The Nation Newspaper

Category: Korede Yishau

  • For IBB so loved MKO

    For IBB so loved MKO

    By Olukorede Yishau

    It was immediately after the June 12, 1993 presidential election. Bashorun MKO Abiola had won decisively all over the country, even defeating Bashir Tofa in places you would have expected ethnic affinity to guarantee him success. Then Messiah Ibrahim Maradona Evil Genius Badamasi Babangida had a vision: Declaring Abiola the winner would be endangering his life so he annulled the election to protect the billionaire, and many lives were lost to the crisis his ill-advised decision precipitated.

    Some days back, Babangida spoke with Arise TV and spilled the gibberish about country’s freest and fairest election. He said some top officials in the military would have staged a violent coup if he did not annul the election.

    Many coups in the country’s history had this son of Niger State playing one major role or the other. He was there when Murtala Mohammed overthrew Yakubu Jack Gowon; IBB backed Muhammadu Buhari to terminate the democratic administration of the late Shehu Shagari; and he was not missing in action when Buhari was shown the exit for him to take the crown. He is also credited with foiling the Dimka coup which killed Murtala Mohammed.

    He came to power pretending to be the messiah. He started by talking about the rule of law, about ending poverty, about human rights, and about a government with a human face- an obvious criticism of the Muhammadu Buhari government he overthrew, which had zero respect for human rights, rule of law,  and press freedom. He set up committees to work out the implementations of his ideas. Some of the best brains in the academia, the Bar, and others agreed to work with him because of the smokescreen he put up. Natural critics of government urged the people to give him a chance. Time, however, told that a political Diego Maradona was in the saddle, and he dribbled Nigeria into a tight corner, and it is shameful that he is claiming that corruption under him was lesser than what we have now without taking the exchange rate into consideration.

    IBB got his Attorney-General, the respected Egba Prince, Bola Ajibola, to assemble a National Committee on Corruption and Other Economic Crimes. The late Justice Kayode Eso chaired it. As Eso recalled in his book, ‘The Mystery Gunman’, the committee called for the enactment of rules against Nigerians living beyond their means. It also recommended the establishment of the Independent Commission Against Corruption. On the day the report was submitted, IBB showered encomium on Eso and his committee members and described the recommendations as the real panacea to the ills of the nation. He promised to act on them, and he did act on them by dumping the report.

    The Maradona gifted us political parties, the Social Democratic Party (SDP) and the National Republic Convention (NRC). In his recent interview, he was still justifying two-party system as though ideology could be decreed. He was like the sole administrator of the parties and kept disqualifying candidates. It was these qualifications that threw up Abiola who, despite a Moslem-Moslem ticket, won to the chagrin of the Maradona, who quickly annulled the election. The heat soon became too much for him to deal with and he installed a puppet in power after introducing another lexicon by announcing he was stepping aside. The decree IBB rushed in to justify Ernest Shonekan’s contraption had no provision to enable anyone to appoint an Interim National Government, and a Lagos judge declared the government illegal.

    Read Also: Saint IBB at 80

     

    Meanwhile, IBB’s right-hand man, the late Gen. Sani Abacha, soon ‘slapped’ Shonekan out of the Villa. Evil followed evil after that. It was all IBB’s making. There were protests, there were bombings and deaths visited many a home. Prominent figures were clamped into detention; and a few were lucky to escape abroad. Madam Kudirat Abiola and Pa Alfred Rewane were gunned down. Bagauda Kaltho, who was a correspondent with The News, was bombed. Groups campaigning for Abacha to become a civilian president poured pepper on our injuries. The most popular of them all was the Youth Earnestly Ask for Abacha (YEAA) led by Daniel Kanu. It was a terrible era in the annals of the country. All thanks to IBB’s error of judgment. The heavens eventually intervened and the man who wanted to be a life president became history in circumstances we are yet to fully unravel.

    In 2002, there were talks of IBB returning as civilian president. It continued in the run-up to the 2007 polls. He thought he could get the nod of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), but Olusegun Obasanjo, the man he helped midwife his ascension from prison to power, checkmated him and the Maradona finally settled down to full retirement in his sprawling Minna Hilltop mansion.

    The IBB era will also be recorded by history as the one in which Dele Giwa, one of the brightest minds in Nigeria’s journalism, was bombed to death. Africa Today publisher Kayode Soyinka, in his ‘Born Into Journalism Memoir of a Newspaper Reporter’, reserved a copious space for the story of the first and only parcel bomb incident in Nigeria’s history. Soyinka was with Giwa when the incident happened and survived miraculously.

    Soyinka writes: “During my time at Newswatch, a horrific incident, unique to Nigeria, occurred on 19 October 1986. It was the gruesome murder of Dele Giwa. I miraculously survived the attack. I was on an official visit to Nigeria from London. As usual, I was staying with Giwa at his Lagos home, which was then on 25, Talabi Street, Ikeja. That was when a parcel bomb was sent to him.

    “The deadly package was delivered to him by his unsuspecting son, Billy, in his study, where we were having our breakfast. He took a quick look at the parcel and handed it over to me to see. I held it in my hand, looked at it, and handed it back to him. When he took it back from me, he said: ‘This must be from the president.’ The padded envelope, just slightly bigger than A4 in size, had marks that suggested it had been sent from the ‘Cabinet Office’ in Lagos. It was addressed to ‘Chief Dele Giwa’ – though he was not a chief – and with the instruction printed on it that it must be opened by the addressee only. Dele thought the envelope contained some vital documents which may help Newswatch with some stories. As he readjusted his chair and tried to tear the envelope open from the top left-hand corner, the envelope exploded. It was a huge and horrific explosion. There was a big ball of fire.

    ”Dele absorbed the shock and most of the impact of the massive explosion on his body, as he was the person who held the envelope and had tried to open it…Dele Giwa was in deep shock. He was still alive, as helpers rushed in and helped to carefully drag him out of the rubbles of the explosion. He was rushed to First Foundation Hospital, in Opebi, owned by a close friend of ours, Dr. Tosin Ajayi. There, he died early afternoon that Sunday.”

    Babangida washed his hands off the murder and he has continued to insist he has nothing to do with it, but it is on record he took only feeble steps to find the perpetrators.  Many have taken a position on the issue and they hold his regime responsible.

    My final take: As he celebrates his 80th birthday on August 17, my sincere advice to Babangida is that he should spare us cock-and-bull tales. There are no explanations from him that can erase the fact that he messed up— and big time, too.

  • The consequences of war

    The consequences of war

    By Olukorede Yishau

     

    Sunday Igboho is in a Cotonou cell battling to get out so that he can escape to Germany with his wife Ropo. Nnamdi Kanu is held in the cell of the Department of State Services (DSS), unable to wriggle out of its tight grip. His supporters looked forward to seeing him in court Monday last week, but the DSS gave a spurious reason for not providing him. The court refused to proceed with a trial in absentia. October is now his next time in court.

