The Nation Newspaper

Category: Friday

  • A guest of integrity

    Guests, everywhere in the world, are of different types. Some are of honour and treated with integrity because of their acknowledged robe of dignity. Some are bereft of honour but merely tolerated for their nuisance value. Each time we talk of guests, people invariably think only of humans in the erroneous belief that no other creature could be qualified for that title. What such people don’t seem to know is that humans are just a fraction of Allah’s creatures. There are millions of other creatures not often noticed by man. One of such creatures is the environment of which season is a part.

    Phenomenal Creature

    The phenomenal creature called season comes in different forms with different intensity and at different times of the year.

    Seasons are like the tides of an ocean. They roll out spirally in quick succession and reshape the world’s environment from time to time as they come in multiples of months. No one measures a season in the absence of months as there can be no seasons without months.

    Seasonal Visitor

    In a few days’ time, a unique guest will arrive in the world with the grandeur of integrity. Its arrival will be the divine catalyst with which the long awaited human respite for the currently prevailing global machinations will be ushered in.

    Europeans have so much respect for seasons that whenever they have an important guest they call him an ‘August visitor’. The month of August is the peak of summer season and the most comfortable month of hospitality for the Caucasian race of Europe hence the term.

    In Islam, the most venerable guest is the month of Ramadan. Its visiting time is not restricted to any particular season. Its arrival in the world may coincide with that of any season. That sacred month is therefore the guest of all seasons.

    With Ramadan as a guest, not only the Muslims but the entire humanity is consciously or unconsciously engaged in hospitable activities.

    Those who cannot fast in it do take advantage of its presence to sell or buy some relevant needs and wants. Thus, there can be no indifference to the awful presence of Ramadan in any part of the world.

    I recall the vivid description given this sacred month in ‘THE MESSAGE’   column some time ago which is still as relevant now as it was then. It went thus:

    “Once every year, something creeps into the world like the early morning light. It moves kaleidoscopically into an arena where the centre becomes its stool. It lifts its veil and beams a special focus on the world with an arresting attention in the days. It envelops the nights in a shroud of covenant linking the dream of man with its fulfillment”.

    Its journey

    “No one except Allah knows Ramadan’s port of embarkation. No human being knows its destination. All we know of it is that of a guest that is so vividly present in our world and yet so physically invisible.

    RAMADAN is the name by which it is divinely christened. Its coming is often heralded by a retinue of envoys. The months of ‘Rajab’ and ‘Sha’ban’ are the immediate escorts that alert mankind of its imminent arrival. Like the sun in the midst of stars, Ramadan ascends the throne in full regalia and all other months, (lunar and solar) quickly take their bow.

    Call it the king where other months are chiefs and you will be dead right. Call it the doctor in a world of sick people and you will not be wrong. Call it the compass in the wilderness of straying humanity and you would have spoken the truth. Call it the reformer of human soul; the sterilizer of human spirit as well as the purifier of human body and you will not be disputed. In its entourage are equally invisible ministers such as piety, knowledge, truth, justice and peace, all of which usher it into the world with splendor”.

     

    Connotation of Its Name

    Deriving its name from a natural healing phenomenon, this ninth lunar month called Ramadan is truly baking in effect.

    The word:  Ramadan is derived from the Arabic word ramd (meaning baking). The name had been in existence before the advent of Islamic calendar. It was coined from a baking summer that immediately followed a freezing winter. Ever since, Ramadan’s mission has been to firm up all loose ends in the life of man. And it does that with a touch of perfection”.

     

    Its mission

    In Ramadan, the entire month of 30 or 29 days is spent by Muslim believers in fasting from dawn to dusk. Such fasting is not about abstinence from foods and drinks alone. It is also about self-restraint from all sinful acts and self-equipment with a reign of impeccable discipline.  More importantly, it is about repackaging of one’s destiny through a new but sincere resolution.

    Fasting during this sacred month is believed to figuratively burn away all sins. It was in this glorious month that the revelation of the divinely reformative Book of guidance called the Qur’an to Prophet Muhammad (SAW) first began.

    In the sacred month of Ramadan, all gates of paradise, according to the Prophet, are open while those of hell are closed. The first ten days in it are blessings galore for those of the Muslim Ummah who need blessings and seek for them. The next ten days personify forgiveness for those who realize the gravity of their sinful acts, repent on them and resolve never to return to such acts again. Thus, Ramadan is far, far beyond a month. It is really a season that serves as a template for other seasons.

    Its anchor leg

    The last ten days in that sacred month are like a spiritual inoculation meant to liberate genuinely faithful Muslims from any satanic ailment that can lead to doom.  Whoever is liberated with that inoculation automatically becomes like a new born baby arriving in a new world with a ‘tabula rasa’ (clean slate).

    The Night of Power

    It is in these last ten days of Ramadan that a particular night called Laylatul Qadr in which the secret of human destiny is encapsulated.

    The night is otherwise known as the ‘Night of power’. Meeting that night consciously and spiritually is like securing the key to one’s own apartment in Paradise. The proviso, however, is that one needs to remain awake throughout those nights to be fortunate to meet the D night.

    Allah did not disclose even to Prophet Muhammad (SAW), which particular night of the sacred month of Ramadan is called Laylatul Qadr. But by asking the Muslims to look for it in the odd nights of the last ten days, the Prophet has helped the rightly guided Muslim Ummah tremendously. However, who can be so sure of the odd nights when the issue of sighting the crescent before starting Ramadan often remains controversial?

    Also, during the last ten days of Ramadan, some willing Muslims, in accordance with the tradition of Prophet Muhammad (SAW), do go for Umrah in Makkah or take to I’tikaf (spiritual seclusion) locally, to reaffirm their total submission to Allah. Following this is a session of charity made compulsory for all Muslims irrespective of age, gender and status, to give to the poor and the needy. This is called Zakatul Fitr or Sadaqatul Fitr. It is given in the very early morning of Ramadan Festival Day or the night before it to enable the poor and the needy celebrate the festival with the Ummah in a festive mood.

    Anti-climax

    The first day of the month of Shawwal immediately after Ramadan which is traditionally spent in great celebrations with rejoice and observed as ‘Fast-Breaking Festival’ (Eidul Fitr) by Muslims is the anti-climax of Ramadan month.

    Where else can one find a guest like Ramadan? Where else can one meet a guest that hosts his supposed hosts and heals mankind of ignorance and physical diseases? It was probably more to Ramadan than to man that Prophet Muhammad (SAW) referred when he said: “whoever believes in Allah and the ‘Last Day’ should venerate his guest” That guest is Ramadan. That is why Muslims often say in this unique month: ‘RAMADAN KARIM’ which means ‘Venerable Ramadan’.

    Preparation

    To start or end fasting in Ramadan, sighting of the crescent is just symbolic. The indices of recognizing when to start or end the month are naturally vivid to those who care.

    Ramadan is not preceded by two glorious lunar months of Rajab and Sha’ban for fun. The number of days in those two months is to enable any serious Muslim know the time of the arrival of Ramadan and prepare for it. No lunar month exceeds 30 days and none is less than 29 days.

    Crescent or no crescent, it is very possible and easy to know when to start Ramadan every year without waiting to be prompted. The confusion often created by the sighting of the crescent is therefore avoidable.

    If Rajab is 30 or 29 days, no one looks for the crescent before starting Sha’ban. As soon as Rajab ends, Sha’ban starts with little or no controversy at all.

    Dynamism

    Islam is a dynamic religion and nothing should be rigid about the sighting of the crescent before starting Ramadan. Sighting the crescent is not the only condition for commencing fasting in the great month. After all, the new crescent is not necessarily visible to all eyes at any given time in any locality. That is why a few Muslims who may be privileged to sight it are implored to invite some others to witness it and then inform the recognized authorities who will in turn, announce the arrival of Ramadan to the Muslim community in the locality or region.

    Besides Faith (Iman) and Hajj (which are the first and last pillars of Islam), nothing else in the sacred religion is really globally uniform in practical terms with regards to timing. The variation in the geography of the earth has legitimized the variation of time in the observance of Salat, Sawm and Zakat. The over 1.7 billion Muslims in the world today cannot commence Ramadan fasting on the same day or the same hour. Iman is global because it resides permanently in the hearts of the believers irrespective of their localities. Hajj is equally global because it is performed in only one place at a particular time.

    Geographical factor

    Where a gap of about nine to eleven hours exists between one part of the world and another, talking of global uniformity in starting or ending Ramadan can only border on sheer ignorance. For instance it is impossible for the Australian Muslims living in Australia and their South American brethren residing in Brazil or Argentina to start Ramadan on the same day. Even within Nigeria, all Muslims can start Ramadan on the same day, only if they have equal access to information. And even with that, it is not possible for them all to start or end daily fasting at the same time of the day. That is why the announcement or publication of Ramadan timing according to the various localities is necessary.

    Universality of Ramadan

    That Ramadan fasting is prescribed as a universal obligation for all Muslims in a particular month is deliberate. Allah who did the prescription is not oblivious of the geographical variations in the world. Neither is He unaware of the possible invisibility of a new crescent to most eyes. The design is to allow for the reverberation of the effect of Ramadan across the world. And time variation in observance of Salat or celebration of festivals is not peculiar to Islam. Even in Christianity, neither Easter nor Christmas is globally celebrated in one day. And, there is no media noise about it.

    What is global about Ramadan fasting is the month and not the time.

    Dawn and dusk vary from locality to locality. It is therefore possible for the Muslims in one part of the world to be breaking their daily fast at a time when their brethren in another part of the world are commencing theirs. Thus, the genuineness or otherwise of Ramadan fasting is not to be judged by man. That is why Allah is reported by Prophet Muhammad (SAW) as saying in a sacred Hadith (Hadith-ul-Qudsi) that: “Fasting is Mine and I am the One to grant rewards on it.”

    Welcome to the coast of Ramadan. This sacred ‘ship’ must not leave the coast without you on board. Ramadan is like an institution of learning. A good Muslim must not just pass through it he must also allow it to pass through him. Who knows when the last time to witness the month will be?

    RAMADAN KARIM!

