By Tunji Adegboyega

 

Nigeria must be one of the few countries where students in public universities would be at home for over a year, when an emergency has not been declared in that sector warranting such a long holiday, and those who should worry appear nonchalant. For Nigerian undergraduates, the forced holiday began on March 9, last year, when lecturers under the auspices of the Academic Staff Union of Universities (ASUU) began industrial action, to press home certain demands from the Federal Government. About two weeks later, Nigeria joined the global lockdown, following the outbreak of the Coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic. This unduly prolonged the compulsory holiday for the students. What is not funny about it all, however, is that ASUU had since December 23, last year called off its strike, but the students are still at home almost four months after. Why? The Non-Academic Staff Union (NASU) members in the universities too began their own strike before ASUU members could settle down to business. Even as of now, no one can say for sure that we have heard the last of the ASUU strike.

Strike by university lecturers is not new to many Nigerians. Indeed, it has become two for a penny in our public universities. But the current one is just something else. It is simply incredible, callous, provocative, inhuman, ungodly and insensitive.

Now that flies are feeding on someone’s festering sore, no one is complaining. By the time the man with the festering sore begins to throw the flies into his mouth, and eating them, it would become news. An alarm would then be raised for people to come behold the oddity. How anyone could think that this situation would continue like this for too long beats my imagination. Indeed, how both the government and the presumably well read ASUU and NASU members would not expect something to give sooner than later if this situation is not redressed is, to say the least, confounding. If many of the political leaders either never went to school, or had left school a long time ago to remember what history tells us in countries that experienced the kind of  successive bad governance that we have been experiencing in this country, lecturers who teach these things and research into them daily should not. In like manner, the non-academic workers in the universities should still better understand the import of this prolonged strike, at least better than the politicians.

The truth is that many political leaders, especially in our kind of environment, are shielded from reality. They are fed by the people, accommodated by the people, treated in hospitals, often abroad, all at the people’s expense. Even when they are out of government and out of power, they are still the people’s responsibility. So, alive or dead, it is the poor tax payer that picks their bills. In essence, they hardly remember anything about hardship or suffering, no matter their background or the sons and daughters of who they are.

As I was saying, ASUU and NASU are in a better position to anticipate the consequence of keeping students who should be at school at home for over a year. Here, I am not talking about the long-term consequence, because Nigeria will pay for it sometimes in the future, unless it is not a truism that education is the bedrock of development. But I am talking here of the inevitable catastrophe or mayhem that is just by the corner.

For leaders that wanted to learn, the #EndSARS protest ought to have taught our political leadership the appropriate lesson. If they think they escaped that because they outsmarted the protesters, they will see how diminutive their big intelligence is if another round of crisis begins in the country. Then, the government that not only sowed the seed of the crisis but has also been applying fertiliser to it by its actions and inactions, including debilitating economic policies, would then starting looking for something that is not lost: it would start looking for sponsors of the crisis when it actually is the sponsor-in-chief.

When that time comes, I will neither shed tears for government nor for ASUU/NASU. I only pity those of us who might suffer the collateral damage of their inhumanity to our youths. What the government and ASUU/NASU are doing is akin to a situation where, after using a ladder to get to the top, they either destroy the ladder or remove it completely. This is bad. Most of those who are now lukewarm about our students’ continued boredom enjoyed the best of life in their undergraduate days. They had scholarship/s, bursaries, etc. All of these have disappeared, yet students, some of whose parents gladly embraced poverty to send to school are being kept at home unduly.

If the elephants in the university crisis must be told, it is government that has run out of ideas and can therefore not generate jobs, or at least provide a conducive environment for job creation. Not the devil. As a matter of fact, for every person that the society cannot give jobs, the devil has several jobs for such persons. For every person that is lost to unemployment, it is a gain to the devil because he has an infinite capacity to keep such persons busy. And they can only be busy at the expense of the rest of the society. We are seeing that in the rising crime wave in recent times. That is why I pity those who are going on with business as usual even as students are stranded at home for more than 12 months, due to no fault of theirs.

I feel particularly sad for the political leaders in the south west who are keeping quiet as if they too do not know how their people value education. If they wish to be reminded, the gargantuan security challenges we are all suffering for arose because the political and religious elites in the north ate up the future of the talakawa (hoi polloi) there by sending them to Quaranic  schools while they, the elites, sent theirs to the best of schools abroad. It is now time to vomit what they ate. Unfortunately, they are not vomiting it alone; those of us who endured all kinds of hardship to send our children to school are also being forced to vomit what we never swallowed. That is the price you pay for bringing together people who have little in common but must live together because they have found themselves lumped up under the same umbrella. It is the kind of thing you suffer when regions can no longer develop at their own pace as it was in the first republic. Our politicians seem to have forgotten that hundreds of the country’s leaders of tomorrow have been at home for over 12 months.

Perhaps they do not know the implication of this strike. Let me try to break it down. I know of someone who might end up spending three years or more (depending on when the almighty unions in the universities decide to end their strike) for a Master’s programme that should normally last for 18 months.

There is also the example of two children of the same parents. The junior one entered a private university in 2019. The elder brother was supposed to have started his Master’s programme in a public university last year. Other things being equal, he should have less than a year to finish but for this endless strike; but he is even yet to start. Meanwhile, the junior one in a private university is in year two, going to year three in September by God’s grace. The implication is that, if care is not taken, the junior will catch up with the elder brother due to no fault of his but because of an uncaring government and some stubborn  unions. That is what this strike is doing to the lives of our youths. Those who were threatening to shut down the private universities are only wasting their time. The children of those responsible for the students’ plight are largely not anywhere near this country. They are all abroad. Only innocent middle class people who are struggling to send their children to the private schools will be affected when that happens.

Already, the country’s premier university, the University of Ibadan, has said it is not admitting students for the 2021/2022 session. This has its own implications because many prospective students would have been shut out to the tune of the figure the university admits every year. Whenever I hear the labour and employment minister, Chris Ngige, say he has three biological children in our public universities, in other words, he is in the same shoes with other parents who are going through the same trauma, I do not know whether to laugh or cry.

But it is baffling how these warring giants cannot just see the damage they are doing to the country.

Right now, we have passed the stage of who is right and who is wrong. I have told myself that, to the extent that I see our politicians in the rapacious manner I see them, I will continue to support everyone asking for appropriate wages. To this extent, my sympathy lies with the university workers.

Those who are likely to be persuaded by the argument that the strike would not have lasted this long if not for COVID-19 are entitled to their opinion. But for me, given what we have seen so far, the situation could have lasted this long, COVID-19 or no COVID-19. I do not see ASUU/NASU or the Federal Government shifting grounds, beyond what they have done so far.

However, while we should continue to knock the politicians for their greed, it seems the university unions too seem pleased to be collecting salaries for work not done. ASUU, especially wants to insist on being paid even if the strike lasts for five years. I do not know of any other country or establishment where that obtains. Apparently, some of them have other things doing elsewhere and so would not care a hoot if universities are opened or shut. What I know obtains is that people who are not pleased with a particular job reserve the right to look for something else rather than stay put and insist on getting salaries for work not done. This is the kind of home truth we should be telling ourselves, not necessarily because one delights in saying it, but because the time is just ripe for it to be said. Indeed, I am saying it with a very heavy heart. When we get to this bridge where there is no one willing to work in the universities, it is possible that the government itself would be forced to do something or the people will rise against it to demand for reforms.

