The Nation Newspaper

Category: Femi Macaulay

  • Another chapter of post-Awoism

    When Chief Hannah Idowu Dideolu Awolowo, popularly recognised by her initials, HID, is buried on November 25, the closure will open another chapter of post-Awoism after the death of her husband, Chief Obafemi Awolowo, the legendary Nigerian political titan and progressive leader who died in 1987.

    She lived to a ripe old age; her death on September 19 put a dampener on plans for the celebration of her 100th birthday on November 25. Hers was a long and eventful life, often of interest to the public because of its socio-political dimensions.

    Famously described as “a jewel of inestimable value” by her husband, HID’s image glittered on account of the glowing commendation by the man she married in 1937 and stuck with until death separated them. In a moving and revealing testimonial, HID’s husband said of her: “She has been of immeasurable  assistance to me in the duties attached to my career as a public man…I do not hesitate to confess that I owed my success in life to three factors; the grace of God, a Spartan self-discipline and a good wife. Our home is to all of us a true haven; a place of happiness, of imperturbable seclusion from the buffetings of life.”

    But HID was also significant in her own right, beyond the glory of matrimony. Apart from her entrepreneurial spirit and success in business, she demonstrated a remarkable capacity for administration as the head of the African Newspapers Nigeria (ANN) Plc, Publisher of Tribune titles. The Nigerian Tribune, founded in 1949 by Chief Awolowo, is Nigeria’s oldest surviving private newspaper. Until she died, HID kept the company’s flag flying, but not without some cost to her husband’s principles and the newspaper’s image.

    It is a reflection of not only her husband’s legacy but also her own personal worth that when she was alive her family home in Ikenne, Ogun State, was a mecca for various shades of political players who desired her support in pursuance of their political ambitions. She was politically accommodating, and the variegated complexion of the sympathisers drawn to her home by the news of her death spoke volumes about her politics of inclusiveness.

    It is noteworthy that President Muhammadu Buhari said in a tribute: “Chief (Mrs.) Awolowo will always be honoured too for the indelible legacy of very significant, behind-the-scenes contributions to communal, state, regional and national development.” This aspect of her life was also highlighted in a tribute by a former executive director of AAN Plc, Mr. Folu Olamiti, who said: “A good number of position papers meant to strengthen the southwest geo-political zone and the need to promote the unity of Nigeria were formulated in Ikenne, her home.”

    Her many-sided life had a notable cultural angle. The matriarch was a well-respected traditional title holder; and her major title, Yeye Oodua, suggesting that she was regarded as a mother figure by the Yoruba people, reflected her wide cultural significance in her native Yoruba environment. In this connection, HID was co-chairman of the Yoruba Unity Forum formed to protect and advance Yoruba interests within the country’s framework.

    In the context of impermanence, it is food for thought that the socio-political philosophy of Chief Obafemi Awolowo, on account of which he earned die-hard loyalists as well as unrepentant adversaries, may be further revised after HID. While she was alive, the calculating redefinition of progressivism implied by the cohabitation of varied political impulses under the banner of the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC) marked a revision.   It is indisputable that a major constituent of the party, the defunct Action Congress of Nigeria (ACN), to a large extent associated with Awoism, a tendency that the other parties involved in the merger that produced the APC did not necessarily embrace.

    Awolowo, practising his doctrine of “mental magnitude”, truly demonstrated uncommon concentration on the improvement of the mind as an invaluable training for leadership, particularly by his deep writings on his socio-political thoughts intended as illuminating guides on the subject of good governance in a pluralistic society. He was popularly and rightly regarded as a “philosopher king” and “sage”, which underscored his towering intellect employed in the context of political administration. It is an intriguing measure of the Awolowo mystique and influence that in certain quarters the belief in Awoism, or the branding as an Awoist, is regarded as a qualification for political leadership.

    Tragically, the important connection between cerebral acuity and forward-looking people-oriented governmental policies, particularly in the areas of education, health and infrastructure, which Awolowo reflected, is today generally less appreciated among the political players, especially with the reign of “negative emotions” that inspire basic personal aggrandisement.

    Additionally, in character and lifestyle, his sometimes impolitic directness, informed by well- meaning sincerity, as well as his Spartan existence, despite his means, placed him in an inimitable class. The doublespeak associated with characters in politics did not have an accommodation with him, and the people knew where he stood on issues, even when this worked against him. Fascinatingly, he lived above fleshly indulgence, and was not a materialistic exhibitionist, contrary to the ways of many who govern today.

    Another central point of departure has to do with Awolowo’s stature as the soul of the political parties he originated, namely, the Action Group (AG) and the Unity Party of Nigeria (UPN), in which he commanded overwhelming authority. Current realities, specifically in connection with the APC, suggest that the kind of vice-like grip he had on party affairs probably belongs to a bygone age.

    Perhaps the greatest charge against him, even among his followers, was his principled inflexibility and customary conviction about his correctness, which his political foes often interpreted as haughtiness. Perhaps his supreme moment came at his death with the outpouring of flattering tributes from friendly and hostile quarters, especially the one which eloquently described him as “the best president Nigeria never had.”

    The burden of continuity must rest upon the two institutions established to promote his ideals, the Obafemi Awolowo Institute of Government and Public Policy, Lagos, and the Awolowo Centre for Philosophy, Ideology and Good Governance, Osogbo.

  • Lagos-Ibadan Expressway: The Fashola factor

    Like a winding way, the Lagos-Ibadan Expressway presents twists and turns. Another development has further complicated the ongoing reconstruction of the Lagos-Ibadan Expressway and reinforced earlier complications. In the news is a new concession claim that is surprising and thought-provoking.

    An October 22 report said: “The Ministry of Works has said that the contractor handling Section II of the Lagos-Ibadan Expressway reconstruction and expansion project, Reynolds Construction Company, RCC, was facing challenges of finance, adverse weather and impatience of motorists. Mr. Nelson Olubakinde, the representative of the Ministry, told newsmen in Ibadan: “The construction company (RCC) is facing challenges of finance, weather, especially rain, and impatience on the part of road users often resulting in accidents within work location.”

    The report also said: “Olubakinde, however, said that the construction effort was under Public Private Partnership, PPP, arrangement with Motorway Assets Limited as leasee, while the ministry was the guarantor.”

    The confusion was compounded by a November 11 report which said: “Oyinloye was quoted in a newspaper report on November 4 as saying: “Motorways Assets Limited has been given consideration for the project. The Infrastructure Concession Regulatory Commission has to give the concession certificate, while the lenders and investors have to ensure that all the details are properly worked out. We have now got all the relevant approvals.” Mr. Adekunle Oyinloye is Managing Director of the Infrastructure Bank Plc.

    The question is: How did MAL get into the picture?  It is noteworthy that the Lagos-Ibadan Expressway has moved from controversy to controversy, especially following the Goodluck Jonathan administration’s 2012 termination of a concession agreement with Bi-Courtney Highways Services Limited (BCHSL), which was supposed to reconstruct and manage the toll road. The past government alleged that the company failed to make progress on actualising the objective of the concession four years after the agreement signed with a preceding administration.