    As these two separatists fight for their freedom, their men and women are screaming ‘we no go gree o’ and the government is shouting ‘we too no go gree o’.

    For me, we must avoid war at all cost. Many a work of fiction has depicted in scary details the consequences of war. Maaza Mengiste’s ‘Shadow King’ fictionally captures this beautifully in this historical work which shows the futility of war.

    Haile Selassie, the Ethiopian emperor, had to go on exile at a point in the battle with Italy. His army chief Kidane felt horrified about this development. He, however, devised a way to make the enemy and the Ethiopians believe the emperor has returned by creating a shadow emperor in a man whose name meant nothing.

    Chukwuemeka Ike’s ‘Sunset at Dawn’, which I read recently, also succinctly shows the consequences of war. In wars, women suffer, children go through hell and men become lambs to be sacrificed. Women and girls are forced to be sex slaves, the masses bear more of the brunt and the top hierarchy still enjoys a lot of the spoils. Both books about wars that truly happened unveil the bowels of this futile creation of man.

    David Diop, a Senegalese novelist and the reigning International Booker Prize winner, shows the consequences of war in a grimly light in his novel ‘At night all blood is black’. In the work, Alfa Ndiaye and Mademba Diop are not blood related but their relationship is so deep that they consider each other more than siblings. Alfa’s mother is the last of his father’s wives. She disappears one day and this marks the beginning of a tight relationship between Alfa and Mademba. In fact, Alfa receives the blessing of his father to move in with Mademba and his family after the unexpected disappearance of his mother. They have their differences, including a girl choosing one over the other but their bond triumphs over all human frailties.

    Read Also: Court stops AGF, DSS from arresting, harassing Yoruba nation agitator Igboho

     

    The two of them are the main characters in Diop’s World War 1 novel originally written in French and later translated to English by Anna Moschovakis. The two boys are drafted into the war to fight in a battle they know nothing about, to defend the interest of a colonial authority, with little or no respect for their humanity. France is fighting Germany and the duo are part of the French colonies commandeered to help defeat the German forces.

    When Mademba is attacked in no-man’s-land and in pains with his guts out of his open belly, he begs his childhood friend to slit his throat and hasten his death. Ndiaye finds this difficult to do and he will live to regret not honouring his friend with a less painful death.

    After Mademba’s death, Alfa, who is also the main narrator of the story, becomes a beast and seeks revenge in a way his fellow combatants will soon stop hailing and in no time confine him and subject him to a mental evaluation. His colleagues are so afraid of him that even the one who interpretes the French spoken by their commander starts every sentence in such a way that it is clear they are not his words but those of the commander, and when his colleagues are asked to search through his things for evidence of his supposed insanity, fear will not let them dare.

    Mademba’s death makes Alfa nostalgic, he remembers home, he remembers his parents, he remembers Fary Thiam whose warmth he has known and he remembers the heroes maimed, disfigured and eviscerated by war. His childhood friend’s demise also makes him feel like a betrayer and he constantly seeks his forgiveness, even in frightening dimensions.

    Diop’s narrative is filled with bullets, bombs, blood, sorrow, tears and deaths. There are also elements of black magic. They are all deployed seamlessly to tell an important story, ask important questions and dazzle us even when almost every single page drips with blood, blood that should never have been shed.

    Diop’s second novel ignores the big angles from which other novels on the war have focused. He delves into the effect of the war on people who ordinarily should have nothing to do with the war, and he hides under two friends who see each other as more-than-brothers to examine this important angle. With this seemingly simple but relegated angle, he tells a devastating story that speaks above a whisper about the futility of war, especially wars being fought for others and for reasons alien to the combatants.

    Mengiste, Ike, Diop and other works on war are more than just fiction, they are meant to pick our consciences and make us act right. Of recent, our nation has been bedevilled with incidents capable of precipitating a civil war: In the Southeast, police stations are attacked and razed, private properties are set on fire and human beings are felled like fowls. In the Southwest, herdsmen and kidnappers are on the prowl, ethnic champions are singing Oduduwa instead of Hallelujah, and some elders are chorusing to your tent oh Israel. Terrorists-cum-bandits-cum-kidnappers have turned the North into their haven, their territory where they do and undo. Everywhere is on fire and no one is calling 911 because the fire service lacks the water to quench the fire.

    My final take: Aside from the activities of secessionists, there is one major failure of government capable of precipitating unrest. It is the army of unemployed in the land. Graduates cannot even get employed. Thousands of graduates roam the streets every day looking for jobs, man-know-man dictates the pace and we are yet to rid our society of the bribery-to-receive-favour syndrome.

  • Our doctors have gone mad again

    Our doctors have gone mad again

    The last time resident doctors went mad against the Federal Government it took several weeks before a truce was reached. By then, many had died of lack of medical attention, injuries that could easily have been taken care of had festered and health conditions that would have promptly been attended to linger longer than necessary. The government had not kept to the agreement, which led to the end of the strike and now, the doctors are mad with the government again and the people are bearing the brunt. Patients are finding alternatives. In some instances, youth Corps doctors are helping out. Talk about two elephants fighting and the grass suffering.

    The government ran the doctors mad for failing to implement the Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) it signed with the doctors over 100 days ago. The doctors are demanding the immediate withdrawal of the circular removing House Officers from the scheme of service and the Medical Residency Training Funds. They are also mad over the circular from the Head of Service of the Federation removing House Officers from the scheme of service and the consequent implementation by the Lagos State government. They are also piqued that some House Officers are still being owed 1-2 months’ salaries. Equally unacceptable to the doctors is the fact that some Chief Medical Directors have renamed the bench fee as training fee causing hardship on her members. The doctors are also mad that only one of 19 families of doctors who died while treating COVID-19 patients had received their death-in-service insurance.

    A statement by the doctors said: “NEC noted that with regards to the non-payment of the National Minimum Wage Consequential Adjustment, the list of affected institutions and personnel strength had since been submitted to the Federal Ministry of Health as directed by the MOA signed with the Federal Government yet nothing has been done.

    “The NEC noted that despite Government’s promise to migrate her members from the GIFMIS to the IPPIS platform, they are still stuck on the GIFMIS platform which is laced with payment irregularities.”

    Medicine is a field that develops at a very high speed, but, in Nigeria, you find under-motivated and fatigued doctors still using outdated equipment, and in that kind of situation, you are bound to get wrong results. Little wonder we have so many cases of misdiagnosis. Re-training for doctors also suffer and you find services, even in government-owned hospitals, exorbitant to an average Nigerian who earns a few dollars per month.

    From primary health care centres to tertiary health institutions, medical hands do not have the equipment they need to work with, they are poorly motivated, allowances are not taken seriously, and incentives are almost non-existence. The hospitals are also not enough, and the few ones have inadequate hands to attend to patients, thus leading to an overburdened health care sector.