ASUU/NASU may have genuine grievances, but sometimes when one does not know when to apply the brake, the essence of whatever he is fighting for becomes lost.

All of these explain my fear that at the rate we are going, something will give.

We cannot continue playing kite with the future of our youths. It seems the country’s managers are not satisfied with making education so inaccessible for those who are hungry for it, they seem poised to want to discourage the poor from acquiring it.

All said, our political leaders must realise that it is their own greed that is propelling the harvest of strikes that we are having in the country today. From ASUU to NASU, to the judiciary workers, doctors, etc. We don’t know which sector is getting set to begin its own strike once those currently on strike call off theirs. Unfortunately, our political leaders are not ready to forgo their life of luxury; indeed, they seem to want more of it at the expense of the ordinary Nigerians. Politics has since the return to civil rule in 1999 become a thriving industry. The only thing is that we do not see much of the positive things they are producing. These days, it is fashionable to see otherwise learned people – doctors, lawyers, journalists, engineers  proudly announcing themselves as honourable this, dishonourable that; instead of  being proud of what they went to the university to study. It is all because of the rent that political appointments offers. They become liabilities for life to the people if they are former governor or president or vice president. In this situation, it is difficult for people who went to school to be seeing some riffraff literally swimming in unearned money all because they are politicians while they, the well read, wallop in abject poverty.

However, once again, I appeal to the political leaders not to be like flies that follow dead bodies to the grave as a result of their greed. It is better to let these students return to school before the day of judgment. On that day, no one should start addressing the youths as “my children”, whether kneeling down or prostrating. No responsible parent would keep his or her biological children roaming the streets for over a year when they should be in school.

By now, it is clear that ASUU alone cannot make the universities function. This ought to have been clear to the government when negotiating with ASUU as if a tree can ever make a forest. So, without further delay, let the government meet with NASU too and come to an agreement with the union so that normalcy can return to our universities. After all, “what is sauce for the goose”, as they say, “is sauce for the gander.”

 

By  Tunji Adegboyega

 

Expectedly, reactions to the United States’ report on the much-talked-about Lekki ‘massacre’ have been so few because it disappointed those who had hoped America would endorse their claim that there was indeed a massacre at the Lekki Toll Gate venue of the #EndSARS protest on October 20, last year. Apart from Mr Femi Falana, Senior Advocate of Nigeria (SAN), and Amnesty International (AI), that have been loud in criticising the report, all appears relatively quiet since it was made public on March 31. America must have disappointed quite a number of people, including the Cable News Network (CNN), which had earlier reported a lot of killings at the venue.

But, rather than confirm that there was any masacre, the American report would seem to agree that if there was any massacre, it was one without bodies. Indeed, that report by the United States Department of State, Bureau of Democracy, Human Rights and Labour on the incident said there was no accurate information on the incident. It said soldiers merely shot into the air to disperse the protesters who had been infiltrated by hoodlums who wanted to seize the opportunity to wreak havoc. The 45th annual human rights report, said “accurate information on the fatalities” from the shooting remained fuzzy, noting that apart from  ”Amnesty International which reported 10 persons died during the event, no other organization was able to verify the claim.”

“One body from the toll gate showed signs of blunt force trauma. A second body from another location in Lagos State had bullet wounds. The government acknowledged that soldiers armed with live ammunition were present at the Lekki Toll Gate. At year’s end the Lagos State Judicial Panel of Inquiry and Restitution continued to hear testimony and investigate the shooting at Lekki Toll Gate,” the report noted.

Amnesty International Nigeria’s chief Osai Ojigho said the testimonies of witnesses at the Lekki Toll Gate corroborated some people’s claim that soldiers fired live bullets at demonstrators as against claims of firing blank bullets in the air. Insisting that it stood by its initial claim, AI said : “Amnesty International had asked for independent and transparent investigations into what really happened at the Lekki Toll Gate and we still haven’t seen that and that is what is really worrisome, especially because a lot of people will not be able to move on until justice is served.” The body added: “There have been other reports by other organisations and also shared on social media attesting to the fact that different people who were located at the Lekki Toll Gate at the time of the incident were reportedly killed.”

Falana, on the other hand, is angry that the media is helping the United States to treat Nigerians like colonial subjects due to the perceived positive coverage of the report by the media. “Do soldiers shoot into the air to enforce curfew in the United States?” Falana queried, in response to the military’s claim in that regard. Not done, the SAN added: “How can the United States Government be allowed to treat the proceedings before a properly constituted Judicial Panel of Inquiry so contemptuously? The report is prejudicial in every material particular. It should be ignored by the judicial panel as it is designed to pre-empt the evidence being adduced by the survivors of the barbaric attack.”

We can understand the different folks, different strokes stance on the issue. The truth is that no matter the magnitude of evidence produced by both parties on the issue, there can hardy be a common ground. #EndSARS and its aftermath is an emotive issue and all the angels swearing on either claim of massacre or no massacre cannot convince the other party to jettison its position, no matter how superior their submission seems.

But, beyond the rightness or otherwise of the U.S. report is the more fundamental issue of the value we as a people place on everything foreign. As I said earlier, reactions to the report have been few because it did not tell many people what they wanted to hear. Many people, including those who think we should not take the American standards on the issue serious would have lauded it as the authentic representation of what transpired at Lekki Toll Gate on October 20, last year, if they had seen what they wanted to see in it. Many of them had in the past lauded and indeed prescribed the same American standards they are now telling us to ignore as the best global practices on some other issues. This is understandable.

As a people, we cherish everything foreign. Even our leaders who sometimes try to convince us to have faith in our own products and services (even as they are sporting foreign attires, shoes, etc.) are guilty of the same mentality as charged. They believe the foreign media more than the local media. As a matter of fact, President Muhammadu Buhari has had cause to make major national pronouncements abroad.

I do not know what America stands to gain by supporting the Nigerian government’s claim that there was no massacre in Lekki if there indeed was one. That country has the technological know-how to monitor what transpired at Lekki on the day in question. We do not. Even Amnesty that is disputing the American report is partly making allusion to social media which we cannot rely on for obvious reasons.

It may be difficult to prove that no life was lost in Lekki on the day in question. But it is bad faith to keep talking of Lekki massacre when we do not have conclusive proof of something like that. The last time I checked the dictionary for the meaning/s of massacre, one common denominator in the definitions is that those so killed senselessly or wantonly must be many to qualify for massacre. There can hardly be controversy in a situation of massacre in these days with the technology at our disposal.

So, granted that no life should have been lost during the Lekki protests at all, it is over-exaggeration to talk of massacre in the Lekki incident. As a matter of fact, my fear is that the real trouble has not been averted because I am yet to see any effort on the part of the governments to avert another mass protests. Unemployment remains at an unacceptable level, insecurity remains frightening, and cost of living is unbearable. Whatever the government seems to be doing is not having any dent on the country’s challenges. Political jobs remain honeypot in spite of the hardship in the land.