    It is two years since the Jonathan administration in July 2013 rearranged the reconstruction, following a N167 billion contract, awarded to Julius Berger Nigeria Plc and Reynolds Construction Company Limited. Under the new arrangement, two sections of the expressway will be reconstructed: Section I (Lagos to Sagamu Interchange) and Section II (Sagamu Interchange to Ibadan).

    The 127.6-km-long Lagos-Ibadan Expressway dates back to 1978. Apart from connecting Ibadan, the capital of Oyo State, and Lagos State, Nigeria’s economic capital, the road is the busiest inter-state road, and it is a main link to the northern, southern and eastern regions of the country.

    According to Bi-Courtney, “We are in court because the alleged cancellation of the concession did not follow due process. Apart from that, the so-called contract involving the two new companies handling the project was awarded arbitrarily without a bidding process.”  The company said:  “BCHSL won the concession to reconstruct and manage the toll road for 25 years. It’s a Design, Build, Operate and Transfer (DBOT) arrangement. According to the concession agreement, the road will be expanded to 10 lanes from Lagos to Sagamu and six lanes from Sagamu to Ibadan. Because of this expansion, structures that fall within 60.35 metres from the median on both sides of the road will be demolished, and government will compensate owners of the affected properties.”

    The company proudly argued that it rebuilt the Murtala Muhammed Airport (MMA2) in Lagos “against all odds”. “It is the first airport in Africa to be owned by a private company on a Build, Operate and Transfer (BOT) basis, the first of its kind in Nigeria, and it was delivered far ahead of schedule,” Bi-Courtney said.

    The company’s response to the allegation of non-performance blamed work delay on the Jonathan administration. In the period of three years and six months that the company had the concession, it was slowed down for two years and 10 months. According to the company, the design process which was expected to be completed within four months took 18 months as a result of bureaucratic bottlenecks at the Ministry of Works. The Infrastructure Concession Regulatory Commission (ICRC) corroborated Bi-Courtney’s position.

    From the look of things, the announced cancellation of the concession by the Ministry of Works on November 19, 2012, was the culmination of a chain of unprogressive manoeuvres resulting from behind-the-scenes influence.  While the delay lasted, Bi-Courtney said, “We were advised by the ministry not to do any serious works on the road other than palliatives”.  Before the concession was terminated, the company claimed it “had completed the patching and overlaying of bad portions of the highway, preparatory to full-scale reconstruction”.

    It is interesting to note the new language describing MAL as “leasee” and the reference to Public Private Partnership (PPP). The old understanding was that the contract involving Julius Berger Nigeria Plc and Reynolds Construction Company Limited is not a concession unlike Bi-Courtney’s, with the implication that the federal government is expected to fund the road rehabilitation and operate the toll road. With MAL in the picture now, has the picture changed?

    Of course, it is open to debate whether adopting the concession model for the rehabilitation of the expressway promises greater socio-economic benefits than the old way of doing things. However, the attraction of the Public-Private-Partnership (PPP) approach, which the concession concept represents, cannot be reasonably discounted in a modern economy, considering reported examples in Western Europe and the U.S. where private investors are involved in infrastructure development based on concession agreements.

    The PPP appeal is highlighted by a recent report: “Contractors handling over 184 federal road projects have abandoned the various sites due to lack of funding from the Federal Government and the huge debt owed them by the Federal Ministry of Works.”  The Lagos-Ibadan dual carriageway was listed among the roads affected by the funding problem. According to the report, “The contractors said they were owed over N600bn, adding that although part of the sum was owed by state and local governments, over 80 per cent of the amount was owed by the Federal Government.”

    This kind of abandonment seems less likely under a concession arrangement that requires the concessionaire to raise funds for the concerned project, rather than wait for government funding that may make a mess of the project, particularly in the context of dwindling government revenue.

    Against this background, the appointment of ex-Lagos State governor Babatunde Fashola as Minister of Power, Works and Housing, may prove to be a clarifying factor concerning the Lagos-Ibadan Expressway. He has a track record of progressive performance.  Fashola was quoted as saying: “Let us design and build roads that last and houses that will stand the test of time. We want to know if some of those problems are man-made or systemic…We want information on what has been done, what remained to be done, and what are the future plans, we want to continue from there.”

  • A for Autism

    There is only one reason my wife isn’t here,” the celebrator said. It was his 70th birthday.  Before this pregnant utterance, I had wondered whether his wife was at the event at MUSON Centre, Lagos, in July 2014. When he gave the reason for her unavailability, I was struck by his openness. His wife had to provide care for their autistic son, so she couldn’t be at the celebration, he explained to his guests in Agip Hall. He added that he planned to devote his post-retirement years to speaking for Autism. It was good talk.

    It’s a little over a year since the celebration and Professor Emeritus Olatunji Dare has shown that he wasn’t just talking but meant every word he said. He launched a campaign in his October 27 back-page column in The Nation titled “On a personal note”.  Dare said: “At a ceremony in July 2014 marking my 70th birthday, I pledged that after one more year on my faculty job at Bradley University, I would devote the rest of my days to raising awareness of autism and use the standing that I have earned through my professional work in classrooms and newsrooms at home and abroad to help raise funds to look after the needs of the autistic in Nigerian society. As if to confirm that autism is far more widespread in Nigeria than is generally supposed, four people walked up to me at the end of the ceremony that they had autistic children.  I have since learned of a young family that has two children, both autistic.”

    It was striking that Dare not only remembered his words but also kept his word. It reflected reliability.  What may be regarded as his mission statement said: “My goal is to assist the organisations already on the ground to help raise the level of awareness of autism and situate it in the national policy dialogue, culminating in a National Summit on Autism in 2016; in short, to help build a national constituency for the autistic in Nigeria. This column signals the start of that project.”

    Perhaps Dare’s autism project actually started 35 years ago. According to him, “My son Gbolahan was diagnosed with autism in 1980, shortly after I commenced doctoral studies at Indiana University, on leave from the University of Lagos, where I was a journalism instructor. He was two years old at the time. One week of tests at the Children’s Hospital, Indianapolis, confirmed the diagnosis.” By his account, Dare was “shattered”.  Who wouldn’t be?

    In the years it took to arrive at this juncture, Dare was able to make a name for himself by his impressive work in classrooms and newsrooms. After a teaching period at the University of Lagos, and a stint as Chair of the Editorial Board and Editorial Page Editor for The Guardian, Dare taught journalism and international communication for 19 years at  Bradley University, Peoria, Illinois, USA,  until his retirement in May. “This institution is better for what you have contributed through your talents, energy and dedication,” Bradley University President Joanne K. Glasser said as Dare was named Professor of Communication, Emeritus.

    Dare was probably describing his own torment in the face of his son’s autism when he said in his column: “…I have found cases upon cases of the condition, and bewildered parents unable to fathom the present and fearful of the future.”  It is cold comfort that, as he noted, “There are different, often overlapping forms of autism.”  His words: “The wide variation in symptoms among children with autism has led to the concept of autism spectrum disorder, or ASD. And the severity varies considerably.  At one end are those who cannot perform the most basic functions; at the other are those, the so-called idiot-savants who can perform the most astonishing feats of memory or execution but can do nothing else. Between these extremes lie gradations of autism in its many guises and disguises.”