  • A vicious circle of greed, poverty, and violence

    Nigeria is blessed with plenty in resources: large acres of uncultivated of farmland, mineral reserves, water resources, and a massive population potentially capable of putting all of these to use for the wellbeing of our people. For several reasons, however, this desirable end is not to be. Why?

    I mention two reasons only to dismiss them. One, for convenience, we blame our plight on anyone but ourselves. Here, colonial exploitation is our whipping child. But while our experience of colonial exploitation is real, after 59 years, shouldn’t we wake up to our responsibility and deal with neocolonial collaborators in our midst?

    Two, some have suggested that we missed the road early on because when we became a nation, we did not opt for an indigenous political system unique to us. I respectfully beg to differ. We were a nation in name only when we started the journey of independence. Therefore, there couldn’t have been an agreement on an “indigenous” political system.

    Let us then focus on what the real issues are. First, there is ample evidence on the importance of human talents in the development of other resources for the benefit of humankind. Our founding fathers recognized this and prioritized education. Therefore, in fairness to them, they started well and placed us in the path of progress. However, we, or more precisely, the uniformed ones among us, got rid of them and their emphasis on education.

    It was not for lack of money that we relegated the education of our children to the back burner. It was a deliberate policy of preventing them from actualizing their God-given potentials. The uniformed ones prioritized conspicuous consumption and white elephant projects. Yet ancestral wisdom is clear on this matter. The children you don’t train will rubbish your investment in the projects that you prioritize. So it is that from bars on bridges to cables on electric poles and louvres on uncompleted low-cost houses, those we failed to train prioritized the vandalization of our pet projects to make ends meet.

    Even after the uniformed ones were forced to retreat, they ensured that they handed over only to those who were not going to disrupt the apple-cart. With a meaningless jargon of qualitative education, they stagnated the forward movement of higher education for several decades. The most atrocity was committed during the regime of General Babangida with a deliberate policy of divide and conquer which ended up hurting every section of the country. Since then, it has been a downward spiral to the abyss in which we now find ourselves.

    Second, with such a huge deficit in the development of human resources, we are not able to manipulate the abundance of nature for our benefit. Therefore, in the oil sector, we depend on multinationals with no interest in our wellbeing. And we complain that they steal our oil? Our refineries are moribund for lack of maintenance because that is not a culture that we train ourselves to cultivate.

    Third, just as we abandoned education, we encouraged a contract-based economy and welcomed the proliferation of emergency contractors, apology to the late music icon, I.K. Dairo. The result was the rural-urban migration. Agricultural settlements were deserted and with it, productivity of agricultural products suffered irreparably.

    Fifth, the result of the foregoing is our realization that, without adequate human resources to manipulate nature, our natural resources, though plentiful, are useless. For the elite or run-of-the-mill egoistic maniac, this reality is a signal for greed to take over. In the circumstance, many unable to compete successfully in the race are left behind despondent and resentful. The result is our national nightmare. Think gang, cult, human trafficking, armed robbery, and kidnapping. It didn’t start yesterday. And without a drastic national approach to dealing with the root cause, it will not stop.

    Greed is not alien to human nature. As Thomas Hobbes theorized, it is natural human reaction in the face of scarcity. You would like to grab more and more in case there is no more. So would others. And this must lead to some unwholesome situation with many motivated by greed running into one another, causing violent conflicts, Hobbes’s war of all against all.

    Note, however, that such a conflict would, for Hobbes, occur in a state of nature, where there is no political authority to moderate interactions among human beings. That this same conflict is occurring between the boundaries of our nation is an unfortunate evidence of our proximity to the state of nature even after 59 years of independence

    What is the real issue that deserves attention? Is it scarcity of resources, greed, or failure of political authority? To my mind, it is all three combined in various degrees.

    First, our scarcity is man-made. Until a few years ago, we had carried on as if our newly-found oil wealth was inexhaustible. We fought a civil war without borrowing, thanks to the black gold. Even when it was made clear to us in the early 1980s that oil wealth was susceptible to the vagaries of the global market, we weren’t deterred from ostentatious living or from dependence on this single product for all our national development goals.

    In fairness to the Buhari administration, therefore, whatever its challenges in other areas, we must applaud its recognition of the need to take economic diversification seriously with investments in agriculture and mining especially. With increased output in agriculture, we can at least expect to feed ourselves and reduce our expenditure on food importation. But we must go beyond this least common denominator. We must worry about the development of human talents capable of transforming our increased agricultural output into the beginnings of an agro-industrial revolution. Education is key to this and must be taken seriously.

    Second, greed is certainly a disproportionate part of the problem, and it starts at the top with the political class. What have unfortunately downplayed the influence of the conduct of those in positions of authority on those below them. Leaders must lead by example. In the First Republic, political office holders served in part-time capacity. Those were still the most productive times in our political experience when citizens felt the impact of government positively on their lives. And those were still the most peaceful times of our national history. With access to education for anyone who desired it, and availability of jobs for those who took advantage of educational opportunities, greed was reduced to its barest minimum.

    Now, however, we have a complete reversal of the values that we started out with. The political class leads in the matter of vicious greed even when resources are desperately scarce. Many commentators, including this columnist, have berated the humongous emoluments cornered by current political office holders. Is there a rational and moral justification for a Nigerian Senator to earn more than a United States Senator? Or a state governor with no internally generated revenue to earn more than his U.S. counterpart?

    As CNN reported in 2016, the governor of the State of Maine, Mr. Paul LePage was the lowest paid governor in the US. His wife, Mrs. Ann LePage decided to take up a waitressing job at a local restaurant to supplement her husband’s $70,000 annual salary. Is Nigeria more economically developed and more financially sound than the US? But beside the huge salary, our chief executives have access to other perquisites of office including security vote for which they are not accountable. The youth envy this and end up as yahoo boys, kidnappers, and armed robbers.

    Finally, then, an effective political authority, mindful of our desperate situation, will map out a strategy to tackle our many challenges, not least of which is greed in high places. Surely, greed and corruption are not limited to the corridors of political power. However, corruption radiates from politics to other sectors. Corruption in high places motivates corruption in low places. Those least advantaged to benefit from corruption see themselves as unlucky. They resort to what they can control, namely, violence against their fellow citizens.

    Without effective political authority and political institutions that are incorruptible, the tomorrow of our nation is uncertain.

     

  • Scholars’ week @ Markaz (1)

    “Those are our impacts (on the Society); They confirm who we are; look at those impacts again…”

    This week, the third week in April, 2019, is not the well-known Scholar’s Week of Nigeria’s citadel emeritus called Markaz. Usually, that famous week comes up in the first week  of May, every year, since it first debut in 1998, six years after the demise of Sheikh Adam Abdullah Al-Ilory, the great African revolutionary sage who kindled the light of knowledge for Nigerian madrasah system on the platform of Arabic language.

    However, that the great week is coming up in the third week of April this year is a matter of exigency to avoid a clash with the coming great month of Ramadan.

    It should be recalled that the great innovation called Scholars’ Week was initiated by Shaykh Habibullah Adam Abdullah Al-Ilory, a foremost son of Shaykh Adam Abdullah Al-Ilory who is currently the Rector of  Markaz.

     

    Purpose of scholars’ week

    Scholars’ Week is a week in which scholarship is internationally celebrated in full regalia. Great men and women of letters from all walks of life, and from most countries of Africa and the Middle East, assemble on the campus of that great institution for a whole week in May every year to clad knowledge in a befitting wreath of honour.

    This ingenuous innovation which began in 1998 was aimed at keeping aglow the illuminating touch of learning that was the hallmark of the late Shaykh Adam Al-Ilory while alive.

     

    Activities

    During the week, scholarly papers on various issues of   human interest as well as of concern to Islam and the Muslim Ummah are presented. Debates and symposia are also organized to resolve some knotty contemporary and primordial intellectual questions hitherto unanswered even as plenary sessions are held to deliberate and decide on further way forward.

    Scholars Week’ is both a meeting point and a reminder of the good old days for the alumni of Markaz who now come from various parts of the world yearly to upgrade their general knowledge and broaden their horizons about life.

    The week also serves as an interactive session for professionals, clerics and scholars in other fields of learning outside the umbrella of Markaz to share and exchange ideas as well as experiences. It is like a modern day ‘Ukaz’ intellectual market of yore in Arabia where all valuable elements of scholarship used to compete for global intellectual attention.

     

    Internationalization

    Now, with this unique, annual, intellectual conference, the idea of Scholars’ Week has been further internationalized.

    The primary language of discussion while the commemorative conference lasts is Arabic. That language is international by all standards. Apart from being one of the languages spoken at the United Nations meetings, it is also the mother tongue of over 400 million Arabs as well as a major language at the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) forum. Besides, over 100 million non-Arabs who speak Arabic as their second language spread across continents and countries of the world.

     

    Conference language

    The scholarly event in Markaz does not however limit the exercise to Arabic speakers alone. Presentation of papers in English, French, Yoruba, Hausa and even Ibo is also welcome since no particular language has monopoly of knowledge. Arabic is however made the primary language of communication for two reasons: First is to provide scholars with an avenue to exhibit their Arabic prowess and thereby boost their scholarly horizon in the language of the Qur’an and Sunnah. Secondly, it encourages the current students of Markaz and those of other Arabic and Islamic Institutions of learning who may be interested in imbibing the culture of scholarship par excellence which helped the founder of Markaz to pave way intellectually for others in life.

    Despite the unrivalled accomplishment of Shaykh Adam Abdullah Al-Ilory and the ‘Milky Way’ role of Markaz in dispatching a galaxy of stars into the world, some people keep asking questions about the great citadel and its late exemplary Founder.

    The answer to that question was modestly proffered in a special publication organized by ‘The NewsMagazine’ of Lagos in 1999. At the grey twilight of the 20th century, the management of that magazine thought of putting together in a chronicled form, the most prominent 100 great Nigerian men and women of the 20th century. The publication was entitled ‘People in The News 1900-1999: A Survey of Nigerians of the 20th Century’.