    With the poor state of the health sector which sees the rich, including our president and governors, always rushing abroad for medical care, patient’s experience is better experienced than imagined. In government-owned hospitals, patients have to contend with poorly motivated nurses who scream at them, doctors who will rather spend time at their private clinics or side gigs, and a situation where they have to source vital health kits and medicines needed for their treatment.

    When the doctors are not on strike, the long wait to see doctors at government-owned hospitals is torturing. And when a patient eventually sees the doctor, medical jargon is preferred to properly communicate with the patient. The wait time for surgery is a different ball game. Patients have had to use their links with men of influence to shorten the months they have to endure excruciating pains.

    The wellness of health care providers is not taken very seriously in Nigeria and many of them transfer their frustration to their patients. Resident doctors in Nigeria have gone on strike several times to force the government to pay one allowance or the other. It is thus no wonder that Nigeria has more of its doctors now working in South Africa, America, Australia, and the UK. The shameless manner doctors are treated has made that sector one that contributes greatly to the country’s brain drain challenge.

    Our teaching hospitals train doctors but are unable to provide affordable specialist care for patients. And neither do they conduct researches to bring better care to their patients; this is not because they cannot, but because the resources and equipment to do it are not there.

    We are long overdue for Nigeria a flagship hospital that provides a comprehensive range of medical services under one roof, facilitates a multi-disciplinary approach to treatment and caters to over one million patients. Like the Singapore General Hospital, Nigeria deserves that hospital with no less than a 10,000-strong workforce, with one-fifth of acute beds nationwide.

    Nigeria deserves a hospital that meets international standards of safety and quality in healthcare, meets the criteria for the Magnet Recognition for nursing excellence and offers undergraduate, postgraduate, and advanced training of specialist doctors, nurses and allied health professionals.

    We also Nigeria deserve that hospital that serves as a clinical teaching hospital for student nurses, radiographers, and therapists. Like the Singapore General Hospital, Nigeria deserves that hospital that can excel in clinical research carried out by its scientists, clinicians, and allied health workers. Like the Singapore General Hospital, Nigeria is overripe for a hospital that can serve as a hub for translational and clinical research.

    My final take: It does not speak well of the government to sign MoU and not implement it. It ridicules us as a nation and it makes trusting government difficult. For the good of us all, the government must honour its agreements with the doctors so that this madness can stop.

     

  • Mental illness is no joke

    Mental illness is no joke

    Olukorede Yishau

     

    Our streets are filled with them. Yes, people who need help, medical help. We see them scream and assume it is just an anger problem, we see their moods swing like a pendulum within a twinkle of an eye and we rationalise it unscientifically. But, the truth is, we are a nation in denial of a severe mental health challenge. The government does not take it seriously and the people trivialise it.

    I have read two books recently that brought this issue to my mind and also reminded me of what psychiatrists have been screaming about but those who should listen are feigning ear problems.

    The title story in Jerry Chiemeke’s collection of short stories, ‘Dreaming of ways to understand you’, treats mental health with the care it deserves. This story breathes and screams: empathy is the best way to go about mental health issues. The exchanges between the narrator and Martha, the lady with the mental health issue, make for interesting reading and tug at the soul. The story also shows how insensitive many of us are about mental health issues, and how not a few still consider it strange when an African talks about being depressed and are quick to end such discussions with “we are Africans, we don’t roll like that”. This attitude has resulted in increased suicide and near suicide cases.

    Chiemeke’s book is not just about mental health. The late Chinua Achebe once said his stories were not innocent; Chiemeke’s aren’t too. There are subtle commentaries here and there. For instance, in the third story ‘What am I supposed to say to you?’, Chiemeke has a lot to say about the Nigerian university system, which turns out graduates of engineering who are forced to work in fields far removed from their specialisation and are always looking for better opportunities.

    In another tale, the famous Ajah axis gridlock that wastes man-hours, and sprinting street hawkers, are weaved into the narrative. So is the habit of airlines to postpone or cancel flights and the effects on passengers given pride of place. And when the electricity supply lasts longer than expected, the author quips: “PHCN proved to be kind to us”. The penchant for many members of the camera-phone generation to capture breaking news on their phones rather than rescuing accident victims is condemned in these lines: “Onlookers threw themselves around the place, in a manner that seemed more out of curiosity than genuine concern. Yeah, some went on to take pictures, eager to breathe life into their social media newsfeeds”.

    The author also gives Lagos its well-deserved knocks. From being characterised as a city that can make you go crazy, it is also described as home to people with a bit of madness in them.

    In the first story in the collection, the author lures the reader in with a line from Wizkid’s song: I want your body sleeping in my bed. And from then on, it is a cruise. First, you meet the devil’s first son; and some pages into his story, you remember how young girls have met their deaths through friends they meet on social media and how they return from dates in body bags. You also remember the many lies peddled via social media, those lies that make you wonder if there is any truth left in the saying ‘pictures don’t lie’.

    You will laugh and you may cry reading ‘Not for Long’. The warning of this tale is: Tread with caution because that man you meet on a social network may be a sociopath. Its nameless narrator is a disciple of serial killer Albert Fish, American criminal, and cult leader Charles Manson, and nihilism promoter Frederick Nietzsche, among others.

    The second of the fifteen stories in Chiemeke’s book is titled ‘Coming to terms’. In it, you will meet Melvin and Sade, his fiancée due to become his wife in about three weeks. The trick Chiemeke plays with this story will break your heart and mercifully also mend it. You will need to find out what it is and how well he pulls it off. You may smile at the relationship between this trick and the statement of an old female character: “Person wey don kpef nor fit relate with person wey still dey tanda.”

    If you are one of those at the sad end of boarding school life, the story ‘Memories in a glass of whiskey’ may bring back some sad memories. While people are made in these schools, some people have also been destroyed in such schools, especially same-sex ones, where orientations get changed. And it can be so sad when the one who twists your life is the one meant to give it a firm foothold. The protagonist of this story attends a reunion party and meets the ones responsible for his curved direction in life. This is a very heartrending story that is capable of making you give a second thought about condemning people whose orientation is alien to what you see as right. The rhythm and the cadence of this story hum so much that despite its sad tone, it is a delight to read.

    One story that you are likely going to remember for its language of rendition is ‘Ugborikoko’. It is narrated entirely in Pidgin English like Iquo DianaAbasi’s ‘Efo Riro’. It, however, takes a good understanding of this very Nigerian English to feel the beauty of this story.

    ‘In the river brought us here’, the author travels back in time, specifically to 1803, and the tale he has to tell is about slavery in Igboland. It tells of how slave merchants rape and immediately lean on the holy book and assume solemn countenance; how men and women are chained and fed like animals they were not; how brothers betray brothers by turning the other into slaves fit to be shipped to far-away lands; and how scores of years later, the journey back to homeland takes shape.

