Category: Lekan Otufodunrin

I have travelled to Kenya more than seven times in the last 15 years. I was back in the country recently for a meeting and noted the following moments among others.

Very cold in Nairobi

I should have paid attention to the pre-travel weather advice that July is usually one of the coldest months in Kenya. It was so cold most of the days that I usually shiver while outside in any enclosed space.

I couldn’t walk barefoot in the room and was grateful to the hotel for giving me a thick blanket without asking for one. Not only the visitors complained about the cold, Kenyans also did.

 How is your new President?

Almost everyone I told I’m a Nigerian asked how our new President is doing. They obviously followed the last campaigns and general election from the questions they asked.

Read Also: Tinubu heads for AU mid-year meeting in Kenya

Hope he will be better than Buhari. How true are the accusations against him? Why didn’t “Peter the Rock” win with all we read about him online? I did my best to explain what I think of the election and the present situation.

Kenyan Airways

I’m not sure why I was one of the passengers on the Kenyan Airways flight from Lagos asked to give feedback on the services by the airline, but I was glad to do so.

“Always a pleasure to fly KQ. It’s truly the Pride of Africa. They keep to their schedule and the inflight service is very good” I wrote. The airline is 46 years old.

 No corruption-free zone

If there’s anywhere corruption of any kind is not tolerated in Kenya, the Jomo Kenyatta International Airport is one of the places. The inscription at the entrance of the toll gate where every passenger has to disembark and walk through the screening machine says so.

However, a on arrival, a policeman at the airport tried hard to get my colleague and I from Nigeria to give him any amount even when we told him we did not need his help for any entry requirements but we didn’t budge.

He trailed us from the Health checkpoint for Yellow Fever Vaccination Card, through the baggage collection point to the arrival gate.

No power outage

For the one week we stayed in Nairobi there was no second of power outage. There was no generator in sight anywhere in the hotel we stayed or in any building, we passed by. I didn’t see anyone with a Power bank for telephones.

Does that mean they don’t experience blackouts I asked a staff of the hotel?

“We rarely do, but we have a backup just in case and there will be an advance notice if there will be any,” he explained.

No wonder, a female journalist who would love to visit Nigeria says she can’t live for a long time in Nigeria. “How do I cope with the blackouts and noise of generators?”

Nigeria music flooding everywhere

A speaker at the meeting we attended spoke of how her son usually complains of how dull her organization’s social media engagement is. She said her son suggested among others the use of “one of those Nigerian popular music taking over the place, Baby come down or something like that.”

Nigerian wears

Nigerians and other West Africans who attended the forum stood out with the clothes we wore. We were roundly commended by the Kenyans for the traditional wear that gave us a distinctly African identity.

“We Kenyans don’t have traditional wears like Nigerians and other West Africans. I envy you, people. We are stuck with wearing English wears all the time. I told the lady from Togo to bring me a bag full of clothes the next time she is coming to Kenya,” a Kenyan participant said.

Beware of Nigerians

Kenyans generally like Nigerians for what they call our “Can do” spirit. They say we are very enterprising and daring, but should be dealt with like someone intending to dine with the devil.

“They are many Nigerians here who do all kinds of businesses, but you must be careful about what you buy from them. Imagine Nigerians preaching in our local language Swahili,” a taxi driver said.

I recently spent a week in Washington DC attending a Journalism boot camp along with some colleagues from Africa. I didn’t have time to explore the city but below are some of the side-memorable moments of my stay.

African – American Museum

The tour through the massive African -American Museum was very enlightening and depressing. It brought back harrowing memories of what our African forefathers and mothers went through being shipped from home and the battles they fought through the years to become free citizens. The effort to preserve history is very commendable and worth emulating to protect our heritage.

Internship lesson at Dinner

The veteran journalist who spoke at the welcome dinner recalled how maximizing internship opportunities gave him an advantage over his colleagues.

“While others grudgingly ran errands without paying attention. I read copies I was asked to take from one desk to the other. I asked questions and got answers. I learnt so much that prepared me for my career journey”

They don’t know it’s Sallah

It was supposed to be Sallah Day and public holiday back home in Nigeria, but there was no sign of any religious celebration at the venue of the programme and the environment. People went about their regular duties and I was forced to ask why. I was told those who want to celebrate can, but it’s not a nationwide celebration.