     

    Hall of fame

    To put the documents together about those great Nigerians, some prominent Nigerian newspaper columnists and other versatile (but non-journalists) writers were chosen and commissioned to write about those great Nigerians. Yours sincerely was one of the commissioned journalists. And the two personalities assigned to me were the late Shaykh Adam Abdullah Al-Ilory and Shaykh Abubakar Mahmud Gumi. The 498 page book which was publicly presented with pump and pageantry in Lagos that same year can be called Nigeria’s 20th century’s ‘Hall of Fame.

    When I thought of reminding the world of the essence of Scholars’ Week through this column, this year, I was unable to think of anything different from what I had written and published about the great sage called Shaykh Adam Abdullah Al-Ilory in the recent past. Thus, after some time of rumination, I decided to re-present my humble contribution to the book mentioned above. Here it goes:

     

    Distinction

    “To Muslim communities of West Africa, two names (Shaykh Adam Abdullah Al-Ilory and Markaz) are synonymous and often used interchangeably. Only a few people know that Markaz is a name of an Institution and Shaykh Adam is the name of its founder. Both names jointly symbolize revolution not only in the method of propagating Islam in the sub-region but also in entrenching the divine language of the Qur’an in the heart and brain of those Muslims. The late Shaykh Adam Abdullah Al-Ilory was both an Islamic scholar of international repute and a revolutionary of historical reference.  His famous Centre for Arabic and Islamic Learning (Markaz) in Agege, Lagos State, testifies to both qualities in him.

    With the establishment of Markaz in 1952, Shaykh Adam introduced modernity and standardization into Arabic and Islamic learning in Nigeria and West African sub-region.

    Perhaps no 20th century Muslim scholar, dead or alive, has ever had such a profound impact on West African Muslim communities, in terms of Arabic scholarship and Islamic propagation as Shaykh Adam.

     

    Antecedent

    Before Shaykh Adam established Markaz, there were scholars and there were Madaris, (Qur’anic schools) no doubt. But such schools operated within a very narrow scope as their teaching methodology was very primitive and anachronistic.

    In those Madaris, pupils were merely handed over to Muallims (teachers) by their parents without any agreement on what to teach them and for how long. Thus, a pupil could serve his teacher for as long as 20 years or even more in the name of learning to recite the Qur’an.

     

    Birth of a dream

    When Shaykh Adam, who also passed through that pseudo servitude, grew up into a man, he pointed out this anomaly with a resolution to change it. To succeed in doing that however, he realized that he needed to equip himself educationally. Therefore, he put fervour in his burner and moved from scholar to scholar, as a pupil, searching for whatever he could garner intellectually to assist him in fulfilling his dream. Two of the teachers from whom he had a deep sip of knowledge were Alfa Namaji (a Nupe scholar from Niger State) and Alfa Salih alias Esin nio bi wa (an Ilorin scholar who settled down in Ibadan, Oyo State). He also studied under a number of other Islamic teachers.

    However, Shaykh Adam was not satisfied with the depth of knowledge he acquired from those teachers especially with his resentment for their teaching methodologies.

     

    His quest for more knowledge

    Despite his very limited financial ability, Shaykh Adam, decided to proceed abroad for further studies. He arrived in Cairo, Egypt, in the early 1940s, where he had an academic sojourn at the prestigious Al-Azhar University which is one of the three oldest Universities in the world today. (Al-Azhar University was established in 970 C.E by one Jawhar, a ‘Fatimid’ front liner).

    In Cairo, Shaykh Adam saw with admiration how well organized Madaris were run and he started dreaming of establishing one on returning to his father land. He studied the Egyptian curricula of education and methodology of teaching both at the elementary and secondary levels.

    On his arrival in Nigeria in 1947, he worked briefly as a missionary under Ansar-ud-Deen Society of Nigeria to enable him settle down financially in preparation for the realization of his long term dream. In a short while, his burning desire to reform Madrasah system in Nigeria spurred him to start planning for the establishment of Markaz.

    Thus with meagre financial resources but relentless determination, he established a Madrasah called ‘Markazut Ta’limil Arabiyy wad-Dirasatul Islamiyyah’ (which meant ‘Centre for Arabic and Islamic Learning’ and became popularly known as MARKAZ) in Abeokuta, Ogun State, on April 16, 1952. The Institution which was to become the Centre of Revolution  in the teaching of Arabic and Islamic education in Nigeria, started with just 19 pupils and four teachers including Shaykh Adam himself. The founder’s foresight, however, would not allow Markaz to remain in Abeokuta for long. He moved the Institution to Agege, now in Lagos State, in 1955.

     

    Uniqueness of Markaz

    The uniqueness of Markaz at that time was not to be seen in the quality of education taught to the students alone. The modern teaching methodology and reformation with which the Institution was characterized also confirmed that uniqueness. It was in Markaz for instance that the use of chalk and blackboard for teaching Arabic and Islamic education was first introduced in Yoruba land. Hitherto, the teaching instruments were wooden slate and local ink. It was in Markaz that a curriculum was first introduced which classified studies into subjects while pupils were distributed into classrooms according to their levels. It was in Markaz that pupils of Arabic and Islamic education first wore uniform and sat on chairs rather than on floor while writing with pencil or pen in notebooks. It was in Markaz that examination was first introduced as a means of assessing and promoting pupils from class to class while certificates were issued to Madrasah graduates as a measure of their level of education. It was in Markaz that such facilities as dormitories, library, printing press and clinic were first provided for Madrasah students.

     

    Antagonism

    However, for doing all these and for teaching students such subjects as syntax, morphology, logic, semantics, philosophy, geography, History, mathematics, and Arabic literature, Sheikh Adam was confronted with implacable hostility by some traditional local Alfas. That hostility became aggravated when he added a Central Jum’at Mosque to Markaz where the Friday sermon which he delivered in Arabic language was translated into Yoruba simultaneously. But the courageous scholar remained undaunted.

     

    First graduation ceremony in Markaz

    With the first graduation ceremony of Markaz in 1957   however, which many people watched with admiration, Shaykh Adam won an important victory for his revolution. Following that graduation, some ambitious but hostile local Alfas swallowed their envy by shelving their pride and enrolled in Markaz as students to improve their knowledge and undergo tutelage in the modern teaching methodology.

    A number of those Alfas came from various parts of Nigeria as well as neighbouring countries like Benin Republic, Togo, Ghana, Cote d’I-Voire, Guinea, Burkina Faso, Cameroon and Sierra Leone. After graduation, some of them went back to establish similar Institutions in their domains under the umbrella of Markaz.

    Today, thousands of products of Markaz and those of the affiliate Institutions are University graduates in various fields of discipline. Scores of them are highly placed in their callings and professions.

     

  • Envisioning the Yoruba in an ideal Nigerian Federation

    Yoruba values are the ageless strength of the Yoruba nation. Paradoxically, they are also part of her challenges. The core value of Omoluabi still remains the pillar of the Yoruba civilization. Iwa (Character) is its fundamental moral principle. Guided by this principle, generations of Yoruba parents brought up morally upright children who have gone on to succeed wherever they find themselves. They were told that if they demonstrated outstanding traits of character, they would go places. However, should they develop bad character, they might open themselves up to derision and hate.

    The components of Iwa include a strong habit of hard work (ise logun ise), the philosophy of live and let live, and hospitality (ikonimora) to mention a few. We also have a rich language which appears to accommodate opposites without qualm. While we say ise logun ise, we also insist that kitikiti ko mola, ka sise bi eru ko da nkan. Also, with the same mind that we philosophize about the morality of hospitality, we also express our misgiving about preferring strangers to natives (eniti a bi won bi kii wu won….). We are not worried about the apparent ambivalence of our proverbial statements. Our ancestors prioritize moderation and balance in every situation. If we learn from them, we would have little or no challenges that we do not have indigenous resources to meet.

    In an ideal federation, the central and regional or state governments are co-equals. There is no parasitic relationship and the regions/states have sovereignty over affairs relative to their customs and cultural traditions, including language policy, education, economy, etc. Specifically, an ideal federalism respects cultural democracy. That the Nigerian Federation is non-ideal is no longer news. It has been so since 1966 despite the complaints of many citizens, including political leaders, traditional rulers, educationists, legal luminaries, labor, and students. We also know that this deviation from the norm of federalism has been a clog in the wheel of our national progress and development.

    We know where we were at the dawn of independence having been in an ideal federation for at least five years before 1960. And we know where we were on the eve of January 15, 1966. And we can infer where we would have been if, on that day, the brake pedal of unitarism had not been depressed to slow our forward march.

    No one is in doubt that the current federal structure of the Nigerian state undermines the progress of every group, the Yoruba especially, in all areas. Recall, for instance, that the Awolowo administration defied the colonial federal government to pursue its own development agenda even though it meant forfeiting its allocation of federal fund. So, the current federation is not anything but a setback for the aspirations of the founding fathers of the former Western Region. For the Yoruba or any ethnic nationality or region to make progress relative to its aspirations, we must have something close to an ideal federation, if the ideal cannot now be achieved.

    Having made the point in the last paragraph, however, let me throw in a major caveat. We know the impediment to Yoruba progress in the current quasi-unitary system. But there is also another matter that must agitate our mind as we contemplate restructuring toward an ideal federation.

    What we haven’t really confronted is what prospects and challenges the Yoruba might encounter in an ideal Nigerian Federation when restructuring is accomplished. Hopefully, the prospects are excellent for a reconfiguring of our zonal agenda for the development of our people. However, I hazard a guess that there would still be some great difficulties in view of our special circumstances. Unfortunately, we haven’t engaged seriously with these issues. Here I choose one for further reflection.

    We suffer from a deficit of consensus, talk less of unity of purpose. We pride ourselves in the matter of the priority we give to differences of opinions on matters of importance. We cannot all sleep and face one direction. Our uniformity of tongue and blood doesn’t prevent bitter political fights. No Yoruba leader since the days of Awolowo has ever controlled the admiration, talk less loyalty of a large percentage of the people. Superstitiously, we attribute this to the curse of Aole. But if we don’t speak with one voice, who is going to take us seriously? It is no surprise that the political geckos have always taken advantage of the cracks in our walls to invade our space.

    It is even more distressing that the most disruptive conflicts have not occurred because of ideological differences. Conflicts of personalities have always been the bane of our civilization from the days of inter-tribal wars to contemporary shenanigans among traditional rulers and political leaders.