    The author’s love for music is unleashed and a playlist of songs by Olamide, Wizkid, Jidenna, Janelle, Lana Del Ray, Chris Martin, Callum Scott, Don William, Peter Tosh, James Blunt, and others can be compiled by just reading through these stirring stories.

    All in all, this collection portrays Chiemeke as a student of the William Zinsser School of writing which hates clutters. The motto of this school is: cut out anything that can make a reader ask ‘What does this mean?’ The author’s clarity of thought shines through all the fifteen stories, his abhorrence of ambiguity is as clear as the oneness of six and a half dozen, and his syntax brims with deliberateness.

    Using a variety of points of view, such as close first person, second person, and third person, he stunningly treats dark themes such as mental health, serial killing, queerness, and other intricacies of contemporary living; and he handles them well.

    My final take: Mental health is not a joking matter. Nigeria and Nigerians have played with it for too long. We need to change our ways and give this monster the attention it deserves. And please, now is the time to stop saying depression is not an African mental challenge. It is and many are battling it.

     

  • Loyalty, patriotism and Dami Ajayi

    Loyalty, patriotism and Dami Ajayi

    By Olukorede Yishau

    Show me where paradise is on earth and I will show you the world’s greatest liar.  While we all seemingly concur that paradise is far-flung, no one wants to live anywhere close to hell. If our country cannot be like paradise, let it at least be far from hell, we all scream every day. The things that make citizens feel they owe their countries loyalty and patriotism include access to the basic needs of life such as electricity, good roads, education, security, and a general sense of belonging.

    For Nigerians, these things make countries such as the United States and the United Kingdom attractive; here we long for these things, and the more the country ages, the more it looks like we are getting farther from these things that make life worth living.

    For many of us, only a country deserves our loyalty as patriotic citizens, but in his second collection of poems ‘A Woman’s Body is a Country’, Dami Ajayi, who is also a psychiatrist, opens our eyes to how a man’s body is loyal to the country that is the female body and is ever paying obeisance. Ajayi does much more in his book. The man tactically vented about challenges that make many of us as Nigerians feel no compulsion to be loyal or patriotic to our nation. On the periphery, the collection looks at other ‘smaller’ issues, but tucked here and there are these necessities Nigerians long for but have not been able to get.

    Nigeria has been unable to provide a stable power supply for its people, a situation which has led to the collapse of many a business and has frustrated small and medium scale entrepreneurs. The poet subtly criticises this when he croons about “listening to the orchestra of generators”, which, he adds, “sing a symphony of a failed State”. The government’s failure dirge also resonates in the poem ‘Sunday Afternoons’, in which the poet cries about how “NEPA strikes again and hand fans replace ceiling rotors”.

    Insecurity is a challenge the country has been battling. There is no part of the country that is not battling one security challenge or the other. If it is not banditry, it is terrorism; if it is not terrorism, it is armed robbery and separatists’ violence.

    The missing Chibok girls have become the symbol of our insecurity. The poem ‘Twenty-two couplets’ laments the missing Chibok girls, but it is in the poem ‘On Chibok’ that the poet really examines the travail of these girls held captive while seeking knowledge. Ajayi also mocks suicide bombers who die hoping “to fuck virgins in heavenly suites”, and wonders why they always shout God is great as though it is a hidden fact. If you are not careful, you may miss the poet’s jab at Lord Lugard for the creation of Nigeria, which the poet sees as an “eternal mistake”. He alludes to the power of hashtags in fanning revolutions wondering “who waters the placards planted under Falomo bridge”— a reference to the Lagos arm of the Bring Back Our Girls movement.

    Infrastructure is another area the country has failed. In the poem ‘Poet Harcourt’, Ajayi laments the absence of gardens in the Garden City, which only boast of “roads that shine black with night drizzle”. This subtle jab at the Rivers State capital reminds us about the inability of leaders to protect inherited good things. Greenery helps protect the environment, but here we take pride in getting rid of it to provide space for mansions and malls and other inanities. Unlike Port Harcourt, which receives a mild rebuke, Lagos gets blows from Ajayi for its social failures. He describes it as a city where dreams die in the poem ‘Lagos Bunnies’ and ‘Lagos Bunnies 11’. When dreams die in Lagos, the poet says “we incinerate them” and he says day dreams suffer more because “we impale them, banish them to cisterns”. He also sings about Ikoyi, which “rarely sees beyond finery” and “an occasional power cut”.  His jabs at Lagos, of course, include the ubiquitous gridlock that makes commuting within the city a curse.

    The poet also takes a jab at international humanitarian organisations. Do you remember those UNICEF adverts that give the impression that there are no rich kids in Africa? They do not escape the social commentator in this poet. In ‘Die A Little’, the poet asks if he has met a little girl and answers “perhaps in some UNICEF poster”. He laments the facts that “anaemia is the antithesis of capitalist ads” and “bad air blotches mosquito-kissed skin”. Poverty porn and malnutrition also receive ‘honorary’ mentions.

    On page 57, Ajayi, with the line “my madam-at-the-top”, brings back a memory of the spokesman of the Nigeria Security and Civil Defence Corps (NSCDC) who wobbled and fumbled during a Channels Television interview and trended for his line “my oga at the top”.

    Ajayi’s collection is not just about the ‘serious’, the ‘mundane’ such as sex also gets his attention. In the poem ‘Four phases of passion’, Ajayi tells us about voyeurs, sexual tension, and curling toes induced by orgasm. He also remembers to tell us that “only the bearer of fluid tires (olomi lo ma re)”. In the title poem, Ajayi continues the ‘sexual connection’ and tells of how a man gets aroused because “she shakes herself” and how “the loyal swelling of a man’s body” amounts to patriotism since “a woman’s body is a country”.

    With ‘A Woman’s Body is a country’, Ajayi delivers a collection that screams, and loudly too, and reimagines perceptions, probes interactions, and makes day-to-day events haunting. The poems sing, hum, breathe, and walk on all fours. Ajayi is a dazzling, convincing, and stirring poet who deserves the attention of all and sundry.

    My final take: We are not asking for paradise. All we require of our leaders is the provision of basic amenities and the provision of these things can guarantee our loyalty and patriotism. Let there be light, let there be water, let there be good schools, let there be good roads, let there be security of life and property, and let there be a general sense of belonging. I’m sure those are not too much to ask.

  • Boda Cancer

    Boda Cancer

    By Olukorede Yishau

    I have a series of questions for you, Boda Cancer. What offence did humanity commit against you? Did our forebears owe you and refuse to pay? Why are you so unforgiving? Why are you always intent on spreading? Why do you affect the tongue, eyes, mouth, throat, breast, skin, blood, cervix, and other parts of the human body too numerous to mention?

