The legendary Fulani leader, Uthman Dan Fodio, described conscience as an open wound which only the truth can heal.

Conscience is so powerful that it can never leave and can never be exorcised. No amount of prayers or palliatives can kill one’s conscience.

If anyone succeeds to silence conscience, it is only always for a while, and takes a lot of work. And it always comes back, perhaps stronger.

The only thing that conscience is unable to do, which I would have loved to see, is to talk, to tell the story of its host.

Last weekend, I passed through Osogbo, the Osun State capital, on my way to Ada, the only town in the state of the living spring with a standard golf course.

As we got to Osogbo, we saw a guy running. Initially, he was running with a slow pace but on looking back and discovering that he was being pursued by a man in mufti, he increased his speed. It turned out that the man pursuing him was a policeman who suspected him to be a ‘yahooyahoo’ boy. His accomplice was arrested before he escaped.

As we watched the drama, fellow passengers began to make comments. Even the driver made a call and he was alerting the person on the other end to the fact that policemen were after ‘yahooyahoo’ boys.

The passenger sitting by the driver made a laughable justification of the ‘yahooyahoo’ craze.

According to him, the police should leave the boys alone because all they were doing was to take back what the oyinbos took from our forebears.

The oyinbos, he said, cheated cocoa farmers by using ‘wrong’ scales to pay them for cocoa pods. He added that in some cases they even exchanged cocoa pods for cutlasses.

So, in his view, the yahoo boys are simply repatriating what should have accrued to their forebears. Almost everybody in the bus agreed with him.

His comment reminded me of an encounter my brother once recounted to me.  A mother took his son to church for prayers. For days, according to the mother, the boy had been having nightmare.

Someone was after his life. Like a true mother, she wanted him fortified with prayers. At a point, the pastor asked what his profession was; the boy kept mute.

After some hesitation, the mother spoke: “The job our children do these days.” The pastor first assumed she was talking about music, but he later realised that the woman was talking about ‘yahooyahoo’.

Who knows one of his victims might have died as a result of the money lost to him? I thought. And the ghost was after his life. Will you blame the ghost?

The attitude of many of us to advanced fee fraud makes me feel our conscience is dead. Many of the victims are people who lose their life savings because they were scammed with promises of love and marriage and the prospects of buying non-existing goods.

Our attitude to fraud, especially when the victims are foreigners, makes me wish our conscience will talk.

What will the conscience of a woman who has two or three children for a man other than her husband say?  What will the conscience of a yahoo boy say? What will the conscience of a killer say? Does the conscience of someone derailing jump on a piece of information to tilt their thoughts towards confessing and turning a new leaf? Does conscience drill into one of those times that a yahoo boy attends church and unearth a statement: The truth shall set you free?

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It will also be interesting to find out the content of the conscience of publishers who owe backlog of salaries and still expect reporters to work miracle. What about policemen who should arrest criminals for the purpose of prosecuting them but do so only to collect bribe?

It will be interesting to find out the contents of a killer’s conscience. Does it prick him? Some weeks ago, a female politician was killed in Kogi State.

The late Mrs. Salome Acheju Abuh, a 60-year-old mother of three men and one woman, was killed in her home in Ochadamu, Ofu Local Government Area of Kogi State. Before her death, she was a resident of Abuja.

At her polling unit on the governorship election day, a suspected political thug was said to have marched to where she was seated, dealt her a heavy slap and kicked the chair from under her.

Her husband rushed her to the hospital. When she recovered, he asked that they returned to their base. She opted out.

As the Woman Leader of the People’s Democratic Party (PDP) in the area, she was said to have been optimistic that her party would upstage Governor Yahaya Bello. She did not like to miss the moment.

The police announced the arrest of six persons in connection with the crime barely 24 hours after President Muhammadu Buhari directed security agencies to fish out the killers. A first cousin to the deceased, Mrs. Ruth Acheme, said the sponsors of her killers were spreading rumours to cover up.

Speaking with The Nation in Lokoja, Mrs. Acheme said her cousin’s remains were burnt to near ashes, and that they were only able to retrieve a part of her burnt skull, which they packed in readiness for her internment today.

She said: “They claim that some of the louts were from Ibaji. The husband (also a retiree from the Presidency) pressured her that they should go to Abuja together on Sunday, but she persisted, saying PDP would win the election and she wanted to be on the ground.

Even her younger sister called from Ajaka and said: ‘What are you doing there?’ But, she said, ‘If you people are afraid,’ she was not afraid of anything’. She was killed that day and her body burnt.

“They came inside and packed her belongings and loaded them into their Sienna bus and another smaller car. One of her younger brothers came from Ogwalawo, but he was advised to go to the police station. It was after that we went with the police.