    Talking of the range of autistic possibilities, a visit to Modupe Cole Memorial Child Care and Treatment Home School, Akoka, Lagos, is sufficient to get the picture and to get Dare’s message. It is a place that prompts reflections not only on the state of the specially challenged children within its walls, but also on the wall that separates the autistic world and the world outside it.  The school’s motto, “God is Able”, is not just a reflection of the challenging circumstances of the children; it is also an expression of faith, which parents and carers need to cope with the children’s special needs.

    Ultimately, this state-run school is a space of life and offers useful lessons on living that transcend the locale and the limitations of children with special needs. There is no doubt that the diversity of disabilities on display in the school compound can be mercilessly distressing. For instance, this reality is reflected by the following information in the Minutes of the school’s Parents Forum General Meeting held on Thursday, 19th June, 2014, under Principal’s Address/Report on Activities in the School: “Still on the attitudes of parents toward their children, she mentioned that, on the day the school vacated, a parent came and told the caregiver to prepare her child for her to take him home for the holiday. After a while, she cleverly left the boy and never came back till now.”

    Abandonment happens, especially concerning children who are extremely dependent on others or cannot help themselves in any way. Possibly, it was maternally impossible for Dare’s wife to be with him at his 70th birthday programme at MUSON last year because of the degree of their son’s dependence on caregiving. It must be silver lining that Dare has other children. In a published interview to mark his 70th birthday, he answered a journalistic question: “Is any of your children into journalism?” Dare’s answer: “No, unfortunately. I think they have watched me struggle to put food on the table, watched me scrape and scrounge and they have watched their mother too who was a high school teacher. They have watched both of us struggle financially and I think they vowed that no, they are not going to be into that kind of thing. Our oldest son is an accountant and financial analyst with one of the big banks, another one is a school administrator in a university in Atlanta and our only daughter is a medical doctor. But our daughter, the medical doctor, is the one who is literarily-inclined. She reads voraciously and writes very well and even tries her hand writing some detective fiction, mystery novels and that stuff. So I do have one soul mate in the family.”

    This is the mind that has to cope with an autistic “adult child”. Dare should be commended for his courage, the courage of acceptance, which must have essentially informed his disclosure and publicity for autism. Perhaps the most haunting line in his column was: “bewildered parents, unable to fathom the present and fearful of the future”. It is noteworthy that the United Nations General Assembly unanimously declared April 2 as World Autism Awareness Day “to highlight the need to help improve the quality of life of children and adults, who are affected by autism, so they can lead full and meaningful lives”. The day has been observed since 2008.

  • Dele Giwa rolling in his grave

    When an investigator sounds like he needs to be investigated, it calls into question the integrity of his investigation.  Chris Omeben, a former Deputy Inspector-General of Police who investigated the murder of Dele Giwa, the founding Editor-in-Chief of Newswatch, sounded amateurish as he rationalised the failure of his investigation.

    It is 29 years since the colourful high-profile journalist died from injuries inflicted by a parcel bomb he received while having breakfast in his residence in Ikeja, Lagos, on October 19, 1986. He was 39. Omeben, on the eve of his 80th birthday on October 27, told the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) that his efforts to interrogate who he regarded as a “principal suspect” came to naught on account of interference from “high places”.

    According to Omeben who was in charge of the Research Department of the Police CID when Giwa was killed: “They said somebody brought a parcel and his son, Billy, received the parcel and took it to his father (Dele Giwa), who was having his breakfast that morning. On the breakfast table was a man called Kayode Soyinka, he was there; Dele was there and then the son, Billy, handed over the parcel. And as he did so, I heard Soyinka left the table and went to the adjacent room. It was while he was there that the parcel detonated. Dele was injured and eventually died. The metal partition separating the dining room and the kitchen was destroyed. Beyond that, everything in the kitchen was destroyed. If metal could be mangled this way by the bomb, what of human flesh, what happened to Soyinka? Nobody could give me an answer. My conclusion was that Soyinka knew what was coming and he left the room to hide behind the wall.”

    He continued: “I took note of all these, went back to conduct an identification parade. We had an identification parade and got people of different physical attributes to be identified by the day watch. Eventually, when one of those paraded was said to bear a resemblance to the person that delivered the bomb, in spite of my insistence to have the man quizzed, we could not because interference now came from high places to protect the man. The man was said to be related to the wife of a governor at that time and as a result of his connection, we came to a dead end on that lead.”

    At this point, Omeben’s narrative took a convenient turn that introduced a twist. Who was the military governor whose shadow is still powerful enough to prevent disclosure of his name?  Who was his wife? Who was the protected man? The failure of an investigator should not mean a failure of investigation.

    By Omeben’s account, the dead end did not lead to the death of investigation, but perhaps it led to a dearth of investigation.  He added that he focused on Soyinka, but didn’t get the cooperation of his bosses at the media company when he sought to question him. According to Omeben, he told them: “I have enough evidence to quiz Soyinka now. Please, Ray Ekpu can I have Soyinka now?”

    He went on: “They resisted till today. Till today, Soyinka never appeared before the police. They started to insinuate that the assassination was masterminded by Babangida, Akilu etc. They said Akilu ought to have been investigated. As a matter of fact, I had interrogated Akilu and he told me that, yes, they had invited Dele Giwa some few days before the assassination over a negative statement he made about Nigeria in a New York newspaper. He said they had to invite him to tell him that he was wrong for portraying the country in a bad light in the international press. Akilu insisted that the invitation was not enough to accuse the government of complicity in the assassination of Dele Giwa. He satisfied me with his explanation. Togun also absolved himself with his explanation. The parcel bomb was said to have the Federal Government logo on it, which to me was not enough evidence. It was more of a circumstantial evidence. I can prove it! But for me to satisfy myself, I said please gentlemen, can I have Soyinka? Nobody! Soyinka ran away to London; that was my principal suspect!”

    Soyinka’s response makes Omeben’s narrative suspect. A report quoted him as saying: “It is a lie that they have been peddling to protect Babangida, Akilu and Togun through the years. They started it from day one when that incident happened, they changed the story…I was the first person police interviewed on the spot on that day in Lagos. My survival was divine…I was the first person to be interviewed in the hospital where Dele’s body was next door to me. The second interview took place at Newswatch office on Oregun road. He said I ran away from Nigeria, I didn’t run away, I was in Nigeria till Dele was buried; I attended the burial with my wife…After the incident, it was about a month before Dele was buried and I was in the country throughout… So, I didn’t run away.”

    It is worth mentioning that there is a third narrative, which is relevant because of its revelatory quality.  A 360-page book entitled Honour for Sale, described by the author, Major Debo Bashorun (retd), as “An Insider Account of the Murder of Dele Giwa”, is thought-provoking. Basorun served in the General Ibrahim Babangida regime as Press and Public Affairs Officer (Military Press Secretary) to the Military President of Nigeria between 1985 and 1988.

