The Nation Newspaper

Category: Korede Yishau

  • Of libraries and private sector

    Of libraries and private sector

    Olukorede Yishau

     

    When music stars perform world over, the arenas are always filled. Sometimes they even overflow. Girls, boys, men and women do crazy things when they behold their stars. Movie stars also command this level of adulation.

    Nigerian music stars Wizkid and Davido last year performed at the Indigo 02, a massive space in London, and the shows were sold out. When these guys and others on their level of acceptance perform back home, they always smile to the bank.

    Big businesses, including Nigerian Breweries, Nigerian Bottling Company, Coca-Cola and United Bank for Africa, readily support their shows and even shower multi-millions on them as ambassadors.

    They are so rich they charter private jets and enjoy the best of food, wine and women! If you doubt the women part, show me two of the major stars without baby mamas.

    Leave the musical shows and head to book readings by Booker Prize winners or finalists in Lagos, Abuja or any city in Nigeria. What you will see are a few people in mostly relatively small halls.

    These are special breeds of human beings who sleep, eat and drink books. At the last Ake Festival in Lagos, Nollywood actress Dakore Akande had more attention than Booker Prize winner Bernardine Evaristo.

    We all like the glamour of the music and movie industries. This likeness extends to the corporate bodies. Ask them to choose between supporting Wizkid and Evaristo, or An Orchestra of Minorities author Chigozie Obioma, and your guess is as good as mine.

    Even if they decide to support all of them, Wizkid will get multiple of what goes to Evaristo and two-time Booker finalist Obioma. This brings me to the sorry state of libraries in Nigeria.

    Not long ago, I had cause to enter the library of a Barnes and Noble in Houston, Texas. If you are looking for books to read till eternity, they are there, and if you need to grab snacks and coffee while reading, you do not need to step out.

    From medicine to fiction, memoirs and so on, there are piles and piles to choose from. Towards the end of last year, I was at the E-Ananse library, a private initiative inside the University of Ghana, in Accra. Though a small affair, the ambience encourages you to sit down and grab a book.

    Back home in Nigeria, I expect the state libraries to be the best. Unfortunately, most of them are the worst set of libraries Nigeria has. The Cross River State Library is a place with a rich history.

    Like the Freedom Park in Lagos, it used to be a prison. And like the Freedom Park, the late Chief Obafemi Awolowo was once detained in it.

    The late sage was at Her Majesty’s Broad Street Prison while awaiting trial. After he was sentenced, he was moved to the Calabar Prison. He was there from 1962 to 1965 serving his term for treason.

    The old Calabar prison gave way to a library under the military administration of the late Brig. U J Esuene. It was not completed until two military regimes later.

    The civilian administration of Chief Clement Ebri opened it for public use, but like his administration that was cut short in 1993, it was neglected and left unkempt until 1999, when the civilian administration of Donald Duke gave it a modern look with modern amenities.

    In the twilight of the Liyel Imoke administration, the library deteriorated. The challenges include irregular supply of water and electricity, and lack of relevant books. The ambience does not support learning.

    The glass walls of the building are largely open and the reading hall is exposed. The glass walls were lost to a disaster. Weeds have taken over portions of the premises. Reptiles and rats are said to have infested sections of it.

    Gone are the days when the Cross River library and other state-owned libraries used to be places of joy. Now, they make hearts bleed.

    Many used to spend their weekends in these libraries, but all that stares them in the face now are dilapidated structures with no up to date books.

    Read Also: Kano, dRPC sign MoU to develop public libraries

     

    The one that brings tears to my eyes is university libraries. It suffers from the scarcity of modern textbooks and journals.

    Without this, how will teachers and students be in tune with global best practices in their fields? This also makes it difficult for lecturers to update their lecture notes to accommodate modern trends. Lecturers teach with notes they started using in 1978.

    A polytechnic lecturer once brought his students on a trip to The Nation and, from the questions he was asking, it was obvious he was teaching his students with techniques long jettisoned in modern newsrooms.

    The superb libraries at the Universities of Cardiff in the United Kingdom, Cambridge in the UK, Ottawa in Canada and Witten-Herdecke in Germany, will show the glaring holes in our education system.

    Our governments, at all levels, have failed in many ramifications, including leaving our libraries in a poor state. From primary to secondary and tertiary institutions, most libraries are antiquated.

    Corporate bodies, as part of their social responsibility, can help to change the status quo. The Federal Government model for fixing some bad roads can come to our rescue.

    President Muhammadu Buhari signed Executive Order 007, creating a scheme that offers tax credits to private firms to build or refurbish roads.

    The Executive Order, also known as the Road Infrastructure Development and Refurbishment Investment Tax Credit Scheme, provides an incentive for companies willing to build roads.

    Buhari told CEOs and governors during the signing: “Through this scheme, companies that are willing and able to spend their own fund on constructing roads to their factories or farms will recover their construction costs by paying reduced taxes over a period of time.”

    Nineteen roads covering about 794.4 kilometres across 11 states are under the pilot phase of the scheme. Dangote Industries, Lafarge Africa, Unilever Nigeria, Flour Mills of Nigeria, Nigeria LNG, and China Road and Bridge Corporation, have signed up for the scheme.

    My final take: Our libraries— and by extension our education— is in as much problem as our roads and from the look of things, governments have shown their inability to lift them up.

    So, getting the private sector to adopt a library will not be a bad idea. It is a good idea, and if Executive Orders at state and federal levels will help them see it as important, let the president and governors sign the orders.

    I look forward to seeing firms like UBA, Glo, Nigerian Breweries, Nestle, Cadbury and others adopting public libraries and turning them to global standard.

  • For ‘privileged’ Nigerian

    By OluKorede Yishau

     

    On Monday, the Emir of Kano again sang a familiar tune: the North is the headquarters of poverty. Emir Sanusi’s statement is not unrelated to a colleague’s assertion that the South has unemployed youths but the North has both unemployable and unemployed youths.

    It is shocking that we have this situation in a nation with many privileged people like you.

    Terrible situations like this have imposed it on me the right to examine your life and come to a conclusion.

    Let us start this way: The other day I passed through your garage and I thanked God for your life. I saw Rolls Royce. I saw a Cadillac. I saw smaller cars like Toyota Camry 2019 model, Peugeot 406 and so on and so forth.

    They had gathered dust and I needed no one to tell me they had not been driven for a long time. One or two even still had the nylon on their seats in place.

    I am told this is replicated in all your mansions in Lagos, Ibadan, Abuja, Port Harcourt, Johannesburg, New York and London.

    Many of these cars you got as gifts; some were attached to past offices you occupied, and some you cannot even recall how they came to be in your surface and underground garages.

    Then there are others whose acquisition you can never forget: One of the cars in the garage is a Bentley Continental GT, which cost you £120,000, and there is a Mercedes-Benz Maybach 62, which set you back by €407,000. You also bought a house for £2.2m in Hampstead, north London.