“The police passed by us to other houses that were burnt; five in all, belonging to PDP members. The member of the House of Representatives came to inspect the crime scene, he met us under the cashew tree where we stood, and together, we went to the house. There was little of the head and chest, they packed the whole thing in a cloth.”

My final take: I will kill to hear the killers’ conscience talk. If only our conscience has the ability to talk without us having the power to stop it, killers will be afraid, fraudsters will be terrified and criminals generally will be apprehensive and, most likely, tow a different path.

Olukorede Yishau

It was not my first trip to Accra, the Ghanaian capital. But it was my first flying in through the brand new Kotoka International Airport. The terminal I used to fly in through has now become the local wing of the airport.

A passenger who flew in with me from Lagos expressed shock at the look of the airport shortly after we alighted from the aircraft. Her colleague, who had flown in through the new airport, started telling her about the goodness of it. Though I had not seen the airport, I had seen pictures of it posted by Bashorun Dele Momodu and star actress Omotola Jalade-Ekeinde.

The new airport is not big like Heathrow Terminal 5. But it can rival many in the advanced world, including the Dubai International Airport. Please don’t compare it with Murtala Mohammed International Airport. I do not know what the new terminal of the Murtala Mohammed airport will look like but looking at its size, it looks small for a country everyone wants to come and grab as much as possible and run away to enjoy elsewhere!

The arrival and departure lounges of the Kotoka International Airport are world class. You can eat in the toilet. Please do not talk about the toilet in Murtala Mohammed International Airport, where at times there is no tissue paper.

There are machines to print boarding passes of international flights of Delta Air, Turkish Airlines and so on. Just like it is in the advanced world.

I was in the Ghanaian capital for the launch of a pro-book project. There, we discussed politics, power. A half Togolese, half Ghanaian shared her experience at the Togolese border where she had to pay a ‘fine’ and in Accra, she is not fully accepted.

The streets are well-planned, with streetlights, walkways made of interlocking stones and medians glittering with well-cut stones. The drainages in the cities and towns are mostly covered and many even serve as the walkways.

Accra boasts of good roads but we ran into one bad one and the author of Of Frog and Women, Bisi Adjapon, regretted passing the road and I laughed at her, saying running what she was running away from are not potholes when compared with the ones on Fatai Atere Way and some other roads in Lagos.

Like Ghana, Nigeria can work and should work. We first have to end the where-are-you-from challenge. Nigeria seems to be the only place where the area or state where you are born has absolutely nothing to do with where you are allowed to legally claim. A panelist at one of the sessions at LABAF recounted an experience while trying to obtain the National Identity card. He was born and bred in Lagos but his parents are from Edo. When he filled the registration form for the ID card, he wrote Edo as his parents’ state of origin but wrote Lagos as his state of origin. The officials of the agency responsible for the issuance of the card would have none of it. They insisted he was from where his parents were from. His attempt to educate them that the Constitution gave him the right to choose his place of birth as his origin fell on deaf ears.

The severity of the where-are-you-from challenge has seen politicians returning to their states of origin to seek elective offices only to be reminded by home-based politicians that they are ‘imported’. They are not accepted where they reside and pay taxes and seen as lepers by people in their home towns. Double jeopardy!

At a time in the United States, two Bush brothers were governors in two different states. If it were Nigeria, they would have been confined to Texas where their father was from. It matters not that they were born in different states and had contributed to its growth through tax payment and other means.

Only in states such as Lagos, Kaduna and a few others do indigenes of other states have places in their civil service. Whether you were born and bred in those states mean nothing. You are from where your father comes from. Your mother’s state is irrelevant. Our problem is so compounded that some people will not even agree to sell landed properties to non-indigenes. The most ridiculous is when love affairs are put asunder because parents will not allow their son or daughter to marry from outside their state or tribe.

Nigerians are also a special kind of beggars. For years, we have been begging our governments to give us good leadership. Our health institutions, things are in a shambles. Our education is in crutches. Our roads are death traps. There is almost no sector of our national life that we have been able to get right. We remain work in progress close to sixty years after Independence and over 100 years after amalgamation.

Gatekeepers Report 2019 shows that one of three Nigerians live in poverty. That represents thirty-two per cent of the population. Thirty-seven per cent of children still suffers from malnutrition.

Another interesting figure from the foundation borders on the situation where about half of Nigerians use unsafe or unimproved sanitation. Nigeria still ranks 43rd of 52 African countries on a recently compiled sustainable development goal index.

Poverty, the report says, is concentrating in fast-growing countries like Nigeria and by 2050, more than 40 per cent of Nigeria will still be under poverty’s jackboot. No wonder we still have the second-highest number of deaths of children under the age of five.

My final take: Our country is yet to start crawling, not to talk of walking, and far away from running. Our political class is just a little better than the military. In a lot of sense, many of the players on the political scene are yet to be cured of the military hang-over. A sizeable number of the key players even have a garrison mentality. Ours is a democracy without democrats. Selfish interests are masqueraded as national interests. The good of one is sold as the good of all.