    Along with the foregoing is our posture regarding our common ancestry and the glorious history of our immediate past. We are justifiably highfalutin recalling our exploits in the First Republic. We were first in all the innovations that mattered to a developing country. We were like a country within a country. And we regret that our march of progress was stopped because we decided to go national with our brand when all that national leaders saw then was a threat to their hegemony.

    Now that we have been strategically partitioned into tiny cubicles, each cubicle head decides to guard its power trimmings jealously. Thus, when the idea of a return to regionalism was first proposed years ago, the first attack on the idea came from our zone. “We are not ready to go back to Ibadan was the refrain” as if we are incapable of out-of-the-box thinking again. Surely going back to Ibadan or using another regional headquarter can’t be our only option.

    What we do about this issue of internal division and personality conflict is going to determine (a) whether we project a common voice regarding the need for restructuring and (b) whether and how we benefit from it when it finally occurs.

    About (a), we shouldn’t deceive ourselves thinking that APC leaders among us are the resisters. Many of them have been lifetime advocates of restructuring. The truth is that, in the present republic, resistance started in 2005 during the Obasanjo constitutional conference when PDP was in power in the Southwest apart from Lagos. The Yoruba Agenda was carefully prepared by activists and civil society leaders. It was endorsed across the board only to be turned down by PDP Governors who insisted that they were the elected leaders and they must have their way regarding the political agenda for the Yoruba.

    Of course, they had the backing of the then President whose disdain for restructuring was and is not a secret. If there are APC political office holders now resisting restructuring, it may be worth our while looking into the negative psychology of power that overcomes its bearers and render them incapable of long-term consideration of legacy. Just as the curse of a country with a wobbly foundation is not borne alone by one party or the other, so the blessings of a restructured Nigeria will rebound on everyone whether they support it now or not. But history records impartially and, in the fullness of time, it will make its record public.

    On (b) assume that restructuring finally occurs despite the resistance of the powerful. If the Yoruba are at each other’s throat, how are they going to benefit? A restructured Nigeria, with a true federal system, where federating units are quasi-autonomous, and are in control of their resources while paying taxes and royalty to the federal government, will not be a bed of roses initially. The success of each federating unit in such a system will depend on the quality of its human talents more than the material resources it controls. Therefore, the Southwest must prepare itself through the creative energy of leaders and followers who work cooperatively to reinvent the pacesetting genius of its past.

    The future that we envision calls for the closing of ranks and the mending of fences that tend to divide. This is our urgent TASK.

     

    • Excerpts from a goodwill message to Afenifere Renewal Group Retreat, March 30, 2019

     

  • Trump’s Dangerous Predation Agenda

    It was a refreshing of an old wound last Monday, when the American President, Donald John Trump, fortuitously designated the Iranian Revolutionary Guards Corps as a foreign terrorist organisation. And, in a prompt reaction, Iran also declared the entire American military forces as a gang of terrorists. Coming up just a couple of weeks after the same Trump mischievously recognized a Venezuela opposition leader, Juan Guaido, who did not contest in the recent election for the office of the President in that country but declared himself as President with a swearing in ceremony, Trump’s seeming neurotic actions these days could not have come as a surprise. Here is a man who unilaterally decided in 2017 to erect a fence covering about 1,933 miles at the US border with Mexico and insisted that the latter must pay the cost. Also, like a neurotic patient, this man has thrown both the North Atlantic Treaty Organisation (NATO) and the European Union (EU) into an embarrassing disarray on many issues with his garrulous international posture.

    Today’s article is not new. It is rather a repeat of an earlier article published in this column in November 2018, albeit with a different title. The article is being repeated here today on the demand of some prominent readers of this column who are strongly concerned about the gathering particles of an impending World War 111 the drum of which President Trump has been beating aloud in recent time with no reflection on its consequences Thus, capturing the vivid mood of those readers and based on their tone of demand for the repetition of this article,  ‘The Message’ column decided to migrate, from the insanity of Nigeria’s unwarranted political, economic and insecurity rigmarole to that of a global implacable tempest if only  for a momentary change.

    After all, elasticity has its limit. And by so doing, even if temporarily, some relief might come, not only to the readers of this column but also to the writer who is currently writhing in the dust of unimaginable suffocation in Nigeria. For now, that may be a way of ventilating the atmosphere for a relatively peaceful existence.

     

    Trump’s Predation Agenda

    At the instance of American President, Donald Trump, an unexpected global war may soon break out, the consequences of which will be very difficult to  predict. As a matter of fact, the motivation for this assertion had started gathering momentum with the swinging of a dangerous pendulum from the premise of the US imperial tendencies since Trump’s assumption of office as the 45th US President in 2016.

    When and how such a war will break out may just be a matter of guessing for all agitated minds around the world.

     

    The Immediate Cause of Iran/US Tango

    About four years ago, Al-Jazeera Television throbbed with   breaking news, reporting that a United States’ military aircraft strayed into the airspace of Iran and the latter promptly responded by shooting it down. The incident occurred when Dr. Barack Obama was the President of the US. And that was the climax of an allegation of stockpiling weapons of mass destruction, especially, nuclear armament, levelled against Iran by the US.

    That disturbing development which dragged Iran to the United Nation’s Security Council for explanation further heightened the already existing tension between the US and Iran. The tension had started in 1979 with the Iranian revolution that uprooted Shah Pahlavi’s imperial despotism which had caged the country’s citizens for decades.

     

    U.S.’ Reaction

    In reaction to the fortuitous incident of the American intrusion that led to Iran’s prompt military reaction, the US authorities said that the destination of the shot aircraft was Afghanistan and not Iran.

    They explained that its pilot accidentally lost control and strayed inadvertently into Iranian territory. But then, the die had been cast even as the US has since been looking for an opportunity to revenge.

     

    Genesis of Faceoff

    The faceoff between Iran and certain Western countries, particularly the US and Britain, can be traced to a grand design by the West as expressed in 1902 by a British Prime Minister, Sir H. Campbell-Bannerman who observed as follows:

    “There are people who control spacious territories teeming with manifest and hidden resources. They dominate the intersections of world routes. Their lands were the cradles of human civilizations and religions. These people have one faith, one language and the same aspiration. No natural barriers can isolate them from one another… If, per chance, these people were to be unified into one state it would then take the fate of the world into its hands and separate Europe from the rest of the world. Taking these considerations seriously, a foreign body should be planted in the heart of this nation to prevent the convergence of its wings in such a way that it could exhaust its powers in never- ending wars. It could also serve as a spring board for the West to gain its coveted objects”.

     

    Follow Up

    Sir Bannerman’s observation was tacitly a further pursuit of an earlier demand by an Austrian Jewish lawyer and Journalist, Theodor Herzl, the initiator and leader of the Zionist movement founded in 1879.

     

    Theodor Herzl’s Demand

    In the euphoria of a chauvinistic ambition, shortly after the establishment of the Zionist movement,  Theodor Herzl, made a demand thus: “Let sovereignty be granted us (Jews) over a portion of the globe large enough to satisfy the rightful requirements of a nation. The rest, we shall manage by ourselves…”

     

    The Balfour Declaration

    In furtherance of the West’s clandestine agenda expressed by Bannerman as quoted above, another British Prime Minister, James Arthur Balfour, issued an insensitively   devastating declaration that now bears his name in history. That seemingly conspiratorial declaration, which forcefully conceded a major chunk of Palestinian land to the Zionists as a home, became a thorny point in the serenity of the world.

    Since then, the infamous Balfour declaration has put the Middle East in an incessant turmoil to the discomfort of the world’s peace and harmony. The declaration read partly as follows: “His majesty’s Government views with favour the establishment, in Palestine, of a national home for the Jewish people and will use its best endeavours to facilitate the achievement of this objective…. The rights and political status enjoyed by Jews in any other country shall not be prejudiced by the establishment in Palestine of a national home for the Jewish people”

     

    Implementation

    To facilitate the effective implementation of that agenda, some other Middle East countries had to be decapitated economically and politically through an imperial excision of some juicy chunks of their lands from them. Thus, Lebanon was excised from Syria and Kuwait from Iraq. The strategy was to cause a dissention among the citizens of those countries with the intention of breaking the yoke of the Muslim unity which Bannerman had targeted in his infamous observation quoted above.

     

    Iran Connection

    Now, how does Iran come into this scenario when she is not an Arab country? That is the logical question that anybody who is not quite familiar with the Middle East and the intricacies of its political and economic set up may ask.

    Naturally, Iran is affected by three major factors: culture, economy and politics. By culture here, we mean ISLAM. Iran is a foremost Muslim country even if her official language is Farsi and not Arabic.

    And, as a Muslim Country, whatever affects other Muslim countries must affect her. Thus, as a major neighbour to the Arabs in the Gulf region, she cannot but play a major role in the politics of that region. Also, as an economically strong nation in the primordial and contemporary times, Iran, a current member of the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC), occupies a very strategic position in the Middle East especially with her proximity to the Persian Gulf.

     

    How Ayatullah Khomeni Emerged

    It was in 1963 that the late Iranian spiritual leader, Ayatullah Ruhullah Mousavi Khomeini, embarked on his country’s liberation struggle that culminated in a successful revolution of February 1979.

    In that struggle, Ayatullah Khomeini took a retrospective view of the incident that almost obliterated Islam under the iron rule of Mustapha  Kamal  Ataturk of Turkey in the 1920s. With that review, he knew that without a clear-cut culture, man couldn’t be better than a beast. He knew that such values as law, education and religion, which had guided man in his peregrinations on earth, were the attributes of culture. He knew that any nation that surrendered its culture and adopted that of another nation had enslaved herself permanently to the caprice of the latter nation. Thus, Khomeini saw Islam, the spiritual culture of over one billion Muslims in the world at that time, as the target of the Western imperialists, which needed defence and protection.

     

    The Iranian Revolution

    No one believed before 1979 that a mass protest which started like a small political billow and was engendered by the country’s unarmed Mullahs could eventually grow into such a great magnitude of political ‘earthquake’. But by the time the foggy dust of that protest finally settled, a new Iran had emerged from the debris of the old. Thus, against the wish and expectation of the capitalist West, the hitherto secular, monarchical Iran became a democratic, Islamic republic. The drama was quite electric.

