The Nation Newspaper

Category: Sunday

  • Advancing media career

    What does it takes to advance a media career in Nigeria despite the various challenges faced by journalists in the country?

    I recently asked Jenifer Ehidiamen, a former Young Nation columnist with this paper to share her thoughts with a group of journalists in Lagos. She was very reluctant, claiming to be too young in the profession to be advising her seniors.

    Ehidiamen may be young in the profession but she has learnt and accomplished a lot to qualify to speak on the issue of succeeding in whatever career one chooses. Her prescriptions are not only good enough for media profession but for anyone who wants to make a success of his or her career.

    Trainings and Fellowship

    In my final year thesis that was focused on The Factors the Influences Journalist’s Productivity, one of the findings in the research was journalist’s interest in embracing training opportunities. However, most journalists who were surveyed in the Vanguard and the Nation admitted that most of the trainings they have been to are mostly self-sponsored. The management rarely provide training opportunities that can advance their career. However, as journalists we must not limit ourselves to the limited training opportunities provided by our organizations. If we really want to move ahead in our media career then we must be ready to maximize every training opportunity available. Popular online resource where we can find training and fellowship opportunities include: www.ijnet.org; www.internationalreporting.org etc.

    Embrace the New Media

    The new media is changing the face of journalism. But how many of us here are maximizing the tools to advance our media career? A lot of people I know who are active on social media and very proactive in reproducing news contents from the news professional journalists publish have no prior training in journalism. Yet, they are the ones making the best of the new media tools. What are professional journalists doing? There are different tools we must be willing to embrace in order to become more visible online. Some of the tools I use most are: Twitter, FaceBook, GooglePlus, Blog, LinkedIn etc. Each of these tools has a strong way of helping us have a more impactful online presence. We must not settle for just creating news contents for our traditional media alone. We each can own a website or create a free account on Blogger or WordPress and use them as channels to amplify our voices on issues we are passionate about. The more people know that you are actually a journalist and not just another blogger, the more they are likely to visit your blog for original and accurate reports you publish. We can use the new media to engage others, network, collaborate and advance our career.

    Profile: Tell your story right

    Journalists are very good story tellers. We do a very good job telling the stories of others but not our story. The other day my former classmate was having a challenge with filling a space in an application that required her to tell her story. The space required over 700 words. But all she had was some 390 words or so. I was perplexed after I read through the profile. “You are more than this,” I said to her. I could not figure out if she was trying to be modest or she was just too timid to tell her story. As journalist we need to have an audacious voice in sharing our experiences with others. Our profile should speak for us. How is your current LinkedIn page, is it up to date? Is the picture you used on point? People are interested in learning about where we have been and why we do what we do. Without an up to date profile that accurately tell of our work, they cannot learn this. Don’t get me wrong, this is not same as blowing out own trumpet. I think we are each shortchanging ourselves from possible opportunities that might come knocking if there is nothing about our story that draws those opportunities on.

    Ehidiamen is a 2013 IRP New Media Fellow reporting on issues of global health and development in Nigeria to the International Reporting Project (IRP) at Johns Hopkins University SAIS

     

  • AFCON 2013, Keshi’s resignation, etc.

    AFCON 2013, Keshi’s resignation, etc.

    This year’s Africa Cup of Nations (AFCON), has come and gone, but its sweet and bitter memories linger; yes, sweet and bitter memories; depending on which side of the divide one falls. For us in Nigeria, it was an event to remember because our football ambassadors, the Super Eagles, brought the coveted trophy home. A country like Burkina Faso who lost to us will continue to rue that loss for some time to come. But I must confess I am no longer a football enthusiast. I lost the enthusiasm years back, when our local league became moribund, making Nigerians to join the rest of the world in celebrating European football.

    I remember how in years past, we used to celebrate our own great teams like Enugu Rangers, IICC Shooting Stars of Ibadan, Mighty Jets of Jos, Alyufsalam Rocks Football Club of Ilorin, Stationery Stores of Lagos, Sharks Football Club of Port Harcourt, to mention just a few. I also remember, albeit nostalgically, how in those years Nigerians trooped to any stadium where any of these great teams was playing to watch soccer as well as entertain themselves. But that was in the years when Nigeria was an issue and Nigerians could still look to the future hoping that it would be better than the present. We savoured the fine soccer that our players displayed on the fields, the panache, the victories, and even sometimes the defeat, especially when we realised that the losers really played well but the god of soccer was not favourably disposed to letting them win the match.

    But all that is gone! Just as we now look back and keep asking ourselves how we came to this sorry pass in other spheres of life; so we are also asking today how we lost all that patriotism and sentimental attachment to our local league to some funny European teams whose names are so popular in our homes today that we hardly remember that it had not always been like this. As a matter of fact, some of us had become so fanatical about these foreign teams that they had killed fellow Nigerians in anger over matches played by the teams.

    It was in this ‘I can’t care less’ attitude that I was when AFCON 2013 began. Like many Nigerians, I did not have any hope that the Super Eagles would go far. As a matter of fact, I started convincing myself that the team would come back home sooner than expected after watching their first match against Burkina Faso in which we played 1-1. By the time we played the second match with Zambia, I had lost interest completely, with that match again ending 1-1. But this lack of interest in the team had nothing to do with the team or the coach; it is just this thing about our sports administration, particularly that of football. Like the tortoise, they are so ubiquitous that their names keep coming up when the issue is the ignoble.

    We have heard all kinds of stories about them. For instance, when some of the foreign coaches were recruited, we read of allegations against them (football administrators), for instance, that some of them went into deals with the foreign coaches and were getting part of the mouth-watering salaries that the coaches were paid. We have heard allegations of how they creamed off players’ allowances; how they return home from events outside the country with more luggage than the plane can carry, as if their primary mission on those foreign travels is more for mercantilist than for soccer purposes. We’ve heard stories of how their ‘entourage’, comprising all manner of persons, including girl-friends and concubines, far outnumber the number of players and other auxiliary officials needed for the teams, etc.