Many people have said it; that we are literally sitting on a keg of gunpowder. Yet, our government officials do not seem to see the looming danger as there is nothing to suggest through their flamboyant lifestyle that the country is having economic challenges. We would only have ourselves to blame when the anger of the youths we can’t provide jobs for and those forced to stay at home when they should be in school boils over. Since we have refused to keep them busy, we should remember that the devil has more than enough jobs for people like them. This is my main concern now so that we do not have a second round of mass protests in the country. Our system, like most other systems where such protests had happened in the past is providing the catalyst for such crisis.

 

All for Yinka Odumakin

If only the dead could see what is happening after their departure, Yinka Odumakin would by now be giving glory to his creator for allowing him to quit the stage when the ovation was loudest. Without doubt, his relations, particularly his aged father must have been thrown into melancholy on learning of his son’s death. That much was evident when the sad news was broken to him. I watched the video first on Franktalknow.com, an online medium owned by a former editor of  Sunday Punch, Bisi Deji-Fatile. By the way, it is important for me to say that Odumakin and I first met at The Punch. He was such a respectful fellow. Being fearless should not make one snubby or proud. All that has now become history as we can no longer meet again in this world.

In Yorubaland, breaking such a sad news to the immediate relations of the deceased is never easy. Anyway, because it is not a thing that happens all the time, Pa Odumakin must have known that something terrible had happened, for the kind of people that came visiting to have come when they did. The melancholy on their faces was enough to tell something was amiss. There was no family or community meeting. Only bad news could have brought up such an emergency visit, but the magnitude of the occurrence, the old man may not have known until the sad news was broken to him.

The man who broke the news performed the assignment to the best of his ability: “I come to you in the name of the Lord, be strong, do not be afraid. We brought nothing into this world and we would not take anything along when we die. It is a pity and it is with sadness that I announce that my son, Peter (I guess that was the common name Yinka was called at home) is dead”, the leader of the team said in Yoruba.

I guess that would not have been more than 24 to 48 hours after his death because if they tarried, the old man could get to know through other people who would have come to offer their condolences, unknown to them that the father had not been briefed of the son’s death. The shock might have been too much for him to bear. Odumakin’s death could not have been kept from anyone, not least his father, in the face of the outpouring of emotions right from the seat of power in Aso Rock. The vice president, governors, ministers, and all. Indeed, it was as if all those that matter were in competition to register their condolences. No one wanted to be left out; friends and foes alike.

That Pa Odumakin eventually broke down uncontrollably when the import of what happened hit him was expected. In our part of the world, it is more of a taboo for parents to survive their children. Entreaties that Pa Odumakin should not ridicule Christianity by crying like those without faith fell on deaf ears. More so, as the old man was the Baba Ijo of his church, he was urged to demonstrate his faith in the Lord by accepting what happened as God’s wish.

But such assignment or entreaties are easy when one is not at the receiving end. How do you placate someone whose mother was killed by a fox? Do you tell him that it was a fox that killed your own mother too?

At this point, one can only empathise with the Odumakins, particularly his wife and soulmate, Dr Joe Okei-Odumakin. Wailing till eternity can never bring back the dead. They should take solace in the fact that their son, whatever his character flaws, was able to attract the kind of attention he attracted even in death, with all the high and mighty struggling to say bye to him.

Adieu, Peter Yinka Odumakin.

 

By Tunji Adegboyega

Although his name had for long been in the public domain, due to his accomplishments, I never met him until about year 2000 when I joined the Editorial Board of The Comet Newspaper. He was one of the eminent Nigerians on the board then. Others included the renowned Prof. Jide Oshuntokun, the late Prof. Adetugbo, the then Head of the Department of English, University of Lagos, Dr. Adesina of the University of Ibadan, and a host of others. If The Comet died, it was not due to lack of robust contributions to its editorials then, because we had enough people who contributed to the discussions on topics selected, as well as writers who wrote the brilliant editorials.

I am talking of Ambassador Dapo Fafowora who clocked 80 on March 29.

I left the newspaper about 18 months later, missing the company of the Fafoworas in the house. But, as fate would have it, our paths crossed again when I returned to the Editorial Board of The Comet in 2006. We were together on the board for at least 11 years, until Ambassador Fafowora bowed out in January 2018, partly because he had to relocate from the mainland area of Lagos to the island to give room for the renovation of his building at Magodo. Travelling from the island to our office at Fatai Atere Way every Wednesday for the weekly Editorial Board meeting would be stressful, especially as age was no longer on his side.

You cannot experience any dull moment with the likes of Fafowora around. I remember an occasion when a young undergraduate lady from one of our universities saw his handsome face on his column and thought he was as young as he looked. The lady did not know that the picture was taken several years back. She then got in touch with him through the phone number on the column, trying to fix an appointment with him, I guess, preparatory to starting a relationship. I remember how Ambassador played along, giving the lady the impression that he was keen on having a relationship with her. It was at the point of meeting that he ‘broke the lady!s heart ‘ when he asked her if she knew who she was talking to. I can only imagine the extent to which the lady’s blood level could have risen when she was told she was falling in love with a man above 70 years! I know that even at that, some ladies in the undergraduate’s shoes would still not have minded; they would have pushed on if the other party was still interested, age is no barrier when it comes to matters of the heart. After all, this is what Aristo is all about.

If Ambassador had not told Mummy Fafowora this salacious story before, I apologise for ‘tearing the drum’ when I should have continued to ‘off my Mike’. But then, as some of our women would say, something good is not to be monopolized by one person now! It is one of the risks when you marry a beautiful or handsome partner. No woman would see the picture that the young lady saw on Ambassador Fafowora’s column without looking at it again and again, with several thoughts running riot in her mind. I do not know how many such temptations Ambassador Fafowora had and whether there was any occasion he stumbled. The good news in the instant case is that he let the cup pass over him before any damage could be done. Glory be to God for that.

But that is only one of the ‘hazards’ of journalism, particularly columnists whose telephone numbers are displayed on their columns. Apart from receiving requests from people you never knew from Adam soliciting financial assistance, you are also likely to get calls and messages similar to the one Ambassador Fafowora had. I have had to receive calls from fake pastors posing as people sent by God to solve my problems. I had got calls from people who said they were prominent babalawo from the remotest parts of Yorubaland. They were also interested in solving my problems. Interestingly, some of them told stories of what looked like problems to me at the time they called me. Indeed, one of them was almost caught in our office a few years back. He met my friend, the former chief internal auditor of this newspaper. Unfortunately, I came a few minutes after he had told my friend he wanted to use the gents, only to disappear into thin air from there, as he never returned to my friend’s office.

This newspaper benefitted immensely from Fafowora’s wealth of experience. His undergraduate days at the University College, now the University of Ibadan; his service in the foreign affairs ministry, his days as director-general of the Manufacturers Association of Nigeria, etc. These are assets that cannot be quantified in monetary terms.

Fafowora was adept at cracking jokes. He is highly witty.