Broad Street’s iconic buildings and its history make it a phenomenon. One of the iconic buildings on the financial hub of Lagos is the UBA House. The house commands global attention. When UBA is mentioned anywhere in the world, a name comes to mind: Tony Elumelu. He is the bank’s chairman.

President Muhammadu Buhari yesterday presented Elumelu with the National Productivity Order of Merit (NPOM) “in recognition of your high productivity, hard work and excellence”. The president also honoured Africa’s richest man Aliko Dangote, Oba Otudeko, Col. Hameed Ali (rtd.) and my poetic-prose stylist boss Sam Omatseye.

What Elumelu, Microsoft chief Bill Gates, Dangote, Geregu Power Plc chief Femi Otedola and TY Danjuma do with their wealth makes them exceptional and deserving of the accolades. They are all preserving the world for the future generation in their way.

Year in, year out, Nigerian universities push out graduates in various fields with no one to employ them. The unemployment statistics are scary. The curricula run by these universities are so outdated and are not entrepreneurship-focused. This is where Elumelu comes in. Since 2010, he has chosen to lift young entrepreneurs who are the future of any nation that does not want to die.

Elumelu is running the race to preserve the future for the next generation with sprinter speed. It is not that Elumelu has spike shoes like Usain Bolt, the Jamaican sprinter who holds the world record in the 100 metres, 200 metres and 4 × 100 metres relay; his speed is in his economic model, Africapilatism, designed to move beyond a charitable aid model for combating poverty by stimulating the creative prowess of young Africans to create sustainable economic enterprises that lead to self-sufficiency.

The first time I took notice of Elumelu was when he was running Standard Trust Bank (STB). At that time I found myself on journalistic trips from Anambra to Kogi to Borno to Yobe and other states in the country. And everywhere I went, STB was there for my cash needs. I could deposit and withdraw money from any of its branches. This was at a time when banking in Nigeria was still at its knees technology-wise. To carry out transactions in other banks at the time, you had to rely on only the branch where you opened your account. Other branches of your bank in the same town could not help you, not to talk of those in other states. STB broke all that and many loved it for that and opened accounts with it.

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I had not quite gotten over the STB wonder when the then Keem Belo-Osagie-led United Bank for Africa (UBA) ran into troubled waters. It needed rescue and I had thought some foreign banks and, perhaps, the like of First Bank, would give the needed help by acquiring it. But the opposite happened; UBA was acquired by Elumelu’s STB. It was a rude shock to me and many others. It was like the dwarf backing the giant. But events over the years have shown the dwarf carry the giant successfully and effortlessly. Or what other way is there to describe the turning of a single-country bank into a truly Africa bank with more than seven million customers in about 20 African countries? Its operations are also in London, New York and Paris.

The Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) at a point came up with a policy, which saw Elumelu handing over the day-to-day running of the UBA. He was less than fifty at the time. He still had the energy to give more. Heirs Holdings and the Tony Elumelu Foundation (TEF) came in handy, but it is with the TEF that he is doing what I like the most: Helping those who are hungry to start their businesses in mineral-rich but struggling Africa, the home of the youngest population in the world. He sees these young entrepreneurs as “the lifeblood of Africa’s rise”.

His charity and entrepreneurial drives have ensured that from Kenya to Uganda to the United States and the United Kingdom, Elumelu has listening ears. The other time when he espoused on his Africapitalism concept, Kenyan President Uhuru Kenyatta smothered him with applause. “By lifting budding entrepreneurs with cash and counselling, Elumelu is doing a good job for Africa’s growth,” Kenyatta said.

Ugandan President Yoweri Museveni revered Elumelu for his forthrightness and commitment to Africa. “Thank you for the financial support extended to the Ugandan youths,” he said.

Elumelu has pleaded the cause of the young people at relevant forums. He once urged policymakers at the spring meetings of the International Monetary Fund (IMF) and World Bank in Washington DC not to see youths in Africa as lazy and laidback.

With TEF’s 10-year $100 million Entrepreneurship Programme, Elumelu has made many young people with start-up ideas across Africa jump for joy. Seed capital, capacity building, mentorship and networking have helped no less than 7,500 African entrepreneurs change their fortunes.

Nigeria’s Ndubuisi Eze and Sierra Leone’s Edmond Nonie now manufacture drones to help farmers in rural areas map sites. All thanks to TEF, their start-ups have soared.

Eze, a 2016 Tony Elumelu entrepreneur, became a manufacturer after realising that the drones he was importing from China were not meeting the needs of the African farmers his firm was serving.

Zimbabwe young entrepreneur Robin Chaibva said of Elumelu: “He has given me hope for Africa despite the feeling that Zimbabwe is not in an economically viable state. Instead of asking my government to give jobs, I realised that I can build a network of enterprises to employ Zimbabweans while lifting communities. Thanks for investing your wisdom and experience with us.”