    Quite strangely, hardly is anyone punished in spite of all these allegations. The best we have seen is that if there is too much noise, the government replaces the person causing the brouhaha and we move on. It would seem most of the people posted to administer our soccer are king’s goats that no one dares to touch. Since merit is never an issue in the appointments, we hardly get any good result. And when we do, as in the last AFCON, it is in spite of these characters, and not necessarily because of any effort they put in. Perhaps if their contribution to soccer is just to steal the funds, we would not complain much. But they go further by placing all kinds of hurdles on the path of coaches who refuse to dance to their tune and in the end, the coaches fail. Where they are not recommending the players to be selected to reflect ‘national spread’ (as if soccer is about quota), they dictate who to bench and which number the players should wear.

    But thank God for Keshi; because if he had failed, they would have turned his nostrils into a trumpet. As a matter of fact, he was the envy of all last Sunday night at the world press conference that he addressed alongside the team’s captain, Joseph Yobo, after the Super Eagles victory. His mien did not betray the fire that was burning underneath his cloth, caused by improbable masters who had never thought anything good could come out of his Nazareth. The Nigerian Football Federation (NFF), specifically had allegedly told Keshi he would be sacked; that was apart from calling his selection to question. His salary, we were even told, was withheld. Meanwhile, in spite of their own incompetence and all, their salaries are paid promptly. But, in spite of everything, Keshi carried on as if nothing was amiss, only to tender his resignation after winning the AFCON trophy.

    Since only failure is an orphan, the Super Eagles have been well celebrated by friends and foes alike. Even the NFF that had hitherto been threatening their coach has had its mouth padlocked by the Super Eagles victory. But Nigerians should be grateful to the Aliko Dangotes and the Mike Adenugas for their generous financial gifts to the Super Eagles. This is how to nurture a team; you don’t do that by giving ‘golden handshake’ (whatever that means) in a country where everything has been monetised and these boys and other Nigerians see people in positions help themselves to billions of public funds.

    But this victory should not becloud our sense of judgement that the AFCON victory is not one that would always come. We have to do things differently to expect different result. The fact of the matter is that government cannot take us far in soccer and sports generally because it is not disciplined itself. The state of our stadia across the country (that we spend humongous sums to build or repair whenever we are to host an international event) is enough proof of this. Many people have said this time and again; but the government would not listen because making it hands off sports would plug the source of money for some of its boys.

    However, now that Keshi has withdrawn his resignation, time and only time will tell whether he acted right by so doing. The fact is that it is easier to get the World Cup ticket for the country than it is for him to dislodge the entrenched interests in the football house. They have been beaten once by Keshi; whether he will beat them for all times is another kettle of fish entirely.

     

  • Road to achieving zero new hiv infection in lagos

    When AIDS emerged from the shadows three decades ago, few people could predict how the epidemic would evolve, and fewer still could describe with any certainty the best ways of combating it. Today, we have passed the stage of conjecture. We know from experience that AIDS can knock decades off national development, widen the gulf between rich and poor nations and push already-stigmatised groups closer to the margins of society. Unlike time when the affliction of HIV/AIDS was considered by many as the Western World’s burden, the concern of everyone today is about the best way to tackle the spread of this killer disease.

    The AIDS epidemic is a global catastrophe responsible for over 20 million deaths world-wide, leaving tens of millions of children orphaned and some 33 million people living with the dreaded virus. Sub-Saharan Africa accounts for 25 million of these people and estimates from the joint United Nations AIDS programme (UNAIDS) revealed that not less than 3.14 million Nigerians were found living with HIV as at the end of 2011.

    Currently, Nigeria bears the second highest burden of HIV/AIDS in Africa, next to South Africa and third in the whole world after South Africa and India. It is estimated that approximately 220,000 people died of AIDS in Nigeria in 2009 and the disease has also been associated with Nigeria’s declining life expectancy which in 2010 was only 52 years. Since HIV is found in body fluids-such as blood, semen and vaginal secretions, it can be transmitted when fluid from an infected person enters the body of another person. Given this modes of transmission, everyone is at risk of contracting the virus. This can happen through sexual intercourse, during blood transfusion, when using unsterilised skin piercing instruments and from an infected mother to her baby during child birth or after birth through breastfeeding.

    Regarding HIV/AIDS, it is worrisome that the average Nigerian have turned knowledge is power into knowledge is death certificate. Despite the availability of many voluntary counseling and testing services in various hospitals/centers across the country, very few know their HIV status. For instance, in Lagos, there are currently over 57 free HCT sites run by government, civil societies and the private sector. There are 29 free PMTCT (prevention of mother to child) sites, 24 free ART (Anti-retroviral therapy) sites, 6 EID (early infant diagnosis) sites in secondary and tertiary health facilities across the state.

    Till date, the figures on HIV in Nigeria are still one obtained through surveys of women attending antenatal clinics. Yet, only few comprehend how to assess risk to HIV with behaviour and practices that increase risk of HIV infection still rampant among our people. The big question, of course, is can we get to zero new HIV infection? We can achieve zero new HIV infection by committing large sums of fund to prevention especially when it is a fact that HIV is largely a preventable infection. We can achieve it by first of all attaining zero discrimination. Persons living with HIV and AIDS require information, counseling, care and support and not discrimination.

    Given its strategic place and importance in Nigeria, Lagos State has been very proactive and in the forefront of the national response to the HIV and AIDS epidemic through strengthening of institutions, social mobilisation and enlightenment.

    In Lagos, the State Law for the Protection of persons living with HIV and AIDS was signed into law in 2007. To ensure full implementation of the law, a mechanism whereby PLWHA (People living with HIV and AIDS) who have had their rights infringed upon can seek legal advice at no cost was set up. This is in line with the views of Justice Michael Kirby of the High Court of Australia when he said: “paradoxically enough, the only way in which we can deal effectively with the rapid spread of HIV/AIDS is by respecting and protecting the rights of those already exposed to it and those most at risk”. How apt!

    A vital means of achieving zero new infection in the state is what is being done at the health facilities concerning encouraging all pregnant women to get tested for HIV and providing ARVs to all pregnant positive women. Over 80% of infections in children under 15 are acquired from their mothers. PMTCT interventions, when properly implemented, have been proven to reduce the risk of MTCT of HIV to less than 2% (from about 40% in the absence of any intervention). It is therefore obvious that one of the fundamental pillars of getting to zero would be to ensure increased uptake of PMTCT services. This is already being done at the 29 PMTCT sites located in secondary and tertiary institutions across the state.