His column was rich and incisive. It discussed everything under the sun; politics, polity, business, foreign issues and what have you. That he was able to sustain the column for about 11 years testified to his capacity for the discipline and rigours of the job. His simple, sweet-flowing prose made the column a must read for many readers.

Ambassador Fafowora was born on March 29, 2021. He attended CMS Grammar School, Lagos (1954-1958); Nigerian College of Arts, Science and Technology; University College (now University of Ibadan, 1961-1964); School of Oriental and African Studies, University of London (1965-1966); Trinity College, Oxford University, UK (1969-1972). He joined the Nigerian Diplomatic Mission in 1964, became second secretary in the Nigeria High Commission, London (1966-1968); secretary, Nigerian Mission, The Hague, The Netherlands (1968-1969); acting high commissioner, Kampala, Uganda, 1973-1975; Charge d’Affaires, Nigerian Embassy, Ankara, Turkey, 1975-76; Principal Secretary (Political) Secretary, National Foreign Policy Council, Cabinet Office, Lagos, 1976-78; Deputy director, Africa Department, Ministry of External Affairs, Lagos, 1978-81; Ambassador/Deputy Permanent Representative of Nigeria, United Nations Office, New York, 1981- 84.

Regrettably, it was at this point that he was retired prematurely by the then Muhammadu Buhari military junta in 1984. Naturally, he must have felt bad about this development, especially as there was no reason for the premature retirement. This is evident in his reference to the sad development in his memoirs: “I was only 43 years old in March, 1984 when, without any justification whatsoever, I was suddenly and prematurely retired by the Buhari military regime from the Foreign Service, twenty years after I joined it, and some 17 years before I was due to retire statutorily,” Fafowora says in his memoirs. Apparently, he was a victim of the arbitrariness that military rule represented, or the dirty politics in some public establishments at the time, or both. But we still have traces of this all over the place, whether in public or private institutions.

No doubt Fafowora must have seen this as a blow to an otherwise promising career started 20 years before, with 17 more promising years to his statutory retirement. Ironically, it was the same Fafowora that President Buhari turned to after he was elected president in 2015, to draft a paper on foreign policy for the country.

The good thing is that Fafowora did not let the premature retirement kill his dream.

He had served in various capacities: as a diplomat public speaker, author, among others. He had delivered lectures, including convocation lectures in several universities, including University of Lagos, University of Ibadan, University of Ilorin, University of Benin, Lagos State University, University of Ife and the National Institute for Policy and Strategy Studies, Kuru, near Jos, Plateau State, and Redeemer’s University.

He is the first national president of the National Association of Retired Career Ambassadors of Nigeria, ARCAN, 2017-2019. He also served his state, Osun, in various capacities, including as special adviser and commissioner.

He authored several books including Lord Lugard’s Political Memoranda and the Development of Indirect Rule in Nigeria; A History of the CMS Grammar School, Lagos (1859 – 2009); A Venture of Faith (An Official History of the Cathedral Church of Christ, Lagos (1867 – 2007); and Lest I Forget: Memoirs of a Nigerian Career Diplomat (2013).

However, it would gladden my heart if someone like him could use whatever influence he can still muster to appeal to both our political office holders and members of the Academic Staff Union of Universities (ASUU), to please have mercy on our youths who have been stranded at home for more than a year, as both elephants have chosen to remain fighting in the ring instead of taking pity on these hapless youths by ensuring that they return to classes soonest. These were people who, largely, had the best of what this country could offer in their days, It is ungodly to continue to pretend that all is well when students are not in school for over a year. If possible, Ambassador Fafowora could take a break from writing to say something for these youths.

As a father and grandfather, I know he has been doing his best to assist some of these young ones who are still jobless years after graduation due to no fault of theirs, but because some people ran the country aground.

I wish Ambassador Fafowora, another ‘Mr Integrity’ in the country, and a Fellow of the Nigerian Academy of Letters (NAL) a happy 80th birthday.

By Tunji Adegboyega

When one considers what Lagosians have experienced in the hands of cultists, one cannot but agree with the new law by the state government to tame the monsters. Indeed, the temptation is to want to support any action that government takes to rein in the criminals who hide under the veil of cultism to perpetrate evil, no matter how draconian that action may seem.

It is an understatement to say that no one can sleep with his or her two eyes closed wherever cult groups attack one another or embark on revenge missions in the state. Cultism has now become the vogue among many of the youths in the state. As a matter of fact, many of them see cultism and its attendant hooliganism as a way of life. We still remember how the Badoo cultists held residents of Ikorodu spellbound with the gruesome manner of dispatching their victims to their untimely graves. Cultists have raped, maimed and even killed several people in Lagos, in addition to the arson and other destructive activities they have done.

It is against this background that one welcomes the signing of the Bill for the Prohibition of Unlawful Societies and Cultism, 2021 into law by Governor Babajide Sanwo-Olu, on March 15. The new law provides for more stringent measures for convicted cultists; they are now liable to 21 years imprisonment. It also stipulates a 15-year jail term for anyone found guilty of abetting cultists.

Of course there was the Cultism (Prohibition) Law of 2007, which has been replaced with the new law. However, unlike the 2007 law which addressed cultism in tertiary institutions alone, the new law applies to the general public. This is a good development. For decades, cultism was a problem only in our tertiary institutions and many institutions designed individual ways of dealing with the menace. These days, however, it seems not as pronounced a challenge in the higher institutions as it is out of the school campuses (or, is it under-reported?) especially in a place like Lagos. Secondary school students now get initiated into cult groups. As a matter of fact, the then commissioner of  police in Lagos State, Imohimi Edgal, alerted a stunned nation that primary school pupils are now being recruited into various cult groups in Lagos. This was far back as 2018, while receiving a group of youths who renounced cultism and surrendered their weapons in Badagry. He called for a state of emergency and even asked the house of assembly to enact stiffer legislation for cultism.

Cult-related activities now occur, often in broad daylight on the streets, with some areas already identified as flash points in Lagos. These include Akala Street in Idioro, Idiaraba, Ebute-Metra, to mention just a few. The so-called cultists are even so audacious that they serve notices of reprisal attacks which they sometimes execute in spite of the presence of law enforcement agencies. In a sense, therefore, the new legislation is in tune with Imohimi’s wish as panacea to cultism. No responsible government would fold its arms and allow such miscreants seize power from it.

This law, signed on March 15 would have been a very good birthday gift to me, that day being my birthday, but for the provision that places vicarious liability for the crime of children on their parents. That proviso naturally generated controversy last year when lawmakers deliberated on the bill. But the position of the lawmakers was that parents need to take proper care of their children and ensure that they comply with societal norms and values.”Parents of cultists found guilty of cultism in the state might be liable for punishment,” Speaker of the House of Assembly, Mudashiru Obasa, said when the bill was passed last month.

Without doubt, there is the need to make parents more responsible and show more interest in the upbringing of their wards, as the Lagos State House of Assembly and the governor rightly noted. Indeed, this is the only way to ensure that the children do not become a nuisance to the society in future, as most of the banditry challenges we are now facing are products of that lack of parental care. Many parents have abandoned this responsibility to teachers while in pursuit of their own means of survival, or to augment what their husbands bring to the table monthly as house-keeping allowance. Indeed, in the northern part of the country, alfas in whose custody many of the talakawa keep their children for upbringing have virtually taken over the role of parents. The result is what we see all over the country now.