    He dropped a bomb in the prologue to his autobiographical book launched in Lagos in November 2013. He said of the explosive volume:  ”It is a laborious attempt at documenting over twenty-one years of a kaleidoscopic but exciting career – a gaudy reminder of the sweet days at the pinnacle of power and how a miscalculation on the part of the powers-that-be led me to uncover the truth that, in concert with his Intelligence Chief, Colonel Haliru Akilu, Babangida has not come clean with the Nigerian people – nay the world – concerning the duo’s roles in the mindless assassination of a foremost Nigerian journalist of his time, Dele Giwa.”

    Basorun also said: “I am hopefully looking forward to the day when General Ibrahim Babangida, Colonel Haliru Akilu and myself would be brought before the people’s court to answer all we know pertaining to the cruel murder…” The question is: Will that day ever come?

    In 2001, Babangida rigidly refused to appear before the Human Rights Violations Commission, popularly known as the Oputa Panel, concerning the Giwa murder. He betrayed desperation for silence by going to court. With Col Akilu (retd) of the Directorate of Military Intelligence (DMI) in his regime and Lt. Col. A.K Togun (retd) who was the Deputy Director of the State Security Service (SSS), he obtained an order barring the commission from summoning them to appear before it.

    It is puzzling that the three men rejected what was a golden opportunity to prove their innocence.   An astounding travesty of justice followed with the reported comment by the commission’s chairman to the effect that while it had powers to issue arrest warrants for the trio, it decided against such a move “in the over-all interest of national reconciliation.”

    When the 30th anniversary of Dele Giwa’s murder makes the headlines in 2016, will there be a clarifying narrative?  Shouldn’t investigation of the murder be reopened?

  • A dishonour to Crowther at home

    It is two years since the Bishop Ajayi Crowther Diocese in Iseyin, Oyo State, organised a fundraiser on October 26, 2013, for the completion of a new church building for the Bishop Ajayi Crowther Memorial Anglican Church in Osoogun, the birthplace of the illustrious 19th century cleric who in 1864 was ordained as the first African bishop of the Anglican Church at a ceremony in England. It is a testimony to Crowther’s quality that in the same year he was also given a Doctorate of Divinity by the prestigious University of Oxford.

    It was in Osoogun, in present-day Iseyin Local Government, Oyo State, that his life began as well as the story of his life.  It was in his village, Osoogun, that Fulani slave raiders seized him in 1821. He was eventually sold to Portuguese slave traders at the age of 12. The young Ajayi of Yoruba ancestry was rescued by the British navy and taken to Freetown, Sierra Leone.

    Crowther later described his initial enslavement as “the unhappy, but which I am now taught in other respects to call blessed day, which I shall never forget in my life.” In his progression to priestly prominence, he took an unlikely path carved by unlikely destiny helpers. For him, slavery turned out to be a springboard to celebrity.

    In Osoogun, there stands a storied tree. It is said that Crowther and other captives were tied to this tree before they were sold into slavery.  Nearby, there are ruins of a place said to be Crowther’s home, where he was enslaved. There is no architecture in the ruins. A signpost said to have been erected by the Iseyin L. G. to indicate touristic intentions, has no visible inscription.  Crowther’s statue stands in an open space at the centre of the village. Approaching Osoogun, the sight and state of a secondary school named Bishop Ajayi Crowther Memorial High School, signified official neglect.

    Osoogun looked abandoned on October 3, when I attended a Thanksgiving/Holy Communion Service in the village to mark Bishop Samuel Ajayi Crowther Day Celebration 2015. In particular, the new church building, which was started in 1992, and the reason for the October 2013 fundraiser, looked like an abandoned project.

    The special service took place at the church, which is still under construction more than two decades after construction commenced. To paint a picture of the unpicturesque church building, or more specifically, the church building in progress, or in the process of progress, it is sufficient to say that the structure is a dishonour to Crowther.  The building lacked a roof, doors and windows; and palm fronds were used to cover areas of congregational presence. It was unbelievable that building a decent new church to honour Crowther could be so difficult. The old church, built between 1958 and 1960, is in a dishonourable state.

    The 2013 fundraiser had a target of N10 million, which may be inadequate today. Whatever is adequate for completing the new Bishop Ajayi Crowther Memorial Anglican Church, Osoogun, can be conveniently provided by, for instance, the Oyo State Government, the Iseyin L. G., telecom players MTN and Airtel whose giant masts tower above the village, and the Church of Nigeria, Anglican Communion, which has declared October 3 as an annual Crowther Remembrance Day. For how much longer will the special day be celebrated in such undignified circumstances right in Crowther’s hometown?

    Crowther’s stature was strikingly defined by a  June 30 ‘thanksgiving and repentance service’ in England, where none other than the Archbishop of Canterbury, Justin Welby, publicly expressed remorse for the sin against him.   Welby is the most important leader of the Church of England and the symbolic head of the worldwide Anglican Communion. His apology on behalf of the Anglican Church was a testimony to institutional regret.

    The Church of England demonstrated a capacity for self-examination and re-examination that deserves attention. The historic admission of guilt highlighted the long history of racism and the scope of racially inspired but misguided chauvinism. It was also a lesson in injustice of a colonial colour.

    Welby’s words concerning Crowther, who is regarded as the father of Anglicanism in Nigeria: “We in the Church of England need to say sorry that someone was properly and rightly consecrated Bishop and then betrayed and let down and undermined. It was wrong.”  He also said in his sermon: “In spite of immense hardship and despite the racism of many whites, he evangelised so effectively that he was eventually ordained Bishop, over much protest. He led his missionary diocese brilliantly, but was in the end falsely accused and had to resign, not long before his death.” It is relevant to observe that Crowther died of a stroke in Lagos in 1891, which was possibly connected with his desolation.

    It is noteworthy that Welby said: “We are sorry for his suffering at the hands of Anglicans in this country. Learning from their foolishness and from his heroism, we seek to be a church that does not again exclude those whom God is calling. We seek new apostles, and the grace to recognise them when they come.”

    Crowther, described as “extraordinary”, played an undeniably effective role in evangelism in the early days of Christianity in Nigeria. “Today, well over 70 million Christians in Nigeria are his spiritual heirs,” Welby said in tribute to his pioneering efforts.

    Crowther’s achievements are remarkable, considering his unremarkable beginnings. Following his conversion to Christianity and his baptism in 1825, he adopted the name of a visible British clergyman of the Anglican Church Missionary Society (CMS). He studied in England and attended the Fourah Bay College, Sierra Leone, where he advanced his exceptional interest in languages, which became of immense use in evangelism.  Crowther made history when he was ordained as the first African bishop of the Anglican Church.

    To his credit, Crowther’s language skills produced the first Yoruba translation of the Bible, which was completed in the 1880s, and a Yoruba version of the Anglican Book of Common Prayer. These projects illustrate how seriously Crowther took his Christianity. He also produced primers for the Igbo language and the Nupe language.