    Another way is to provide care and support to PLWHA. People should be aware that AIDS is NOT a moral issue- it is a public health problem. The vicious circle of fear, prejudice and ignorance has not and cannot help our quest to eradicate the problem. This is high time people should stop imagining number of partners PLWHA must have slept with to be in the condition. Do we turn our back on thousands of children who are infected and are living with the virus due to circumcision by untrained health personnel? What of many who got infected through transfusion by unscreened blood? Do we also turn our back on millions of children who got infected by their positive parents? Ed Koch said: “if you turn your back on these people (PLWHA), you (yourself) are an animal. You may be a well-dressed animal, but you are never the less an animal.”

    The state government has also scaled up its counseling and testing. Beside the over 57 free HIV Counseling and Testing (HCT) sites, in marking last year World Aids Day; the Lagos State Government provided mobile HIV counseling and testing campaign in the five divisions of the state. The large attendance of Lagosians at the five centres gives hope that the journey is achievable. In 2013, the target of the state is to get 1.3 million people in the HCT net. Treatment as prevention is a new buzz phrase that is doing the round in the HIV and AIDS field. The raising of the CD4 threshold for treatment from 200 to 350 means more people are eligible for treatment and is expected to translate into fever new infections.

    But how do we get people on treatment if they do not know their status? HCT is the entry point to all services. People who tested negative would have had access to information which would hopefully influence their lifestyle. Positive people are referred to whatever service they need and can prevent progression to AIDS. One other way through which the government is working to achieve zero new infection is strengthening of prevention programs by targeting young people in and out of school. Reaching young people even before their sexual debut with information about HIV and other reproductive health issues would help to avert new infections. There is one British AIDS education slogan which could also be adopted in our schools. It goes thus: Every time you sleep with a boy you sleep with all his old girl friends.

    In Lagos State the availability of a screening test to detect HIV in donated blood has nearly eliminated blood transfusions as a possible source of infection. Other preventive efforts include education about safer sex practices, such as consistent condom use, and avoidance of needle sharing among people who inject drugs.

    It is hoped that with desired interest from all stakeholders, increase and expansion of interpersonal communication and community mobilisation approaches at the LGA level, the journey will become interesting and reaching the destination will become easier.

     

    Musbau is of Features Unit, Lagos State Ministry of Information and Strategy, Alausa, Ikeja.

     

  • What is the government celebrating exactly?

    What is the government celebrating exactly?

    Like everyone else, I have heard stories about the activities of various orders of monks in various erstwhile monasteries to develop or show their faith. Some have sounded just plain incredible. There was, I learnt, the order that chose to walk barefoot. Fair enough, I think, when you remember that the cost of shoes has a habit of rising astronomically and not necessarily in direct proportion to their functions or aesthetic qualities. Another order prefers to walk some minutes a day on hot coals. Honestly, you couldn’t pay me to even look at hot coals. Most horrendous of all, why, I always think, would anyone choose to belong to the order that indulges, I say indulges, mind, in self-flagellation? I would have refused to believe it if they did not have the stripes to show for it. If I had a choice, I would have chosen to belong to the order of those who get together once a year to eat very costly satisfying dinners in order to raise funds for the hungry poor and wretched of the earth. You see, pity is pithier and more cynical when you are able to do it from a certain detached height.

    I believe that cynical kind of pity is what our federal government is feeling for its citizens right now. We the citizens are bursting our sinews protesting the decision of the government to go ahead with the centenary celebrations. I don’t believe that the government suddenly developed an inability to understand English. I think that the problem rather is that the government has as usual gone deaf in one ear. It tends to do that many times, mostly when the people are speaking or when the people are saying what it does not want to hear. That’s when it turns the bad ear to the public and the good one to the other side where it hears itself speak. This is why the government perpetually sees the people’s lips moving but hears itself speaking.

    So, you see people, the government has no idea that there is any opposition to the centenary project because it cannot hear us. It can only hear itself humming a joyful tune sometimes made into song by bus ‘conductors’, ‘Go on soun jare, o wo mbi’ (the road is clear here). Clearly, it fails to appreciate what people say about the road which is that the light is always green when they see a fool coming. Please don’t look at me; people say it, not I. Anyway, because the government has failed to hear, understand and appreciate our opposition to the centenary project, we simply must make our arguments more vociferous and pass them through strident voices; that’s all. No violence please; I hate violence. There is absolutely no need to go jabbing stubby fingers at the chest of the president’s dog. Everything else apart, you might get bitten.

    To start with, I had a hard time comprehending what the centenary celebrations were about. I asked everyone around me, what centenary? The last time I counted, Nigeria was fifty-two. No, explained someone very patiently, clearly believing he was speaking to a dumb one, independence is different from amalgamation. I coughed, reluctant to ask, what amalgamation? Luckily, the bright one read my thoughts and further patiently explained that the amalgamation was when the north and south of the country were joined together to make one. The natural question that should follow that, of course, is how come I never heard of this before?

    Don’t get me wrong. Every beggar in this country has heard of how Lord Luggard sauntered into the territory, looked left, right and then left again, then declared, the north and south will be one; you know much the same way we are told that day and night and conjoined twins came together. So, I knew all that, but I had no idea the fact was worth celebrating. Frankly, every pair of conjoined twins I have ever read about has always rued the day it was born; none has ever yet gone to church or mosque to thank God for joining their two heads or two bodies together. The inconveniences you get from any joining are just too many and painful to rejoice over. For instance, when a priest declares a couple as being ‘joined’ together, I think he does so in a manner of speaking. For I am yet to see a couple happily going about their business literally tied together at the waist. So, no thanks, this amalgamation thing is nothing to rejoice over but something to weep over, for it has resulted in a troublesome case of conjoined triplets or quadruplets or any number of lets you might care to use. Ideally, the country should be in the hospital where the doctors would be trying their best to prise it apart as carefully as possible without losing too much blood.

    In any blessed case, who the deuce are the celebrators? The government? Hmm, yea, I guess. The government and all its functionaries are well cared for so they do not lack. Indeed, I think they have every reason to rejoice. I have never been to Aso Rock but I imagine PHCN is not allowed to practice the profligacy it flagrantly displays on the rest of us there. Therefore, since they have electricity all the day and year round, they do not need to fend for themselves; they do not need to go looking for fuel; they also do not even need to look for food – food comes to look for them.