    The World Health Organisation (WHO) says no fewer than 80,000 Nigerians die at your hand annually. You are so unpredictable that it is difficult to really say what is responsible for your attack on the human race. They say we should not smoke so as to escape you, but we have seen many who neither drink nor smoke but you still attack them. Doctors say 90 to 95 per cent of the time, they don’t know why you strike.

    You have claimed greats, the best among us. Just a few days ago, you took away our Sound Sultan, our one and only Naija Ninja, the Jagbajantis exponent— Olanrewaju Fasasi, who sang with his soul and heart. You attacked him through his throat, the most important tool with which he sang and made us dance and listen with rapt attention.

    Read Also: Sound Sultan (1976 – 2021)

    Before Fasasi, you had claimed our erudite lawyer and advocate of the masses, Gani Fawehinmi. You were so wicked to Gani that you made it so late before he knew you were the cause of his ill-health and, despite all his wealth, he could not find a way to escape your blow. Now, our Gani rests among the saints. He died on September 5, 2009, because you destroyed his lungs.

    You also took away Mrs Funmi Olayinka, who was Ekiti State deputy governor during Governor Kayode Fayemi’s first term. Her beauty and brain did not let you show mercy. You made her go through the torture that is chemotherapy and you blackened her glowing skin and made her hair fall.

    You rendered former President Umaru Yar’Adua redundant for months before you eventually took him away in May 2010. His long absence from power gave us the doctrine of necessity and made Dr Goodluck Jonathan acting president. For about five years, Second Republic Senate Leader Dr. Olusola Saraki struggled with you before you made him breathe his last on November 14, 2012.

    You cut short the earthly journey of ex-First Lady Maryam Babangida, wife of former military President Ibrahim Babangida, on December 27, 2009. It did not matter to you that she empowered women with the Better Life Programme for Rural Women which launched women’s centres, cottage industries, many co-operatives, farms and gardens, shops and markets, and social welfare programmes.

    Can we ever forget that you also robbed us of one of the best voices and faces on television? For two years you pushed ace broadcaster, Yinka Craig, up and down until you concluded your grim assignment on September 23, 2008, at the Mayo Clinic in  Rochester, Minnesota, United States of America. Another television guru, Yusuf Jibo, a former Zonal Director of the Nigeria Television Authority (NTA), also fell in your hand after you froze his colon.

    Our great crooner Sonny Okosun had to stop the music on May 24, 2008, at 61, in the United States. No thanks to you. You also showed the Adams Oshiomhole’s family your scary sight when you took away his wife, Clara, on December 8, 2010. You were not even gracious enough to grant her an eleven-day grace to witness her daughter’s wedding.

    If money can tame you, Apple founder Steve Jobs will still be alive and doing exploits. Even with his money, none of his doctors knew that his body was already full of your cells way before he was diagnosed with you in October 2003. In April 2008, he underwent a liver transplant in his bid to beat you, but by July 2011, you had spread throughout his body reaching up to his bones and you ended it all for him in October 2011. He was just 56.

    You do not attack and kill only adults. Children also fall under your hammer. One tertiary hospital in Lagos says it admits between five to ten children every week. Its children ward is always filled up.

    In 2013, you took away young Chioma Ukanwa. On the evening of Friday, June 14, 2013, Chioma’s remains were released from the morgue at the Lagos University Teaching Hospital (LUTH), Idi-Araba, Mushin, Lagos mainland to her parents, Charles and Kate Ukanwa, for burial. The short ceremony was conducted under an ambience of extreme grief.  You killed her a week earlier.

    You eat up kids and make them raise their voices in pain. Although you account for less than 10 per cent of children’s illnesses; for the children who have been afflicted and their families, the consequences are dire. You reign because very few government hospitals are adequately equipped to deal with childhood oncology.

    Some weeks ago, CNN’s Christiane Amanpour explained her absence on her show for four weeks by revealing you have invaded her ovary. The 63-year-old said: “I’ve had successful major surgery to remove it, and I’m now undergoing several months of chemotherapy for the very best possible long-term prognosis, and I’m confident. I’m also fortunate to have health insurance through work and incredible doctors who are treating me.” We are so afraid now of what the future holds for our dear Amanpour.

    I must point out that there have been instances where you have been defeated. Ondo State Governor’s wife, Betty Anyanwu-Akeredolu, beat you when you attacked her years ago and started the Breast Cancer Association of Nigeria (BRECAN) to campaign against you. A social worker, Rahama Sani, also defeated you and is kicking years after your blows on her.

    CNN Worldwide President Jeff Zucker also survived your onslaught. “As a cancer survivor, I too encourage people to listen to their bodies and get all early cancer screenings available to them,” Zucker said in a statement.

    My final take: Please give us a break Boda Cancer. We are respecting you by putting Boda in front of your name. Let humanity rest. If you refuse to desist, we will eventually find a way around you and be better placed to beat you silly.

  • Corruption and other issues in Bolaji Olatunde’s novel

    Corruption and other issues in Bolaji Olatunde’s novel

    By Olukorede Yishau

     

    Some years back, I was billed to go with a minister on a trip to South Korea. Long before I was informed of this trip, I had a pending conference to attend in Singapore on the bill of the American Cancer Society (ACS). The South Korea trip was to happen before the Singapore one so I reckoned I would be able to make the two trips, but when the South Korea trip was postponed and it was going to prevent me from processing my visa for the Singapore trip, for which I had received a ticket and hotel accommodation had been sorted out, I withdrew my passport from the ministry. The ministry eventually fixed the date but it would have taken a miracle for me to be able to combine both trips so I told an aide of the minister that I would not be able to make it. Surprisingly, the ministry’s agency bankrolling the trip called me to ask for my account for the payment of my basic travel allowance. My response: Since I was not making the trip, I was not qualified for the money.

    I remember this incident while reading ‘A Person of Heft’, Bolaji Olatunde’s third and latest novel. In the book, Demola, the lead male protagonist, and some colleagues are unable to make a trip and some of them source forged documents to get the allowance paid. Demola is uncomfortable with this development and returns the money to the treasury.

    Demola works in a government agency in Abuja, whose responsibility is to get companies to pay a percentage of their revenue into the federal purse to improve the health sector. As typical of most government agencies in Nigeria, officials help the companies cheat the government, civil servants collect Duty Tour Allowance for trips unmade. Demola’s resolve not to be part of this fraud turns him into a pariah.

    Olatunde, in his new literary output which revolves largely around Demola and Tomiwa, renders in harrowing detail the characters’ resistance and survival instincts in the face of deficiency, deprivation, assault, and emotional war.

    It begins in 2016 with Demola’s mother and father mounting pressure on him to start a family, not long after getting him to call off a relationship on account of a dream his sister had.

    Tomiwa is also of marriageable age. They meet accidentally on the street of Abuja when each is trying to outrun the other. Demola memorises the number plate of her car and starts using Twitter to search for the beautiful and mischievous babe who smiled after outrunning him with her Toyota Camry car.