    Something should be done without delay by those who have power and resources to ensure the completion of the monument to Crowther in Osoogun. It is good for Crowther’s name.

  • Uncultured power corrupts culture

    By his intense intervention in the controversy relating to control of the Centre for Black Culture and International Understanding (CBCIU), Osogbo, the Osun State Governor, Rauf Aregbesola, demonstrated cultural progressivism, distinct from but connected with his political role.

    Through an October 11 statement that reportedly bore his personal signature, Aregbesola communicated cultural intelligence that was both correct and corrective. It was an official response to Nobelist Wole Soyinka who had announced his resignation as Chairman of the CBCIU’s Board of Trustees. It also mirrored Aregbesola’s interior.

    Aregbsola said: “In the interest of the public and the culture of our race to which Soyinka is passionately committed, he must continue in his capacity as the Chairman of the Board of Trustees of the Centre. Yes, Wole Soyinka has resigned but he himself has conceded the fact that the governor must accept it. We cannot accept the resignation even though we hold him in high esteem, because of the responsibilities attached to his chairmanship of CBCIU, which is beyond him and even beyond us.”

    He stressed: “It has to do with the culture and tradition of our race which we believe that the CBCIU is meant to preserve and promote…We call on all people of goodwill to prevail on Prof Wole Soyinka to kindly reconsider his position and avail us his world acclaimed knowledge, intellect, international network and commitment to black culture and civilisation,”

    There is no question about Soyinka’s exceptional creative capacity and cultural quality. In a specific and striking instance of his inspirational importance, when Boko Haram terrorists seized over 200 schoolgirls at the Girls Senior Secondary School, Chibok, Borno State, on April 15 last year, the evil coincided with a timely three-day academic conference inspired by Soyinka.  The All-Comers Colloquium on Fundamental Imperatives of Cohabitation: Faith and Secularism, organised by the Soyinka-led CBCIU, in collaboration with The State Government of Osun, took place at the centre’s Auditorium, Abere, Osogbo in Osun State.

    The conveners said the colloquium was “organised against the background of perceived religious war by Boko Haram and tension in some states, for example Osun, where religious differences are being exploited to cause trouble.”  Soyinka, however, emphasised that the event should not be seen as just a direct reaction to the Boko Haram terror campaign which has escalated in the northeastern part of the country since 2009.  “The conference has been conceived in many minds for decades in the face of rising problems,” he said.  In his opening day speech, Soyinka had pointed out that “we cannot underestimate the religious inspiration”, suggesting that religious adherents could go to unimaginable lengths to further their cause.  Soyinka was proved right following the abduction of the Chibok schoolgirls by the Islamist terrorists.

    This background has relevance to the current dispute over control of CBCIU, particularly because of Soyinka’s observation in another context at the colloquium. Focused on faith-based extremism, perhaps with his eyes on extremities in general, he noted: “The mind is where it started and ultimately the mind is where this disease will be cured.”

    To appreciate how a disease of the mind, or a diseased mind, might be a factor in the CBCIU drama, it is useful to reflect on an informative narrative by a former governor of Osun State, Olagunsoye Oyinlola, who has gone to court to seek validation of his claim to the position of CBCIU’s board chairman.

    A revealing report of a press conference organised by Oyinlola, in Okuku, Osun State, said: “According to Mr. Oyinlola, the United Nations Educational, Scientific, and Cultural Organization in 2007 took a decision to establish a Category Two Institute (on culture) in Africa, which, it noted, would be the first of its kind on the continent. “A number of countries in Africa showed interest. Nigeria was one of them,” Mr. Oyinlola said.  “To strengthen Nigeria’s bid for the institute, the presidency decided to acquire archival materials of renowned culture icon, Prof Ulli Beier and sent then minister of culture, Professor Babalola Borishade, to Sydney, Australia, to seal a deal with him on the matter. However, Beier gave two conditions which he said must be met before he would grant the request of Nigeria. These two conditions are, one, the institute must be sited in Osogbo where he lived and around where majority of the materials were gathered over the decades he was here.”

    Oyinlola continued: “The second condition was on who would preside over the board of trustees of the centre. Beier told the Federal Government delegation that he did not know the minister who visited, the same with the president, Chief Olusegun Obasanjo, but that he knew Oba Moses Oyinlola, the father of the then governor of Osun State, Prince Olagunsoye Oyinlola. He then demanded that an agreement must be reached that Oyinlola would be the chairman of the board of the centre in his personal capacity ostensibly to ensure the protection of his vision on the archival materials. The Federal Government agreed to the two terms and signed an agreement with Ulli and Georgina Beier on May 10, 2007. It was after this that the Federal Government contacted and informed me of the agreement.”

    The following sequence of events speaks volumes about the power of the mind and the exercise the mind in power: In 2008, as governor of Osun State, Oyinlola signed into law the CBCIU Act which stipulated that he would be the Chairman of the Board for life. Four years later, with Aregbesola in the saddle as governor, the Osun State House of Assembly amended the law to state that the Chairman of the Board shall be “the Governor or anyone appointed by him for that purpose.”  Governor Aregbesola appointed Soyinka as Chairman of the Board in August 2012.

    In the first place, what was on Oyinlola’s gubernatorial mind when he endorsed a law that would make him a permanent chairman of a public institution, considering the impermanence of public office?  In the second place, what was on Oyinlola’s mind when he took the matter to court, considering the competence of the House of Assembly to effect legislative amendments?

    When cultural thinking is informed by uncultured thoughts, or when cultured thoughts don’t inform cultural thinking, it is easy for the powerful to fall into error based on confusion.  According to Aregbesola in his statement, “The issue here is not difficult at all.” He is probably correct.  All it requires is the conjuncture of cultural thinking and cultured thinking.

  • Gentlemen can’t conquer corruption

    When official corruption becomes fashionable, that is a corruption of fashion. It is a fashion that should be made unfashionable. Corruption-related news here and there not only illustrates the fashion of corruption but also the failure of containment.

    Understandably, the corruption-related spotlight on former Petroleum Resources Minister Diezani Alison-Madueke, which was activated in London, caused a sensation that is continuing sensationally. Yesterday’s powerful woman remains free, but her freedom is chained. Against the backdrop of ongoing investigation of her corruption status, she reportedly cannot leave the UK based on judicial restriction.

    Perhaps also understandable is a defensive familial statement, on October 8, by Oscar M. Onwudiwe, on behalf of the Agama and Madueke families. The statement said: “It is worth emphasising that Mrs. Alison-Madueke was never arrested or detained and her passport was never seized. She was merely invited, and she honoured it promptly.”  Of course, euphemism is allowed in such a defensive situation, even when the euphemistic is not euphonistic.

    The statement’s apparent clarification of Alison-Madueke’s health status is not just of particular interest; it is of public interest. It said: “Mrs. Diezani Alison-Madueke has been receiving treatment for cancer in the UK which started while she was in office. The health crisis has unfortunately exacerbated in recent times. She completed months of chemotherapy just last week and she is scheduled to undergo surgery next week in London.”

