, Shuaibu and the future of Nigeria

    There is indeed crisis in the land, a lachrymal crisis. We thought our institutions were decayed but the reality is that they have become interred under the debris of insouciance and leadership malady. The day has come in Nigeria when a civil servant, a much junior one at that, would take to the national newspaper to harangue a serving minister, call her names, blackmail her and put her on the defensive. Though badly savaged as it were, it is a sad day indeed for the civil service that ought to be the pillar on which other institutions are hoisted. It is a sad day for Nigeria’s public service and it sure portends a weird augury for the nation and her public service.

    I am talking of course about the small matter between the Minister of Finance and the Coordinating Minister of the Economy, Dr. Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala and a certain Mr. Yushau Shuaibu, who until a few days ago, held sway as the Public Relations Officer of the National Emergency Management Agency, NEMA. Shuaibu had recently, written an article in a national newspaper much impetuously, accusing the honorable minister of ethnic bias, favoritism, insensitivity and even throwing in a bit of intimidation, blackmail and threats in the matter of appointments in the ministry under the Minister’s purview.

    Hear a bit of Mr. Shuaibu: “Dr. Okonjo-Iweala should also note the blatant disregard for the sensitivities and sensibilities of others while arrogantly promoting only people from her tribe may expose them to hatred with potentially explosive consequences such as those experienced in the 1960s when most federal positions were occupied by a particular tribal group.”

    We ask, would Shuaibu have written such tendentious article if Okonjo-Iweala were Hausa-Fulani? Is it fair for a junior staff to put a minister through such indignity of publicly defending her official actions? What was Shuaibu thinking of committing such Civil Service sacrilege? Such gross insubordination is never condoned in the Service and Shuaibu ought to know that at his level unless he was minded to embark on a kamikaze. If every aggrieved civil servant went to the press to blackmail their bosses and undermine the institution, there would not be a Service left for Shuaibu to have joined in the first place. Even out of service, what manner of worker would go to the press to disparage his company’s chairman, board or management and still expect to keep his seat one day longer?

    Besides insubordination, there are issues of rascality, infantilism, ethnic jingoism and acute case of Igbophobia. Please how on earth does the specific case of the appointment of the head of the Federal Inland Revenue Service, FIRS, affect Shuaibu so adversely to drive him into throwing such insolent words at a minister? This certainly is not part of his schedule of duties at NEMA. If he is so aggrieved, why would he not pass his petition through his boss who would forward it through the appropriate channels to the Federal Executive Council (FEC) or the Presidency?

    Is it possible that Okonjo-Iweala could act on a matter as weighty as the appointment of the FIRS chairman without the input of FEC members and the President’s express directives? For instance, the head hunt and selection for this job was said to have been carried out by Phillips Consulting. If government wants to fill that strategic position with a professional in the mold of Omoigui Okauru, the immediate past occupant, that is the prerogative of the President. If the search for a replacement is planked on merit, are we going to ab initio, bar Igbo professionals from the contest? Did Okonjo-Iweala mandate Phillips Consulting to look out solely for an Igbo?

    What is clearly Igbo mauling has continued unabated leaving a trend that cannot be ignored anymore. Things that public servants of other ethnic groups routinely get away with become a national crisis when an Igbo is involved. But this column will continue to point out that fair is fair.

    It is common knowledge here that appointees always populate their offices with their own kith and kin. Let a panel be raised to cross check this point and I wager that Igbo public office holders are not the worst offenders. There has been a long-standing allegation that the Central Bank has been converted to the Central Bank of Kano, (CBK), turban and all, no Shuaibu has gone to press with this. It is alleged that a grand employment racket is going on at the Nigeria Security and Civil Defence Corps (NSCDC) which engendered the use of multiple websites and gave us that most titillating “my oga at the top” clanger. But for obviously a lesser offence, Mrs Rose Uzoamaka who headed the Immigration Service until recently, was chucked out of office as if she was leprous. Just because she is Igbo; the soft target.

    Recently, the Chief of Army Staff, General Azubuike Ihejirika, the first Igboman to hold that position in over 50 years! was subjected to media ‘bombardment’ over mere allegations of populating the army with his Igbo brothers. It was ok for over 50 years when other tribes, especially Hausa/Fulani held sway and filled up the military with their kind. No army boss was ever put through such impertinence of having to answer to the public for purely military decision. Ditto for Aviation Minister, Stella Oduah; there has been a song and dance that she has ‘Igbonise’ the sector and it does not matter that she is getting results; indeed, damn the results, her traducers seem to chant. It is all because they are Igbo, but we must not shy from singing this refrain.