    In between the two of them is a Caucasian, Wayne, who walks into Tomiwa’s insurance office and they become close after she helps him insure his car. Wayne and Tomiwa become super close and Tomiwa begins to see a future together. A spanner is thrown into the works when her surprise birthday visit to him reveals another love interest. They settle eventually. Meanwhile, Demola is also trying his luck with her. They go out a few times and chat a lot via the BBM and Twitter DM.

    Within the drama going on in the life of the trio, the spectacles in their offices also help to develop the plot. This sub-plot is the oxygen on which the romances thrive. Also embedded within and alternating with these experiences are flashbacks, which properly contextualise the narrative.

    Tomiwa’s time at the insurance company reads like the author’s ‘blow’ on the insurance industry where clients never get what the firms promise, where marketers are treated with disdain, and where back-biting is the rule rather than the exception.

    The author uses a non-linear approach to deliver an interesting read. You will discover that one point of view is faster than the other: While the lead female character’s point of view is telling you about her time at an insurance company filled with intrigues and enslavement, the point of view of the lead male character has transported you to her time in a property development company. And as you read along, the picture of how she gets to the property development company now becomes clear from her own point of view.

    There are other interesting characters such as Femi whose Point of View helps shed light on some developments; Tosin, who seems to struggle between loyalty and survival; Raymond Ibiloye, the manager who cheats his subordinates; Agnes whose favourite line seems to be “Me, I want to fuck o” and the sexual harassment master called Gboyega Iremide.

    Set between 2016 and 2017 with some flashbacks to events before then, Olatunde succeeds in making Abuja a character in this novel. Olatunde crafts spare and unsparing sentences, and evokes the Abuja landscape hauntingly, as a land of beauty and ugliness so profound it assumes the quality of myth.

    For those conversant with the Federal Capital Territory, chances are they will chuckle at his accurate representation of real places in the city. He brings out its beauty, its ugliness, and its sounds and blends them believably with the lives of the characters. Aside from Abuja, the insurance industry and the civil service also qualify as characters in this book because of the illuminating attention the author devotes to treating them.

    This absorbing, stirring novel is a fun, enjoyable read filled with characters who make mistakes and also triumph. The pages drip with witty lines that will induce smiles. With adequate suspense, Olatunde succeeds in telling a compelling tale of unrequited love, betrayal, and corruption in high places. His handling of Demola, with his burdens, makes it hard not to feel for him. Other characters also afford the author the opportunity to present a moving portrait of lives on slow and fast lanes. It also has some well-realised kinky scenes that highlight the humanity of some of the characters.

    Though a massive 523-page, the novel’s easy-to-read diction, humour, and relatability are enough to see the reader flipping page after page, and in no time, the behemoth will be defeated with a smile most likely playing on the reader’s face.

    The romantic may, however, raise placards against Olatunde, who was twice nominated for the Association of Nigerian Authors (ANA) prizes, for the way the novel ends, but the end only tells one fact of life: at times and in some situations, no one wins.

    My final take: There are subtle jabs at the President Muhammadu Buhari and the Dr. Goodluck Jonathan administrations, under which the events and actions in the novel take place. Leaders should at all times make the people the corner piece of every decision they make. Only through this can history and posterity be fair to them.

  • Dreaming about Nigeria’s pre-eminent hospital

    Dreaming about Nigeria’s pre-eminent hospital

    By Olukorede Yishau

    Nobel Prize winner Toni Morrison, in her novel, ‘Song of Solomon’, tells the story of Pilate, a woman from a dysfunctional family who was born without a navel. It was in early 1900 America where ignorance reigned among the black community.

    Pilate’s mother died shortly before she came out of her, and her father was shot dead when she was still young. At a camp, where she moved to after disagreeing with her brother, Macon, she was cast out the day it was discovered she had no navel, she was considered unnatural and as such evil. So ignorant were those who cast her out that they gave her so much money than she deserved because they assumed she had powers to harm them. So, she was appeased with more money.

    “What are you? Some kinda mermaid?” One man had shouted on seeing she had no navel and hurriedly reached for his socks.

    The things ignorance makes human beings do can be baffling. Pilate, like the ordinary Nigerian, has been subjected to the worst kind of wickedness by leaders whose knowledge of humanity is warped. They are so ignorant of God’s purpose for making them leaders that over the years, the country has been unable to get right many of the important things.

    One such important thing we have not gotten right is healthcare. Don’t get me wrong. We have hospitals, we have them, and in numbers too. Some are called general hospitals, others are called teaching hospitals, and some others are called private hospitals. But, sadly, they are all not equal to one; their combined capacity will shrink before the John Hopkins Hospital or the Singapore General Hospital, a fully-government hospital where medical miracles are wrought daily. The clear sign that they are not equal to one is the rate at which our leaders and the rich escape abroad to treat minor and major ailments.

    For me, the most pressing health-related issue affecting the delivery of care in Nigeria is the poor state of our health institutions. From primary health care centres to tertiary health institutions, medical hands do not have the equipment they need to work with, they are poorly motivated, allowances are not taken seriously, and incentives are almost non-existence. The hospitals are also not enough, and the few ones have inadequate hands to attend to patients, thus leading to an overburdened health care sector.

    Medicine is a field that develops at a very high speed, but, in Nigeria, you find undermotivated and fatigued doctors still using outdated equipment, and in that kind of situation, you are bound to get wrong results. Little wonder we have so many cases of misdiagnosis. Re-training for doctors also suffer and you find services, even in government-owned hospitals, exorbitant to an average Nigerian who earns a few dollars per month.

    With the poor state of the health sector which sees the rich, including our president and governors, always rushing abroad for medical care, patient’s experience is better experienced than imagined. In government-owned hospitals, patients have to contend with poorly motivated nurses who scream at them, doctors who will rather spend time at their private clinics or side gigs, and a situation where they have to source vital health kits and medicines needed for their treatment.

    The long wait to see doctors at government-owned hospitals is torturing. And when a patient eventually sees the doctor, medical jargon is preferred to properly communicate with the patient. The wait time for surgery is a different ball game. Patients have had to use their links with men of influence to shorten the months they have to endure excruciating pains.

    The wellness of health care providers is not taken very seriously in Nigeria and many of them transfer their frustration to their patients. Resident doctors in Nigeria have gone on strike several times to force the government to pay one allowance or the other. It is thus no wonder that Nigeria has more of its doctors now working in South Africa, America, Australia, and the UK. The shameless manner doctors are treated has made that sector one that contributes greatly to the country’s brain drain challenge.

    The time has come, I believe, for us to have that pre-eminent hospital. We don’t need more than one, for a start. The important thing is to make it the best, so good should it be that our leaders and the rich can trust the doctors and equipment there with their precious lives. To help the poor, it can also have a not-for-profit section. Let the rich pay to help the poor live.