    Characteristic of the West, all hands were put on deck, at that time, to ensure that an Islamic republic did not succeed the tyrannical monarchy headed by the Shah Pahlavi who had been serving as a front for the oppressive West. America was most active in that ambitious but vain effort. She would not easily allow the massive benefit she had been enjoying for decades in that oil-rich country, under the Shah regime, to slip out of her hands just like that.

     

    Rescue Mission

    Thus, under the pretext that she wanted to rescue her citizens from the siege laid by Iranian students on her embassy in Tehran, the US attempted an invasion of the country.  The espionage activities by the American diplomats, inside that embassy, against the new Islamic government in Iran, had warranted the siege.

     

    The Strategy

    While a number of US F15 jet bombers were approaching Iran, the then American President, Jimmy Carter cunningly engaged his country’s pressmen in a media chat without giving them any hint of the impending military operation in Iran. The tactics was to divert the attention of the press and that of the country from the illegal Pentagon’s military expedition going on in Iran. But no sane person can ever fault the contents of the Qur’an. Almost 1400 years before that incident, a verse of the Qur’an had been revealed to Prophet Muhammad (SAW) thus: “They (the unbelievers) schemed, and Allah schemed. Allah is the supreme schemer”. Q. 3:54.

    Jimmy Carter’s thought was that by the time he would be finishing his media chart, the news would have reached him that America had successfully invaded Iran. He had therefore intended to announce the news of his ‘great’, successful scheme to the press as the epilogue of his address. And that would have served as his impetus for wining that year’s election for a second term in office. But, as Allah would have it, instead of the expected news, what he got was a shocker of his life.

     

    The failure of the Strategy

    Miraculously, two of the F15 fighters deployed for the operation collided in the air just at the point of entering Iran crashing with their contents, and consuming the lives of all the 16 top air force officers on board while the other jet fighters had to turn back having run into confusion. When this devastating news reached Carter, it was too much to hide and it quickly became a public knowledge.

    Thus, the mighty America failed woefully, with her technology, in circumstances she has never been able to decipher and explain convincingly. With that scheme, it became obvious that Jimmy Carter of the Democrat Party had dug his own political grave. Of course, he lost the election to the cowboy turned Politician, (Ronald Reagan) of the Republican Party. For about 444 days (well over a year) thereafter, the 52 American hostages remained under the siege of the Iranian students. It took high-level diplomacy, through third party countries, to get them released.

    Yet, America was not done. She went ahead to freeze Iran’s foreign reserve of about $80 billion in addition to imposition of economic sanctions with the intention of running that country’s economy aground. The only Iran’s offence in this case was to chart an independent political course that could liberate her citizens from the manacles of the Western imperialism. Ever since, the relationship between America and Iran has remained icy.

    That relationship however, further deteriorated recently when Iran started a nuclear project with which to prop up her economy. America responded with a threat saying the United States would not tolerate any nuclear project in Iran because the latter could not be trusted with such a project.

     

    The World’s Greyhound

    Only a fool will not know that the United Nation (UN), as presently constituted, is the greyhound of the US through which the latter barks randomly at the rest of the world.

    But for the recent Iraqi episode that became regrettable for the self-appointed policeman of the world, and of course, the North Korean case, which suddenly became a cancerous sore on the head of the US, another Gulf war would have either ensued or become advanced in plan by now.

     

    Secret of American Power

    The secret of America’s military successes in various parts of the world is neither in technological advancement, nor military superiority per se. The failed rescue mission in Iran shortly after that country’s revolution has confirmed that.

    Rather, the secret of America’s military successes in various wars around the world are in her ability to cause schism among some other nations and races.

    Iran has never been a prey to America’s direct military aggression because that Gulf country has never played a fool dancing to the sour music of the predatory country called America in a seeming military arena.

     

    Sanction as a Weapon

    Now, with the threat of invasion of Iran by Israel on the one hand and economic and political sanctions against Iran by the US on the other, will history repeat itself? One fact has become clear about the US political trend ever since her withdrawal from her self-isolationism in 1945. The success of her internal politics has been regularly dictated by her foreign policy. Thus, many American Presidents have won or lost elections at home due to the foreign policy of the concerned President. Will this also repeat itself? The days ahead will answer this fundamental question as events continue to unfold. But with the objection by China and Russia to using suffocating economic sanctions against the people of Iran, the US may need to watch her steps carefully especially with respect to the aloofness of most European countries to her unilaterally planned invasion of Iran. It must be remembered that Iran is neither Iraq nor Afghanistan. The world cannot afford another World War now. No individual or country should attempt to plunge it into one by taking a country’s military capability for granted. A word is enough for the wise.

  • Brutes in uniform?

    It happened again for the umpteenth time. A young man was cut down in the morning of his life, leaving Parents and loved ones to mourn. He committed no crime. His killers were not armed robbers, cultists or hired assassins. He was murdered by those paid to protect him and the rest of us. His case is just another in the long list of killings by brutes in uniform.

    “God punish your father! I can kill you right now for nothing!” an officer who sounded like the leader of his squad yelled repeatedly as he punched and gun-whipped a young man in a despicable demonstration of power over life and death. His subordinates begged him to no avail as he kept cursing in the video. This happened in a country supposedly governed by the rule of law.

    Kolade Johnson, the most recent victim of deadly assault by police brutes was a sports enthusiast watching a soccer game at a viewing center. That was his crime. One of the officers that killed him reportedly announced his resolve to “kill someone today.” Those paid to protect us have a monopoly of access to deadly weapons which they unleash on innocent citizens. And we think nothing is amiss!

    From available reports, the killers of Kolade were affiliated with the Special Anti-Cultism Squad (SACS) with a mission to eliminate the menace of cultism. A genuine mission! But what means did they adopt? They apparently decided to identify cultists by hair style. Anyone with dread lock is a cultist! If it has not led to such a tragic outcome, you would think that someone had a rich sense of humor. Dreadlocks as a symbol of cultism? I have professorial colleagues wearing dreadlocks! By the hair-style identifying formula of SACS, my colleagues are cultists!  It is too mind-boggling to contemplate where this leads us.

    In the middle of last month, Lagosians and the country heard with dismay the heartbroken news about a young school girl killed in broad daylight by the Police in Ikorodu. According to media reports, she was hit by a stray bullet fired into a group of young people whom the police contingent suspected were hoodlums. As the girl laid in her pool of blood, the squad hurriedly escaped in their van as the youths pursued them. Perhaps the girl could have been saved if the police tried to take her to the hospital. But they cared less, and an innocent life was taken without moral qualm. In what other country can this happen?

    In June 2018, a Police Inspector and two Sergeants tear-gassed an asthma patient whom they accused of being a fraudster. He went into crisis and they fled the scene. As The Nation reported on June 18, 2018, the three were subjected to internal discipline and dismissed from the force. However, it is undeniable that these internal measures have failed woefully to sanitize the Force or bring it to the desirable end of professionalism and respect for human rights.

    In August 2018, Vice President Osinbajo weighed with a directive for a complete overhaul of the Special Anti-Robbery Squad (SARS), after numerous public complaints and a #EndSARS campaign. Amnesty International has also demanded reforms to rid the Police of the “criminal network” which “tortures and extorts” suspects even in phantom and cooked-up cases.

    The totality of our national experience with our Police is comparable to a horror movie. The difference is that horror movies are unreal.

    What is most depressing about all this is that the Police is an essential institution for the internal security of the nation. We need the Police because there are bad people with criminal minds whose raison d’etre is the perpetration of evil. However, we do not need a back scratcher with a glove of thorns. When the murderer camouflages as the savior, we are done for. This is where we are in our police-citizen relation in this country. We have a misplaced hope.

    The Police has its organizational vision and mission statements which speak to its role as a public safety government organ. Part of its vision is “to create a safe and secure environment for everyone living in Nigeria.” Vision statements are generally aspirational, pointing to an envisioned future. The point is to keep improving until that end-time is reached. But what improvement have we seen in the decades that we have had the Nigeria Police Force? The above cited incidents provide a damning answer.

    Complementing its vision, the Police also has the admirable mission of building “a people-friendly Police Force that will respect and uphold the fundamental rights of all citizens.” That there is a gulf between this mission statement and people’s experience with our law-enforcement officers is clear. The question it must address is, what must be done to bridge the gulf between aspiration and actuality? What does the Police need to do to build a people-friendly Force?

    Answering this question does not require knowledge of rocket science. A humanist with common sense should be able to address it effectively. There is a short-term and a long-term solution to the crisis, which it is.

    First, we have the long-term constitutional issue which many, including the National Assembly, have failed to address since 1966. Nigeria appears to be one of only a few countries its size with a federal system and a unitary policing system. With this comes the serious issue of effective management which we, obviously, do not have a handle on. Yet we, true to our human nature, are afraid or suspicious of change.

    It is however true that policing at the level of states and local government is bound to be more people-friendly simply because it is more community-oriented. A nation-wide community policing sponsored by the federal Police cannot generate the kind of community feeling and sense of belonging that a local Police with personnel from the community can generate. Therefore, if we want a people-friendly policing, we would opt for a constitutional amendment to establish state and local police. We also must call out the cop-out excuse regarding finance. Transform EFCC into our federal Police in the manner of the FBI and dismantle the Nigeria Police with its budget transferred to the states.

    Second, however, we know that while this approach is right, it is wishful thinking because we are paranoid about change. Meanwhile, then, let there be an effective management of the Police that we have now. There is no doubt that recruitment needs to be overhauled. The mindset that sees every citizen as a hoodlum must not be allowed near the corridors of police stations. A mentally challenged and unbalanced individual must not be given access to a gun. But there are now many with mental issues parading as officers in the Nigeria Police. How did they get recruited?

    Third, the various special squads-SARS, SAKS, SACS- apparently see themselves as invincible agents of destruction. They are given these AK-47s which they parade with glee and with arrogance of power. What psychological or mental tests, if any, do they go through before they are enlisted in the special squads? The various atrocities they have committed over the years are enough evidence of the failure or ineffectiveness of such tests.