    In Sandton, South Africa, you sunk £3.2m on a mansion and also lavished £600,000 on a fleet of armoured Range Rovers. That you are a man with taste is not in doubt. The last time I checked, you have not been to New York or Johannesburg for some years, yet a coterie of staff is keeping the homes clean and secure.

    The wardrobes in these homes brim with hundreds of pairs of shoes, rooms full of designer wears and vaults with currencies running into millions. These houses are not all known to your wife and children. There are some of these houses that are love nests for your concubines.

    The mansion in your village has 10 rooms, three massive sitting rooms and is complete with chalets of 12 rooms, all en-suite. Your intention was for it to be able to accommodate your children and their families during festivities, but they now lead their own lives and are not interested in even visiting your village country home.

    Cobwebs have taken over the rooms. Your employees only clean when they know you are coming around. They are tired of cleaning what is not being used. Behind your back, they wonder why you need such a big home when you sleep only in one room.

    Beside your village mansion lives a family of five, whose breadwinner is a farmer. His total earnings in a month never exceed N80,000. From this, he struggles to educate his kids, feed them and sort out other responsibilities.

    You know the truth; you know you do not need many of the properties you keep, but greed will not allow you to give them away to those who really need it. You just derive some joy in keeping what is capable of making millions happy to yourself alone.

    You epitomise the saying that there is enough for everyone’s need but not for everyone’s greed. It means nothing to you that you are acquiring riches at the expense of some of the poorest people in the world.

    With the money you squander on homes you barely sleep one month in a year, hospitals of world-class standard can be built, universities that can rival Harvard can come alive and roads can be fixed.

    These cars lying unused in your garages are enough to fund the education of 100 children up to the university level.

    And the cash in your accounts home and abroad can fund all the projects of a state for one year and more. But you prefer to keep all this cash to yourself while infrastructure fall apart and the people suffer.

    I need to remind you sir that the day you leave this world all these properties become someone else’s, and not necessarily your children and wife. Those ones you own secretly may even be inherited by your maiguard.

    Your mistress will also corner the love nest you got for her and the village mansion will go to rot. We have seen many examples. Go to Ado-Ekiti, go to Afao-Ekiti, go to Kafanchan and go to Nnewi, you will see one or two of these mansions that used to be the cynosure of all eyes wasting away.

    No one, not even the kids of the owners, is interested in them. Your village mansion will be too big that five churches will rent different sections and their members will still not fill the space.

    Read Also: Emir Sanusi blames almajiri crisis on parents, government

     

    Sir, life is almost nothing. It is not worth taking too seriously to the extent of solely keeping the wealth that can turn around the lives of millions.

    The moment you die, chances are that people will begin to fight over your properties. Even when you have a last will and testament, your children will begin to quarrel, and we have seen instances where they start querying your sanity at the time the last testament was written.

    Your own children now start using style to say you were mad at the critical point. They have simply moved on. Fighting over your estate is part of their survival strategies.

    Do not bank on the fact that you have only one legal wife as a guarantee that no one will fight over your properties. You will be making a mistake to think that because you have only four children there will be no issue over your last will and testament.

    I will not mention names, but I am sure you have seen at least one case. I believe you know of a very successful lawyer with a wife and only four children, whose will is still being contested.

    His children are not on speaking terms. Judges at the nation’s apex court once forced two of them to hug and they refused to hear the case, insisting it must be resolved out of court.

    Let me also bring this to your attention in case you pretend not to know: You live in a country with over 100 million people in abject poverty, of high maternal mortality, of one of the world’s worst out-of-school-children statistics and of millions whose tomorrow are bleak just on account of their birthplace.

    My final take: You need to make a difference. You do not need those billions lying idle in your accounts. Start a foundation, give scholarships to hundreds of people and institute a grant-giving scheme for start-ups.

    Be like Femi Otedola, who gave out N5 billion in one day and is still giving. Emulate Tony Elumelu, Aliko Dangote and others who through their foundations are touching lives.

    The more, the merrier. Please join the train and not regret when you get to the other side and cannot do anything to turn back the hands of time.

    I look forward to seeing you turn a new leaf.

    Bye for now.

  • Houston dispatch

    By Olukorede Yishau

    The first time I flew into Houston, a city in Texas (which is a state in the United States of America), I felt like I was back home in Lagos. Even on this trip and despite the end of summer, I still have the same feeling. From time to time, the sun becomes pre-eminent like it usually is back home, but the difference here is that seeing a blazing sun in the horizon does not mean cold is far away. Cold can descend on you without warning. So, the maxim around here, especially out of the summer period is the Boy Scout motto: be prepared! The way the sun looks here makes one feel closer to the heavenly bodies. I cannot really describe it, but there is something special about the lunar position.

    Texas, which has Houston as one of its cities, is bigger than the whole of Nigeria. This city is the most populous city in Texas; it is the fourth most populous city in the United States; and it is the most populous city in North America. By a 2018 estimate, its population is 2,325,502. Our dear small Lagos, which is both a state and a city, has some 20 million people by some estimates. You can begin to understand why infrastructure is overstretched and why Governor Babajide Sanwo-Olu has a lot to do for his drive towards a greater Lagos.

    With a total area of 637.4 square miles (1,651 km2), this home of the Bush family is the eighth most roomy city in the United States. By total area, (I am told), Houston is the largest city in the U.S. Texas used to be part of Mexico until General Sam Houston won its independence. Houston was named after him after it was founded by land investors in 1836. Gen. Houston was president of the Republic of Texas before it became part of the U.S.

    Like Lagos, Houston is diverse; more diverse. It has people from almost every part of the world: Indians, Mexicans, Nigerians, Chinese, Japanese and all. Its status as a port city helps it attract people from far and near. Its rail system, I observe, serves only the ports, from which goods are moved to warehouses and elsewhere. I have not seen containers being moved on the road here and I expect to see this in Lagos when the rail project to the Apapa ports is completed. This will not only bring sanity on our roads, it will help prevent avoidable deaths from fallen container-laden articulated vehicles.

    Unlike cities such as New York and Chicago, Houston has no underground train system and its bus services are not city-wide. Most people who live in Houston own cars because moving round without your own vehicle is difficult.

    Schools in Houston are graded and the more expensive the area you live the better the schools available to children. That is my reading of the situation of things in this great city renowned for hosting the National Space Agency (NASA) and other institutions critical to global advancement.

    Houston does not have the New York or Chicago feel, but it is still miles apart from Lagos, Abuja or Port Harcourt. Nigerians will praise their leaders to high heavens if just one city can have the infrastructure in Houston. Its bridges and flyovers are deliberate attempts to shorten distance and make people get to their destinations on time. There are tall flyovers here and there, which are engineered towards making the people have smooth ride to and fro. When there is traffic, it is because it is rush hour, not because of lack of planning. The roads have clear signs to warn people in case of snow or heavy rain. You are properly advised about what to do and if you follow them, you will likely not come to any harm.

    With its Downtown skyscrapers and well-laid out road network, Houston cuts the image of a commercial capital of a great state of diverse people. Abuja, our best, is nowhere near Houston in any regard. Wuse, Maitama, Asokoro and other highbrow areas of Abuja give the illusion of grandeur, but not so far away from them are the Ushafa and other ghettos, which blur their beauty. Government can lift Ushafa and other neighbourhoods where the ‘poor’ reside.