    Our teaching hospitals train doctors but are unable to provide affordable specialist care for patients. And neither do they conduct researches to bring better care to their patients; this is not because they cannot, but because the resources and equipment to do it are not there.

    Like the Singapore General Hospital, Nigeria deserves that flagship hospital that provides a comprehensive range of medical services under one roof, facilitates a multi-disciplinary approach to treatment and caters to over one million patients. Like the Singapore General Hospital, Nigeria deserves that hospital with no less than a 10,000-strong workforce, with one-fifth of acute beds nationwide.

    Like the Singapore General Hospital, Nigeria deserves a hospital accredited by the Joint Commission International for meeting its standards of safety and quality in healthcare, meets the criteria for the Magnet Recognition for nursing excellence and offers undergraduate, postgraduate, and advanced training of specialist doctors, nurses and allied health professionals.

    Like the Singapore General Hospital, Nigeria deserves that hospital that serves as a clinical teaching hospital for student nurses, radiographers, and therapists. Like the Singapore General Hospital, Nigeria deserves that hospital that can excel in clinical research carried out by its scientists, clinicians, and allied health workers. Like the Singapore General Hospital, Nigeria is overripe for a hospital that can serve as a hub for translational and clinical research.

    When we have this kind of hospital, the rich will spend their dollars here, our leaders will stay home and the health afflictions of the poor will reduce. We will reverse a situation where, according to the United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF), no fewer than 250,000 children in Nigeria die on their first day of life. The figure is the second-highest in the world, according to the 2017 multi-indicator cluster survey. A child born in Nigeria today, no thanks to this situation, is likely to live to the year 2074, while a child born in Denmark is likely to live until the 22nd Century! The quality of life is a different kettle of fish. Most of these children regrettably die from preventable causes such as premature births, complications during delivery, infections like sepsis, malaria, and pneumonia.

  • The parents are not always to be blamed

    The parents are not always to be blamed

    By Olukorede Yishau

     

    Since the news broke that Chidinma Ojukwu, a student of the University of Lagos (UNILAG), killed her older lover, closet sinners have been busy pontificating and offering unsolicited pieces of advice. I am less concerned about what has been said about the late Usifo Ataga, I am concerned about what has been said about parenting, about how her parents supposedly failed, and about how the fact that she came from a broken home could have contributed to her failure as a human being.

    Well, the world over, examples abound to prove that parenting is a tricky thing, very tricky and no one has the perfect formula. All we do is try and hope our kids will turn out well. A few examples will suffice.

    My six years in secondary school were spent away from home and from my parents, except on the few occasions we were home for holidays. We were free and many misbehaved: sex, cigarettes and I am sure a few even tried Marijuana. We had strict housemasters and housemistresses, but. despite that. those who wanted to be bad found a way to be. Our school was surrounded by bushes and many escaped to smoke and do all sorts. Classrooms at night were also dark enough for shenanigans.

    As far as our parents were concerned, we were in strict hands and were bound to be of good behaviour, but there were instances when the teachers who were supposed to keep us upright were the ones sleeping with the girls, many of them between 15 and 16 years. and the ones who refused were targets of punishments. At least three of the girls are now wives to their ex-teachers, one even wrote the Senior School Certificate pregnant. We only knew when she was delivered of a baby some six months after completing her studies.

    There were instances when suspected boyfriends of girls being targeted by some of our young teachers got the beatings of their lives for daring to love what the big men ought to be enjoying. Many who started experimenting with Marijuana then have graduated to something worse and are popular on the streets of Lagos Island for the wrong reasons.

    Our parents felt we were in a mission school and were bound to turn out well. It didn’t work out well for some.

    This thinking that being in a mission school helps is a myth that has been debunked many a time. Students of universities owned by churches, despite all the strict rules, are known to smoke hard drugs, skip school to go party hard on the Island, and have sex uncontrollably. We even saw a sex tape of students from a popular faith-based university some years back.

    Some months back, I heard of a girl who attended a faith-based university. Her parents are pastors, her mother considered her fragile and unable to withstand pressure. Her mother was always worried about her because of this. She had more confidence in her younger sister being rugged and capable of taking care of herself. But, this mother really knows nothing of her daughter. The image she presents at home is different from her reality and it all started at the faith-based school, where she learnt to jump the fence and escaped to the Island to party like there is no tomorrow and drink beer, whisky and vodka and any kind of alcohol man has ever made. A pastor close to her could not close his mouth when a friend she interned with and her other colleagues regalled him with her escapades. He kept saying “aah, aah, that small girl”.

    I know of a senior colleague who spent his early life in and out of church. His father was a vicar. He left home and went to the university and, for four years in the university, he dumped his Christianity and avoided church. He rebelled for years. Can we blame his parents for this? Thankfully, he didn’t stray beyond redemption and is now in the service of the Lord, but not many have this second chance.

    Some days back, I read a piece credited to an advertising guru. In it, he narrated the nasty paths he and classmates and seniors threaded while in secondary school: sex, drugs, prostitutes, and more. In the university, he became worse and added gambling. While he sobered after starting his career, not a few of his friends in crime found it impossible to retrace their steps.

    I know of a family of seven where all the kids were raised by the parents under one roof and two of the kids chose the rough paths, one even embraced cultism. Yet, they were all trained by the same parents. I know of another family of five which one just chose to be the black sheep and while their mother lived, she used to say she scored four over five in parenting.

    I will be a liar to say some parents do not deliberately lead their kids astray. We have seen parents who have helped their children cheat in exams, we have seen parents who encouraged their girls to become prostitutes, we have seen parents who direct their children to follow their crooked paths, but we have also seen kids who against all odds turn out exceptionally well in all ramifications despite having crooks for parents, thus proving right the Yoruba adage that the white pap is made from the dark pot.

    My final take: There is no signed-sealed-and-delivered parenting manual anywhere. Yes, there are a number of principles that can help, but they are not sacrosanct. The Bible and the Quran contain many of these principles, but even with kids raised with these principles, we have seen exceptions. So, before you heap the blame solely on parents when their kids fail, know that even in the best of homes, there are always some kids who just want to be bad like that.

  • NLNG’s Train 7: Good times for Bonny Island, others

    NLNG’s Train 7: Good times for Bonny Island, others

    As work continues on the seventh train of the Nigeria LNG Limited’s gas-liquefication plant, Bonny Island and other beneficiaries are in for exciting times, writes OLUKOREDE YISHAU

    For years, the seventh train of the Nigeria LNG Limited plant in Finima, Bonny Island was expected to take off. The people of the ancient Island looked forward to exciting times as witnessed during the construction of the first to the sith train. Now, the wait is over and residents are benefiting from job creation, a boost in trade and commercial activities with the influx of workers from around the country. Over 12,000 jobs are expected to be created during the construction phase. And it is going to last for five years.