    This information should silence those who alleged that the poor woman was on the run, and had run away to the UK to escape a probe at home. But her cancer status must not arrest investigation of her corruption status.

    Cancer seems a penetrating metaphor for the operation of official corruption in Nigeria’s corridors of power.  The devastating potency of the disease and its destructive metastasis make it a vivid image of the power of corruption among the powerful. Literally and figuratively speaking, if corruption doesn’t kill the corrupt and the corrupted, they are unlikely to kill corruption.

    The idea that corruption can be seen as a cancer spreading among the country’s power elite is perhaps reinforced by a publicised 88-page petition to the Senate against a high-profile ministerial nominee, former Rivers State Governor Rotimi Amaechi.  The petition, aimed at rubbishing Amaechi’s nomination and stopping his confirmation, came from a Non-Governmental Organisation, “The Integrity Group,” based in Port Harcourt, the Rivers State capital.

    It is striking that the petition’s title is corruption-related: “Petition against ministerial nominee: Chibuke Rotimi Amaechi: Demand to withdraw and reject his nomination and appointment on grounds of corruption, criminal breach of trust, unlawful enrichment and conversion of over N70 billion Rivers peoples’ monies by the former governor of Rivers State.”

    On the surface, this move to discredit Amaechi may be politically inspired, considering the continuing conflict between the All Progressives Congress (APC), his party, and the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), the state’s ruling party. But beneath the surface, and beyond the surface, there may be dirt. In other words, the anti-Amaechi petition may not necessarily be anti-corruption, but that is not to say it is merely a tool to corrupt Amaechi’s screening for ministerial office.

    Essentially, these narratives concerning Alison-Madueke and Amaechi, irrespective of their innocence or guilt, show that the possibility of corruption transcends political complexion.

    How President Muhammadu Buhari will confront corruption is critical to the future of corruption. There is no question that a confrontational spearhead is compulsory for the conquest of corruption. Interestingly, a corroboration of this necessity came from an unlikely figure when Ijaw leader Chief Edwin Clark hosted the Think Nigeria First Initiative Group at his Asokoro home in Abuja. Clark spoke about the anti-corruption failure of former President Goodluck Jonathan, whose leadership he had supported unapologetically. Clark reportedly said: “Jonathan is a gentleman. He is too gentle. Drivers under his administration are now living in palatial buildings. In advanced countries, when you are living above your means, people will query you. This is not so in Nigeria…Jonathan meant well for this country, but the willpower to fight corruption was not there…Being a gentleman is not enough to govern this country.”

    For the avoidance of distraction, Clark’s message deserves public attention more than the confusion of the messenger. It is unclear whether Clark’s revealing portraiture is a revelation he has just had. It is also unclear whether Clark’s clarity is connected with the new period of political change and the fierce anti-corruption position of the Buhari administration.

    However, it is clear enough that the country has been corrupted by a chain of corruption-friendly governments and sponsors of corruption-friendly governance. Some months before Jonathan was dumped by the electorate in March, he identified what he described as “two main problems confronting us as a nation.”  It was at a special New Year service at the Dunamis International Gospel Centre, Abuja. According to Jonathan, “There are two main problems confronting us as a nation: The issue of insecurity in the North where we have the Boko Haram terrorists and in the South where we have commercial kidnapping. The next thing that people worry about after security is the issue of corruption.”

    Jonathan had boasted: “We are coming out with programmes and plans to clean up.” He was quoted as saying: “These are things you just don’t use a magical wand to wave off; otherwise even before I became President, there wouldn’t have been corruption in Nigeria.”

    It would appear that the country, contrary to Jonathan’s reasoning, is in dire need of a magic wand that is magical enough to correct the corrupt condition of corruption. Perhaps even more than a magic wand, the country deserves a magician of wonders. The mentality of a magician is absolutely necessary because a magic wand without a magician with a solid determination to use it to achieve magical results is ultimately of no use.

  • No winner, no money

    When writers don’t get it right, they get it wrong. Apart from a failure of craft and art, it was a poor outing for 109 writers who had their eyes on the 2015 Nigeria Prize for Literature (NPL) sponsored by Nigeria Liquefied Natural Gas (NLNG). None of them was considered worthy of the $100,000 prize money for children’s literature, the focus of the contest this year.

    According to the jury at a September 25 press conference in Lagos, “Language plays a major role in literary production. Creative writers are normally expected to pay special attention to the use of language and aesthetics. The Prize demands stylistic excellence as manifested through an original and authoritative voice, narrative coherence and technically accurate writing.”

    The judgement:  “Unfortunately, the entries this year fall short of this expectation as each book was found to manifest incompetence in the use of language. Many of them showed very little or no evidence of good editing.” The event proved to be a non-event.

    The head of the panel of judges, Prof. Uwemedimo Enobong Iwoketok, said 89 entries failed from the beginning of the assessment process. According to her, “A disturbingly large number of entries were dropped at the initial stage of short-listing because of grave editing and publishing errors.”

    The international consultant for the prize, Prof. Kim Reynolds of the Newcastle University, United Kingdom, said: “The entries lack the lyricism, vision, and authority to become classics that will be handed down from generation to generation and that have the potential to reach out across cultures.”

    It is interesting that the organisers interpreted the anticlimax as the result of what may be described as a knowledge issue. In other words, Nigerian writers of children’s literature who participated in the literary competition were perceived as literary illiterates who don’t understand the particular form and don’t know how to create it.

    Also interesting is the response by the organisers. The General Manager, External Relations, Nigeria LNG, Dr. Kudo Eresia-Eke, reportedly spoke about the organisation’s plans to invest in a capacity-building workshop on children’s literature. He said: “NLNG is determined to promote excellence by investing the prize money, which would have been won, back into the process for a creative writing workshop for Nigerian writers of children’s literature. The proceedings would be collated, published for reference and guidance.”

    It sounds simplistic. The magic bullet is not magical. In the circumstances, a workshop may be useful and helpful, but the work required is wider. In Unless It Moves the Human Heart, an eye-opening 2011 book about teaching writing and learning writing, Roger Rosenblatt made a striking observation about writing programmes in America. Rosenblatt said: “Since 1975, the number of creative writing programs has increased 800 percent. It is amazing… all over America, students ranging in age from their early twenties to their eighties hunker down at seminar tables like this one  in Iowa, California, Texas, Massachusetts, New York, and hundreds of places, avid to join a profession that practically guarantees them rejection, poverty and failure.”

    How many creative writing programmes are available in Nigeria? How many would-be writers in the country would be interested in such programmes? What about the cost of learning? What about the cost of teaching? These costs may not necessarily be monetary, though money may be a factor.

    Talking of money, a report quoted an “Enugu-based literary activist,” Adaobi Nwoye: “We have been complaining about the dearth of qualitative writing in Nigeria for a while now. This is the result. Nowadays many people are not writing because they are passionate about literature. Instead, they are writing because they want to make money. I think this is one of the reasons why none of the entries for the 2015 Nigeria Prize for Literature failed to win.” Her observation deserves contemplation.