    So, why are the people not celebrating? I am the people, and I say I am in no mood to jolly around but rather to weep for the many problems I have to get myself out of. Right now, I am busy extricating myself from the generator fumes of people who cannot sleep (poor things) without relief from the heat through their fans powered by their generators because there is no electricity. I am likewise busy extricating myself from the high cost of fuelling my car now because the government cannot rein in its friends and friends’ children who are robbing the country dry through fuel scams and I must pay. Yes sir, I am too busy extricating myself from the hunger forced on me because the prices of foodstuff in the market have aimed for the sky. So, pardon us, government for not celebrating this centenary thing with you but please go ahead, don’t let us stop you.

    It is time, however, that we raised the level of our national intelligence. Believe me, the world is not mocked when Nigeria portrays herself as a wealthy nation when everyone but the government knows that people here are hungry, tired and getting angrier by the day. To go around celebrating something that should be swept under the carpet for now does not send a very good message to the world. It posits that there isn’t a sufficient level of intelligence in the country so that our children do not stone our graves.

    To be sure, a time may still come when this kind of celebration will not only be auspicious but will suggest itself. At that time, the people will lay tables of food, produced on the land, along their streets and invite passers-by to join them. They will waive the national flag with joyous abandon amidst the smiles and coos and laughter of freedom from want. Today, however, is not auspicious because there is too much want in the land. For now, I think we should do well to let the government celebrate alone and we the people should just wish them happy celebrations.

     

  • All Progressives Congress and the battles to come

    All Progressives Congress and the battles to come

    I do not envy the All Progressives Congress (APC) at all. Founded, as it were, a few days ago, and full of secret hopes for a future it is certain to approach with utmost trepidation, it is likely to need the daring, speed and subtlety of a David to confront the electoral rapacity, executive brutism and general apathy of the ageing Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) Goliath. All patriots, irrespective of political leanings, will yearn for the new party to acquit itself well, make a huge mark politically, and possibly win the mandate to remake and redirect the country. The ultimate indicator of these possibilities will be when the four political parties, which have merged to form the APC, bury their individual structures and differences under the ultimate goal of a party determined to win the presidency and offer the Black man the leadership he has craved for since W.E. B. Du Bois and Marcus Garvey inspired Pan-Africanism.

    The APC is a four-in-one political party, at least for now. Among that desperate quartet – Action Congress of Nigeria (ACN), Congress for Progressive Change (CPC), All Nigeria Peoples Party (ANPP) and All Progressives Grand Alliance (APGA) – there will be some elements who cherish isolation, even if it means risking being destroyed separately. So the new party must not have any illusion it is a tightknit party with a single-mindedness that generally conduces to instant electoral victory. Nor should the party ever assume that by merely announcing a merger there would be no teething problems, no ego posturing, no ideological conflicts, and no struggle for general relevance and dominance within the party. The party will be tested to its very core with such severity that it will be forced to decide what things motivate it: the mere acquisition of power, such as is propelling the PDP into increasing mediocrity and ruin, or the beneficial uses of power, such as often inspire leading political parties in developed democracies to boundless patriotism, excellence and innovations.

    A merger of political parties was always required to take on the monolithic PDP. But for about 14 years, the opposition simply could not find the good sense and courage to unite against a common and implacable foe. In retrospect, if a makeshift unity had been procured for the 2011 poll, the opportunity to resolve the contradictions that naturally restrict or even stymie the progress of a new party would have been glossed over or lost irretrievably. The APC must therefore anticipate and welcome the initial struggles and confusions that are certain to dot its difficult beginnings, and not trifle with the indispensability of building consensus and compromises. These processes are required to stabilise the party, give it a hard inner core, and make it a force to be reckoned with.

    It will not be enough that the party has seemed to inspire the public with its quaint and philosophical rationalisation for merger. Chief Tom Ikimi, chairman of the merger committee of the ACN, puts it succinctly: “At no time in our national life has radical change become more urgent. And to meet the challenge, we the following political parties namely ACN, ANPP, APGA and CPC have resolved to merge forthwith and become All Progressives Congress and offer to our beleaguered people a recipe for peace and prosperity. We resolve to form a political party committed to the principles of internal democracy, focused on serious issues of concern to our people, determined to bring corruption and insecurity to an end, determined to grow our economy and create jobs in their millions through education, housing, agriculture, industrial growth etc., and stop the increasing mood of despair and hopelessness among our people. The resolution of these issues, the restoration of hope, and the enthronement of true democratic values for peace, democracy and justice are those concerns which propel us. We believe that by these measures only shall we restore our dignity and position of pre-eminence in the comity of nations. This is our pledge.” Inspiring a people, a party, and an electorate, however, goes beyond fair words. Many other elements are involved.

    Much more than the big and financially well-endowed PDP, the APC can be trusted to draw on a huge reserve of intellectuals, for the new party seems to set great store by intellectualism, and real intellectuals, by training and experience, can instinctively tell where their expertise is needed. Nigerian political parties often draw a line between their parties’ guiding documents and party activities and policies. So it is one thing for the new party to write a beautiful manifesto and constitution, which I think they will manage to concoct even admirably; and it is another thing to anchor its programmes and party administration on those documents. For a party anxious to minimise differences and disagreements, would it not be tempted to indulge in the idiosyncratic pragmatism that has made Nigerian political parties both weak and colourless? If the new party is to resonate with the electorate, and is to stand a chance of doing spectacularly well in the next set of elections, it must be different in more ways than one. Indeed it must be truly remarkable. But does it have the stamina to be different? Would its leaders not feel the urgency and desperation of embracing expediency over principles, especially because in the crassly monetised politics of Nigeria, principles may sometimes appear like an abstraction and an expensive and annoying excursion into rarified environments?

    I do not know whether the main reason for the merger of the four parties is to snatch power from the hands of the PDP. If it is, the agglomeration will adopt fierce short-term tactics designed to deliver the most impact in the shortest possible time. The risk, however, is that if they fail, the disemboweling logic of short-termism and the contradictions of merchandising politics will undermine future prospects of growth and success, and possibly even fragment the party. A better approach will be to structure, run and inspire the new party for the long term. That approach, as cautious and exploratory as it may seem, is not antagonistic to short term electoral gains, and it even predisposes the APC to greater stability, purposefulness and enduring exceptionalism. The PDP is united not by ideas or vision but by a sickening affection for power acquisition. The APC must strive to be different. It must make it clear that the country would profit from the noble principles that should drive a serious political party, and that nothing is too small or too big to be sacrificed for those principles. Here, alas, is a difficult dilemma. The PDP’s lengthy stay in office has brought nothing but unremitting poverty and social dislocations; and to allow the party another four years in office after 2015 would be suicidal for the country. Yet the APC would appear indistinguishable from the PDP if it should appear to be desperate and in indecent haste to acquire power.