So, something is needed to whip such parents back into line.

But then, the idea of vicarious liability on the part of the parents for sins or crimes committed by their children runs counter to the Yoruba saying that it is whoever sinned that should be punished (ika to ba se, l’oba nge). I also do not know how punishing parents for crimes committed by their wards can stand legal scrutiny. Again, as the Lagos State government must have been aware, there are two broad types of wayward children: abiiko and akoogba. Abiiko refers to children that were not trained by their parents while akoogba are those children who were trained but chose to ignore their parents’ admonitions. If any parent must suffer for the waywardness of their children, it must be established beyond reasonable doubt that such parents were negligent in their parental responsibility, and it was this negligence that led their children to join what Fela Anikulapo-Kuti of blessed memory called ‘bad society’ (egbe kegbe).

Moreover, if parents must be punished for crimes committed by their children, such children must be minors, in which case it is clear that the parents have shirked their responsibility. But when adults commit crimes, they should be able to face the consequences since they are old enough to discern good from evil. For instance, with or without parental guidance, anybody who wants to steal knows instinctively that what he wants to do is bad. While the fear of being apprehended to face the law makes some people to flee from the act, some others would still go ahead to steal, even if they had been told severally by their parents, that stealing is bad. So, by still going ahead to commit the crime, they are simply taking a risk, and if they are caught, they should have themselves to blame.

The fact of the matter is that civilisation and globalisation have taken the better part of us, and the result is the prevalent criminal tendencies that have seized the entire country.

However, we should understand where Lagos State government is coming from. The state is home to many jobless youths who do all sorts of things to feed. Many of them used to sleep under the bridge at Oshodi, but that had been stopped since the Babatunde Fashola administration cleared up the place. The massive destruction that trailed the #EndSARS riots last year was enough indication that Lagos is home to too many miscreants. Unfortunately, not all of them are Lagosians. As a matter of fact, not all of them are Yoruba. It is not uncommon these days to find people with all kinds of tribal marks running after commercial vehicle drivers to collect money as ‘agbero’. Some have even said they have seen Igbo parading themselves as ‘omo onile’ in the state, and collecting illegal money in that regard.

However, beyond crime and punishment, it is important that the state government looks into the sociological factors responsible for the increasing number of miscreants in the state. There are hidden talents in some of these youths-turned-area boys that can be deployed towards productive purposes. Some of those who joined cult gangs might have been forced into it by the harsh socio-economic conditions in the country. The Fashola administration tried to engage such youths, with some results. The incumbent government may wish to study this paradigm or come up with fresh ideas to mop up those talented youths from the lot, with a view to positively engaging them.

But Lagos State alone cannot banish cultism in the country. It can only flush the criminals out of the state to where they consider safe havens. So, neighbouring states have to be ready to adopt tough anti-cultism measures for better result. One way of doing this is to see cultists not as cultists but by whatever crime they comit. When they rape, they should be arraigned for rape. When they commit battery and assault, they should be so charged. And when lives are lost in the course of their nefarious activities, they should be arraigned as murder suspects, pure and simple. Merely referring to them as cultists rather than by the crime they commit does not let them get the full import of the evil they are doing to society. In this wise, the media, traditional or social, must lead the campaign to change this erroneous narrative. When we call them cultists after committing grievous crimes, we give the impression that punishment for their crime can be mitigated by their being cultists or that cultism is permitted, at least to some extent, in the society. We should not fail to denounce cultism whenever the opportunity presents itself.

However, having signed the new law, the government must ensure its enforcement. It seems the cultists are out to dare the government or test its resolve on the matter. For, barely 48 hours after Gov. Sanwo-Olu signed the law, cultists belonging to Aiye, Eiye and Bucaneer clashed at the Ikosi area of Ketu, during which they looted and burnt some shops. We all know that our problem in Nigeria is not necessarily about lack of laws but the will to enforce the laws and sustain the enforcement. Meanwhile, we will know what else to add or recommend for review when the full provisions of the law are made public.

By  Tunji Adegboyega

 

 

Having written about the pains caused by the simultaneous construction works in the Agege area of Lagos when the immediate past Akinwunmi Ambode administration started the works on the Airport Road, the Bus Rapid Transit (BRT) corridor and the Pen Cinema Flyover about four years ago, it is only fit and proper to also comment now that the Babajide Sanwo-Olu administration has commissioned the last of the projects, the Pen Cinema Flyover. This was opened on March 5.

Those of us who criticised the Ambode administration then (and we were so many) did so not for political reasons or because of the undesirability of the projects, but because of the associated pains Lagosians would go through while construction lasted, especially with all the major projects concentrated in only one axis of the state. The implication was that there was no escape route for commuters in that axis whenever there was traffic jam. No one needed any expert to predict that. And that, precisely, was what happened. I remember the first week of the construction of the BRT corridor or the Pen Cinema Flyover, when I left home in the first Sunday of that year and could not get to work, a distance of about 14 kilometres, in about four hours. I eventually turned back. Luckily for me, I could afford to return home because I had envisaged such a situation and worked ahead.

I also remember another occasion in the thick of construction when I waited in the office until about past eleven in the night before closing, all in an attempt to avoid traffic jam. It was a horrible experience, as I still encountered a heavy traffic even at that time of the night. I recounted in a write-up on the matter the experience of one listener who responded to the comment of a Lagos Traffic Radio presenter that tribal marks are incised in pains but when the incision heals, it becomes a thing of beauty! (tita riro la nko ‘la, to ba jina, a d’oge!) The listener’s anger was palpable as he retorted that “we did not have to die before we live!”  That night I really pitied journalists. I wonder if I could have done better if confronted by the situation the radio presenter was confronted with that night.

The lesson in all of this is no longer for the Ambode administration as that has become history. But the Sanwo-Olu administration and others now and in the future must understand that the pains would have been mitigated if the projects had been executed one after the other. All of them, no doubt, were desirable. But the pains associated with the simultaneous execution of such projects is a reason people often fail to appreciate government’s efforts. As the listener I referred to above said, we don’t have to die before we live. We cannot blame the poor man. He spoke the minds of the huge number of Lagosians who were still stranded on the roads at that ungodly hour. Many of our governments sometimes behave as if they are doing the people a favour when such efforts are criticised, whereas the government expects the citizens to show appreciation for doing its work. The point is that Nigerians are an appreciative people. Indeed, I have often said it and I dare repeat it that they are generally minimalists. Just a little kindness or good deed from government, they begin showering encomiums on the government. When Nigerians begin to lambast government even when it is doing something worthwhile, then, that thing has ‘k-leg’. As one of our songs in church says, anyone who says his prayer is not answered must have prayed somehow (o ni bo se se, o ni bo se se; eni to ladura oun o gba, o ni bo se se).