    Like Abuja, Lagos also suffers this illusion of grandeur. Banana Island, which is perhaps the most expensive estate in Nigeria, is good, really good. Lekki Phase 1 and other estates such as Osborne Foreshore and Park View suffer some infrastructural deficit, which is why the Island is described as the ‘most expensive slum in the world’. Oil-rich Port Harcourt is another disappointment. Its case and those of Abuja and Lagos are more like heaven and hell side by side. Nice estates and residential areas are almost shouting distances from complete slums. Even the nice estates suffer infrastructural deficits.

    In almost all of Nigerian cities, drainage system is a major challenge. This is one of the things Houston has gotten right. Let us not talk about electricity supply. Since I got here, and since I have been coming here, I have not witnessed power cut. Back home, power cut is no news. What is news is having 24-hour uninterrupted power supply. No wonder a comedian did a skit calling the office of an electricity distribution company to call its attention to the fact that there was rain and his power supply was not severed. “Please take the light. Thank you,” he pleaded.

    Don’t get me wrong, Houston is not heaven. Far from it. I have noticed that unlike New York and Chicago, it has many roads that are not lit at dark hours. I also do not understand why a global city like this does not have a mass transit train service. Its bus service, I am disappointed, is not as robust as London and even Liverpool, where you do not have to own a car and you will move around easily and at next-to-nothing cost-wise.

    My final take: Nigeria needs to get electricity and infrastructure right. A city like Lagos and Abuja should be models. We should be flaunting them like New York, Chicago, Pretoria, Shanghai and Dubai.  

  • Agony on Lagos-Ibadan expressway

    By Olukorede Yisau

    December 2019 and January this year came with some bad news from the Lagos-Ibadan expressway. The newspapers captured the horror in screaming headlines: ‘Three die, three injured’; ‘Accident kills five, injured nine’; and ‘travellers groan as multiple tankers accidents blocked road’.

    The road is like the ever bloodthirsty witch in Nollywood movies. The accident, which claimed three lives, happened at the Ishara-Ogere end of the road. The Ogun State Sector Commander of the Federal Road Safety Corps (FRSC), Clement Oladele, attributed the cause to ‘route violation (driving against traffic) around the construction zone’ along the expressway.

    What Oladele did not say was that the accident would not have happened had the construction work been concluded on time. The construction has become the proverbial abiku ‘coming and going’ and reluctant to fully come on stream. This state of construction has forced motorists to accommodate additional travel time to navigate areas where lanes have narrowed due to the never-ending construction.

    The people’s dilemma on the day multiple tanker accidents blocked the Lagos-Ibadan expressway was really bad. Because it happened during the Yuletide, many people going home were stranded for hours. The FRSC had to advise motorists to avoid the area. The terrible Abeokuta/Ota/Lagos expressway, the Ibadan/Ogere/Siun Junction; Abeokuta/Sango/Lagos and Ijebu-Ode/Ajah/Victoria Island/Lagos routes became alternatives and the experience was not palatable. It is sad that a long stretch like the Lagos-Ibadan expressway has no functional street lights. That was one of the components Dr. Wale Babalakin’s Bi-Courtney Highway Services was supposed to handle when it entered a deal with the Umaru Yar’Adua administration. The firm was to raise the fund to Design, Build, Operate and Transfer (DBOT) the road and recoup its investment through tolls.

    Bi-Courtney’s design conceptualised the road as a six-lane highway from Lagos to Shagamu and eight-lane from Shagamu to Ibadan. It was planned to have 14 new overhead bridges and by-passes, as well as hotels, relaxation parks, trailer parks, emergency and ambulance points.

    Bi-Courtney was also supposed to provide electronic traffic control and enforcement measures; highway lighting between 7 pm and 6 am through the installation of a gas-fired plant; overhead pedestrian bridges at designated locations; modern toll points with electronic tolling system; and modern road signs and lane markings.

    Safety facilities such as vehicular parking areas for heavy-duty vehicles, rest areas with eateries and conveniences, emergency communications equipment and clinics, and emergency ambulances, were also on the card. All these were to be covered in the N89.53 billion deal, which was to see the firm collecting toll for 25 years. The government said the concession agreement was revoked because Bi-Courtney failed to adhere to the terms, a claim the company continues to fault.

    When the deal was cancelled, the then Minister of Works Mike Onolememen said all had been put in place to make the road better. He said the Lagos to Sagamu Interchange would be expanded to three lanes on both sides. The portion from the interchange to Ibadan would have its two existing lanes reconstructed. The Infrastructure Bank PLC later said it was concessioning the road to Motorways Assets Limited (MAL).

    In June 2013, the Federal Government re-awarded the reconstruction of the expressway to Julius Berger Plc and RCC. And we are still crawling. Whatever is being done now is a far cry from what the botched concession promised. Julius Berger is handling the section from the Old Toll Gate to Sagamu. RCC is handling the remaining stretch to Ibadan, the capital of Oyo State. The road lacks streetlights to aid visibility at night. The lack of streetlight allegedly caused a truck driver to lose visibility and crash, leading to the death of four people. The truck ran into the road median, lost control and skidded off before it fell on the road – spilling its contents. The traders were pinned the ground.

    The National Assembly must realise that the Lagos-Ibadan expressway is not a Southwest project, but a pan-Nigerian one, with unimaginable effect on our economy. It is time the lawmakers stopped cutting the budget for the project. It should instead provide more so that the project can be completed on time to end the  near-daily carnage on it. A virement to make available the needed cash will not be a bad idea

    The 126-kilometre stretch of the expressway has a lot to do with the gory road accident statistics released by the FRSC. Between December 2018 and February last year, at least 1,618 people died in road accidents. Over 21,577 people were involved in road crashes.

    The slow pace of work on the road, whose completion has now been announced as 2021, is traceable to the paucity of funds. So thousands who use the road every day will continue to experience stress as they use the road to access other parts of the Southwest, the Southeast, the Southsouth and the North.

    Like the yam farmers whose truck skidded off due to poor visibility, many farmers from states such as Oyo, Ekiti, Ondo and Osun, who rely on this road to bring in their produce to Lagos for sale, have sad tales to tell. Their Hausa colleagues who bring their onions, tomatoes and others to markets such as Mile 12, Oshodi, and so on, are also in deep trouble.

    I believe ex-President Olusegun Obasanjo did a disservice to the country by doing little or nothing on this road for the eight years he was in power. The Jonathan administration played funny games with the road throughout its years in power. Now the Buhari administration is hampered by money. The National Assembly has not helped matters; its budgetary provisions for this all-important road leave nothing to be desired. It has kept cutting the request of the Ministry of Works and Housing for this road, instead of adding to it. At a point, a senator even created the impression that it is a Southwest road when, in the real sense, it is a Nigerian road. Without it, you cannot travel from the North to Lagos and vice versa.