    Finally, the matter of police qualification and welfare must be taken seriously. With the explosion in the population of graduates of our tertiary institutions, it should not be difficult to have a pool of outstanding candidates with excellent mental states. With such quality candidates, however, we must be prepared to overhaul the welfare package for recruits and officers in the force. This will justify our expectation of a professional force and an effective implementation of a code of conduct that eschews bribery, extortion, and corruption.

    In his inaugural address upon his appointment last January, the Acting Inspector General, Mr. Mohammed Abubakar Adamu assured Nigerians that he was “mindful of their yearnings for a policing system that will not only assure them of their safety but treat them with civility and hold their rights sacred.” He then promised that “their deserved aspirations will be met henceforth.” Nigerians are still waiting to cash this promissory note.

     

  • On Tinubu and the task of bridging division

    Asiwaju Bola Tinubu has, undeniably, earned the distinction of being an enigma in the politics of the 4th Republic. Admirers and hailers love him with passion. Critics and wailers detest him to the marrow. Love him or hate him, however, you cannot deny him his place in national politics since the turn of the century.

    From his courage to stand against federal might and a presidential mockery of the rule of law, to his dogged struggle for electoral reform, to his persistent effort to form strong coalitions across geopolitical zones, Tinubu is one of the major architects of what is turning out to be a strong two-party system in the country. If we look back at our political history from the first republic to now, when partisan politics meshed with ethnic rivalry, how far we have come is no mean achievement.

    We have come a long way from three regional political parties, AG, NPC, and NCNC, none pretending to speak for the entire nation even though each had a modicum of membership in various regions. The Second Republic did not fare much better, though NPN claimed a stronger national presence than UPN, ANPP or PRP. The 3rd Republic had a militarily imposed two-party system, but we know how that ended. The 4th Republic also started on the same foot, with PDP having more national spread than AD or APGA.

    Of course, there is still worrisome division. The pertinent questions are: what is the nature and cause of our division? How might it be handled? Structurally? Institutionally? Are leaders doing their best to overcome our division?  Exploring these issues is not only a fitting tribute on this his special day, it is also in keeping with the birthday boy’s well-known penchant for deep reflection.

    Our division does not start today or in 2015. It even predates 1999. It goes back to the dawn of colonialism and the strategic interest of the colonizers in a divided country. They sold us the dummy of a Muslim North and a Christian South despite evidence to the contrary. And we played along, always quick to see the peck in the eyes of the “other” while feigning ignorance of the beam in ours.

    We politicized ethnicity and religion beyond reason to the detriment of national integration and national unity. Going by where we were in 1960 compared to our present, it is not out of place to conclude that we are far more disunited. We started off as if we were three countries in 1960. Now it is as if we are more than six nations with each zone in destructive competition with the others.

    But ethnicity is not the worst of our problems. In 1960, we didn’t have mega churches and mega mosques fanning the embers of religious fanaticism. And just as it is with political fanaticism and thuggery, religious fanatics also have their own foot soldiers whose job is the pursuit of revenge on behalf of their God.

    What they will never explain to us is why an omnipotent God needs the help of mere mortals to avenge his enemies. But I assume too much already. Didn’t one half of the clan tell us that Western education, which has championed global technological progress, is a sin, and the other half that we cannot trust our wisdom because it is foolish? Yet neither has jettisoned the products of technology and human wisdom.

    But I digress. On the task of bridging our division, it matters whether we have a national leadership from all sectors-ethnic, religious, business, professional- which (a) is fully invested in the task, (b) does not prioritize an egoistic, sectional, or sectarian agenda, and (c) does not itself include divisive members.

    Politics is by nature divisive. Even if, following Mwalimu Nyerere’s well-founded aversion to multiparty system, we adopt a one-party democracy (an oxymoron) or a no-party system, divisions cannot be wished away for the obvious reason that, in contemporary jumbo states, direct democracy is not a feasible option. But representative democracy requires choice of representatives, and choice of some among many defines division.

    Incidentally, selfless leadership, imbued with the national spirit, with a focus on a legacy, creates strong institutions, which drive the procedure for and the outcome of choice. To some degree, the last time we had that kind of leadership was during the struggle for independence. It didn’t last because division quickly set in.

    We do not now have strong institutions because we lack the leadership needed to create them. We now complain about INEC’s performance. We forget that between 1999 and 2011, elections at all levels were declared as a do-or-die affair from the highest office of the land. With neither PVCs nor card readers, results were just written and declared. With INEC Chairs and Commissioners appointed by the President, they were at his beck and call. Of course, candidates who felt wronged approached the courts; but the system was largely rigged against them. Division is further entrenched by perceived injustice at the polls.

    With the presidential system of government, we have a winner-takes-all structure. While a president with a focus on national unity will use the position to ensure a fair and balanced attention to all sections of the nation, there is no guarantee that every president will have this focus. Therefore, again, strong institutions matter to reduce the risk of fair distribution and just allocation succumbing to the frailties of human nature that favor sectionalism.

    Finally, we have a penchant for crude rudeness, name calling, and ethnic stereotyping, which are the bane of national unity. After almost sixty years of legal nationality, we are anything but a genuine nation with common aspirations, common sense of historical traditions, and common consciousness of belonging. Our founding fathers adopted a federal constitution to allay the fears of various units and ensure cultural democracy while moving the country to higher levels of governance. But with the bastardization of federalism, we now appear to be one nation only in name.

    Whatever wrong one section experiences, it automatically blames on the others. We have moved from a united front to finding solutions to our challenges. There was a time when cross fertilization of ideas prevailed even in bitter political contests. In the late 50s and 60s, despite regionalism, every regional leader focused on education as the best means to development. They learned from one another’s success or failure. Now, this kind of cooperation is limited to zones and hardly does one zone interact with the others. Where would this lead us?

    Bitter partisanship appears to have taken over from ethnic rivalry even though there are still undercurrents of the latter in our party affiliations. Last year, when former President Obasanjo dismissed both APC and PDP, and floated the idea of a new organization, the Coalition for Nigeria Movement (CNM), we thought he was up to something innovative. He was going to build a new movement that could bridge our division. CNM attracted a lot of takers, adopted a political party, ADC, only for Obasanjo to abandon it and support Atiku, the PDP candidate. That inexplicable move killed the hope of millions for a new beginning.

    Let me round up on the note that I started with. Tinubu’s proclivity for strategic thinking, his courage, and his untiring efforts to work across the divides of ethnicity and religion to build strong coalitions are commendable traits of leadership. That PDP finally had a serious opposition in 2015 is what Tinubu’s bitterest enemies must give him credit for.

    With two strong parties, we will soon begin to see differentiating ideologies. Indeed, the difference in their outlook is already starting to show. While APC favors using the assets of the nation to build wealth for the nation and distribute fairly through social investment programs, PDP would rather privatize those assets and enrich the friends of the party. Parenthetically, Atiku just congratulated Trump for his “exoneration” by Muller. We would not be at this stage if we still had regional or zonal parties competing hopelessly with PDP. For this, we have Tinubu to thank.

     

    Happy Birthday, ABAT. Igba Odun, Odun Kan.

  • World’s Water Day

    Preamble

    The original title of today’s article in this column was ‘Miscellany of Issues’ and not ‘World’s Water Day’ that appears here.

    It has been expressed severally in this column that the dilemma of a worthy newspaper columnist is not a dearth of ideas but a deluge of them.

    In the process of choosing a subject of writing, many other subjects often surge forth torrentially in a seeming competition that causes confusion and throws the columnist into a dilemma. That is the weekly experience of virtually all newspaper columnists of note in all parts of the world.

    This is another week of dilemma for yours sincerely as a columnist.

     

    A Queue of Subjects

    By last Monday, a number of issues had queued up as subjects of wring from which this column was to make a choice of title for today’s article. And to further complicate the confusion arising from that deluge, some readers innocently suggested certain subjects on which they expected today’s writing to be based. In summary, weekly column writing is an entirely different terrain in journalism with a special literary prowess that can hardly be predicted because of the dynamic nature of the world. For instance, some of the many subjects like ‘New Zealand Massacre’, ‘The Nature’s Fury’, ‘Nigeria’s Political Dealers’ and ‘Ramadan’ that had queued up for choice in respect of today’s article had to be discarded in favour of the one that appears here.

     

    The Choice

    In the melee of the confusion and dilemma brought by the above listed competing subjects, yours sincerely decided to choose today’s (The World’s Water Day) because of its editorial   imperishability.

    Besides, it is a subject that affects all living things but which has attracted the least public attention in the media.

     

    Problem of Water

    There is no doubt that water is the most   dominant part of the environment which works actively in concert with weathers and seasons.

    Now, the world is in a season when people in African countries do wander about in search of water. This is the season when most rivers dry up as much as most wells. This is the season in which sellers of water make huge profits and buyers are forced to economize the use of water. It is the season in which the global importance of water in the life of man is often reconfirmed. Perhaps that why the United Nations decided to declare March 22 of every year the World’s Day of Water.

     

    Water Formula

    In their deep-rooted research, centuries ago, scientists decided to coin a formula (H2O) for scientific use in analyzing the natural contents of water. From such analysis, they identified the various types of water and their uses in an environment. They then concluded that water is actually the source of life for all living organisms.

    As a ubiquitous substance in the environment, water comes from the showers of the sky and becomes stored in the natural bowl of the earth.

     

    Composition

    Because of its capacity to dissolve numerous substances in large amounts, pure water rarely occurs in nature. During condensation and precipitation, rain or snow absorbs from the atmosphere varying amounts of carbon dioxide and other gases, as well as traces of organic and inorganic material.

    Thus, in its movement on and through the earth’s crust, water reacts with minerals in the soil and rocks. Meanwhile, the principal constituents of surface and groundwater are sulfates, chlorides, and bicarbonates of sodium and potassium as well as the oxides of calcium and magnesium.

    While surface waters may contain domestic sewage and industrial wastes the ground waters from shallow wells may contain large quantities of nitrogen compounds and chlorides derived from human and animal wastes.

    On the other hand, waters from deep wells generally contain only minerals in solution.

     

    Drinkable Water

    Almost all supplies of naturally drinkable water contain fluorides in varying amounts. Incidentally, the proper proportion of fluorides in drinking water has been found to useful in reducing tooth decay and similar ailments.