Rwanda’s Yvette Ishimwe of Clean Water Delivery start-up said: “Tony Elumelu gave us unique skills that every early entrepreneur would need to build their business idea. This is what is exceptional from many other initiatives. Of course, the money is not small as it helps you expand the idea or the business.”

Ex-United States Secretary of Commerce Penny Pritzker said Elumelu is one leader driving change throughout Africa. “Tony is an extraordinary partner. His kind of leadership is indispensable for our partnership,” she said. It was not surprising that when the Barrack Obama administration needed help with its Power Africa initiative Elumelu was one of those called on. His Transcorp Power supported Power Africa initiative with a $2.5 billion commitment.

My final take: Unlike those who blow their cash on booze, hard drugs and women, Elumelu has Nigeria’s Ndubuisi Eze, Zimbabwe’s Robin Chaibva, Rwanda’s Yvette Ishimwe, Sierra Leone’s Edmond Nonie and thousands of others to point at as those he has taken care of and will be eternally grateful. In our little corners, we must work for a situation where someone somewhere can point at us as change-makers.

Five days ago made it exactly seven years that I was introduced to something I found strange. Everyone across cities in the United States experienced this again on November 3. They had to set their clocks back by one hour. It is called daylight saving time. A state like Texas, which had six hours’ time difference with Nigeria, now has seven hours. Baltimore, which had five hours times’ difference with Nigeria, now has six hours.  Amazing!

I was new to America then. Although it was not my first trip, it was the first time I went to more than one city. I went to five in 10 days. I had been to New York before then.

Once upon a time, Janesville was a stranger to me. So was Milwaukee. And Madison I could barely say I knew much about, save for Wisconsin University, which occupies a sizeable portion of its architecturally beautiful landscape. I first heard of the university reading through the resume of the late MEE Mofe-Damijo.

In November 2012, these United States cities joined the list of cities I have ‘conquered’.  So were Washington DC and Chicago, which I had read about in books, seen in movies, felt in poetry and experienced in news reports.

I traversed these five American cities in the course of tracking and reporting the election which gave President Barack Hussein Obama a second term in office.

Hurricane Sandy almost aborted the trip. It ate into the days I was supposed to stay in Washington DC and made me miss a tour of the Capitol Hill.

I was in DC on time to see the great Newseum, a museum for news matters, where we saw the history of the media on display. Great Pulitzer Prize pictures, some pieces of the Berlin Wall, the first Outside Broadcasting Van ever, images of fantastic moments in Obama’s life, a mangled piece of antenna mast which stood atop the North Tower of the World Trade Centre and lots more have found space in this large edifice.

Washington cut and still cuts the image of a befitting capital for a great nation of diverse people. Skyscrapers, well-laid out road network and all stare you in the face. I thought Washington was cold until we got to Madison, where I rushed into a souvenir store and bought hand gloves that barely helped me for $14. I later bought a bigger one for $5 in Milwaukee.

Here it was that I started wearing five clothes: a sweater as underwear, a shirt, another sweater, a jacket and then a suit.

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Madison, which has a beautiful lake, is nothing like DC. This capital of Wisconsin is a simple city. It has some storey buildings which I honestly cannot call skyscrapers. Its road networks are superb. Its university is a definition of a conducive environment to learn. Its hotels tower into the sky moderately. Its beauty is not in doubt and its place in American politics was evident in Obama not ignoring it during his campaigns. Milwaukee is no so different from Madison. The two cities in Wisconsin State share the same weather and architectural look. Milwaukee is home to a lot of industries and large scale farms. Obama was there to campaign.

If Madison is simple, Janesville is simpler. This city of less than 70,000 people cuts the image of a closely-knit neighbourhood, where neighbours know one another. It is home to The Janesville Gazette, which has published for decades. A colleague, who works there, Frank Schultz, met with a team of visiting reporters from Africa at a Chinese restaurant, which has occupied that same space for 90 years. The waiter who attended to us had worked there for 20 years.

Janesville’s most popular resident is Paul Ryan, Mitt Romney’s running mate in his failed bid to unseat Obama. At the time we visited, Ryan’s blue mansion was in the firm grip of Secret Service agents, who had cordoned off streets leading to the place. This is done for every potential president and vice-president. A neighbour, who we met at an Obama for America’s vote canvassing event, said she was looking forward to the agents loosening grip on the area once Romney’s dream crashed.

The agents said we could take picture of the house, but from a distance. One of our hosts, Andy Strike, found it amazing that journalists had to see the house from a distance, while others could move closer.

The craziest of them all is Chicago. There is nothing simple at all about this city, which is home to several universities, including the University of Chicago and Illinois University at Chicago.