    My final take: Minister of Works and Housing Babatunde Raji Fashola should be given all the financial support he needs to complete the road on schedule and it must be top notch. The National Assembly must realise that the Lagos-Ibadan expressway is not a Southwest project, but a pan-Nigerian one, with unimaginable effect on our economy. It is time the lawmakers stopped cutting the budget for the project. It should instead provide more so that the project can be completed on time to end the near-daily carnage on it. A virement to make available the needed cash will not be a bad idea.

     

    Go and see Dear Affy

    The highbrow Filmhouse Imax Cinema in Lekki Phase One was busier last Sunday.

    Reason: An ex-reporter with The Sun-turned public relations expert and filmmaker, Samuel Olatunji (Big Sam), premiered his movie Dear Affy.

    The movie, which is Olatunji’s first as a director, is a romantic comedy of high standard. The packed hall, where it was premiered, was filled with laughter every other minute. Many around me were cracking their heads and making permutations to unravel the plot, whose suspense is difficult to predict.

    Starring A-list actors, such as Kehinde Bankole, who played the lead, Eyinna Nwigwe, Teni Makanaki, Odunlade Adekola, Toyin Abraham, Kolawole Ajewole and others, Dear Affy is a tale of love and betrayal. It sure will keep you thinking.

    I expect it to join the list of Nollywood movies, such as Wedding Party 1 and 2, Merry Men, King of Boys and others, which made cool money from cinema runs. It started showing at the cinemas across the country yesterday. In the spirit of St Valentine’s Day, take your partner to see this movie by a reporter who is a practical example of thinking beyond the newsroom.

     

  • Doguwa…Powerful everywhere (2)

    By Olukorede Yishau

     

    There is another side to House Leader Alhassan Ado Doguwa’s heroic feat of championing Nigeria’s attainment of the status of the world’s third-largest nation.

    As an individual, he is so rich that his four wives do not have to work and they will still have the best that life has to offer.

    The fact that this first-class product of Mass Communications from the Bayero University, Kano, has always been in government, either by appointment or election since he finished his national youth service, has seen to it that his bread is always well-buttered.

    My hope is that he has enough in the vault for his wives to sustain themselves and their kids in case of the unexpected, which we all as mortals have absolutely no control over. We will leave when the time comes whether we like it or not.

    Rotarian Action Group for Population and Development (RFPD) Chief Executive Officer Professor Robert Zinser put the population explosion debate in proper context when he observed that our population growth is outpacing the economic growth and increasing the poverty risk for many Nigerians.

    Zinser said: “Although Nigeria has the largest economy in Africa, population growth is outpacing the economic growth and increasing the poverty risk for many Nigerians!

    More than half of the population already live below the poverty line, while women and children continue to die from preventable causes.”

    Nigerian Economic Summit Group (NESG) Chief Executive Officer ‘Laoye Jaiyeola shares Zinser’s view that our economy is growing at a slow pace. “The Nigerian economy is still on the path of recovery; however, at a slow momentum and high level of fragility.

    Real GDP expanded by 2.28 per cent in the third quarter of last year, averaging 2.17 per cent in the first three quarters of the year.

    “Inflation rate averaged 11.4 per cent but closed the year at 12 per cent following the effects of the land border closure. Exchange rate stability was sustained on the back of continued Central Bank of Nigeria’s interventions, while the foreign exchange reserves depleted significantly due to dwindling inflows from foreign portfolio investors and moderating oil prices.

    “On the social aspect, the poverty situation worsened as growth remained non-inclusive (over 100 million people live in abject poverty).

    The weak linkage between economic growth and socio-economic impact persists as poverty becomes endemic,” he said in a study the group just released on the country’s 2020 outlook.

    The poverty question can be wished away by the fact that Doguwa is rich, but very few women are lucky to have a rich and powerful husband like the House Leader.

    Many women die at childbirth and for those who do not die, their babies die. Nigeria’s Demographic and Health Survey (NDHS) 2018 says of 100,000 women giving birth, 576 die and of 1,000 children being born, 67 do not survive.

    When juxtaposed with global average, these Maternal Mortality (MMR) and Infant Mortality Ratios are extremely high.

    This statistics was obviously at the back of the government policy which sought to increase the Contraceptive Prevalence Rate (CPR) from 15 to 36 per cent this year.

    The idea was for government to buy contraceptives and provide them to women who need them. So far, the country has managed to increase the CPR to 17 per cent. This is still a long road to the 36 per cent rate set for the year.

    More and more families are falling into the poverty trap without any chance of escape. The demographic survey urges Nigeria to avert the situation by letting women of reproductive age embrace modern family planning techniques.

    Read Also: Doguwa…Powerful everywhere (1)

     

    It is believed that this will also prevent about one-third of all maternal deaths. Achieving this is, however, a long distant race because as at now, only 7.6 million of our country’s 45 million women of child bearing age use modern family planning method.

    The National Family Planning Communication Campaign is struggling to generate an additional 7.3 million new users. Socio-cultural, religious and spousal objections are factors working against this dream becoming a reality.

     

    What knowledge can achieve is exemplified by the fact that a RFPD pilot campaign in Kaduna and Kano States led to a 60 per cent reduction in maternal deaths, and 15 per cent reduction in infant deaths in some hospitals.

    William Ryerson, in a paper entitled ‘Unmet Need – Lack of Access or Lack of Cultural and Informational Support’ said: “Changing this situation takes more than the provision of family planning services; it requires helping people understand the personal benefits in health, wealth, and family harmony of limiting and spacing births.

    It also involves role modelling family planning use and overcoming the fear that contraceptives are dangerous or that planning one’s family is unacceptable.

    It requires getting husbands and wives to talk to each other about the use of family planning – a key step in the process to begin using contraceptives.”

    The population explosion also has severe effects on the environment. It is eating up the forest because the poor rely on firewood to cook. Researchers have found that in many villages the demand for firewood outstrips supply.

    The risk of deforestation in many parts of the North is said to expand at the rate of 1 kilometre per year. The irreversible damage this has done to the environment cannot be over-emphasised.

    The side-effects of the population explosion can also be seen in over-exploitation of soils, overgrazing, over cutting of woods, soil erosion and silting.

    A researcher with the University of Nigeria, Nsukka, Okafor Samuel Okechi, said the country’s temperature mean increase from 1901-2005 was 1.1°C when the global temperature in the same time rose by a mere 0.74°C.

    The challenges ahead, which the likes of Doguwa are not cognisant of, are supported by the scary growth rate. In 1990, our population was 95 million people.

    It became 122 million in 2000 and is now 200 million. Our country accounts for 2.35 per cent of the world population.

    My final take: We must plan our families. Having kids with reckless abandon is not a thing to be proud of. Even when you need to marry four wives to fulfil your religious obligation, each wife can have one kid each or a maximum two. Failure to stop our population from exploding will not be in our interest at all.

  • Speaking truth to power

    Olukorede Yishau

     

    WHEN the leadership of the Eighth National Assembly was to be constituted, the attitude of President Muhammadu Buhari was, at best, of nonchalance. He felt he could work with anybody; after all, he belonged to nobody but everybody!