    Until we elect to build this nation on fairness, equity and justice to all tribes, big or small, we will not make desired progress. I am all for ‘sensitivities and sensibilities’, to quote Shuaibu who I suspect would rather be a politician and columnist; federal character and all that merit killers are also desirable but let us do it based on facts and fairness. If only the Federal Character Commission would do its job by publishing annual report of recruitments and appointments in all MDGs. It rankles when one group acts as if it alone has license to impunity. If we have built our nation on impunity and injustice it is only fair that we all enjoyed the forbidden repast equally. Even as we bicker over one small appointment, the north is at the helm of most strategic positions in the land today from the judiciary to security agencies and specialized commissions. No Civil Servant has gone to the press on that.

    The Okonjo-Iweala versus Shuaibu affair boils down to the age-long tendency to bully Ndigbo in the Nigerian system. Igbo is Nigeria’s easy target. A sitting President once made a national broadcast on account of a ‘paltry’ N55m bribe-for-budget scandal while voiding at the court, a half a billion matter involving his cousin. Igbo is perceived as the proverbial ukwu nwanyi onye ara – the mad woman’s buttock which is at the pleasure of all manner of men.

    In summary, it has become obvious that we do not possess the filial concupiscence to sustain what would have been a wonderful Nigerian marriage. There does not seem to be a Nigerian future. We have pretended for too long that we are one people. We are not; we are a bland rainbow country, a queer amalgam of penguins, eagles and hawks – three great avian wonders but which must not be yoked in one coop. We must sit down and disengage peacefully, let us liberate ourselves so that those that fly would explore the skies; those that soar would sail, drone rocket-like, into untold horizons while those that walk would do so in regal majesty, unhindered and unperturbed by their hyperactive kindred. That is our future, really.

  • 2012 Hajj report

    2012 Hajj report

    It was another turn of accountability last Monday when His Eminence, Dr. Muhammad Sa‘ad Abubakar III, the Sultan of Sokoto and President-General of Nigerian Supreme Council for Islamic Affairs, led a group of frontline Muslim Hajj Gurus including the Chairman of National Hajj Commission, Alhaji Musa Bello, to submit the 2012 Hajj report to President Goodluck Ebele Jonathan. The Sultan undertook the mission in his capacity as the permanent national Amirul Hajj.

    The report contained a number of issues ranging from last year’s preparation for Hajj; to cost of Hajj and exchange rate; to the issuance of visa; to airlift operations; to the movements and conducts of Nigerian pilgrims in Saudi Arabia; to the hiccup fortuitously caused by the Saudi’s new policy of ‘Mahram’ (a legitimate male company for every female pilgrim); to the number of deaths recorded during Hajj; to the issue of crimes and defection by Nigerians in Saudi Arabia; to the issue of luggage and final return of pilgrims to Nigeria.

    The report was a thorough analysis of the entire 2012 Hajj operation which included the challenges encountered, the new experience garnered, which could help in tackling possible future problems in Hajj sphere as well as observations and suggestions towards further improvement on the official performance of Hajj.

    Reacting to the report, the President praised the delegation under the leadership of Amirul Hajj and expressed satisfaction over the manner in which the immigration issue involving over 1,000 female pilgrims unaccompanied by legitimate male counterparts, as required by Saudi law, was resolved.

    He, however, expressed worries about the increased crime rate by Nigerians in Saudi Arabia as contained in the report and he indicated the government’s intention to take immediate steps in collaboration with the Saudi authorities to address the ugly trend saying:

    “I have noted the issues you raised; the issue of exchange rate, the rising crime rate by Nigerians who are residing there (in Saudi Arabia). He then asked the media to note that they (the criminals) are not people who went to Saudi Arabia for religious obligation, but Nigerians who are living in Saudi Arabia….I think we have to come up with your recommendation to see how we can work with the Saudi authorities to reduce that trend because it is bringing some stains to the image of this country, especially for those who will go to Saudi Arabia regularly for their religious obligation.’’

    Earlier in his speech the national ‘Amirul Hajj’ had listed the mentioned increased crime rate by Nigerians in Saudi Arabia as one of the recurrent challenges hindering the efficiency of Hajj operations. Consequently, the delegation recommended the revival of the Presidential Committee on Illegal Nigerian migrants in Saudi Arabia which was constituted in 2009, but never took off due to official bureaucracy.

    The delegation also requested the government to continue to provide the concessionary exchange rate for pilgrims as a demonstration of its support, goodwill and assistance towards Hajj operations and asked the government to assist the National Hajj Commission with more funds to complete the long abandoned Hajj reception centres otherwise called Hajj camps across the country.