    It is too early in the day for any analyst to accurately weigh the new party’s chances. We must, therefore, concentrate on those factors the party must pay attention to in order to be a credible opposition to the ruling behemoth. The first task is for the APC to cobble together a common ideological platform from the suspect ideologies of its four constituent parts. The CPC, as everyone knows, is more pragmatic than ideological. It depends for its lifeblood on the honesty and enigmatic disposition of its main inspirer, Gen Muhammadu Buhari, who is not any more ideological now than he was in 1984 when he was military head of state. The ANPP on its own is even openly less ideological. If it has any progressive hue at all, it is to the extent that the PDP has seemed to crowd out any other serious party from Nigeria’s conservative habitat. To avoid a fate worse than ostracism, the ANPP needed to exude anything else other than conservatism; hence the merger. By embracing a very mild form of progressivism, no matter how insignificant, the party is merely being practical and adaptable.

    If APGA holds any progressive credential worth considering, it is the word ‘progressives’ in its original name. There is entirely nothing else binding the party to the ideology. It has in fact neither proclaimed progressivism at any time, even feebly, nor does it care to defend or define it, carefully or casually. The party reminds one of a road interchange: every road leads to it and out of it. Either by design or by accident, the ACN aggressively proclaimed its ideological tigritude to the point that its theoretical inconsistencies and suspect democratic credentials simply faded into thin air. The party is thus rightly or wrongly considered as the only truly ideological party, almost as if progressivism is intrinsically and conceptually more virtuous than conservatism. In fact the disagreement between the party and its Southwest opponents centres on its claim to be the only progressive party in Nigeria. But a disaggregation of ACN’s progressivism will reveal its cultural roots, entitling just about any political journeyman in the zone to claim progressivism, and the signal importance of the actions, words and dispositions of its officials, particularly its governors.

    Since the four constituent parties in the APC are actually clustered not too far apart on the ideological spectrum, they stand a better chance of arriving at workable and harmless compromises. They are likely to agree on external relations, even though Nigeria’s foreign policy is symptomatic of the anti-intellectual, reactive and lazy approach of Nigerian leaders to the external world. They are also likely to fashion an agreeable economic plan that is pragmatic, gently progressive, and far superior to the PDP’s, of course, on account of both the grinding poverty 14 years of the ruling party have sentenced the country and the justifiable impatience of the suffering majority praying for the application of radical anodynes. No other issue, not even religion, nor Boko Haram, will be capable of threatening the anticipated consensus. If the PDP is united by greed and intolerance, and is paranoid about holding on to power, the APC should be unified by its common detestation of the PDP, and be fanatically committed to unhorsing the clumsy giant.

    Though it is at the moment preoccupied with putting down the rebellion in its fold, the PDP is not unaware of the dangers constituted by what some writers have exaggeratedly described as the APC mega party. The ruling party will very likely respond with disgruntled alliances of its own to further bloat its bigness. It will lure grumpy fence sitters in the ACN, make offers to the Labour Party which the small and ideologically unresponsive party can’t resist, and adopt measures hostile to the opposition, including abuse of judicial and legislative processes. It will also attempt to promote discord among the leading lights of the APC in order to prevent peaceful selection of candidates. The ruling party’s success in these unwholesome enterprises will depend on the unpreparedness of the APC leaders to bury their differences and recognise that the spoils of war are almost limitless beyond the plum jobs and positions of the presidency and other top posts.

    The PDP is inured to the danger of fragmentation facing the country. But if the APC recognises that 2015 is probably the last chance for this generation to save the union, and to comprehensively restructure the polity and free the energies of industrious Nigerians bottled up for decades by incompetent leadership, it will sacrifice anything to win power at the centre. As this newspaper’s Hardball column said on Friday, “The country is ready for APC; what no one is sure of, but which only the party can answer, is whether the party is ready for the country.” For without doubt, except the earth shifts from its orbit, it is inconceivable that the unprecedentedly marginalised Southwest would vote for the PDP; nor would most parts of the North vote for the ruling party at the presidential level at least. And in a few parts of the Southeast and South-South, it’s a toss-up; for the voters in those eroded lands and mangrove swamps are not anybody’s fools. Indeed, given the heavy feeling of change in the air, the APC will have to be extraordinarily imprudent and pigheaded to lose the 2015 battle.

  • As we celebrate our country’s colonisation

    As we celebrate our country’s colonisation

    It is now common knowledge that the presidency is ready to celebrate the amalgamation of Nigeria in 1914 by Frederick Lugard. Such celebration is not just an attempt to recognise the amalgamation as a positive milestone in the history of Nigeria. It is, simply put, a bold attempt by the federal government to commemorate the country’s colonization. The question of the minute is whether observing the amalgamation can enhance the country’s unity or whether it is likely to incense citizens struggling for restoration of federalism as another attempt to justify the current unitary governance of the country.

    Given the history of several resistances against Britain’s colonisation of Nigeria in general and against Lugard in particular, as well as the huge sacrifices made by nationalist leaders that fought against colonialism and struggled for self-government in the regions and for independence for the entire country, many patriots are likely to be saddened by any effort by a civilian president that is craving, over fifty years after independence, to celebrate the raw act of colonisation of the country. It is not out of place for such patriots to ask why the federal government is not ready to leave the celebration of the country’s most challenged and challenging colonial decision to the United Kingdom’s government.

    Certainly, the British should have more reasons than Nigeria to commemorate the amalgamation of Northern and Southern Protectorates in 1914. It enabled Britain to have the most populous country in Africa today. Lugard’s courage and insensitivity to join the two protectorates made (and still does) today’s Nigeria one country that has more people than all the colonies of France, Britain’s competitor in the Scramble for and Partition of Africa. It must be a thing of joy to the British that the huge country it created out of many in 1914 is still almost as dependent on it as it was in the days of Lugard. For example, instead of generating electricity like other former British colonies, Lugard’s Nigeria relies on generators manufactured in England and clones from such places as China and India. The United Kingdom has reasons to beat its chest for the continuation of the tradition of organising census and elections it bequeathed to Nigeria. Britain should also feel good that its compromise on moving from Lugard’s amalgamation (unitary governance) to federalism in the 50s and at independence has subtly been annulled by Nigerian military dictators and surrogate civilian rulers that came in the post-colonial era.