    According to scientific discovery, concentrated amounts of sodium chloride, or salt, seawater contains many other soluble compounds, as the impure waters of rivers and streams are constantly feeding the oceans. At the same time, pure water is continually lost by the process of evaporation, and as a result the proportion of the impurities that give the oceans their saline character is increased.

     

    Rainy season

    Now, in Nigeria, like in many other African countries, another season of rains is being expected when, as usual, water will be found everywhere but none will be available for drinking. That is the season in which the sky opens up its generous bowl to pour down water in abundance. But the earth has no space to accommodate the gesture. That is a period when plants and animals feel that their needs for survival have been grossly exceeded. Thus, as the world becomes flooded with water everywhere humanity becomes restive. At such a time, the bounties of Allah seem to be too much for the need of man. In Europe, Asia, Africa and America, the story is one and the same. That is the season in which the world will be grappling not only with a deluge but also with such disastrous accidents like cyclone, typhoon and hurricane arising from atmospheric pressure.

     

    Blaming the Nature

    When any of these happens, the tendency is for the scientists to lay blame at the door-step of what they call global warming. As a justification for their blame, they give many reasons, including the depletion of the Ozone Layer, as the cause.

     

    Prophetic   Environmental lesson

    Many centuries before scientists began their research on environment, the unlettered Prophet Muhammad (SAW) had taught Muslims how to handle environmental dryness as well as deluge. It is from that lesson that Muslims became familiar with the value of water and its use for Islam.

    In Islam, there is no cause or effect of a matter that is not known or cannot be controlled by Allah. Whatever happens in the life of man is by Allah’s permission.

     

    The Queue of Life

    Life is like a queue. You enter it at a point and come out of it at another point. This is one major lesson which every Muslim has come to learn through the observance of daily prayers (Salat). In Salat alone where queues are essential, a lot of lessons are there to learn.

     

    Ritual baths

    The very basic lesson to learn in Salat is hygiene. As a new convert to Islam, you have to undergo a ritual bath called Ghuslu-s-Shahadah or Ghuslu-d-dukhul fil Islam (convert’s ritual bath) which is performed with water. When you want to observe any Salat, be it obligatory or supererogatory, you must perform ablution with water.

    This is called Wudu’. If there is no water, you perform Tayammam (dry ablution). As a Muslim, after an intercourse with your spouse, you must perform a ritual bath called Ghuslul Janabah before you can observe any Salat.

    When a Muslim woman completes her monthly menstrual period she must perform a ritual bath called Ghuslul Haydah before she can resume observance of Salat. A Muslim woman who has just completed her blood-dripping period following child delivery must perform a ritual bath called Ghuslu-n-Nifas before she can resume observance of Salat.

    A newly born baby in Islam must be taken through a mandatory bath called Ghuslul Wiladah which is also done with water.

    Muslim pilgrims must commence their Hajj or Umrah activities with a ritual bath called Ghuslul Hajj or Umrah at their respective Miqat before they enter the condition of Ihram. When a Muslim, male or female, is dead, a ritual bath is performed on his or her body. This bath is called Ghuslul Janazah. Anybody who carries out a bath on a dead body must also undergo a ritual bath of purification called Ghuslu-t-Taharah mina-n-Najasah (bath for purifying self from filth).

    This is because a dead body in Islam is like a filth which must be disposed of as soon as possible before it starts to decompose and thereby constitutes health hazard for the living. Whoever touches such filth has had a share of it and must therefore cleanse up before observing any Salat. Such a person cannot participate even in Salatul-Janazah on the body of the deceased person which he has just cleaned up until he has taken the purification bath.

     

    Unique hygiene

    According to the prescription of Islam, Muslims are expected to clean up with water through ablution at least five times a day. And, as a prophetic tradition prescribes, they are also expected to perform ritual bath on Fridays in preparation for Salatul Jum’ah though such bath is Sunnah (optional) rather than Fard (obligation).

     

    Muslim Women and Use of Water

    Naturally, women, especially Muslim women, utilize water much more than men. They are the ones who take care of the children and, in the process; they clean up for them many times a day. Besides, women are the ones who must clean up for menses every month. They are the ones who must clean up ritually after 40 days, following child delivery.

    They are the ones in charge of matrimonial kitchens where they use water day and night. Thus, when the demography of women in any society is compared to that of men one can imagine the quantity of water consumed daily or weekly by women.

     

    Muslims’ attitude to dryness

    It thus becomes understandable why Muslims feel more concerned when there is dryness and water cannot be easily accessed. This is what led to the idea of a special prayer called ‘Salatul Istisqai’ (rain-seeking prayer). This prayer randomly observed by Muslims when shortage of water becomes acute cannot be observed without water ablution. It is a way of reconfirming to Allah that the main purpose of our existence on earth is to worship Him just as the purpose of keeping domestic animals is to serve man. Salatul Istisqai which is usually followed by heavy rainfalls is a major evidence of an existing covenant between Allah and His faithful servants. The wonderful effect of that Salat contradicts any scientific theory.

     

    The Role of Water in Hajj

    Unknown to the non-Islamic world, performance of Hajj every year is a great blessing to humanity rather than just a act of worship by Muslims. Hajj is the biggest congregation of human beings on earth.

    Allah recognizes with love, congregations of pious people who praise Him and pray to Him for the needs of the world. That congregation is essential for the continuity of human existence. There is no country in the world today without Muslim pilgrims joining their brethren from other parts of the world in requesting Allah to save the world from perishing. And each year, as such prayers are accepted, the world is confirmed saved despite the evil moves of Yajuj and Ma’juj (Gog and Magog) as well as their agents who are ignorantly pursuing their own destruction every minute. Thus, like Salatul Istisqai which brings water to everybody and not Muslims alone, Hajj is to the benefit of mankind and not Muslims alone. Thus, its preservation must be ensured by everybody in the interest of continued human existence. It is through Hajj that the Muslim world came to know Zam Zam water which comes from the oldest well in existence.

     

    Conclusion

    Without water, it will be difficult to observe Salat or to fast in Ramadan or to give Zakah or to perform Hajj. Without water, it will be impossible to bear children and bring them up, or to keep farms and sustain them. Water is life. But this is not for Muslims alone. The difference is that Muslims use part of the water to show gratitude to Allah by worshipping Him. Others use it for mundane life alone which is sheer vanity.

     

    Kowledge and Water

    Knowledge is like water which softens the earth for seeds to germinate and for plants to be nourished to fruition. Knowledge in Islam is much more important than worship. No one can validly worship Allah without knowledge. And if for this reason alone, it should behoove the entire Muslim Ummah of the world to cooperate in using water to worship Allah. That is the essence of knowledge. It cannot be trivialized.

     

  • Toward a progressive governance outcome

    Elections have consequences. Losers tend to their wounds as they wish. They may choose to whine and fret over lost opportunities. Or they may decide to go back to the drawing board in preparation for the next opportunity. Winners, on the other hand, secure a mandate to deliver on their promises to the electorate. In doing so, they must be mindful of the priorities, cognizant of the limitation of resources vis-a-vis the multiplicity of demands. It’s a tough balancing game.

    This week, President Buhari inaugurated a committee to produce “a comprehensive document that will guide the incoming cabinet and enable them to implement the vision of the party and the administration for Nigeria while also highlighting lessons from the last 4 years.” The president is confident that the committee, led by Vice president Osinbajo, “will deliver a detailed implementation Plan for the Next Level.” It’s a tall order.

    How should the committee proceed? What outcome should it desire? And what means to the desired outcome? Will the desired outcome of the committee be good enough for the nation as the President hopes?

    Let us begin with the admission that, by INEC’s declaration, President Buhari and Vice President Osinbajo received the majority votes in the presidential election and won by over 4 million votes. What this should mean, ordinarily, is that most voters accepted the platform that they and their party, the All Progressives Congress (APC) presented. If this is right, then, by the same token, it follows that those electorates must expect the Buhari administration and the APC to stick as much as possible to the platform to avoid disappointment. It is the logic of democratic elections.

    Following this reasoning, the point of departure for the committee must be the platform upon which the new administration is voted into power. What is it and how can it be successfully delivered?

    The Vision and Mission statements of APC, as well as its guiding philosophy make plain to citizens what to expect from a progressive party that it claims to be. First, its ideal is to anchor democracy on “the principle that government derives its powers from the consent of the governed.” Furthermore, “power must be used in the interest of the people rather than in the interest of the public office holder.” From this alone, we infer that every public office holder, from the president to the lowest civil servant must not place his or her interest over and above the interest of citizens. It follows from this that it is wrong to make profit on the back of citizens. It is also wrong to defraud through excessive personal emoluments or outright corrupt practices.

    Second, the APC manifesto pledges to construct “a progressive state anchored on social democracy where the welfare and security of the citizenry is paramount.” From this, it follows that the party and the administration in power through its instrumentality, will sniff out and destroy any impediments to the welfare and security of citizens. Such impediments could be as a result of the preexisting power relations between government officials and citizens which prevent the latter from having the resources they need to thrive. It is expected that keeping faith with its manifesto, the party will deal with such impediments.

    Take a quick example. It is not too much to expect this new administration with a solid majority in both Houses of the National Assembly to get together at the onset to deal with the embarrassing issue of personal emoluments of public office holders from local government level to the National Assembly and the Executive at state and federal levels. If it takes a constitutional amendment to do it, so be it. But APC as a progressive party with a vision, a mission, and a guiding philosophy that prioritizes citizen welfare and security cannot shirk this responsibility for two fundamental reasons.

    First, APC acknowledges that there must be a level playing field for all to thrive and achieve their maximum potentials. It is only when this is the case that we can have a country that is peaceful and prosperous. We deceive ourselves if we deny that the current environment of insecurity, including kidnapping, killing, and cultism have nothing to do with the inequality in the distribution of resources many of which cannot be traced to any manifest differences in the intelligence or ability of individuals. The inequality of resources that makes the majority paupers is due mainly to social injustice where some have undue advantage and they use it for their benefits to the detriment of the many. That is bound to build up resentment and, ultimately, violent social crisis.