    Thanking Mr. President for sparing time to receive the report, His Eminence, the Sultan said: “We wish to convey our appreciation and that of the entire Muslims in this country for your continued support and commitment to efficient Hajj by Nigerians just as we applaud your Excellency for the approval you granted for the concessionary exchange rate for the 2012 Hajj transactions and 55 per cent waiver on all charges payable as tariffs through government agencies. We have since commenced preparations for the 2013 Hajj operations and the Hajj Commissioner had already gone to Saudi Arabia to sign a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) for this year’s Hajj operations”.

    Meanwhile, in a separate but related interview with newsmen, a member of the delegation, Alhaji Mujaheed Asari Dokubo, commended the leadership of the National Hajj Commission and that of the Sultan saying there had been significant improvements in the religious exercise with the leadership of the Sultan and the Commission. “I was a member of Rivers State Muslims Pilgrims Welfare Board for four years and I know the lapses that existed therein. Hajj operations, since the inception of the present National Hajj Commission, have been smooth. Our pilgrims are no longer waiting for months; they are no longer stranded at the Holy cities of Mecca, Medinah and Jeddah. The National Hajj delegation led by the Sultan of Sokoto has also put in a lot of efforts in making Hajj performance hitch-free. The Sultan is down to earth; he is very humble in his interaction with all the members of the delegation and the leadership of the National Hajj Commission’’.

    The history of Hajj performance in Nigeria is long and tortuous. According to a historical account relayed by Kabir Sani Anga in a schorlarly paper presented sometime ago, the earliest recorded pilgrimage from West Africa was championed by Nigerians. It can be recalled that the Kanem Bornu Mai, King Dunama bin Umme of the Sayfawa dynasty performed Hajj as early as the 11th century C.E. And in H. R. Palmer’s Diwan (1926), Mai Dunama was said to have performed pilgrimage twice between 1098 and 1150 and died while returning from a third journey from the Holy Land. Yet, Mai Dunama might not be the first pilgrim of the Sayfawa dynasty who embarked on such spiritual journey since Diwan also relayed the episode of the latter’s father, Mai Umme bin Abdel-Jalil (1058-1097) who died in the land of Masr (Egypt) on his way to or from Makkah.

    Many centuries later, pilgrimage continued in Sayfawa dynasty as documented by the great scholar, Muhammad Bello, who was also a son and lieutenant to the Islamic revolutionary, Shaykh Uthman Dan Fodiyo. He recalled the longstanding Islamic reputation of the Sayfawa in his book entitled ‘Infaq’ (translated in 1957) that Sayfawas’ ancient ancestors were good and devout Muslims who encouraged many pilgrims among the eighteenth century Mais of Bornu including Mai Dunama bin Ali, Mai Hajj Hamdun bin Dunama, and Mai Muhammad bin Hajj Hamdun.

    However, Hajj performance from West Africa through many centuries before the arrival of the colonialists was neither formal nor organised. The first seemingly organized pilgrimage caravans from Kano only dates back to the early nineteenth century when caravan businesses started in the city. According to the Kano Chronicle, the Islamisation of Hausa land began in the middle of the fourteenth century by Malian Wangara traders. Although Hausa land was at that time already on the pilgrimage route from the Western part of the Sudan, nevertheless, available historical accounts do not suggest any pilgrimage interest of the Hausa ruling class in contrast to the Mais of Bornu.

    As stated in Anga’s paper, when, eventually, a pilgrimage highway otherwise known as the Sudan route was open to Hausa land it ran from the cities of Katsina and Kano through Aïr (Agades), the Fezzan and Aujila across the Nile into Egypt. The leader of a caravan then was called Madugu under whom intending pilgrims congregated and travelled on foot to the Holy Land. In short, in Nigeria’s pre-colonial period, there was little formal organization of travelling to Hajj as the journey was usually undertaken at the discretion of private individuals and groups without formal documents like passport, visa and inoculation papers. Thus, arrangements of Hajj were often informally assigned to Madugu, on trust, who was usually an important personality such as a scholar, a wealthy merchant or a notable person who automatically assumed the status of the Amirul Hajj (Pilgrims’ Commander). That was the trend until the beginning of the 19th century when groups of pilgrims from the south, especially Yoruba Land where Islam had reached Ilorin, Oyo and some other notable cities partly through the influence of North African merchants and partly through Fulani jihad. They travelled northwards to Kano or Bornu in order to join the caravan heading for Makkah.

    In confirmation of this assertion, an early English explorer, Barth, who travelled to Kano in 1857, estimated the city’s population to be 30,000 but added that the figure doubled during the main caravan season of Hajj.

    At that time, pilgrims usually visited the rulers in the capital cities of the lands to solicit for alms and escorts for safety, in case of any danger on the road as they also requested for standard letter of introduction with the name of the recipient and the seal of the issuer. However, formal visits to the rulers were not always necessary. In some cases, well-to-do volunteers played host to the passing pilgrims while Ulama‘u (Islamic scholars) offered ‘du’a’ (prayers) for safety.