The hotels here are almost uncountable. It reminds me so much of New York, with its skyscrapers, rail system and road networks that can sometimes get locked down.

This city has a reputation for crime and corruption. A Professor at the Illinois University at Chicago, Dick Simpson, told us the reputation is not exaggerated. He gave facts and figures to back his claim. The then Executive Director of Chicago Board of Ethics, Steven Berlin, also urged us to watch our pockets closely so as not to lose valuables to thieves.

Then we met Dr. Wayne Gordon and Kimberlie Jackson of the 25-year-old Lawndale Christian Development Corporation who told us crime was a major headache in their community, filled with architectures dating back to centuries. The corporation, founded by a white man of God, was working with the Chicago Police to curb crime in this largely black neigbourhood.

The community also hosts the home where the late Martin Luther King Jr. lived with his family when he came to Chicago from Atlanta. The house, which was destroyed during a riot, has now been turned into apartments named after King and will be up for rent soon.

The Illinois University at Chicago, built in the 1960s, hosts a chunk of Sierra Leonian history, especially on slave trade. They are on display at the Richard Daley Library, named after a late mayor of the city. These documents, including letters written by pro and anti-slavery individuals, said Simpson, who heads the university’s Political Science Department, existed nowhere else.

Chicago, which is Obama’s home, is in a state rated the third most corrupt in U.S. According to Simpson, most government officials convicted by the Federal Government have been from the city. A former governor of Illinois, who is from the city, is in jail for trying to sell the Senate seat Obama vacated to become president.

Chicago brought New York to my mind. Yes, with its street musicians and men in need of help. How can I forget those men bearing placards saying they were homeless, jobless and in need of help? How can I not remember that man in the traffic gridlock holding a placard begging for assistance? How can I forget how so much it reminded me of those scenes back home?

But, if you look beyond Chicago’s crazy sides, it is a place to be. It has succeeded in moving beyond the Al Capone era. The other four cities are also good. For people who hate boredom, Janesville, Milwaukee and Madison, all in Wisconsin State, may prove frustrating to live in. These cities’ airports, Dulles in Washington, DC Reagan Washington National Airport, O’Hare in Chicago and Dane County Regional Airport in Madison, are good examples of functionality.

Over the years, I have had the privilege of also being to Houston, Baltimore and Atlanta and in all of them I see a nation, which has sold itself as paradise on earth.

But, wait for this before you pack your bags: if you cannot stand cold, stay away from these cities. Temperature can drop to zero or below at some points. Even when you see sun, it does not mean cold will run.

My final take: Nigeria does not have America’s history but we have the potential to be more than we are. We should be running and not crawling like a baby who is just learning to move. Let us run and whoever falls by the wayside should be left to find his or her way.

 

‘ Nigeria does not have America’s history but we have the potential to be more than we are. We should be running and not crawling like a baby who is just learning to move. Let us run and whoever falls by the wayside should be left to find his or her way ’

I remember. I will always remember Botswana. I do again today because our nation can learn from this land-locked nation.

It was six years ago. But I can still remember almost everything: The aircraft taxied down to the terminal. As it did, it became clear that this is not a land where greenery has found favour. On alighting from the aircraft and walking close to the terminal building, the first impression was ‘A small but beautiful airport’.

Welcome to Sir Seretse Khama International Airport in Gaborone, the capital of Botswana!

That Sunday, there was no other plane on the runway, giving the impression that this was not a busy airport. The glass fibre with which the walls of the terminal building were built shone like a million diamonds. Setting foot into the airport did not change the first impression. The floor shone as though they were made only the day before. The toilet was small but sparkling.

There were very few Immigration officials around, further confirming that this was not a busy airport. The points at which visitors were stamped in were only four. Two of the airport officials were even sleeping on their desk when there was no work to do. The sun was hot and scorching. It bit our skins and we were almost sweating like goats about to be slaughtered.

Our final destination was Palapye, the home of the Botswana International University of Science and Technology. It took all of three hours. The good thing, however, was that none of the three hours was spent in traffic gridlock; no time was wasted avoiding potholes. There was no single pothole or manhole to avoid on the 270km road. It was smooth sailing all the way. The journey opened my mind to the fact that agriculture is not friendly with Botswana’s soil. The country experiences little rain. No wonder almost every prayer is ended with a call on God to send down the rain.

Unlike other places where farms dot the way, there are just reluctant greenery and trees— sparse enough to see in between them. There are no thick forests. A lot of the people are into livestock farming. The country, we were told, has more cattle than human beings. Someone said if the country were truly democratic, cattle should become president.

On the right side of the road to Palapye are rail lines which had nobody selling on or close to them as we see in Lagos. Aside Gaborone, the country’s other big city is Francistown, which is five hours by road from the federal capital. Perhaps its most important town is Jwaneng, the home to the richest diamond mine in the world. It is approximately 160km from the capital. The mine was opened in 1982 and the mine is the richest piece of real estate in the world. It produces 12 million carats of diamonds per year, where the country gets more than half of its revenue— although the industry is the second largest employer of labour.