    The last Assembly led by Bukola Saraki and Yakubu Dogara showed him pepper! The battle culminated in Saraki and Dogara defecting from the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC). Dogara was able to return to the House on the platform of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) but as a floor member. Saraki not only lost his bid to return to the Senate, but he also lost his grip on Kwara politics. The otoge revolution ended it all for him. The side effect is the loss of his family’s Ile Arugbo.

    Having learnt from the frosty relationship with the last National Assembly, Buhari took more than a cursory interest in who became Senate President and Speaker in the current dispensation. There were oppositions, including an attempt by Senator Ike Ekweremadu to return as Deputy Senate President. Buhari’s choices eventually had their way with Dr. Ahmad Lawan becoming Senate President and Femi Gbajabiamila Speaker.

    Being the president’s men, we wrote them off, expecting them to rubber-stamp all the president’s wishes. And they have acceded to a number of his desires with immediate alacrity. But in the last two weeks, Lawan and Gbajabiamila have taken a stand on security in the North and elsewhere that gladdened my heart. Lawan started it all.

    Lawan said the security in the country had deteriorated and the attendant loss of lives was unacceptable. He said we must secure the lives and property of the citizens as enshrined in our Constitution. The Senate President added that our economy was also affected by the inclement security situation. “We need to speedily seek for solutions to fix the security problem bedevilling our dear country. There is an urgent need for paradigm shift and reform of the architecture and structure of our security systems,” he said.

    Gbajabiamila last weekend called a meeting of the Service Chiefs. The House had intended to use the meeting to find out what the challenges were and how it could help. But instead of these Big Men taking advantage of the parley to lay bare their challenges, they sent their boys to represent them. There was no prior call or correspondence to justify their absence. The Speaker was obviously livid but tried to control his anger. His position was however clear: Only in Nigeria could Service Chiefs ignore the parliament. He was courageous enough to call off the meeting to the admiration of his men. What is the essence of meeting with armed forces accountants when combatants’ matters were to be tabled?

    If Lawan and Gbajabiamila had kept quiet, posterity would have judged them harshly. What the Service Chiefs did to the leadership of the House of Representatives reminds me that new hands should be tried. They have done their best and their best is not good enough. The results have not justified the billions of dollars we have been spending on security.

    Except we want to deceive ourselves, our country is getting increasingly insecure. Interstate roads have become dangerous to drive. Bandits, kidnappers and terrorists have taken over the interstate roads. Buhari admitted being stunned by the turn of events. He should consider turning away the Service Chiefs for things to turn around. Obviously, the current approach to security has failed and the time to try new ones is now.

    I believe there is a link between the sad state of things and an account given by National Security Adviser (NSA), Maj.-Gen. Babagana Monguno, who said an estimated seven million illegal weapons are in the hands of non-state actors and criminals. This represents 70 per cent of the eight to 10 million illegal arms in West Africa. These illegal arms are being used for violent conflicts, armed banditry, kidnapping, cattle rustling, militancy and the insurgency/terrorism experienced in Nigeria.

    With our severely undermanned borders, we are in harm’s way. Our inadequately policed land and maritime borders have supported illegal border crossings and irregular migrations, with its attendant trans-national crimes. And with the regular security agents being unable to stem the tide, it is to your tent oh Israel!

    The activities of bandits forced the Southwest governors to inaugurate a community policing network code-named Amotekun, only for the police leadership, which has failed to protect the people, to double-speak on the initiative.

    The North may be forced to have its own version of the security network. The Abuja-Kaduna train is receiving more patronage because many are running away from bandits. All thanks to the Abuja-Kaduna highway which is a good road to travel if one intends to meet death in the nick of time.

    The other day, Boko Haram insurgents killed Rev. Lawan Andimi, a cleric from Adamawa State. Borno, Yobe and other states in the Northeast are still in the grip of the insurgents. I pray we do not get to the 2013/2014 and early 2015 era when they were almost forming a government and had hoisted their flag in many a territory. At that time, there was hardly any Friday without a mosque or two being bombed in the North. It was during that era that the Chibok girls were also abducted.

    Rev Andimi’s death ruffled feathers. Last Sunday, the Redeemed Christian Church of God (RCCG) took the lead in a protest ordered by the Christian Association of Nigeria (CAN) over the insecurity in the land. Pastor Enoch Adeboye led RCCG members in a walk to seek the sanctity of lives. CAN President Samson Ayokunle said the prayer walk was aimed at using prayers to curb the activities of terrorists and criminals. I disagree here. This is one of those situations that go beyond prayers. The government must protect the citizenry.

    Senator Istifanus Gyang last week recalled how 27 were killed in a renewed blood bath carried out by insurgents in Kwattas, Ruboi and Marish, Plateau State. Six persons, he added, were abducted. One of those murdered was an undergraduate of the University of Maiduguri. Another Senator spoke of renewed banditry attacks on villages in Niger East. This went on for three weeks. House Spokesman Benjamin Kalu said the insecurity in the land was alarming and could no longer be painted in beautiful colours.

    The National Security Strategy (NSS) was reviewed last year, but its implementation is yet to take off. The review of the strategy document was caused by the spiralling crime wave across the country. Terrorism, kidnapping, banditry, transnational crimes, crude oil theft, illegal bunkering and small arms proliferation are on the rise.

    My final take: We thank the president for the initial successes against the insurgents, but these successes have practically been rubbished by the current exploits of Boko Haram, bandits and kidnappers. Like it is in journalism, you are as good as your last byline so we will judge the president by how he handles the current descent and not by his earlier victories against criminality.

  • Doguwa…Powerful everywhere (1)

    By Korede Yishau

     

    There are times I look around my country, our dear Nigeria, and I conclude that God loves us so much and, in his wisdom, keeps blessing us with men of insight as leaders.

    We had Gen. Sani Abacha, whose death saved the country from becoming a theatre of war. We had Gen. Ibrahim Babangida, who annulled the free and fair June 12, 1993 presidential election.

    There are many more in the democratic dispensation who have shown God’s love for this great nation in their way. From the Executive to the judiciary and the legislature, we have them in multitudes.

    One of these great sons of Nigeria is currently the man after my heart. Though not a Christian, he takes to heart the Biblical injunction of ‘go ye and multiply’.

    What better way to preach religious tolerance other than this! To his like we will hold our projected status of being the third most populated country after China and India.

    The U.S. and the rest will be trailing us. Forget the fact that we hold the ace when it comes to being home to millions of people who cannot afford decent meals.

    We are already the most populous African nation and on the seventh rank in the world. If our population of 200 million people continue to grow at the current rate of 3.2 per cent per year, we will have the third-largest population worldwide with 411 million people by 2050.

    Let us bow with all our strength and might for the man who is leading the race for us to meet this projection. He is ex-Chief Whip of the House of Representatives, now House Leader, Alhassan Ado Doguwa.

    This first-class graduate from the Bayero University Kano (BUK) has 27 children from four wives and he is still counting. More wives and children may be on the way.