    But if the current federal government believes that it is better positioned to lead the celebration of the amalgamation of Nigeria, it should not fail to do it in style, in consonance with the country’s flair for conducting outlandish festivals or carnivals. It should invite any of Lugard’s living relatives to give a keynote speech or serve as father or mother of the day. It should open a special register in Worcester, England, where Lugard was raised, with the aim of thanking the town for producing the father of Nigeria. There should be space in the ceremony for a London celebration, to which Queen Elizabeth II and Prime Minister Cameron are invited to represent, respectively, King George V and Herbert Asquith, the prime minister in charge of the colonial government in 1914. If possible, these two should be invited to Abuja to serve as grandmother and grandfather of the day. If not, we should organize a London version of the commemoration to make it easy for the two to serve as co-celebrators. President Museveni of Uganda should be invited to assist its sister-country to celebrate the accomplishments of a man that served both countries as the icon of British colonialism in Africa. The Archbishop of Canterbury should be asked to celebrate a high mass here in Abuja or in London.

    One thing that must not be missed in the celebration—whether representatives of the family of Lugard or the British royalty and government agree to participate in the ceremony—is making copies of Lugard’s books available as items to be included in the gift bags to be distributed at the ceremony. If this is going to be too expensive, Lugard’s favourite description of the typical African should be printed on the Programme of Events. It should not be too expensive for petroleum-rich Nigeria to include the following lines of Lugard’s favourite quote: “The typical African…is happy, thriftless, excitable person, lacking in self-control, discipline and foresight, naturally courageous, and naturally courteous and polite, full of personal vanity, with little sense of veracity… in brief, the virtues and defects of this race-type are those of attractive children.”

    Furthermore, any Nigerian that is opposed to the celebration of Nigeria’s glorious beginning with amalgamation should be declared personal non-grata and a mortal enemy of Nigerian unity. Any Nigerian that chooses to demonstrate or protest against the grand celebration of Nigeria’s Lugardian origin should be charged with treason or treasonable felony. The federal government should leave no stone unturned in its effort to convince critics of the proposed mother of celebrations that its decision is infallible. It should encourage critics to read Michael S. Roth’s The (Honest) Truth about Dishonesty, especially on the thesis about how our brains convince us that our lies are true. Those charged to mould the consciousness of citizens should not fail to say that there is nothing too absurd to do on account of the unity of Nigeria, manufactured by Lugard in 1914.

  • A resurgent southwest

    A resurgent southwest

    Microsoft Encarta defines the word resurgent as: ‘rising or becoming stronger again’. One reason the Yoruba will never forget Chief Obafemi Awolowo, apart from his trail-blazing policies which were far ahead of his time was that people were the focal point, the very epicentre, of all his government’s policies. Rich or poor, but especially those at the lower rungs of the social ladder, were the primary focus of all the programmes and policies of the Action Group. For that reason, and never for propaganda purposes, literally every household in Yoruba land had the redifusion box through which the entire citizenry was kept abreast of every government action.

    While it is understandable why the military had no use for such people friendly policies, the absence of such policies in the sterile four years of PDP ascendancy in the region must reckon as the primary reason the party was never loved by the Yoruba people as evidenced by the fact that their leading lights were routinely losing elections right within their homestead.

    Commenting recently on ekitipanupo, Wale Adeoye, a brilliant journalist, activist and Senior Special Assistant to governor Fayemi of Ekiti wrote as follows: ‘The new bridge commissioned recently in Ogun state, the about-to be-ready Mokola bridge, the Ikogosi warm water project, the Ire Burnt Brick industry, the new Ijebu-Igbo-Lagos highway being dualised by the Osun state government, the Lagos tram project (first of its kind in Nigeria), the complete rebuilding of Benin city …’ are all targeted at making the various communities more conducive to the peoples’ various occupations as a way of enhancing their well-being. Factor in then the great strides being made by the First Ladies as in Erelu Bisi Fayemi’s multi-sectoral programmes geared towards youth and women empowerment, the Ogun State First Lady’s highly imaginative ‘UPLIFTing the aged’ project by which thousands of very old people are being provided succor and Mrs Ajumobi’s ‘Ajumose Food Bank’ initiative targeted at drastically reducing hunger amongst widows and the elderly. Add to these programmes, Fayemi’s first in Nigeria social security monthly payments to the elderly as well as Aregbesola’s equally heart-warming monthly payment to the same category of people and what you see are leaders who are determined, as Mrs Ajumobi succinctly put it, ‘to ensure the complete restoration of pristine Yoruba values long bastardised by the activities of some unfeeling, past governments. For the current governors the agenda is one of compassion, probity and accountability. If in doubt, then mentally go back some light years and recall, not just the killer gangs habitually over running the entire region; an octogenarian putting the entire Ibadan to the sword with the city emerging the dirtiest and most dangerous city in the country as rival motor park gangs, allegedly under some police protection, spilled blood at will. Interestingly today, the same Ibadan, which Sam Omatseye once dubbed ‘the city of grime and crime’, that city of Baba Adedibu, Tokyo, Auxiliary etc, is being tastefully restored and renewed by the Ajumobi government thereby enhancing the city’s environmental health status.

    All over the South-West, the people had to rise to put their traducers to shame, and flight, but nowhere in the geo-political zone would this people power equal what happened in Ekiti, an odyssey which has been brilliantly captured in THE LONG WALK – a book authored by some Aides of the Chief Protagonist, Dr Kayode Fayemi.

    All these put together, in the words of Wale Adeoye, is the testimony of our history and as if it required legitimisation, the clear electoral supremacy of the progressives reaffirmed that during the 2011 general elections when the people doused the vapours of hate and the afflictions induced by our yesterday men . That soul-renching defeat of the oppressor party has given the entire Southwest a new lease of life made distinct throughout the country by an unprecedented, pan-regional peace except, occasionally, when the rump of their hatchet men attempt to re-enact a recrudescence of their old mayhem.