    Though the British colonial occupation of what later came to be called Nigeria lasted effectively for about a century from 1861 to 1960, the real colonial rule did not begin until 1906 when the British administration formally annexed the northern Nigeria to the British Empire and commenced direct rule therein. And becoming aware of the potentials of hajj in forging global solidarity among Muslims, the colonial government embarked on a tactics to curb the flow of pilgrims in order to protect their own interests in Nigeria. Through that tactics, strict rules were imposed to minimize the number of pilgrims while surveillance by escorts at strategic posts along the pilgrimage routes up to the Sudan was mounted. Such colonial policy was meant to discourage contacts among the various national and international segments of the global Islamic Ummah. Some of the measures introduced by the British colonial government were modern travel requirements such as passports, immigration control, health regulations and payment of deposits for services in the holy land. All these were hitherto unknown to the pilgrims.

    However, a positive aspect of those measures was the introduction of motorised trucks, buses and, finally, aircraft which served as comfortable mass transit. With time, as the pilgrims’ transportation facilities were making the journey easier and quicker for pilgrims, the British authorities became convinced that pilgrimage was not much of a threat to their rule after all. Thus, new travel formalities, combined with modern travel facilities, brought revolutionary changes to Hajj operations in Nigeria.

    According to Anga’s paper, a major boost came to Hajj by Air during the budget session of the Federal House of Parliament in Lagos early in 1953 when a member, Alhaji Abubakar Imam, tabled a motion for the establishment of a ‘Nigeria Office’ in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia, to cater for Nigerian pilgrims. The motion was accepted with minor amendment and Imam was asked to submit a proposal on its actualization. As the motion was proposed out of concern rather than personal experience, Alhaji Imam decided to perform that year’s Hajj himself in order to study the real problems and report back to the House. He departed Kano on July 27, 1953 in a plane chartered by the Nigerian Pilgrims’ Aid Society Limited, which started operating in Kano in 1951. Nevertheless, the prosperous airline business did not stop Hajj by Road as both continued side by side through the 1950’s. However, by the end of the decade, Hajj by Road had started to decline as air travel became more popular, safer, faster, cheaper and less rigorous.

    Shortly after his return from Hajj in September 1953, Alhaji Imam made the following recommendations to the federal government: (1) an official appointment of a Commissioner to accompany the pilgrims yearly; (2) the establishment of a dispensary at the major pilgrims centres; (3) the provision of accommodation for the pilgrims in Mecca and Medina; and (4) the control of indiscriminate fee charges imposed on Nigerian pilgrims. He also recommended the recognition and commendation of meritorious services rendered to the pilgrims by officials and volunteers in Nigeria and Saudi Arabia. All the recommendations were accepted in principle. And for the purpose of implementation, the Government appointed a three-man Hajj delegation led by Alhaji Isa Kaita, a Northern Nigerian Regional Minister. The delegation submitted its report Northern Regional and Federal Governments in 1954 when there were only about 300 to 400 official pilgrims from Nigeria. Impressed by this development and coming face to face with the issues involved in Hajj operation, Alhaji Ahmadu Bello, the Sarduna of Sokoto and Premier of Northern Regional Government, became so much interested in Hajj affair that he led a four-man delegation to Saudi Arabia in 1955 to personally investigate Hajj conditions and to advise his regional government as well as the federal government on how it should be handled. The commission focused on several thorny operational problems such as the mutawwif (local guide), the agency responsible for guiding Nigerian pilgrims in the holy land, the absence of accommodation for Nigerian pilgrims, the lack of medical facilities, and arrangements for reception at Jeddah’s sea and air ports. Meanwhile, Alhaji Ibrahim Dasuki (who later became Sultan) was assigned to Kano as a pilgrims’ officer to assist Nigerian pilgrims at Kano airport on matters of Hajj operations especially relating to passports, visa, customs, immigration formalities, health requirements and foreign exchange. In 1958 the Federal Government of Nigeria became fully involved in Hajj operations. Its concern at this stage was the welfare of some 21,000 Nigerian pilgrims of uncertain diplomatic status in the Sudan as well as some other 20,000 West Africans of various nationalities but mostly Nigerians, who were facing deportation from Saudi Arabia. Consequently, the federal government appointed a goodwill mission under the leadership of the Sardauna to find ways of solving the problems of the Nigerian pilgrims in both the Sudan and Saudi Arabia. In this manner, the pilgrimage began to assume the characteristics of a high-level diplomatic delegation. Today, Nigeria is a frontline country in the performance of Hajj every year. More facts about Hajj operations in Nigeria especially the formal establishment Pilgrims Board at the federal or regional level may be written in details in this column soon.