    Praise God somebody! I am just reminded that as a Muslim, he is only entitled to four wives. So it is more children that we should look out for, and that is what we need to attain the status of the third most populous nation on earth. Each of the four wives can have ten kids, taking the total to 40. Wow!

    Doguwa is so proud of his four wives that the other day he took the four of them to the floor of the House and got them to stand up for recognition.

    Read Also: Gbajabiamila swears in Doguwa as House Leader

    Beautiful women who adore their man and do as he says! You need to see the alacrity with which they were standing up as he was ordering them to stand up for recognition.

    They waved at their beloved husband’s colleagues and took their seats. They beamed with smiles as the House erupted in shouts and laughter.

    His eloquence is admirable and it kept making his colleagues erupt (though I suspect many of them were being mischievous).

    “Mr Speaker, he began, “I will let you know that with me today here are my four respectable wife (sic). Alim, stand up please, one. Umma, stand up. Binta should stand up… Mr Speaker, honourable members, I asked them to stand here to respect the House on behalf of my family and another reason is to let you know that when members call me a powerful man, I am not only powerful on the floor of the House, I am also powerful at home. These four wives, Mr Speaker, what I meant by asking them to rise up (sic) is to demonstrate to members of the House that when you call me a powerful parliamentarian, I am not only powerful on the floor, I am also powerful at home. I deal with four wives.

    These four wives you are seeing, these four wives you are seeing, Mr Speaker, have produced 27 children for me. These four wives you are seeing have produced 27 kids for me and I am still counting, I am still counting.”

    Speaker Femi Gbajabiamila was so impressed that he jogged Doguwa’s memory— despite the House Leader’s protest— that he once confided in him that it took one of his sons to remind him he was his father.

    That day Doguwa had seen some eight kids playing late in front of his house and he ordered them to go home, only for one of them to ask: “But baba, this is my house”.

    Doguwa is a man with uncommon confidence. As he was speaking that day on the floor of the House, some female colleagues of his, especially from the South, looked stunned.

    They obviously cannot process how in this modern world one man has four wives and 27 children and is still counting. They probably also had, at the back of their mind, the claim by Emir Sanusi that polygamy was the problem of the North, where Doguwa comes from.

    Let me with immediate alacrity explain here that Emir Sanusi must have had poor people in mind when he made that statement. Not people in his class like Doguwa.

    There is money, plenty of it, to take care of the kids. So, go ye and keep multiplying. It matters not if you cannot recognise all the children. Once you can recognise their mothers, the mothers will identify their children or the children can do that for themselves.

    You are too busy making money to take good care of them to be bothered about what each child looks like. Poor people are the ones breeding almajiris. Not the rich.

    Importantly too is the fact that the essence of having fewer children is to spend less income on immediate survival needs of food, housing, clothing and education.

    Doguwa does not need to worry about such an income-saving measure. Money dey yafunyafun. Great men like Dogunwa also need not disturb their brains remembering their kids’ birthdays, not to talk of disturbing themselves with going out on a picnic or vacation with them.

    Those niceties are for Caucasians. All that matters is to keep giving their mothers money for their upkeep and to impregnate the mothers to help Nigeria attain that enviable status that beckons. After all, the huge population is an asset for investors. Ask MTN if in doubt.

     

    • To be continued next week…

  • The joke called politics in Nigeria

    By Olukorede Yishau

    The Labour and the Conservative are the  two political parties that have decided the fortunes of the United Kingdom for time immemorial. In the United States, the Republican and the Democrats dwarf other parties to swing the American pendulum whichever way they want.

    In my almost 42 years on earth, I am yet to hear that a Conservative member defects to Labour or vice versa. I have also not heard the same of a Republican or a Democrat.

    In Nigeria, our democracy is patterned after the U.S. and the UK. It is a variant of what obtains in both nations. But that is where it all ends. In the main, our party system is unique to us, in an abnormal way. It is difficult to discern the ideology or principle behind our political parties. The only glaring thing is the desperation to grab power.

    You will understand the madness called Nigerian politics if you take a trip with me to Imo, the eastern heartland, where for eight years Owelle Anayo Rochas Okorocha was the ‘commander-in-chief’.

    Less than a month ago, everything revolved around Emeka Ihedioha, ex-House of Representatives deputy speaker. He was governor until the Supreme Court pulled the coveted seat off his buttocks and asked Hope Uzodinma to sit pretty. Uzodinma is of the All Progressives Congress (APC), which prides itself as our version of the Democrats. Ihedioha is a member of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), our supposed version of the Republican.

    As at the time the apex court severed Ihedioha’s ties with the Imo Government House, the APC had no member in the House of Assembly. By Tuesday, the party has attained the status of majority. Thanks to politics without principle and ideology.

    Imo State House of Assembly Speaker Collins Chiji and six other lawmakers, including Majority Leader Chigozie Nwaneri, defected to the APC from the PDP on Tuesday. Their defection brings to 18 the number of APC lawmakers in the 26-member House. It is a classical case of from zero to hero!

    The Speaker announced the defections during the 15 minutes plenary. It ended after the names of the defectors were unwrapped. The brand new APC members are Uche Ogbuagu (Ikeduru), Dominic Ezerioha (Oru West) Chigozie Nwaneri(Oru East), Kanayo Onyemaechi (Owerri West), Kennedy Ibe (Obowo) Onyemaechi Njoku (Ihitte/Uboma) and Eddy Obinna (Aboh Mbaise), who represents Ihedioha’s constituency.

    A day before, a move, which queries the ideological credential of our politicians, saw Imo State PDP Chairman Charles Ezekwem joining the APC. It is like collapsing the house. His resignation from the PDP came at a time when Ihedioha is trying to get the apex court to review and reverse its judgment making Uzodinma the governor.

    Ezekwem unashamedly said his decision to join the winning team was caused by the prevailing circumstances in the PDP. For me, this is another way of saying his decision was caused by the politics of survival. Four years is a long way to stay in a party out of power.

    ”Given the prevailing circumstances within my party, vis-a-vis my present standing as the state chairman of the PDP, and after due consultations with my family and with the approval of my supporters, I hereby tender my resignation as state chairman of PDP.

    “I thank the teeming population of Imo State PDP who thoughtfully elected me as their state chairman.

    “I sincerely regret the inconveniences the party faced. I thank the party for the support they gave me and the opportunity to serve in that capacity,” he said without an iota of shame.

    Like Ezekwem, PDP Deputy National Auditor Regis Uwakwe has also found his way to the APC following Uzodinma’s ascension to power.

    On January 21, Okey Onyekanma resigned as Imo Deputy Speaker. He quit the day nine members of Action Alliance, PDP and the All Progressives Grand Alliance (APGA) defected to the APC. The defectors are Chyna Iwuanyanwu (Nwangele, PDP); Innocent Egwim (Ideato North, AA), Chidem Emelumba (Okigwe, PDP); Obinna Okwara (Nkwerre, AA) and Paul Emeziem Onuimo, APGA). Others who defected on January 21 are Ekene Nnodumele (Orsu, APGA); Duru Johnson (Ideato South, AA); SN Obiefule (Isu, AA); Herculus Okoro (Ohaji-Egbema, PDP).