Though not up to Lagos in population, with just two million people, Botswana has some landmass – far above Lagos, so its people do not live in a compacted environment. They have free, fresh air to breathe, no wonder their life expectancy is far better than our own. Their road network is good to the extent that they can drive to Zimbabwe and South Africa.

Homes, offices and other structures in Gaborone, Palapye and other parts of this country do not have high walls. Many do not even have fences. Those who have fences make sure they are short enough for outsiders to see what is going on inside. Many use wire mesh to make their fences. Some use irons, which are short enough for a toddler to jump over.

In Botswana, there is hardly a failure of electricity. Thanks to its coal-fired power plant. Water sometimes goes off, which made our host advise that we store water. Though there was table water on sale, practically all the water supplied to Botswana home are good enough for drinking, with no fear of contracting pipe-borne diseases.

The streets are well-planned, with streetlights, walkways made of interlocking stones and medians glittering with well-cut stones. The drainages in the cities and towns are mostly covered and many even serve as the walkways. The bumps are made with interlocking stones in a creative manner that forces a driver to have no choice but to wait.

Drivers and motorists, I observed, obeyed traffic lights in the same manner they obey the words of the Anglican, Catholic and other priests who call the shots in the many churches that dot the Botswana landscape.

Yet, it was one of the poorest countries in Africa when it gained independence from the United Kingdom in 1966, with a GDP per capita of about $70. The country has since transformed itself, becoming one of the fastest-growing economies in the world with a GDP per capita of about $14,000 and a high gross national income, possibly the fourth-largest in Africa. This gives the country a modest standard of living. The country has the second-highest Human Development Index in Sub-Saharan African. Its currency, Pula, is stronger than South African rand. Twelve dollars give 100 Pula. Of course, the naira trails far behind.

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Botswana, officially the Republic of Botswana, is a landlocked country. It is flat. Up to 70 per cent of its landmass is covered by the Kalahari Desert. It is bordered by South Africa to the south and southeast, Namibia to the west and north, and Zimbabwe to the northeast. It also shares a not clearly defined border with Zambia to the north near a place called Kazungula. It is one of the most sparsely populated countries in the world.

Its citizens refer to themselves as Batswana. The singular is Motswana. So, don’t call them Botswanians. They won’t answer you.

It used to be known as the British protectorate of Bechuanaland. It adopted its current name after becoming independent within the Commonwealth on September 30, 1966. It has held uninterrupted democratic elections since independence. Its 1965 constitution led to the first general elections and independence. Seretse Khama, a nationalist, was elected the first President, going on to be re-elected twice. His Vice-President, Quett Masire, was elected in 1984 and re-elected in 1989 and 1994. Masire retired from office in 1998 and was succeeded by Festus Mogae, who was elected in 1999 and re-elected in 2004. The presidency passed in 2008 to Ian Khama, the son of the first President, who was Mogae’s Vice-President. He was Commander of the Botswana Defence Force. Its current president is Mokgweetsi Masisi.

All its leaders have been produced by the Botswana Democratic Party. According to Transparency International, Botswana is the least corrupt country in Africa. Its people are honest. I lost 240 Pula and it was brought back to me by the woman who saw it the following day. A Nigerian from the U.S. was short-paid by a bank and was called to come and pick the shortfall.

So, will it be safe to say everything works in Botswana? Certainly not. Or how does one explain the fact that Immigration men could not print receipts for money already paid?

How does one explain the fact that Botswana had the highest life expectancy until HIV/AIDS began to reduce it in the late 1980s? One in six Batswana six years ago had HIV, giving the country the second-highest infection rate in the world after Swaziland. That perhaps explains why hotels placed Bible and condoms side by side in the rooms.

My final take: Unlike Nigeria, Botswana has used its diamond wealth to better a lot of its people. It has not shied away from attracting the best brains, including Nigerians, to help out. For the country, what matters is the bottom-line. Our oil has worked largely in the interest of a few.

 Korede Yishau

Let me confess: I love you and always will. I doubt if I can ever have enough of you. With your credit rating among international financiers better than Nigeria’s, what other choice do I have?

It all started the first time I came into your embrace. It is going to a decade now. Your Residential Area and the industrial estate made me believe all hope was not lost for Nigeria, that we can get things right with the right people in charge.

Even the policemen who were on the Island when I visited were like the ones I see in New York, Singapore and London. They looked good in their uniforms, which did not look like the ones on their colleagues elsewhere, though they were the same. I believe things have not changed.

On the roads on the Island were machines which control over-speeding; it was like being abroad at home!