Whimsical

There is nothing whimsical about the tool, but that’s what it is called.  Whimsical said to be the fastest way for product teams to diagram, wireframe, and brainstorm collaboratively was one of the new tools I learned to use during the Journalism Bootcamp. Check it out.

Fun-fact about me

Is it funny that two of my three graduates children who studied History & Quantity Survey are now full-time fashion entrepreneurs? My co-participants and officials accepted it as my fun fact which we were to add to introducing ourselves and ‘consoled’ me that old school parents like me have to live with such reality with the present generation.

One day away from Friday

I’m used to the expression Thank God it’s Friday, but I learnt a new one from the lady at the reception of the organization I attended a training in Washington recently when I greeted her on a Thursday morning and she responded with some excitement. ” Good morning. One day away from Friday”

Where is the food?

What is food to Americans is not the same for Africans. After scanning the supposed food items for breakfast and lunch during our weeklong stay, I and other African colleagues usually ask ourselves where is the food? Where is the real thing we call food back home? Where is the swallow? A colleague who once came to Lagos asked me?

Simeon the Ateba

Years ago he was a reporter with PM News in Lagos. Today the Cameroonian-born journalist is Publisher and Chief White House Correspondent of Today News Africa in the United States. He came to see me with a friend and we spent some moments discussing his exploits and the constantly changing media terrain.

I like your suit

I got complimented by many people for the different  Kaftan I wore throughout the week courtesy of my two fashion entrepreneurs’ children. What confused me however was when I kept hearing them say “I like your suit”

It’s the cheekbone!

She is an African American but almost resembles one or two ladies I know back in Lagos. When I showed her the picture of someone who looks like her twin in Lagos, she exclaimed ” Wao. It’s the cheekbones.”

The former Dean of the School of Communication at the Lagos State University, Ojo, Professor Lai Oso who died recently in an auto accident was buried last Friday amidst torrents of tributes from the very day his death was confirmed.

At the various events leading to his burial and on various platforms, many friends, associates, former students and others paid glowing tributes to the distinguished media scholar and professional whose life and times is a model of pursuit of excellence, humility and kindness.

So much has been said and written about the impact made by Late Professor Oso like many others that have died before him that one would have wished they were alive to know how much they were appreciated for their deeds.

Unfortunately the dead cannot read or listen to tributes. Only their family members and others can appreciate how much people value their contributions and support which they may not know until the beneficiaries recount them on their demise. In an interview, the Late Professor’s wife said that it took her husband’s death to realize how much good he has done for mankind.

If only people can be celebrated when they are alive as they are when they die maybe more people will appreciate the need to keep being as good as they are and do more.

Since no one is sure of when anyone will die, it may be better for people to be acknowledged and appreciated as much as possible whenever there is an opportunity for it instead of when they suddenly die. I had to recheck the meaning of tribute to be sure it was not meant for only dead people.

According to the Oxford Dictionary, a tribute is something that you say, write, or give that shows your respect and admiration for someone, especially on a formal occasion. Even beyond formal occasions, there are many opportunities we often miss in paying tributes to people who deserve them. Sometimes we hold back and are not as generous as we should in singing people’s well-deserved praise.

Paying tributes to people when they are alive helps them see the value of what they are doing and why they should not relent. There are things people write about me on my birthdays on social media that always remind me, sometimes when I want to relax, that I cannot afford to do less than I have been doing over the years regarding especially my commitment to mentoring and coaching young journalists.

People can be modest and say they don’t want to be commended for whatever people appreciate about them since they are just being their natural selves, but there is a motivating value in paying timely tributes which may not be obvious. I use to have a boss who does not want any public acknowledgement for his numerous accomplishments and the help he has offered people, including me.

Without seeking his permission, I wrote about how he has been one of the main guardian angels in my career on Facebook and the only thing he could say when many of his friends started calling him about the post was that I shouldn’t have written it. I prefer to celebrate him while he is alive and not when he may not know how much I appreciate his support through the years.

Even for others who read or listen to tributes, there are lessons for them which can positively influence them to be better in their ways knowing that someday people will write about them too.

It’s not enough to enjoy reading or listening to tributes either for the living or the dead, it’s necessary to learn from them to have a better one written when it’s the turn of the reader. The best way we can remember our loved ones when they pass on is to learn from their life and do better than they did.

I still shudder to think that the former Dean of the School of Communication, Lagos State University, Ojo, Professor Lai Oso is indeed dead.