It is true that Pen Cinema has now been commissioned. But there is still a lot to be done. As they say, the reward for good work is more work. Given its disproportionate population, at least relative to its diminutive size, Lagos cannot afford to go to sleep (no pun intended). Lagos must remain a huge construction site for most times if it must meet the yearnings of its ever growing population. As usual with me, I cannot but continue to point at the need for regular maintenance when talking about a topic like today’s, especially of already provided facilities. This is a big challenge for us as a nation.

I cannot remember the number of times I kept campaigning about the need for street lights to be on permanently at night, during the Ambode years, to check the activities of evil-minded people who love to take advantage of darkness to perpetrate crimes. Using Fatai Atere Street as example, I kept up the campaign for more than 18 months until I had to drop the idea so it would not seem as if one was trying to take advantage of the political schism between the then governor and the ruling party’s stalwarts in the state. It is not an over-statement that the lights on this street have not worked for about three years now. Yet this is a major industrial area where the government should be realising a lot of revenue. There are many other streets like that in Lagos. The government should begin to think of fixing them, even if this must be done in phases due to cost implications.

Read Also: Lagos to shut Falomo Bridge for six weeks

 

There are also many other roads in the state begging for attention. I must commend the state government for its annual programme of road construction and rehabilitation. But then, it won’t be a bad idea to make a case for some roads which one has had cause to pass through in recent times. Here, I want to talk of the White Sand Road in Isheri-Oshun. The road is a nightmare, especially during the rainy season. The valleys that dot the  road literally ‘swallow’ some vehicles when it rains. The interesting thing is the self-help efforts of residents of the area that continue to make the road somewhat manageable. I think the government should come to their aid because they too have somewhat helped themselves. There is no good road anywhere in that axis the moment one veers off Ijegun Road that links the place with Jakande Estate in Isolo. I will take my time to do more job of identifying some other roads, to complement the efforts of those scouting for such roads requiring urgent attention. I believe grading some of the roads with good drainage provided will go a long way in meeting the needs of the people in some of these places, pending availability of funds to tar them.

This brings me to another observation concerning the concrete slabs on drainages in some roads in the state. Some of them are structurally defective such that they do not last. They are fixed today but the next day, they are broken again. A good example is the Akowonjo Road linking the Lagos-Abeokuta Expressway, after Dopemu Bridge. The concrete covers on the expressway(?) usually cave in. Now, planks have been used in place of some of the concrete slabs. Yet, similar slabs constructed in the 1960s still endure where they are. So, what has become of those standards of yore? Whereas one should, literally, be able to drive with one’s eyes closed, there is no guarantee that even with one’s two eyes open, one can escape driving into these drainages on some of the roads. I ran into one big pothole (I think along Birrel Avenue in Yaba) about two years ago, right in the middle of the road and lost a tyre. It wasn’t due to over-speeding but because of the iron rods in the slabs that pierced my tyre. Also, the state government ought to have learnt by now that the BRT bus stops do not have to be this grandiose. I said that much in an earlier piece. Functional bus stops that would shield people from sun and rain would do. We should be conscious of our socio-economic milieu in such construction works. This however should not be taken as indictment of the Ambode government. We all make our mistakes; the important thing is for others to learn from past mistakes.

All said, the Sanwo-Olu administration deserves commendation for seeing the Pen Cinema Flyover project into completion, from the about 20 per cent work done when it took over in May 2019. And this in spite of the massive destruction of private and especially public properties in the course of last year’s  #EndSARS riots, and the coronavirus pandemic which rendered the better part of the year unproductive globally. It is good that the state government is already looking ahead to expand the Ojodu-Berger axis, to enable it accommodate the more than usual traffic that will now be experienced in that area with the commissioning of the Pen Cinema Flyover. Equally worthy of commendation is the fixing of the five arterial road networks in the area.

I rejoice with myself and I rejoice with my people in the Agege and Abule-Egba axes over the completion of this magnificent project that is not only going to impact our lives positively but also revolutionise the way some things are done in our part of Lagos. I can now boldly tell those who abandoned us to our fate in the course of the harrowing times that our tribal marks are now healed and they should come behold and experience our new-found beauty.

Without doubt, the commissioning of the flyover further demonstrates the resolve of the ruling party in the state, now the All Progressives Congress (APC), to give the state the modern road infrastructure deserving of a mega city status envisaged for it. Just as that old woman who had visited Lagos a long time before the Fashola administration turned Oshodi inside-out asked when she got to the place after Fashola’s transformation: “my pikin, it is Oshodi”?, many people who are now seeing the Pen Cinema axis for the first time in about five years would also be wondering if they had not missed their way in the place. That is the power of development; the power of transformation which has been the lot of Lagosians in the last couple of years, and especially since the return to civil rule in 1999.

 

By Tunji Adegboyega

Although I have always maintained my column even when on leave, I decided to break this tradition this time around because it is like one is only engaging in weekly monologue. Those for whom the messages may concern have continued to be unperturbed about what is written about them or their governments. As a matter of fact, the more people comment on worsening national affairs, the worse things become. But, as my people say, someone who closes his eyes just because he does not want to see a bad person, stands the risk of not knowing when a good person will pass by.

If I won’t join in singing Alhaji Lateef Jakande’s praise simply because of a personal tradition that should not be cast in stone, who else would I eulogise? Only the mischievous will see an elephant and say it seems something just passed by. The passage of a distinguished journalist and administrative maestro of Alhaji Jakande’s stature should be an opportunity to celebrate his life and times. At least this would be a refreshing departure from celebrating the wrong persons and values, people who are not adding value to our lives but are, instead, increasing our woes.

Jakande, the first civilian governor of Lagos State (1979-1983), died on February 11, aged 91. He was a man that many Lagosians would never forget in a hurry. His great deeds are still speaking, more than 38 years after he left the stage as governor. Whereas some governors are forgotten as soon as they left office, Alhaji Jakande’s memory would continue to linger in the minds of Lagosians years after his transition.

Pardon me if I start his government’s achievements from the seemingly mundane. You will understand why as you read on. The Jakande administration played a significant part in the abolition of night soil men system in the state. The government made water closet toilets available to many homes, including my grandmother’s house at 16, Berkley Street in Ebute-Metta. My dad had made arrangement for the water system there before the Jakande government’s promise. He was not based in Lagos then. Indeed, he had ensured the ground was dug in preparation for the transformation. I remember how we all thought the Jakande government’s promise on water closet toilets was one of those never-intended-to-be fulfilled promises by politicians. But, before we could say Jack Robinson, labourers had swung into action, they brought blocks to complete the work in my grandmother’s house and also ensured that other houses were provided the facility from start to finish. There was no discrimination whether along political or any other line, despite the fact that the Jakande/Rafiu Jafojo ticket was a Muslim-Muslim one.

Really, it was difficult to believe that a state government would honour such a promise. These days, many governors would tell you ‘I cannot afford to do that’; when they meant the state government lacked the resources to embark on such a gigantic project. To the credit of that administration, it started the project and, like dream, completed it in many homes, thus helping to number the days of the night soil men on the streets of cosmopolitan Lagos.