I remember that Shell was the first to see the light on Bonny Island. Mobil saw it later. Shell and Mobil liked the place and the promise there. The Federal Government, which has an interest in all of these ventures, too knows what the country stands to gain from Bonny Island, which hosts the country’s only port of origin. So you were born and christened the Nigerian Liquefied Natural Gas (NLNG) Limited.

Your import was captured two years ago by former Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC) Group Managing Director (GMD) Dr. Maikanti Baru on an NTA programme. Baru described you as one of the biggest success stories of the oil and gas industry. He added that you generated $90 billion revenue, $30 billion dividends and contributed four per cent to the country’s Gross Domestic Product (GDP).

At the time Baru spoke, the National Assembly was trying to tamper with the model which made you a success. The lawmakers wanted to amend your enabling law for the sake of nothing tangible.

Baru said: “The review of the NLNG Act by the National Assembly is causing a challenge for the Federal Government and the IOCs, and it is sending wrong signals to the international community about how business is done in the country.”

The National Assembly wanted to end your status as dollar-denominated, which was agreed on to protect the company against Naira’s flip-flop. The National Assembly also sought to make your subsidiary, Bonny Gas Transport Company, pay tax in Nigeria. I was disturbed by what the National Assembly was trying to do because I was convinced it was not for the good of the country.

To me, you are the dearest of companies operating in Bonny. You are the indigenes’ pride. Through you, the Island enjoys uninterrupted power supply, among other dividends. For Nigeria, you are both our pride and cash-cow. I believe we make the kind of money we make from you from only a few other sources.

Let me cite this particular example: When President Muhammadu Buhari came in, the Federal Government initiated a bailout package for states owing their workers. The bulk of the money which made up the N400 billion package came from you. You saved so many states and workers.

At that time you were knocking on the door of 30 years and 20 years of your first Liquefied Natural Gas (LNG) cargo export. You rose so fast that you became the fourth largest supplier of LNG. Your six-train plant produces about 22 Metric Tonnes Per Annum (mtpa) of LNG for export and five mtpa of Natural Gas Liquids (NGLS). As at that time, you had made over $25 billion from a $2.6 billion investment. You had also paid over $5.5billion as Companies Income Tax, Tertiary Education Tax, WHT, VAT and PAYE. Regulators’ levies and other fees have led to you coughing out over N51 billion.

You own some 30 ships. Through your second subsidiary, the NLNG Ship Manning Limited (NSML), you are the biggest employer of Nigerian seafarers. Also, your wholly-owned subsidiary set up in 1989, Bonny Gas Transport (BGT) Limited, handles your shipping services. Another of your wholly-owned subsidiary is the NSML, which was set up in 2008 to provide, develop and manage high-calibre personnel for your maritime business.

I remember when former Coordinating Minister of Finance and Coordinating Minister for the Economy Dr. Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala visited your plant on Bonny Island, Rivers State, on November 15, 2013. She described you as an asset to Nigeria, a shining example of a successful company and a beacon of hope for a better Nigeria. The minister alluded to the fact that your financial book was an enviable balance sheet.

Dr. Okonjo-Iweala described you as the most successful Nigerian company with 49 per cent government ownership, which she described as a distinguishing feature among companies in the public and the private sector.

The Federal Government, represented by the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC), owns 49 per cent. Shell Gas BV (SGBV) controls 25.6 per cent. Total LNG Nigeria Limited owns 15 per cent and Eni International 10.4 per cent.

Your story could be better if your expansion plans sail through. I am happy the final investment decision on your Train Seven has been made. This will make you regain your lost pre-eminence in the global LNG market.

As a result of the delay in taking the Foreign Direct Investment (FDI), you lost grounds to Qatar and Australia. Qatar moved its output from 20 million metric tonnes to 80 million metric tonnes. Australia, from its previous 20 metric tonnes, now churns out 81 metric tonnes annually. You are stuck at 22 million metric tonnes. Australia has 10 LNG projects, with 20 trains. Yet, Australia has only 60 per cent of Nigeria’s gas reserves. Nigeria has gas reserves estimated at over 160 trillion cubic feet. The United States (U.S.), formerly a major LNG export destination, is now a net LNG exporter.

With the expected FDI estimated at over $8 billion, about 10,000 jobs are expected to be created. Over 2,000 jobs are expected each construction year and 18,000 jobs at the peak of construction. The government, analysts said, will also reap an additional $2.2 billion dividend annually.

It is instructive for me that the train seven is taking shape as you mark your 30th anniversary and 20 years of LNG export.

My final take: We have all the gas it takes for us to get Australia, Qatar, United States and others to queue at our back. We have done it before and we must do it again. Nigeria must be number one in the global LNG business.

Happy anniversary and here is wishing you well as you do all possible to return to the pre-eminence position in global LNG supply.