    A thought-provoking excerpt is relevant, especially considering the context of children’s literature.    It is from a 2015 book by Brian Grazer, A Curious Mind: The Secret to a Bigger Life. The writer in focus:  Theodor Seuss Geisel, an American writer and illustrator who authored popular children’s books under the pen name Dr. Seuss. Dramatically, his first book was published after 27 publishers had rejected the manuscript.

    Grazer wrote:  ”Being determined in the face of obstacles is vital. Theodor Geisel, Dr. Seuss, is a great example of that himself. Many of his forty-four books remain wild bestsellers. In 2013, Green Eggs and Ham sold more than 700,000 copies in the United States (more than Goodnight Moon); The Cat in the Hat sold more than 500,000 copies, as did Oh, the Places You’ll Go! and One Fish Two Fish Red Fish Blue Fish. And five more Dr. Seuss books each sold more than 250,000 copies. That’s eight books, with total sales of more than 3.5 million copies, in one year (another eight Seuss titles sold 100,000 copies or more). Theodor Geisel is selling 11,000 Dr. Seuss books every day of the year, in the United States alone, twenty-four years after he died. He has sold 600 million books worldwide since his first book, And to Think That I Saw It on Mulberry Street, was published in 1937. And as inevitable as Dr. Seuss’s appeal seems now, Mulberry Street was rejected by twenty-seven publishers before being accepted by Vanguard Press…”

    He continued:”The story of Geisel being rejected twenty-seven times before his first book was published is often repeated, but the details are worth relating. Geisel says he was walking home, stinging from the book’s twenty-seventh rejection, with the manuscript and drawings for Mulberry Street under his arm, when an acquaintance from his student days at Dartmouth College bumped into him on the sidewalk on Madison Avenue in New York City. Mike McClintock asked what Geisel was carrying. ‘That’s a book no one will publish,’ said Geisel. ‘I’m lugging it home to burn.’ McClintock had just that morning been made editor of children’s books at Vanguard; he invited Geisel up to his office, and McClintock and his publisher bought Mulberry Street that day. When the book came out, the legendary book reviewer for the New Yorker, Clifton Fadiman, captured it in a single sentence: ‘They say it’s for children, but better get a copy for yourself and marvel at the good Dr. Seuss’s impossible pictures and the moral tale of the little boy who exaggerated not wisely but too well.’ Geisel would later say of meeting McClintock on the street, ‘[I]f I’d been going down the other side of Madison Avenue, I’d be in the dry-cleaning business today…’

    This is not only a story of literary success but also of literary failure. Twenty-seven rejections cannot be a laughing matter. Twenty-seven rejections must be a mirthless matter. Concerning the writers who suffered rejection in the NLNG 2015 literary contest, isn’t it possible that their rejected books may be redeemed elsewhere? Or are these rejected books irredeemably defective?

  • Understanding Saraki’s misunderstandings

    When understanding collides with misunderstanding, the collision needs to be understood.  Is Senate President Bukola Saraki misunderstood?  In other words, is he a victim of misunderstanding? Or is he the one who needs to demonstrate understanding? Does he have the understanding needed to avoid misunderstanding his situation?

    Where is this train of thought going? Or where is it coming from? Well, Saraki prompted a contemplation of understanding and misunderstanding by his word choice on September 22 when he was docked by the Code of Conduct Tribunal (CCT). In an unexpected and unprocedural seizure of the moment, Saraki reportedly said to Tribunal Chairman Justice Danladi Umar: “Mr. Chairman, I just want to make this point for you to understand that, as a layman, I am puzzled why I should be before the tribunal.” Saraki continued: “We are all before the world and not just before Nigeria and we ought to be seen how we conform to due process.”

    It is puzzling that Saraki claimed to be puzzled. Even more puzzling was a statement signed by him after his performance in the dock. He said: “I reiterate my belief that the only reason why I am going through this is because I am Senate President. If I were to be just a Senator, I doubt if anybody will be interested in the assets declaration form I filled over twelve years ago.”

    It is not understandable: Saraki doesn’t understand that it is precisely because of his status as Senate President that he deserves whatever he is going through. The country certainly doesn’t deserve a legislative commander that not only emerged controversially, but whose emergence was also coloured by a colourless subversion of his party’s position.

    Only a dysfunctional decoding of the concept of party supremacy could have encouraged the circumstances that brought him to the helm of affairs at the Senate, an ascendancy he actualised through an unapologetic defiance of his party’s desire and decision. It is noteworthy that the same warped twist resulted in a queer combination and cohabitation at the helm of the Senate: Saraki of the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC), a party elected to power on the premise of progressivism, and Deputy Senate President Ike Enweremadu of the unprogressive Peoples Democratic Party (PDP). Saraki made matters worse by subsequently rubbishing his party’s list for Senate leadership posts.

    It is understandable that a functional interpretation of party supremacy must be informed by the logic of supremacy. Supremacy is supreme. For the purpose of clarification, supremacy doesn’t mean infallibility. So the party can err. It does not guarantee fairness. So the party can be unfair. The essence of party supremacy is its conclusive collective voice.

    Saraki is a figure that emerged without an understanding of party supremacy, a development that has helped to fuel a crisis of individualism in the APC. In his rise to the preeminent legislative position, he demonstrated a misunderstanding of the party’s “due process”, and he did so without any care whether a watching world understood his lack of understanding. It is not understandable: Saraki now wants the public to understand so-called conformity to due process only in the context of his ongoing troubles. Obviously, he brought trouble upon himself and should understand that it may be harvest time for him.

    It should be understood that this political drama is taking place on the stage of realpolitik. Saraki’s anti-party manoeuvres that gave him the Senate crown were guided by realpolitik. His defenders and supporters have attributed his tribunal trial to the power and influence of alleged political antagonists, without understanding that Saraki doesn’t have a monopoly on realpolitik.

    Perhaps unfortunately for Saraki, there may be evidence of minuses exploitable by the opposing side. Considering the internal logic of party supremacy, it is understandable that   internal politicking in a political party may give an advantage to certain interests such that they enjoy leadership influence. But this is no reason for the disadvantaged to bellyache to the point of belligerence and centrifugal conduct as manifested by Saraki in the pursuit of his desperate ambition to lead the Senate.

    Clearly, Saraki wants his party to accept his contentious crowning as a fait accompli, which is not understandable. In building scenarios following his untidy enthronement, it would appear that Saraki didn’t understand that APC supremos were likely to make moves to  save party supremacy, and that  they were likely to find their own way of doing so. He probably didn’t understand the consequences of his rebellion and how far the party may be prepared to go in exploring a plurality of possibilities to checkmate him.

    Saraki didn’t understand that the early sign of his disruptive behaviour was likely to be seen as a danger to party supremacy by party hierarchs particularly. He didn’t understand that his party would not encourage him to perform even more daring stunts to disgrace party supremacy by allowing him to get away with his initial misbehaviour.  It is understandable if the party decides to follow the path that leads to restoration and reinforcement of party supremacy based on party discipline, party cohesion and party integrity.