    Most reviews of development in the geo-political zone have concentrated on infrastructural development: roads built to last decades and giant strides in healthcare delivery as exemplified by Lagos, Ekiti , Osun and Ogun States, complete overhaul and revival of dead industries as in Ekiti, giant strides in agriculture as in Osun State; the urban renewal projects that are unerringly transforming Ibadan, Osogbo and Ado-Ekiti, and the single-minded determination of each of these state governments to revive the decrepit educational infrastructure left behind by the departing PDP governments among others. Important as all these are, with Lagos state emerging as the incomparable lodestar even in the entire country, our governors are acutely aware that development is not all about brick and mortar. They know that peace, is a sine qua non for development and the overall well-being of the citizenry which should be the raison d’être of any good government.

    Although the federal government has failed dismally in the task of ensuring the safety of lives and properties in the country, governments in the Southwest do put considerable premium on securing the lives and properties of the citizenry.

    For the respective governors, therefore, kidnapping, armed robbery and other criminalities like those being daily spewed by the Boko Haram can certainly not be an option though, it must be acknowledged that armed robbery, mostly transborder, is still around and about albeit, on a diminishing scale since the states give maximum support to their police commands which remain curiously underfunded by the federal government as Nigerians saw recently in our decrepit Police Training Colleges.

    But it must be said that peace has not come cheap as it has been the result of deep thinking and appropriate, proactive actions on the part of these state governments as a means of driving their commitment to securing the citizenry. This is in the knowledge that only a peaceful atmosphere can guarantee their developmental efforts, even governance itself. A clear example is what we currently see in some states up North where it has been alleged that some governors now run the affairs of government from outside the state capitals though the suggestion has been strenuously denied..

    The overwhelming peace in the Southwest owed its genesis to Lagos State governor, Babatunde Raji Fashola who, in 2007 established a Lagos State Security Trust Fund which was passed into Law by the state House of Assembly. This was the outcome of a high- powered committee he set up under the chairmanship of Alhaji Musiliu Smith, about the only Inspector-General of Police to have come out of service with his integrity intact, in recent times. The committee identified logistics, mobility, communications, kitting, and appropriate hardware, in sufficient quantities, as the major challenges inhibiting the police in its determined effort to checkmate violent crimes. To successfully navigate these challenges, it was discovered that huge sums of money would be needed on a recurring basis. The state government therefore rightly decided on a Public/Private partnership which has since generated billions of naira to the great fortune of the Lagos state police command and the state’s overall security. The Lagos example has since gone viral in the entire Southwest and each of the states has poured huge sums of money, in materiel and logistics, into their respective police commands with Osun state actually launching its own security trust fund.

    The result is that even transborder gangs, whether from neighbouring countries or from other geo-political zones for which the Southwest was at a time a regular hunting ground have learnt the hard way and had since migrated back to where they came from.

    The resultant peace has gelled rather flawlessly with the traditional peaceful nature of the people which has in turn been helped significantly by the fact that no matter in which state you are in the region, you have a government that is earnestly putting its all into the service of the people. The synergy between the state governors in their determined effort to ensure peace and security in the region is a clear evidence of regional integration whose fundamental objective, in the words of the Ogbeni is ‘to harness, effectively and efficiently, the abundant resources of the region and to unleash its collective enterprise towards promoting the well being and quality of lives of the people living in the region’. .

  • And Okon puts his boot in

    As soon as the eagles romped over Mali and the whole street exploded like a dormant volcano, Okon barged in with insane excitement written all over his face. Snooper thought the crazy one wanted to cotton in on the celebratory atmosphere, but it turned out that he had more sinister motives for his unwarranted disruption.

    “Oga, kai, kai abi you no see say dem Nigeria dey play better football now after dem come chase dem yeye Yoruba boys from dem team? Na Yoruba people dey spoil football as dem dey spoil everything for obodo,” the crazy boy sneered.

    “Shut up, you fool. And who are these Yoruba boys?” snooper screamed at him.

    “Ah dem Taiye, Kehinde, dem Obafemi Awolowo, dem Yakubu Aiyefele, dem Oyobo and dem Oyinbo Bini brother with all dem babalawo and agadagodo football”

    “Get lost:” snooper shouted at the mad boy.

  • If love is a many-splendoured thing, just how many splendours can it have?

    There is something definitely in the air; all you need do is to take a sniff. Well, first you’ll breathe in a mouthful of dust, but that’s just the leftover of the harmattan season. To get rid of that, simply imagine yourself all kitted out – suit, shoes, jeep and all – drawing up in front of the seat of government in the capital territory. A very foul odour might rudely accost the very delicate hairs in your nostrils but don’t panic, its only the government doing its talk, talk, talk as usual. It is shouting to Nigerians that it wants to celebrate the centenary of Nigeria’s amalgamation. Ha! As if there’s anything to celebrate there, but that’s a topic for another day. Anyway, because the government is shouting so much, the air is a little frothy. Again, don’t panic and keep sniffing. Behind all the dusts, odours and noxious gasses of political ill-talk, you can sniff the February perfumed gas of love. It is Valentine time again.

    I was privileged to read Elizabeth Browning’s poem in which she tried to count the many ways she could love her husband. I don’t quite think she succeeded, but the fact that she tried is a surprise to me. But then, I am no poet, just a simple country lass who marvels at the way the grasses gently bow their lovely heads to the softly passing breeze. Ah! Poetry is hard.

    Anyway, as I was saying, I had no idea one could count love or the ways of loving. I know I can count the gifts I get from people who hopefully have given out of the love of their hearts. I can also count the different motives for the gifts. For instance, when someone suddenly ups and gives you a car for no reason, then you better become suspicious. You might think he wants your love when all the time he is calculating how he can have access to your liver because a babalawo says he must bring one liver still bubbling and jumping with life in order to become rich. Or the motive might simply be that he is tired of the car. Once, one man was so irritated by the antics of his aircraft while in the air that when he landed, the first person he saw was his mechanic. Good, he thought. ‘How much can you give me for this thing?’, he asked, pointing at his innocent-looking aircraft. ‘Twenty dollars’, stammered the surprised mechanic. ‘Fine, it’s yours’, said the owner as he walked away, tossing him the particulars.