    Aside the seventh train, the NLNG plans to construct a new Workers Village on about 31 hectares of land and is considering an upgraded Joint Venture Village to accommodate construction workers. These will need hands and Bonny Island indigenes will benefit.

    The company took the Final Investment Decision (FID) for the project in December 2019, signed the Engineering, Procurement, and Construction (EPC) contracts with the SCD JV Consortium, comprising affiliates of Saipem, Chiyoda, and Daewoo, on May 13, 2020 and some weeks back, President Muhammadu Buhari inaugurated the train, which is expected to increase NLNG’s current six-train plant capacity by about 35 per cent from the existing 22 Million Tonnes Per Annum (MTPA) to 30 MTPA.

    Buhari, who flagged the project virtually, said the groundbreaking was an important milestone in the country’s oil and gas industry history, adding that “the story of Nigeria LNG is one that I have been so passionately associated with during the formative years of the NLNG project. It has transformed from a project over the years to a very successful company.” NLNG remains one of Nigeria’s best investments to date. $18 billion has been paid as dividends to shareholders over the years.

    The president went further: “This groundbreaking ceremony to herald the Train 7 project construction has afforded me the opportunity to congratulate NLNG and its Company’s shareholders – NNPC, Shell, Total, and Eni – for proving that a Nigerian company can operate a world-class business safely, profitably, and responsibly. Clearly, you have set the stage upon which Nigeria’s vast gas resources will continue to grow well into the future.”

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    “I am proud that NLNG, as the pioneer LNG company in Nigeria, has conscientiously proven the viability of the gas sector over the years, currently contributing about one percent to our country’s GDP. NLNG has generated $114 billion in revenues over the years, paid $9 billion in taxes; $18 billion in dividends to the Federal Government and $15 billion in feed gas purchase. These are commendable accomplishments by the company’s 100 percent Nigerian Management Team.

    “With this level of performance, I can only hope that the company continues to grow, starting with this Train 7 project, but also positioning Nigeria to thrive through the energy transition. I hereby urge the Board of Directors, Management and Staff of Nigeria LNG, the Host Communities, the Rivers State government and Agencies of the Federal Government to continue to collaborate to ensure completion and eventual commissioning of the Train 7 project safely and on time, so that Train 8 can then start.”

    Rivers State Nyesom Wike, who was represented by his deputy, Dr. Ipalibo Banigo, applauded the shareholders, NLNG’s Board of Directors, and the company’s management for keeping the Train 7 dream alive. He said the state government considered the project as a key economic enabler and committed to supporting both the project and the company.

    Minister of State for Petroleum Resources Chief Sylva said the Train 7 would contribute to maintaining the country’s status as a gas exporting nation. He said: “Nigeria has more gas reserves than crude oil, and we have much to gain from sustaining our LNG exports to a market that has a growing demand for the commodity as the preferred fuel for industrialisation and power generation.”

    NNPC Group Managing Director Mele Kyari commended the Federal Government for supporting the project and called for stakeholders’ support for the project. He added that support for NLNG would lead to immense benefits to Nigerians.

    NLNG Managing Director Tony Attah said the benefits of gas to the country would increase on the back of the Train 7 project. He added that Train 7 would stimulate the inflow of more than $10billion Foreign Direct Investment into Nigeria as part of the project scope; create more than12,000 direct jobs and additional 40,000 indirect construction jobs; and develop Nigerian local capacity and businesses. He added that the increase in volume supply to the global market as a result of Train 7 would keep NLNG and the country on top of the suppliers’ chart as world LNG demand grows.

     

    Reduction in gas flaring     

     

    Aside from the benefits associated with job creation, it will also help the country reduce gas flaring. So far, the NLNG has converted about 193.6bcm (billion standard cubic metres) or 6.8Tcf (trillion cubic feet) of Associated Gas (AG) as Liquefied Natural Gas (LNG) and Natural Gas Liquids (NGLs), thus reducing gas flaring by upstream companies from over 60 per cent when it commenced operations to less than 12 per cent now.

     

    Giving priority to Nigerians

     

    The NLNG is also working closely with the Nigerian Content Development and Monitoring Board (NCDMB) to give first consideration to Nigerian indigenous service providers and manufacturers of goods without compromise to business ethics, safety and quality at a competitive price. Through this, it aims to achieve the retention of in-country expertise through training, technology transfer, patronising and developing local capacity of Small and Medium Scale Enterprises.

    Engineers will also have a swell time as 55 per cent of the engineering activities are being carried out in Nigeria. Fifty-five per cent of all procurement for execution of the project are also being done by Nigerian vendors and 100 per cent of the installations and construction are to be done in Nigeria.

    The project will also increase the availability and affordability of cooking gas, which is a cleaner and safer fuel for cooking.

    “LPG clearly has environmental advantages, huge potential for forex savings in lieu of kerosene importation and more importantly, the crucial impact it can have in helping to save lives. A recent World Health Organisation (WHO) report revealed that about 4 million people die annually from hazardous cooking practices, using polluting stoves, paired with solid fuels and kerosene. Thousands of people are believed to die annually from firewood smoke making it the third highest killer in Nigeria after malaria and HIV. Painfully, this population is mainly women (our mothers, our wives, our sisters) and children who are only doing their best just to put food on the table. This is not acceptable to NLNG,” said the company in a statement.

     

    Power generation

     

    The project is also expected to boost Nigeria’s ability to improve the power sector and build the domestic gas market. The country has 206 trillion cubic feet (tcf) of proven gas reserves, and an estimated additional 600 tcf of potential reserves. There are more than enough natural gas reserves for both domestic power generation and for export.

    The Train 7 will help to make Domestic LNG available for power. NLNG has signed 10-year LNG Sales and Purchase Agreements (SPAs) with three offtakers for the domestic supply of LNG in country.

    The company will supply 1.1 Million Tons Per Annum (MTPA) of LNG on DES basis to Asiko Power Limited, Bridport Energy Limited and Gas-Plus Synergy Limited. The SPAs will facilitate the project execution and infrastructural development by offtakers to aid LNG delivery into the domestic market.

    “We are also looking to expand the LPG value chain by increasing our supply to the domestic market, guaranteeing LPG supply and enhancing its affordability, and enabling the development of a value network for a sustainable ecosystem,” Attah said.

     

    Safety

     

    An Environmental, Social and Health Impact Assessment (ESHIA) has been approved by the Federal Ministry of Environment.

    “The ESHIA demonstrates that Train 7 Project fully complies with standards subscribed to by our shareholders as well as the applicable statutory requirements in Nigeria and international standards. NLNG is fully committed to the ESHIA which outlines plans to mitigate any impact of Train 7 on its host community. As part of the projects considered for the mitigation of the impact of workers influx into Bonny Island, NLNG plans to construct a new Workers Village on about 31 hectares of land and is considering an upgraded Joint Venture Village to accommodate construction workers,” the company said.