    The conflict is nothing short of a domestic war of sorts. It is not for the faint-hearted. On Saraki’s side in particular, he will need a capacity to endure a war of attrition. Saraki must understand that in attrition warfare, the fundamental strategy is “to win a war by wearing down the enemy to the point of collapse through continuous losses”. He should understand what he is facing, or perhaps more aptly, the force of the forces ranged against him: “one can be said to pursue a strategy of attrition when one makes it the main goal to cause gradual attrition to the opponent eventually amounting to unacceptable or unsustainable levels for the opponent while limiting one’s own gradual losses to acceptable and sustainable levels.”

    There is no doubt that Saraki has only himself to blame for being on the receiving end of attritional methods, and not without reasonable justification. When will Saraki understand that he is fighting a losing battle?

  • Attractions made unattractive

    CERTAIN things about the past speak to the present in the presence of the future. Such is the case with the September 2 news of the dating of an 11, 000-year old moat at Sugbon Eredo in Oke Eri. Prof. David Aremu of the Department of Archaeology and Anthropology, University of Ibadan, said in a statement: “The research in Sugbon Eredo, Oke Eri, is aimed at examining the structure, component, technology and functions of Sugbon Eredo Moat, which is 165 kilometres surrounding the former Ijebu kingdom. It also throws more light on the history of the people who built the embankment and how they adapted to their forest environment.”

    According to a report, Prof. Aremu said “the moat covered Ijebu kingdom up to Epe in the south, Ago-Iwoye in the north, Eredo in the west and the area towards Ore, Ondo State, in the east.” The researchers, led by Prof Aremu, said different charcoal samples from the moat analysed in a U.S. laboratory gave dates of 11, 000 years and 4, 900 years.  These results have been interpreted to mean that human presence in Ijebu land dates back to a time beyond the scope of oral history. “These findings pose a lot of questions, which we may not be able to answer now about the establishment of the Yoruba in Southwest Nigeria,” Prof. Aremu said.

    The statement also said: “The chronology of the site provides information beyond the myth of the Queen of Sheba and her possible influence in Nigeria and the Middle East. In the narrative of the Ijebu, the building of Eredo moat was organised by a powerful influential woman called Bilikisu Sungbo (that is, Queen of Sheba), who travelled to visit King Solomon in Jerusalem.”

    The don reportedly “advised the Ogun State government to convert Eredo moat to an international tourist site, stressing that foreigners had shown interest in it.” Of course, this is easier said than done. The reality is that in Nigeria tourism promotion is little more than lip service. At the governmental level, the latest report on the antiquity of Sungbo Eredo Moat, and the historical and social implications of the research results, may well pass unnoticed, not to say ignored.

    Over a decade ago, I couldn’t resist the attraction and decided to go and see the 8,000-year-old Dufuna Canoe in Damaturu, Yobe State, from my base in Lagos.  Billed as “Africa’s oldest known boat,” it was discovered in May 1987 by an obscure Fulani herdsman, Mallam Yau, who had struck the dugout canoe buried in the earth while digging a well on the outskirts of Dufuna village.  News of this discovery travelled fast and reached the government of the old Borno State, which at the time included Dufuna, now part of Yobe State in northeastern Nigeria.

    “Then I came in,” said Abubakar Garba, who was an Associate Professor at the Centre for Trans-Saharan Studies, University of Maiduguri, Borno State, when I first interviewed him in 2001. He recalled:  “I was contacted to make a full investigation as an archaeologist.  I knew at the time that I was making a breakthrough in my field.  I got a chip sample from the canoe, which I sent to a laboratory in Germany.  They were fascinated by the first date.”  Radiocarbon dating put the age of the chip at over 8,000 years. Two separate tests on chips taken from different parts of the canoe, carried out at different times at Kiel and Cologne universities in Germany, gave similar dates of over 8,000 years.

    “There is no reason to doubt the broad date of the boat,” according to Peter Breunig, an archaeologist involved in its excavation on the platform of the University of Frankfurt, Germany. On the boat’s period, Breunig said in a statement, “In archaeological terms it is described as an early phase of the Later Stone Age, which began rather more than 12,000 years ago and ended with the appearance of pottery, probably more than 7,000 years ago.”  An initial trial excavation sponsored by the University of Maiduguri led to collaboration on the canoe project with the University of Frankfurt.

    The lab results redefined the prehistory of African water transport, ranking the Dufuna Canoe as the world’s third oldest known dugout.  Older than it are the dugouts from Pesse, Netherlands, and Noyen-sur-Seine, France.  But evidence of an 8,000-year-old tradition of boat building in Africa throws cold water on the assumption that maritime transport developed much later there in comparison with Europe.  Breunig said the canoe’s age “forces a reconsideration of Africa’s role in the history of water transport”.  It shows, he added, “that the cultural history of Africa was not determined by Near Eastern and European influences but took its own, in many cases, parallel course”.

    The canoe was eventually lifted out of the earth in March 1998, over a decade after its discovery.  “Some educated people wanted the canoe to be left in the earth”, Garba recalled, adding that it was a battle to get the then military administration to build a conservation site for what was regarded as “just a piece of wood.”

    Garba recounted his excavation experience: “To uncover the canoe involved up to 50 labourers, who took about two weeks to accomplish this task.  About five metres down inside the museum, the archaeologists had to use mechanical means to evacuate the water, which kept oozing back continuously.”  The Dufuna Canoe was found, he said, “water-logged, on a sandy base with intermittent intervals of clay, and inaccessible to oxygen; circumstances most favourable for most organic materials”.  Other objects that surfaced at the excavation site were of little archaeological value.

    “It has a length of 8.40 metres and maximum breadth and height of around 0.5 metres.  The sides are barely more than 5 centimetres thick,” Breunig described the canoe, adding that it even outranks in style European finds of similar age.   To go by its stylistic sophistication, he reasoned, “It is highly probable that the Dufuna boat does not represent the beginning of a tradition, but had already undergone a long development, and that the origins of water transport in Africa lie even further back in time.”

    Contemplating the discovery is like sailing on a sea of puzzles.  Garba wondered, for instance: “What could have been the Dufuna environment and adjacent areas at the time the canoe was in use?  If the vegetation was more luxuriant and denser, what might have led to its deterioration?  What types of prehistoric populations were present at the settlement?  Could they have any link with the present population or adjacent groups?  Could it have been possible that the mega-Chad extended up to this area or could it have been transported from elsewhere to this area. What was it for?”

    Today, 17 years after its excavation, the famous Dufuna Canoe is still being kept out of public view to the public’s chagrin. At the time I tried to see the canoe in 2001, it was out of view within a circular fortress in Damaturu, the Yobe State capital.  A notice on the building’s wall pointed out that the canoe was “Under Conservation”.  Scary skulls and crossbones gave bite to two warnings: “Keep Off”; “Beware of Corrosive Chemicals”.

    Attractions can be made unattractive, which probably explains why official performance in the business of attracting domestic and international tourists to attractions across the country has not attracted public attention in any impressive way.