    Will we ever get our politics right? Will there ever be ideological bend to our politics? Will there ever be distinguishable conservatives or progressives in our political space? Will our elected officials ever obey the law as it concerns defection?

    The Constitution does not forbid defecting from one party to the other, but the condition has been made clear enough by the courts. For a House of Assembly member to defect legally, there must be a crisis in the defector’s party at the state level and for a federal lawmaker; the crisis must be at the federal level. Please tell me what crises are there in AA, APGA and PDP that has led to its members in Imo dashing their mandates to the APC.

    The defections are not surprising. If there is anything special about it, it is the speed with which it happened. I was expecting it some months after. The magic that has made it this fast deserves to be studied for a doctorate dissertation.

    After every election, the winning party always receives defectors and during electioneering periods, disgruntled elements also kiss their parties bye-bye.

    Aside defections, the joke in Nigerian politics also shows as indiscipline. The dramas of the last general elections demonstrate this better.

    Okorocha wanted his son-in-law, Uche Nwosu, to succeed him. He fought his party to almost a standstill. When it was glaring that APC Chairman Adams Oshiomhole was never going to allow Nwosu to have the party’s ticket, Okorocha got him AA’s ticket. This was at a time Okorocha was running for Senate on APC’s ticket.

    Senator Ibikunle Amosun, who was Ogun State governor, was also running for Senate on APC’s ticket but supporting the governorship candidate of another party openly. He even took the candidate to the presidency. The party’s rally in Abeokuta saw stones being thrown at the podium on which President Muhammadu Buhari was speaking. It was a shame at its highest.

    Amosun, who, though succeeded in his bid to become a senator, lost his gamble to have Adekunle Akinlade as Ogun State governor. Dapo Abiodun, the man he fought tooth and nail to thwart his bid to be governor, is the new landlord in Oke-Mosan. Akinlade and his supporters interestingly claim they are back in the APC.

    Nothing gladdened my heart than the fact that Okorocha and Amosun did not succeed in their bid to prove that they were more popular than their party— the vehicle which took them to the government houses. If the duo had gotten away with their anti-party activities and install candidates who ran on parties other than APC, they would have started seeing themselves as tin-gods. Now, they are lost gods!

    My final take: Will we ever get our politics right? Will there ever be ideological bend to our politics? Will there ever be distinguishable conservatives or progressives in our political space? Will our elected officials ever obey the law as it concerns defection?

  • Valentine and Dear Affy

    Olukorede Yishau

     

    Some years back Samuel Olatunji was a reporter with The Sun. Day in, day out, he combed the streets of Lagos for stories, especially entertainment stories.

    In the process, his path crossed with many of the players in the movie and music sectors. He met them on red carpets and movie premieres, among other places.

    The introvert called Big Sam had no choice but to mingle with this loud set of people. The job came first.

    They were subjects of his interviews and exclusive reports. Were Olatunji practising journalism in the United States or the United Kingdom, his organisation would have given him paid sabbatical to write books on the industry. But this is Nigeria where almost everything, including the media, is gasping for breath.

    Olatunji eventually got fed up with the media. So he quit. One of his bosses, Mrs. Funke Egbemode, who is now Osun State Commissioner for Information and Strategy, admired his gut and wished him well.

    I am sure Egbemode is proud of what Olatunji has been able to make of his life since bidding the newsroom bye-bye.

    When Olatunji left, he set up a public relations firm – BBB Media. His first set of clientele was celebrities. He also runs 007 Global Limited.

    Today he manages the career of one of the country’s most sought-after actor: the crazy Edo babe called Toyin Abraham.

    Like a restless soul, Olatunji is ever looking for new challenges. Aside from burnishing celebrities’ images, Olatunji is also the brain behind Broadway TV.

    I choose to write about him today because of his new love: movie-making. It started when he co-produced The Ghost and The Tout and Seven and a Half Dates.

    Not sated with being just a producer or executive producer, Olatunji honed his skill in movie directing and this coming St Valentine Day, Olatunji’s debut as a movie director, Dear Affy, will hit the cinemas.

    The movie parades A-list stars, such as Chiwetalu Agu, Jide Kosoko, Kehinde Bankole, Toyin, Williams Uchemba, Teni the entertainer, Odunlade Adekola, Kola Ajeyemi, Abimbola Ademoye, Eyinna Nwigwe and Timini Egbuson.

    The movie seems set to join the league of the highest earners of 2020, or of all times! At the moment, Ayo Makun’s Merry Men 2 holds the record of the highest-earning movie, with over 200 million in revenue.

    It is trailed by Mo Abudu’s Your Excellency and Jade Osiberu’s Sugar Rush, a feel-good movie, which a critic says ‘makes the audience laugh but does absolutely nothing else’. For me, at times, all we need is just the opportunity to laugh for two straight hours! And the Sugar Sisters ensure that.

    Nollywood has really come a long way. Though it has not been able to eclipse the love of Nigerians for anything foreign, it is holding its own.

    On the average, statistics show that 20,000 people watch Nollywood weekly. On bad weeks, the figure is said to drop to 4,000, according to the Cinema Exhibitors Association of Nigeria (CEAN).

    Interestingly, the report shows that some 70,000 people see movies weekly in Nigeria, but 50,000 of them still opt for foreign movies.

    In the second week of December last year, Nollywood movies on display made N57.8 million. A foreign film, Jumanji, alone pulled in N55.9 million.

    Things looked up for the industry in the last week of December, with a record high of 165,307 people watching Nollywood films that week while only 79,314 people saw foreign films.

    Nollywood also won the week before when 118,808 went in to see Sugar Rush, Your Excellency and Merry Men 2.

    Read Also: Sanwo-Olu celebrates valentine with Lagosians

     

    I expect Dear Affy to benefit from the successes of these three films. The movie’s cinema premiere on St Valentine’s Day is apt. The movie has enough love and romance.

    It also has lessons for the season, which not a few, especially the young ones, sees as the opportunity to get drunk and have sex.

    Alcohol is good, but like everything else, too much of it is bad. In this movie, you will see what alcohol is capable of doing to a lady.

    When what should be done with clear eyes is done with ‘dirty’ eyes, there is always trouble the morning after. If you are expecting me to tell you the story, my response is: far, far, far, foul! You need to go see it to fill in the gap.

    I must not fail to point out the fact that the likes of Olatunji would have been able to do more if only they have the financial muscle. You need to hear him talk about raising money for this movie.

    I have no doubt that a number of players in the industry are eager to turn great novels written by Nigerians into movies, but the money to acquire the screen right is not there.

    If Nollywood has enough resources, it would have been able to option Americanah, the amazing love story by Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie.

    The 2013 novel tells the story of a young Nigerian woman, Ifemelu, who leaves for the United States to attend university.

    She is in love with Obinze, who eventually relocates to London but finds life as an illegal immigrant difficult. He is bundled back home and fortune later smile on him.