Imagine being awake while I was supposed to be sleeping because my body system was yet to adjust to the time of the country I travelled to which is five hours behind Nigeria time only to check my phone and see the information about the accomplished media scholar and professional dying in an auto accident.

I kept checking various online platforms hoping that the information will be denied, but the shock and grief expressed by many online following the report of his death left in no doubt that the demise of the down-to-earth Professor is shockingly true.

I immediately went back to June 1, this year when he was the Keynote speaker at a media training in Lagos based on my assurance that I know the lead organiser to who I gave his contact. I had the honour of presenting him his portrait on behalf of the organisers and can still remember the pre-conference chat we had about his living in Sagamu and working in Lagos among other issues.

As usual, he asked after my wife, his former student at the former Ogun State Polytechnic, Abeokuta, while I was the Ogun State Correspondent of The Punch where I first knew him.

As I looked through the pictures of the event and watch the video of his insightful presentation, the truth of the Yoruba saying that death does not give notice of the day and month dawned on me. He was his usual boisterous self on the day of the programme exchanging greetings and jokes with participants, some of whom were his former students and other much younger colleagues who have heard so much about him but were meeting him for the first time.

Our meeting was weeks ago, but I can imagine how those he spent his last days with at the Delta State University where he went for external supervision would receive the news of his death while waiting for him to confirm his safe arrival in Sagamu.

I’m not surprised by the torrents of tributes and condolences messages over the demise of Professor Oso who through the years diligently discharged his duty as a teacher, lecturer and mentor which explains why many of his former students and colleagues have fond memories of his life and times at the various institutions he had served in different capacities.

Read Also: My husband was a pillar, banner to all – Late Lai Oso’s wife

I was not his former student, but he if had his way, he would have ensured I enrol for a Doctorate degree in Mass Communication. He once even offered to collect the registration form for me at LASU if I was ready to spare time for the programme.  I didn’t take advantage of the offer but was always glad to meet with him at various media programmes where he generously shares his intellectual and professional thoughts and experience.

We once co-facilitated a training for journalists in Bayelsa State sponsored by the United States Consulate in Lagos during which I asked him to share the story of how he moved from being a reporter to becoming a professor of Mass Communication.

The group of experienced journalists who attended the programme thanked him profusely for inspiring them to be more determined to make the best of their media careers. They were struck by his “un-Professoral” nature which made it possible for him to relate with them like a long-time colleague. Indeed that was his nature and easygoing self despite his top academic and professional status.

He will surely be missed by not only his family but so many he has impacted in one or the other. He will forever be remembered for his profound contributions to media development academically and professionally and many other good and unforgettable things he did in his lifetimes.

I remembered two of the many profound thoughts my former editor at The Punch, Mr Gbemiga Ogunleye shared in some past discussions when I read the report of the former Minister of Education, Mallam Adamu Adamu admitting that he only had a superficial knowledge of the Education sector when he was appointed in 2015.

When we discussed some long-serving staff complaining of not being considered for some key appointments, Ogunleye noted that there is a difference between being qualified for a position and being competent to perform the role.

The aggrieved staff, he said should not expect to get appointed just because they have been long in the service of the company. If they don’t have the required competence, they should be grateful they are still retained.

The second point which is more relevant for the focus of this column is about how to compensate family members or people close to you when you are in a position to either hire or appoint people for vacant positions.

While there may be nothing wrong in hiring one’s relatives the organisation one head, he said it’s wrong to give them positions they may not be competent for.

For example, if you are the Managing Director of a bank and your brother is a good cleaner, don’t make him an Assistant Manager, make him or her the head of the cleaners at most.

He will definitely not be able to perform the managerial role of a banker, but he or she will do better heading the cleaners.

Considering the various requirements for appointing ministers, including the constitutional requirements and political considerations the President has to balance, it’s definitely not easy ensuring that all the ministries are manned by persons who are very knowledgeable about each sector.

The federal cabinet is supposed to be composed of at least one minister each from the 36 states of the federation and the federal capital city, Abuja. Beyond competence, there are various interests to be considered and persons to be compensated for their roles in the election, while some ministries are regarded as more ‘juicy’ and prominent.

It’s indeed tough for the President to decide who should be the right fit for any of the ministries, but as much as possible, the ministries should be manned by experienced and knowledgeable persons.

Adamu is not the only minister who got appointed into ministries they didn’t know much about the issues they are supposed to superintend over. He should be commended for owning up. According to him, he was busy recommending suitable persons for appointment as ministers when he was appointed to a ministry he knew little or nothing about.