Olukorede Yishau

 

Dele Agekameh, for some of us Bob Dee, died exactly a week ago. My path and his crossed in 2004, the year I moved from The Source to Tell. By the time I joined Tell, the late Agekameh just left the magazine but somehow I met him and was a regular face in his Gemade Estate home. He touched my life professionally and personally. I will never forget him.

Years after leaving the newsroom, his interest in those of us still there never waned. I last spoke with him in August when he called me over some issues central to my career growth. His last word that day was “Just continue to do your work”. It is an advice I have taken to heart and will never depart from.

Agekameh’s death is a loss to journalism, a profession, which has come a long way from Henry Townsend’s Iwe Iroyin. But we should be doing far better than we are doing. We need to emulate the best practices in the advanced world and treat journalists like kings and not dregs.

Journalism is the only profession I have known in the last twenty years of my life. It looks like I am not escaping from it for some years to come. But even if I leave for one reason or the other, I think it is now in my blood and will not leave me till the end of time.

My love for this profession gets me worried almost all of the time. It is a beautiful profession, but it has image issues. From time to time, one encounters corporate affairs executives who paint an average Nigerian journalist in the garb of a bed bug. You are likely to hear them whine that the journalist is always troubling them for one financial aid or the other. They are also likely to weep that the journalist expects gratification for every story or picture they send for publication. Chances are that they will write off the journalist as one sold to ‘brown envelope’— the euphemism for gratification or outright bribe.

Another major challenge that journalism faces is the overlapping of the profession and politics. This is often to the detriment of objectivity. He who pays the piper calls the tune, and saving objectivity from occasional accidents become a challenge that even geniuses find extremely difficult to resolve.

Many Nigerian journalists work with media organisations owned by individuals who care less about the welfare of their workers. Very few media houses pay good salaries and emoluments. I can count them on my fingertip. They are that small. The majority do not pay well and sadly, they struggle to pay these peanuts. There are times journalists go for months without being paid.

The effect of this no-pay is that many journalists are unmotivated and do their job without the required zeal. Journalism, like other forms of writing, is jealous and deserves some type of fanatical attention, but when a man is hungry, it is hard to get him to give his best. That has also turned some journalists into blackmailers. When they get a story, they contact the subject and demand bribe to kill the report.

The way out of this quagmire, for me, is that non-payment of salaries by publishers should be criminalised.

Aside from the non-payment of salaries, there is also the challenge of poor payment. Elsewhere in the developed world, journalists are some of the highest-paid. Our colleagues in South Africa and some countries in East Africa are treated like bankers.

Another problem, which has given a bad name to journalism and has made it lose face, is the credibility of the news being pushed out. As a result of the poor pay in the industry, many newsrooms are peopled with reporters who should have no business with journalism because of their crippled knowledge of the profession.

These days it is not uncommon for the media—both online and the traditional media— to publish outright hate speech and fake news, thus helping spread anger in the land. What this has done to the profession is to give it a bad name and turn the media into a child who deserves a serious spanking.

The trouble with the Nigerian media is not limited to print and online media. Television and radio stations also have similar challenges. Journalists are not well-paid and are owed for months by many television and radio stations, yet their owners live large and are seen as untouchable.

I often shudder when the media reports bad government policies and poor or non-payment of salaries. These are problems publishers and broadcast stations owners are also guilty of. News hawks report the problems of others but there is no one to report ours.

The media, in the last 20 years of democracy, has pointed out that many things have largely remained the same or even become worse. For example, the media daily point out that the police are still the way they used to be: innocent people are paraded for crimes they know nothing about; many murder cases are unresolved; senior police officers dance to politicians’ and the rich’s tunes; and justice remains a victim.

We also regularly observe that politicians are still the same: the people are the least important; no permanent friends but interests; patronage still has edge over service, and if the devil can guarantee electoral success, politicians are ready to have a deal.

We have continuously reported that the country is yet to start crawling, not to talk of walking, and far away from running. Our politicians, the media has observed, are just a little better than the military. In a lot of sense, many of the players on the political scene are yet to be cured of the military hang-over. A sizeable number of the key players even have a garrison mentality. Ours is a democracy without democrats. Selfish interests are masqueraded as national interests. The good of one is sold as the good of all. Politicians abandon one party to join another and defend it as if it were based on sound principles.  The defections and the reasons behind them are interesting, but if you scratch beyond the surface, you will see deceit and the love of self. The media has not shied away from pointing all these out.

But the question remains: Who looks out for the interest of the media, especially the welfare of reporters? We are busy highlighting the challenges in other sectors when we are going through difficult times. Aside from the individual woes of reporters, publishers are also not having it good. Importing newsprint, ink and other printing materials is money-guzzling and with the economy doing ‘better’, it is like attempting to fly without wings.

My final take: The Nigerian media needs help and where it will come from is a decision the industry has to collectively take. We must revive the dead newsprint factories, among other things.

Sleep well, Bob Dee, till we meet to part no more.