    Distance breaks them up. Ifemelu starts another relationship and then another one, but her heart remains with Obinze, who also moves on by getting married and starting a family. But for the two of them, what goes up must come down.

    Like her Half of a Yellow Sun, Americanah is set to go on the screen. Over the years there have been many Hollywood movies with Nigerian characters played by people from other nations and their interpretations of the roles have always been subjects of disagreements.

    People will watch out to see how Lupita Nyongo, who is from Kenya, will pronounce Igbo names. Will she speak Igbo? Biyi Bandele’s adaptation of Half of a Yellow Sun was enmeshed in a similar controversy.

    Not a few felt the twins should have been played by Nigerians instead of Thandie Newton (Olanna) and Anika Noni Rose (Kainene).

    If Nollywood had the resources to buy the movie right for Americana, it would have been able to call the shot and our stars, such as Genevieve Nnaji, Stephanie Linus, Rita Dominic, Omoni Oboli, Richard Mofe-Damijo (RMD), Olu Jacobs, Adesua Etomi-Wellington, and many others, would have dazzled us.

    My final take: The Federal Government, through any of its arts-related agencies, should help movie makers to churn out more quality movies all year round.

    With help, the industry will be given a lifeline. I dare say it is gasping for breath now and badly in need of oxygen, which will enable it to produce grade one movies all year long and not just for Valentine, Easter or Christmas/New Year.

  • Thoughts on Amotekun

    By Olukorede Yishau

    AMOTEKUN – I had heard the word many a time before the Southwest governors chose it as the codename for a security network to combat armed robbery, kidnapping and some other vices, which the region has been battling for years.

    Before the name became the symbol of hope, deaths were recorded, injuries were sustained, husbands became widowers, wives became widows, children became fatherless, farmlands were ruined and traditional rulers were treated with disdain.

    The marauders became too powerful for the police to handle. They had weapons that rivalled the police’s armoury. They were ruthless with their weapons. Their reign made travelling on the Benin-Ore Road a suicide mission. Our great colleague, Dr Onukaba Adinoyi-Ojo, died on this road. The daughter of Yoruba leader, Pa Reuben Fasoranti, was killed in this axis of evil. So many others without popular faces and names went down with the madness in Southwest’s axis of evil.

    So, when Amotekun was brought, I thought respite had come. I am happy the Amotekun army will not bear arms. I am happy they will concentrate more on intelligence gathering. I am happy the governors are committed to it. I am happy tools will be provided for them to work with. I am also happy it will help create jobs in the six Southwest states.

    But I was also sad at a point. I became sad when Abubakar Malami, our Attorney-General and Minister of Justice, decided to fight Amotekun. He waited for the process to have been concluded, with resources already deployed, before waking up from his deep sleep to yearn gibberish.

    His statement denouncing ‘the saviour’ reads: “Federal Republic of Nigeria is a sovereign entity and is governed by laws meant to sustain its corporate existence as a constitutional democracy. It is a Federation of states, but with the Federal Government superintending over matters of national interests.

    “The division of executive and legislative authority between the Federal and State Governments has been clearly defined by the Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria 1999 (as amended). It is against the same background that matters relating to the peace, order and good government of the Federation and in particular, the defence of the country, are enshrined in the Exclusive Legislative List.

    “The Second Schedule in Item 17 deals with defence. This is a matter that is within the exclusive operational competence of the Federal of Government of Nigeria. No other authority at the state level, whether the executive or legislature, has the legal authority over defence.

    “The setting up of the paramilitary organization called ‘Amotekun’ is illegal and runs contrary to the provisions of the Nigerian law. The Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria 1999 (as amended) has established the Army, Navy and Air Force, including the police and other numerous paramilitary organisations, for the purpose of the defence of Nigeria.

    “As a consequence of this, no State Government, whether singly or in a group, has the legal right and competence to establish any form of organisation or agency for the defence of Nigeria or any of its constituent parts. This is sanctioned by the provision of Item 45 of the Second Schedule of the Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria (as amended) authorising the Police and other Federal government security services established by law to maintain law and order.

    “The law will take its natural course in relation to excesses associated with organisation, administration and participation in ‘Amotekun’ or continuous association with it as an association.

    “Finally, it is important to put on record that the Office of the Attorney General and Minister of Justice was not consulted on the matter. If it had, proper information and guidance would have been offered to ensure that Nigeria’s defence and corporate entity are preserved at all times.”

    On Thursday, he restated his controversial stand via a radio show. This was the same day Southwest governors and Vice-President Yemi Osinbajo met and agreed that a legal framework should be worked out for the security outfit.

    Malami obviously does not know that Amotekun is an idea whose time has come. Amotekun, the one the English call leopard; its exploits in the jungle recommend it to help save the jungle that marauders have turned the Yoruba nation to. Amotekun is simply community policing at a more organised level. Malami is not the custodian of our law. More experienced senior advocates have faulted his position and I align myself with them, and this is why I believe the onslaught against it looks more about politics than law.

    The Amotekun is not a competitor with the Police, Army, Navy or Air Force. It is to complement them in areas of ‘neighbourhood watch, information and intelligence gathering, detection of early warning signs and in giving intelligence response in a proactive manner, apart from acting as a liaison between the conventional security outfits and the local population’ as Ekiti State Governor Kayode Fayemi said.

    The Yoruba nation cannot be left to the police. It is clear this is beyond them. Inspector-General of Police Mohammed Adamu spoke with both sides of his mouth. He was consulted by the Southwest governors and he gave them the impression that he was in support. He later sounded like a broken record. He cannot fight Amotekun.

    The Amotekun is too big for those fighting it.

    The Southwest is a land of many firsts: the first television station in Africa, the first tallest multi-storey building in the whole of Nigeria and so many other firsts. It is the land of the great late Obafemi Awolowo, the land of the living legend called Wole Soyinka, the land of the irrepressible late Moshood Kashimawo Olawale Abiola and home to Africa’s richest man Aliko Dangote.

    Southwest is home to great sons of Igboland who are doing exploits in Ibadan, Lagos, Akure and other parts of the region. The Arewa communities in the Southwest feel at home and Amotekun will make them sleep with their eyes closed. It is too important to be left to the police whose hands are tied.

    I know that kidnappings also go on in the North; the Southeast and Southsouth also have their fair share of the challenge. They should be free to address the challenge within the ambit of the law, like the governors of the Southwest have done. It is absolutely wrong to deny a people their fundamental right to protect themselves when the conventional security agencies have failed to provide such protection. No serious central government should deny a people the right to travel, do businesses, travel in peace and sleep with eyes closed, which the Amotekun promises to guarantee.

    It is not in the country’s interest to stop Amotekun. There is nothing illegal about it. The section of the constitution being bandied around to justify the onslaught against Amotekun is not relevant to the situation at hand. Let Amotekun be, please!

    As Prof. Soyinka noted, if President Muhammadu Buhari ‘takes a wrong action on this matter, he will wake up to find that he is the force that tore the country apart’.