Even when he suggested his replacement and that of others for the second term, President Muhammadu Buhari preferred to retain them. The Education Ministry is too strategic to have been experimented with as President Buhari opted to do considering that he would have been spoiled for choice if he wanted to have a minister with sufficient or relevant experience in the education sector.

Based on the profiles of ministerial nominees, the public usually assumes who should be named for which ministries, but as usual, the assigned portfolios usually come as a surprise, except in a few cases like the Ministry of Health and Justice.

While some appointees, as we have seen in the present and past cabinets have performed well in ministries they had no experience in the sector before, it’s better to appoint ministers based on their relevant academic and professional experience.

There is no point in appointing ministers who have to start seeking experts to advise them on how to run the ministries they are assigned as Adamu had to do. How does the novice minister know if the advice he or she is given is the right one or not? It’s so easy for some civil servants to take advantage of the ignorance of ministers who only have a superficial knowledge of what they are supposed to do as has been the case.

As we get ready for the new administration, President Bola Tinubu should do his best to ensure that we have the right persons manning the ministries and other positions.

It’s apparent that some Nigerians are having nightmares about the swearing-in of Asiwaju Bola Tinubu as the President and Commander In Chief of the Federal Republic of Nigeria on May 29, 2023.

Having been declared the winner of the February 25, 2023, presidential election by the Independent Electoral Commission (INEC), there should be no controversy about him being sworn in on May 29 in accordance with the country’s constitution, but some groups and persons can’t imagine the oath of office ceremony holding on that date.

According to them, it’s better that every legal contention over Tinubu’s victory of be resolved in his favour at the Election Tribunal and courts before he should be sworn in.

During the week some persons were reported to have approached the Federal High Court in Abuja with a suit seeking to halt the scheduled swearing-in of the All Progressives Congress (APC) Presidential candidate.

The group in a motion ex-parte it filed alongside the suit marked FHC/ABJ/C5/567/2023 was said to have alleged that Tinubu, who was declared President-elect by the INEC lied on oath about his possession of a Guinean Passport among other claims.

In an interview with Channels Television, the Vice Presidential candidate of the Labour Party, Senator Datti Baba-Ahmed had asked urged the chief justice of Nigeria (CJN), Olukayode Ariwoola not to participate in the swearing-in of Tinubu as president over what he described as a “violation” of the constitution.

Baba-Ahmed claimed Tinubu failed to fulfil the requirements stipulated in the section of the 1999 constitution (as amended) for election to the office of the president by not scoring 25 per cent of the votes in the Federal Capital City, Abuja.

Read Also: Tinubu will overcome legal battles, others, says cleric

There have also been references to Kenya where disputes over the presidential election are resolved before the winner is sworn in as it is in the recent case involving President Williams Ruto.

While it may appear tidy to conclude the legal disputes over elections before the swearing-in of Tinubu as some persons are canvasing for, there is no constitutional basis for such calls.

There is no precedence in the country when the swearing-in of anyone declared validly elected has been delayed because there is a case against them at the Tribunal or court.

What we have had at the state and federal levels is the swearing-in of the winner while the aggrieved candidate can pursue his or her case to the Supreme Court.

Outgoing President Muhammadu Buhari had his days in the Tribunal and courts when he lost in the presidential elections he contested before he eventually won.

His filing of petitions in the Tribunal and cases courts did not delay the swearing-in of former Presidents Olusegun Obasanjo, Umaru Yaradua and Goodluck Jonathan.

It’s curious why the advocates of the halting of the swearing-in are making it seem as if this will be the first time an elected person would be sworn in while the case is still at the Tribunal or court.

It doesn’t matter how long any sworn-in winner has been in office. If the election is invalidated as we have seen in some instances they would automatically lose the position and make way for whoever is said to be the winner.

While so much fuss is being made about Tinubu’s swearing-in, the same case is not being made against the swearing-in of state governors and legislators whose elections are being contested at the Tribunal.

As the former president of the Nigerian Bar Association, Olisa Agbakoba and others have rightly noted, the inauguration of Tinubu on 29 May 2023 is bound to happen under our constitutional process.

Democracy is based on the rule of law and whoever is contesting the legality of the election of any candidate needs to obey the rule of constitutionalism.

There is no point in giving anyone the false hope that the inauguration can be halted as long as no one results to any unconstitutional means. It’s a dream that cannot come true.