    Second, the attraction of public service to many citizens, leading to a ridiculous number of candidates vying for various offices, is directly tied to the perceived and real humongous returns to investment. And this accounts for why elections have become a do-or-die struggle. Look at the number of candidates for governorship and National Assembly positions in the various states. It should be clear that many of these candidates either have nothing else available to them to do or they see better avenues to prosperity in public service. This should not be encouraged. Public service should be reserved for those who are genuinely interested in service; those that are committed to sacrificing their time and intellect for the nation. Unfortunately, in the last 20 years, we have converted public service into self service.

    APC describes itself as a change agent. To demonstrate this quality, however, it must be ready to make real and lasting changes for the good of the nation. It cannot be beholding to special interests. It cannot yield to blackmail from high places. It must not condemn itself to whitewash and cosmetic changes. And for this reason, it must not abandon its promise on the fundamental question of restructuring which it commits to clearly in its manifesto:

    “To achieve this laudable programme APC government shall restructure the country, devolve power to the units, with the best practices of federalism and eliminate unintended paralysis of the center.” http://apc.com.ng/manifesto/  (accessed 5/2/19).

    This is as clear a commitment as any can be. Justice, according to Thomas Hobbes, is keeping and fulfilling the terms of a contract, and injustice is failing in that respect. This manifesto item is a contract between the party and the people. Vote for us and we will restructure and devolve power. The people have delivered their side of the bargain. The party must not renege on its.

    In terms of specific programmes, the party offered 7 (or 8 if it counts devolution as a programme). Understandably, given the President’s own declared concerns about its negative impact, war against corruption tops the list, followed by food security, accelerated power supply, integrated transport network, free education, devolution of power, accelerated economic growth, and affordable health care. The question that I am sure will be the central focus of the Osinbajo Committee is how to prioritize the items on the list. Thankfully, they are not mutually exclusive items; they are interdependent and a focus on one has multiplier effect on others.

    The major issue here, however, is still the question of the elephant in the room: how is the responsibility to be shared between the center and the federating units, including the states and local governments. Take the question of education. While the manifesto identifies free education as one of its cardinal programmes, it doesn’t indicate at what level. Is it primary education, which is the responsibility of states? Is it secondary or tertiary, which are shared between federal and states? Moreover, according to the Next Level document, “10,000 schools per year will be remodeled and equipped.” How will this be done? Will the federal government give grants to states and have them identify which schools to be remodeled? Or will the federal government handle such remodeling by itself even when states own such schools?

    To my mind, if it is handled with diligence, the Next Level document provides a unique opportunity for the party and the administration to start experimenting with devolution of power for the benefit of all stakeholders.

     

  • The JAMB’s New Policy

    “You can never change things in a society by fighting the existing reality.
    To change something, you can only build a new model that can render the old one obsolete’’. Anonymous

    Preamble

    If most literate Nigerian city dwellers called elite hear or read about JAMB’s new policy, the tendency is for them to react, if tacitly, with the usual Nigerian    reprobate as follows: This JAMB again! What the hell is it cooking again?

    Despite the claim of education and civilization by those elite, it has virtually become a permanent tradition for them to seek progress without wanting to pass through a process of change. Yet, nothing guarantees progress as much as change through the rule of law.

     

    Rule of Law

    Rule of law in any sane society is not a mere expression of wishes. It is rather the real basis of guaranteeing enduring serenity. A society or organization without rule of law is like George Owen’s proverbial ‘Animal Farm’ in which all animals are said to be equal in theory but some are practically seen to be more equal than others.

    Nigeria’s Joint Admission and Matriculation Board (JAMB) is not an ‘Animal Farm’ that can be given conflicting interpretations according to conflicting perceptions.

     

    Innovation

    Like any trustable and sustainable Board or Organization that genuinely serves the people, JAMB is not resting on its oars in ensuring firmness of the rule of law for furtherance of serenity in the country.

    That is why it (JAMB) created a broad-based  ‘Critical Stakeholders Forum’ in 2017, as a way of carrying along well-meaning concerned members of the public with their various specialized expertise, thereby making the Board a truly service oriented public institution for the country’s development.

     

    Critical Stakeholders Forum

    Since its establishment in 2017, JAMB’s ‘Critical Stakeholders Forum’ has tremendously assisted JAMB in engendering a positive departure from the hitherto public perception in which the institution was negatively shrouded. The inputs of the ‘Critical Stakeholders Forum’ into the policies of JAMB have become a significant confirmation that it is quite possible to run an institution like JAMB democratically, even in a country like Nigeria, despite all overt and covert odds.

    Thus, today, the formulation of policies in JAMB is no longer an exclusive burden for which the Registrar or Management staff of that institution can be taken to ransom. Most of those policies are now jointly formulated at an open door annual meeting of virtually all professionals whose diverse expertise are effectively tapped for the advancement of JAMB and the progress of Nigeria. This dynamic action initiated by the Registrar of JAMB, Professor Is-haq Olanrewaju Oloyede, in less than six months after his assumption of office has not just facilitated a thorough understanding of JAMB operations by Nigerian public; it has also become a quiet but constructive revolution that can be globally emulated and possibly equaled but not surpassed.

     

    Biometric Verification

    One of JAMB’s latest policies that has just been formulated for effective execution during the 2019 UTME is mandatory biometric verification which all candidates for this year’s examination will be made to pass through.

    Thus, the candidates for this year’s Unified Tertiary Matriculation Examination (UTME) and those of the future should know that henceforth, biometric verification is compulsory for them and without it, there will be no admittance into the examination hall.

     

    No Alternative

    The JAMB’s Biometric Verification which will have no alternative is an official scrutiny of any candidate’s claim of an identity.  It is an authentication formality with which every candidate will be admitted into the examination hall. Any candidate without certified biometric verification will not be allowed to write the examination. And no candidate without biometric verification should expect a reschedule of his/her missed examination for any reason. This policy, being emphatically presented here, is already contained in Vol 1, N0 11 of the official weekly bulletin of JAMB which can be found in JAMB’s website and has been disseminated to Nigerian media for publication or broadcasting. This year’s UTME candidates and parents who consider it a parental duty to follow their teenage children or wards to examination centers, despite those children’s age and exposure, should please note this policy very well and be prepared to abide by it. The summary is that no biometric verification, no examination. JAMB officials too should note that any candidate who cannot be verified should not be kept waiting to loiter around the examination hall. Such a candidate should immediately be advised to get in touch with JAMB through the already known means.

     

    Handicapped Candidates

    As for the handicapped candidates, JAMB has made adequate provision for them through the use of certain devices with which they are quite familiar. They are therefore advised to follow the instructions given to them by JAMB officials and simply abide by the rule of law in order not to regret anything after the exam.

     

    Attendance Register

    All candidates should know as well that there is no attendance registration other than biometric verification. Any available photo album found at an examination center will have no space for marking ‘present or absent’. And all examination officials including security agents are strictly advised to comply with these guidelines.

     

    Prohibited Materials

    Besides the introduction of biometric verification which is now compulsory for all candidates with no exception, JAMB has listed some materials that are prohibited in its Computer Based Test Centers (CBTC). Such prohibited materials include: books, mobile phones, ink pens and biros, pencils and erasers, wrist watches and jewelries as well as calculators, miniature electronic devices, smart eye lenses, ear pieces, blue tooth devices, bitsy microphones, teeny secret recorders and similar cheating devices. In the case of spy reading glasses which some candidates cannot do without, such must be surrendered to JAMB officials for scrutiny.

     

    Examination Dates

    The dates earmarked for 2019 examinations are as follows:

    1. The Mock examination will hold on April 1, 2019.
    2. The main UTME examination will take place throughout the country on April 11, 2019.

    All UTME candidates are strictly advised to arrive at their examination centers well ahead of the commencement of examination.

    Lateness of any candidate to the examination center may constitute a hindrance for his/her participation in the examination.

     

    Effect of Change

    The changes that had caused human progress from time to time in history were never compatible with the existing perennial traditions of those humans because of the revolutionary tendencies of those changes. Whether in the primordial or contemporary time, revolution has effectively proved to be the main determinant of human progress as it occasionally becomes inevitable in human life. The only alternative to it is stagnation. Therefore, a society without revolution, will surely be stagnant.

     

    History of JAMB

    When the Joint Admission and Matriculation Board (JAMB) was established 42 years ago (1977), it came as a revolution which the then existing system of seeking admission into tertiary institutions through concessional examination first tried to resist. At that time, only about six full- fledged Universities were in existence in Nigeria. They were called ‘First Generation’ Universities. The six Universities were the bUniversity of Nigeria, Nsuka, founded in 1960; the University of Lagos, founded in 1962; Ahmadu Bello University founded in 1962; the University of Ife, founded in 1962; the University of Ibadan, upgraded to a full-fledged University in 1963 and the University of Benin, founded in 1970.

    Until its upgrade into a full-fledged University in 1963, the University of Ibadan which was established in 1948 as a college of the University of London was the only Higher Institution in Nigeria affiliated to a

     

    Comment

    At no time in the history of JAMB have stakeholders been involved in the process of UTME as now facilitated by the current administration in that Board. This is an indication that the real revolutionary motive of JAMB is becoming more manifest than ever before. JAMB is a pace setter for revolution in all sectors of public service in Nigeria.

     

    Nigeria’s First Tertiary Institution

    What most Nigerians of today did not know is that the very first Tertiary Institution in Nigeria is Yaba College of Technology. That Institution was established in Lagos in 1932 with the name Yaba Higher College. It was however commissioned in 1934 and renamed Yaba College of Technology in 1947, one year before the establishment of the University College, Ibadan. Today, with over 200 Higher Institutions including Universities, Polytechnics and Colleges of Education, it is almost impossible to gain admission into any of those Tertiary Institutions without passing through JAMB. Thus, no matter the angle from which JAMB is viewed, it has practically the main yardstick with which the standardization of Nigerian tertiary education is measured.

     

    Comment

    At no time in the history of JAMB have stakeholders been involved in the process of UTME as now facilitated by the current administration in that Board. This is an indication that the real revolutionary motive of JAMB is becoming more manifest than ever before. JAMB is a pace setter for revolution in all sectors of public service in Nigeria.