Alhaji Jakande’s government built the current Lagos State Secretariat which houses all the state ministries as well as the Round House hitherto occupied by all subsequent governors of the state. The administration it was that built the Lagos State House of Assembly Complex, Lagos State Television, Radio Lagos, Lagos State University (LASU), General Hospital in zones all over the state, with assurance of free health care.

His government also built low cost houses in Ijaye, Dolphin, Oke-Afa, Ije, Abesan, Iponri, Ipaja, Abule Nla, Epe, Amuwo-Odofin, Anikantamo, Surulere, Iba, Ikorodu, Badagry, Isheri/Olowu, Orisigun, etc.; established the water management board and waste disposal board in 1980. Jakande’s government constructed the Adiyan Water Works to increase water supply,

modernised and expanded the Iju Water Works which was first commissioned in 1915. This increased daily capacity from 159 million to 204 million litres per day. The government constructed, rehabilitated and resurfaced Epe/Ijebu-Ode Road, Oba Akran Avenue, Toyin Street, Town Planning Way, Alimosho-Idimu-Egbe Road, Idimu-Iba-LASU Road, the new Secretariat Road and several others, including construction of Victoria Island/Epe Road, thereby creating an ‘oil rig’ for Lagos State. Even our dear Berkley Street was tarred almost to my grandmother’s verandah. Jakande’s government established asphalt plant for the Department of Public Works, Electricity Board for rural electrification, with provision of street lights; modernised, expanded and commissioned Onikan Stadium in 1982.

His government established a singular school system by abolishing the afternoon session in schools, and ensured genuine free education in Lagos State. Many of the beneficiaries of this policy are in influential  positions today.

It was to the Jakande administration’s credit that the number of primary schools increased to 812 with 533,001 pupils (against 605 primary schools with 434,545 pupils he met in 1979), and secondary schools to 223 with 167,629 students (against 105 schools with 107,835 students in 1979).

His government constructed 11, 729 classrooms with the maximum of 40 children per class between March and August 1980. By 1983, he had constructed over 22,000 classrooms.

The government inaugurated two commercial passenger boats christened “Baba Kekere” and “Itafaji” to run the Mile 2 – Marina (CMS) route via the lagoon in July 1983 to mark the official launch of the Lagos State Ferry Services. His government established the first Traffic Management Authority (Road Marshals), small scale Industries credit scheme which preceded the EKO Bank, LASACO Insurance, expanded existing markets and built new ones, as well as established Traditional Medicine Board. As Fela Anikulapo-Kuti would ask: “wetin remain self”! That is, what else is there to achieve?

But for the then Head of State, General Muhammadu Buhari’s opposition to the metro line that Alhaji Jakande’s government wanted to establish in Lagos, the former federal capital would have gone far ahead of the primitive ‘okada’ mentality that now rules the state, because there was nothing like ‘okada’ in the Jakande era. Lagos would thus have been saved the menace that ‘okada’ riders now constitute to the city, due largely to the ineptitude and corruption that define governance in many states that majority of the ’okada’ riders hail from. In a more discerning country, this would have been a serious political liability for the retired general.

Considering that Lagos State under Jakande was also simultaneously embarking on free education, a cardinal programme of his then Unity Party of Nigeria (UPN), founded by the sage, Chief Obafemi Awolwo of blessed memory, these programmes and projects initiated by the Jakande administration were enough to last a lifetime.

If we realise that Lagos State internally generated revenue even as at the time of the Bola Ahmed Tinubu era in 1999 was about N600m monthly 15 years later, we would better appreciate the sacrifice, honesty of purpose and rigorous thinking that went into public administration in the Jakande era. So little resources begetting incredibly gigantic programmes and projects. Most governors today would naked their states to deliver even run-of-the-mill results.

Interestingly, Alhaji Jakande did not ask for any fabulous retirement package despite the magnificent ways his government touched the lives of millions of Lagosians. It is people who are not adding value to the lives of Nigerians or those of them that are subtracting from the people that are hankering after greedy retirement packages. It just shows how fast debased our value system has been. Obviously there is a dearth of selfless leaders in the country.

Rather than milk the people dry to be comfortable, whether in or out of office, as many governors are won’t to do today, Alhaji Jakande’s Spartan lifestyle is something to emulate. I remember his visit to my church, The African Church Cathedral Salem, Ebute-Metta, Lagos, some years ago. The man still came in his usual outmoded Toyota Crown, several years after leaving office. I do not know how not having cars replaced at tax-payers’ expense every four years demeaned his stature. A case of empty vessels making the most noise.

Alhaji Jakande was a consummate journalist who proved that there is nothing fetish or mystical about governance. He showed that he could not only talk or write about good governance; he could also deliver it. Many people in leadership positions today have turned governance into something akin to bean cake that the aged masticate with a lot of efforts, as if battling with a tough meat or bone. There were no airs around him as governor. Indeed, he demystified the office. When we chronicle what Jakande did in four years and three months, and with little resources, then we would realise that many governors are only deceiving us today by being all excuses when they should be brandishing their achievements. The more resources they have, the more excuses they give for non-performance, corruption or incompetence. The more time they have to deliver, the more they keep asking for more time. Alhaji Jakande left indelible marks in Lagos within a short period of four years and three months. He never had the opportunity of a full second term (which many governors have but still had little or nothing to show for) because of the December 31, 1983 coup which threw away the baby with the bath water. The coup not only removed the inept and corrupt Alhaji Shehu Shagari administration but also swept away the performing Jakande administration. Alhaji Jakande’s achievements are sufficient justification for a maximum single term of five years for election seekers that some people are championing. It is enough proof that there is nothing any serious governor wants to do that cannot be done in four or maximum of five years to six years.

Although some of his projects, like housing estates and schools were dismissed as too cheap and unbefitting, the fact is that the schools were designed largely to take care of the exigencies of the moment, to be improved upon later. It is yet to be seen how the afternoon school sessions that he abolished could have worked without such temporary arrangement. Again, in spite of the criticisms, many of his housing projects are still on ground and they took care of the housing needs of many people at the time. Indeed, none of the criticisms, including Alhaji Jakande’s decision to serve as minister under the Abacha regime, a costly political miscalculation, no doubt, (and which almost ruined him politically), could obliterate the good works that Jakande did as governor. Succeeding generations of public officers have a lot to emulate from Baba Kekere.

 

By Tunji Adegboyega

Many people saw what has been happening since the November 5, 2020 presidential election in the United States, coming. I still remember some of my colleagues who bemoaned the declining standard in governance in many parts of the world, America inclusive, not long after the Trump victory in 2016. Trump may have been dangerously rich as a private citizen (to paraphrase one of our famous Pentecostal pastors). But then financial power is not the same as political power. We have seen instances of such all over the world, including Nigeria. Trump has shown that there is a difference between sleeping on the best of beds in one’s apartment and sleeping on the same bed in the White House. There is a wide world of difference between eating the best of local or international cuisines and drinking the most exotic wines in one’s personal apartment than doing same in the White House. No matter how many acres of land Trump’s personal apartment is majestically sitting on, it is incomparable to the White House. There is nothing bigger or better than being the World’s indisputable Number One Citizen.

That is at the heart of the outgoing President of the United States of America’s reluctance to concede defeat, preparatory to his exit from the much coveted seat of power. I do not want to believe that all of that is only for the love of America.