    Really, there is no end to the things we can give to others out of love. There is also no end to the things we can receive, out of love. A woman took her child to see his father from whom they both had been separated for a long time. ‘How much do you want for him?’ asked the father. Now, that is love, the kind Jacob would willingly have elected to demonstrate if he had been privileged.

    Where am I going with this? Not very far, just be patient. You see, valentine is here again, and everyone knows it is the period when love is bought and sold. No? Just take a trip to the stores and when you’re done, take a trip into the heart of every woman around you, and when you’re done there too, then we’ll talk. Right now, the shops are calculating how much profit they can accumulate this season from their outlay of investments into people’s desire to impress other people in their lives. For instance, I know many florists have invested heavily in fields of roses – red, yellow, purple and even blue – for those who will give out roses. No, of course, they do not have Nigerians in mind. They’re not stupid. One Nigerian confessed that his hostess in a foreign land welcomed him into their home with a bunch of flowers which he promptly flung on the floor and forgot all about as he made himself comfortable in their sitting-room, waiting for the food to arrive. I do not need to tell you how the hostess felt.

    Meanwhile, every woman’s heart is permanently prepared to receive a gift, in or out of gift-giving season. I know mine is; so God help those around me, including you my reader, if I do not receive a gift on Valentine’s Day. I assure you that you will be joking with next week’s edition of Postscript Unlimited, which you may be dismayed to find, can suddenly become highly limited. So, be sure that the woman in your life is already counting her chickens. ‘He’d better not give me another pair of earrings again this year. Why will men never learn? Why won’t they just ask us for what we want?’

    Meanwhile, the men, clever things that they are, know exactly what they are doing. They know how not to look for trouble. They know that to ask a woman what she wants as a gift is to ask for trouble. There is nothing like getting her something less with an explanation: ‘I know you said you wanted a private jet for a gift but since I cannot afford one, I thought this Honda Big for Nothing will do. I hope you’ll manage it’. Uhn uhn, it cannot work that way because the reply will be prompt: ‘If you knew you would not be able to afford whatever I ask, why then did you ask me?’ That of course is the beginning of a long conversation that starts with ‘But how could I know that you would soar into the sky with your imagination…?’ Reader, you don’t want to know how that would end, neither would St. Valentine.

    Listen here, people, are we not holding this stick of love by the wrong end? When the poor saint conceived of ways of showing love, it was not for the purpose of bringing it to its knees. What is done today in remembrance of St. Valentine is no more than self-gratification and making the word love common. Those of us who only think of the physical end of the valentine celebration obviously do not know what that day stands for.

    Valentine’s day is the day we should all take a pause and ask ourselves this important question: what are the many splendours of love? The answer will surprise you. It will lead you to discover that the splendours you have been dealing with as a Nigerian have shown only the basest and the most wrong kind of love. For, it is the basest love that leads us to cheat other Nigerians: at our jobs, in our trade, on the road, even in our relationships. It leads us to embezzle right on our jobs; it leads us to proclaim to be very religious, not missing any church or mosque activity, yet denying other people their dues; it fills the world with hatred. This base love carries no reward, only punishment.

    Valentine’s day is for giving our hearts, not necessarily for gratification but for its own sake. That is the kind of divine love the poor saint demonstrated. Doing likewise will help us discover, like Francis Thompson, that love’s many splendours are magnificent, beautiful and endless. We will find its splendours when we give items to those who do not have, give helping hands to those in need and sacrifice our own needs for others. In short, love is many-splendoured when we feed others; hatred is equally many-splendoured when we feed only ourselves. From this valentine, therefore, I have resolved to demonstrate the many splendours of love whenever I can. What about you? Remember, what goes around comes around.

     

     

     

     

     

     

     

     

     

     

     

     

     

     

     

     

     

     

     

     

     

     

     

     

     

     

     

     

  • Time to be like Awo

    Time to be like Awo

    Those who speak of the good old days in Nigeria, especially the pre-military regime years sure know what they are talking about.

    Former Governor Omololu Olunloyo of Oyo State must have shocked many participants at the just concluded South-West Expo held in Osogbo, Osun State when he disclosed that he got two scholarships from the Western region government headed by the late Chief Obafemi Awolowo and in his own words, was granted the indulgence of using the two to study Mathematics and Engineering abroad.

    Using his case illustrate the benefits of regional integration which was the theme of the trade exhibition and seminar organised by Vintage Press Limited, Chief Olunloyo noted that the major source of income for the old western region was Cocoa which was not grown in Ibadan, the region’s capital but in Idanre, Akoko and part of the present Osun State.

    Like other speakers including Former Attorney General of the Federation, Prince Bola Ajibola, Governor Rauf Aregbesola of Osun and Senator Abiola Ajimobi also acknowledged, that there are abundant resources in various parts of the South-West which has to be harnessed through coordinated efforts by State governments irrespective of political affiliations now or in the future.

    It is unfortunate that the discovery of oil has made successive governments in the country not to give agriculture the deserved priority which would have earned us additional revenue and reduced our present over- dependence on oil proceeds.

    Rather than being an additional blessing, the discovery of oil has become a curse of a sort with not only the constantly fluctuating price in the international market but uncertainty of how long we would continue to earn enough from its sale.

    One of the things the South-West Expo succeeded in doing is that it served as yet another timely reminder for not only the South West but all regions and the federal government to cooperate on how to develop our agriculture sector and fully maximise the benefits of the resources our nation has been blessed with.

    Instead of engaging in duplication of efforts, there is an urgent need backed by necessary government policies and willingness to identify the competitive advantages of each state and focus on them.

    The South-West States already have the benefit of the Development Agenda for Western Nigeria (DAWN) which the Director General of the Director General of the Western Nigeria Integration Commission, Mr Dipo Famakinwa spoke on during the programme.

    As he advised, South-West leaders should leverage on shared historical affiliations of states in the zone, to build synergies and economies of scale, whereby the region and its people will experience enhanced human and social development outcomes across all spheres of existence.

    Famakinwa was right as he stated in his presentation. “The world is looking in the direction of Africa for agriculture and nutrition, and for other commercial possibilities that the fast-urbanising Africa presents. There is a compelling necessity to prepare the Region for global competitiveness. It is a crisis situation and Yorubaland ( and indeed other regions in the country) cannot wait,”.

    We have to stop remembering how well the late Chief Awolowo in developing the western region. Our leaders who claim to be his disciples should do better than he did years ago.