But if Trump is dangerously rich, he is also dangerously myopic and racist. That was clear from many of his policies. And that was his undoing. But the American train has since left Trump and his co-travellers behind. How he thought he could have been returned without the votes of non-whites and non-European immigrants in this age that many Americans are deemphasising that aspect of racism beats my imagination.

But that is what you get when you put someone with a black mind in such an exalted position. Trump so despised Africa that he described it as ‘shithole’. Unfortunately he seems to have perfected the art of ‘sit-tightism’ common with many leaders of the misbegotten ‘shithole’.

But, no matter how much you try to ridicule America as a result of Trump’s refusal not only to accept defeat, but to also incite hoodlums to arson over the result of the election, the beauty of it all is that the system has finally had its way. That was the import of Trump’s eventual condemnation of last Wednesday’s invasion of the Capitol the day after, even if after being pressured to do so. Yes, it shouldn’t have happened in the first place, but it happened. Americans corrected themselves first by voting out Trump and then ensuring that his shenanigans came to naught. Elsewhere in the ‘shithole’, his aides would not be resigning as they did in America. Indeed, they would be urging him on because of what they will eat. Blood would still be flowing by now and the country would be on the way to becoming a huge humanitarian disaster.

 

By Tunji Adegboyega

One of the things that epitomise the confusion in the President Muhammadu Buhari administration is the directive that Nigerians must have their SIM cards synchronised with their National Identity Numbers (NIN) latest by the end of last month. The policy was to take off barely two weeks after it was announced, while subscribers who could not meet the deadline risked their phone lines being blocked. Public outcry against the sudden take-off of the policy made the government to give three weeks extension for Nigerians with NIN from December 30, 2020, to January 19, 2021; and six weeks extension for subscribers without NIN, from December 30, 2020 to February 9, 2021.

Since then, neither the workers of the National Identity Management Commission (NIMC), who have now been forced to operate beyond capacity, nor the average Nigerian seeking a way out of the quagmire the government policy had put him, rested. NIMC offices and newly designated enrollment centres were besieged by Nigerians in a way that put many people at risk of contracting COVID-19, thus making not a few people suspicious about whether the government is really serious about fighting coronavirus.

While, on the one hand, the Presidential Task Force on COVID-19 is harping on the need for Nigerians to adhere strictly to COVID-19 protocols, which social distancing is an essential part of, another government agency, the Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC), on the other hand was threatening to suspend telephone lines of subscribers who do not link their phone lines with their NIN before the expiration of the deadline. Even with the extended deadline, it is still as impossible as making the camel pass through the eye of a needle, giving that this is something the country has not been able to do in over 40 years!

Curiously, however, the NCC came out just last Thursday to say that there was nothing like mass disconnection of telephone lines over NIN, more than three weeks after the initial announcement, which sparked off the mad rush for the elusive number. The commission told us what we have always known, that the attempt to link SIM registration records with NIN was aimed at enhancing general safety and helping the government to plan. As usual, the media was the fall guy for NCC’s volte-face: most of the speculations in some sections of the media “are based on the erroneous assumption that for every network or SIM connection, there is one unique human subscriber”. Even if some sections of the media speculated wrongly on such a sensitive matter, it should not have taken the NCC this long to debunk the speculation, especially given the panic and commotion it has generated among Nigerians in this COVID-19 second wave period.

No one is saying a national identity card is a bad idea. But, successive Federal Governments are to blame that we are in the kind of situation where millions of Nigerians have to besiege various enrolment points simultaneously for something people should ordinarily do as routine at their leisure. Even when government said people should register, it neglected the workers that are to do the job such that they now have to down tools. Among others, the workers are unhappy with the exposure of staff members to COVID-19, their salary structure, and what they called irregularities in the conduct of promotion exercise. The workers also want better welfare packages, more allowances for the registration of NIN, which they described as an extra duty. Above all, they want protective kits at their offices, the lack of which leaves them exposed to contracting the coronavirus disease as they attend to crowds seeking NIN daily.

This last aspect of protective kits was missing when I wrote on this matter last month, and I am happy about the oversight. I would not be surprised if government had accused journalists who point at this anomaly of instigating the strike, as if those directly concerned are incapable of rational reasoning. This is the stock in trade of successive Nigerian governments: rather than admit the lack of rigour when they come up with incongruous policies, they start looking for fall guys when those policies backfire. It is just that we are not a litigious people; hence we take things like this ignorantly and with levity. And our governments are aware of these weaknesses, and therefore take undue advantage of them. I say this because it is not only the NIMC workers who should be protected, even Nigerians who must gather in their hundreds for NIN (when government is discouraging such gatherings elsewhere) also need to be protected. If we were litigious, some people would have challenged this policy that puts their lives at risk in court.

The point is that most Nigerian workers have now realised that the only weapon they have is the strike option because that is the language most Nigerian authorities understand. For NIMC workers, there is no better time to down tools than now, that their services are in hot demand. This is a commission that should be bubbling all the year round because of the nature of its assignment. But many people are just beginning to know it exists because of the no-NIN-no-phone policy that we are now being told never was. Just a few days ago, some of the NIMC workers were sacked in some states for alleged extortion. For God’s sake, who created the opportunity for extortion? While not supporting people taking advantage of fellow citizens, there would have been little chance for such if getting NIN had been as seamlessly routine as it should be. What is more worrisome now is that not only are the workers’ welfare not attended to, they are also forced to attend to crowds, despite the COVID-19 protocols. Many doctors and other health workers have died of COVID-19 as a result of inadequate protective kits. I suspect lack of tools is also part of the reasons we have not made much progress on the national identity card project until recently. Nigerian governments have a penchant for such tendencies. We have examples all over the place: research institutes that have allocations for overheads for years with nary provision for research, to mention just one.

This is a time when many companies have asked their workers to work from home if it is not compulsory for them to be in the office. Unfortunately, it is also the time that government had to come up with a policy that exposes some of its own workers and the generality of Nigerians to COVID-19. What a bundle of contradictions?

The workers should insist on their rights. Good life is not an exclusive preserve of a few privileged Nigerians. Those in leadership positions who are appropriating all manner of allowances to themselves are doing so because of ‘surplus’ funds they see all over the place. And these ‘surplus’ funds exist because Nigerians are generally minimalists who do not insist on getting their own fair share of the national cake.

Meanwhile, the Federal Government has blamed the end-of-year festivities for the spike in coronavirus cases in the country. That may only be partially true. Has anyone tried to find out the contribution of this phone and NIN policy to the spike? Sure, some, if not many of the cases would have occurred as a result of the crowds we see queuing for NIN, unless coronavirus is not what we have been told it is, or unless it is exaggerated. As a matter of fact, if we are to treat this matter as government has treated other situations since COVID-19 broke, all the NIMC workers and those who have been going for the enrollment since last month, their families and whoever they had come in contact with should be in isolation for the mandatory period by now, even if they did not test positive for COVID-19. That is what government policy has brought upon its hapless workers and citizens. At least that is the impression of how grave the COVID-19 matter has been portrayed by the government.