The Nation Newspaper

Category: Wednesday

  • Covid; Expressway; Banks: IDPs

    Covid; Expressway; Banks: IDPs

    By Tony Marinho

    Unhappy COVID-19 anniversary with second wave brings deaths approaching 2,550,000 among 114,500,000 diagnosed cases worldwide. Nigerian cases approaching 156,000 and 1,920 deaths. Four million vaccines arriving this week.

    Johnson and Johnson Covid vaccine, single dose, ordinary your fridge conditions, is 65% effective and must be considered with other western, Indian and Russian vaccines for Nigeria. Coupled with our native immunity as demonstrated by our low per population death rate, it should be enough. Nigeria: keep it simple. Manpower needs, syringes, spirit, swabs, needles, injection times and injection infections will be halved, saving 50%+ on imports, travel time and money.

    Sadly, Lagos-Ibadan ‘Expressway’, only 120km, postponed to 2022?? Suffer on, Nigerians!! Who cares??

    Lest we forget the youth, human, educational and security disasters that signify the names of poorly equipped decrepit, underfunded schools in which our children were kidnapped undetected in their hundreds in unseen truckloads and some tragically killed and still unreturned from Chibok, Dapchi, Mahatu, Kankara, Kakara and now 317 girls, teachers and other staff in the Government Junior Secondary School in Jangebe. Apparently, there were police protecting the school but the attack was with sophisticated firepower which required the armed forces. The escalating violence against children is a frightening indictment on terrorists. It demonstrates what our gallant police and armed forces are up against. They urgently need larger response capacity and improved intelligence to practice ‘Rapid Response’ and ‘Hot Pursuit’ strategies seen in other countries faced with similar terrorists.

    The government must increase its capacity to blanket cover the areas of conflict with pincer moves which will entrap the terrorists and not allow pressured terrorists to slip away from state to state and back again hit-and-run terrorists around super camps situated like old castles of ancient times. The quick recapture of Marte Military Base from ISWAP after heavy fighting and Nigerian human lives and equipment losses is a sad but huge credit to our armed forces and we mourn our gallant troops lost bravely in battle. The ISWAP left Marte. Again no pincer move to encircle and capture and neutralise the enemy and remove them from the theatre of war. The ISWAP from Marte will just relocate to fight Nigeria another day.

    Hopefully with more concentrated manpower, it will be possible to capture and neutralise them. Neutralisation of the enemy is the centrepiece of battle plans. Pushing even robbers from one state to another is no solution to crime. Entire armies have been captured by encirclement as recently as the Second World War. Do we have the military might and leadership willpower to do this in our own country? Why are we unique, treating a non-surrendering enemy with affection? Unless it is not our own country and we are now suddenly and somehow in someone else’s country???

    Increasingly helpless and hopeless Nigerians hearing cows and the clicking of AK-47s and witnessing the burning of their ancestral homes and the destruction of their cyclic economic family supporting, livelihood guaranteeing crops, Nigerians driven into IDPs camps facing depressive neglect by governments apart from government and NGO food outreaches ask this question- ‘Is Nigeria truly my country anymore?’ Hopefully we will have the will and the military capacity to capture and neutralise the enemy.  A little more effort is necessary to make capture and neutralisation of the enemy the centrepiece of any war.

    Did the ‘Gumi Gamble’ work or was it just a ‘Gumi Publicity Stunt’ to draw more wool over angry eyes? Was it to give us hope of ‘Peace in Our Time’ or to blind us with smoke of a peace pipe or give us yet another carrot to chew on while the country we know and love disappears under us?

    Whichever, it remains questionable in design, parties involved, motivation, outcome and biased government response as compared to disastrous events in other parts of the country. In each case the aggressors and the victims are clear and separate but government refused to call out the criminals and guilty parties. Instead, it is pathetic to see government clouding the waters by demanding changes in nomenclature when the aggressor is easily identified.

    Of course not all members of any ethnic group are involved or agree with any clashes or riots. That is ethnic profiling a dangerous past-time but lopsided ethnic presidential appointments unresisted by beneficiaries fuel flames. And also the irresponsible government-fuelled diversionary debate on the distinction between murderous terrorists and new-fangled equally murderous bandits is a pathetic insult. Those who murder are murderers. Law school 1-0-1!!!

    Kidnappers who kill police, co-hostages or children are murderers. Using the correct definition, we must redefine thousands of armed men roaming our roads and destabilising our forests and freely shooting at soldiers and farmers. The unbridled rush to appease terrorists in any guise financially enriches the ‘terrorist enemy’ with ransom and other money payments, overt and covert, and public media recognition. The president agrees for once. Sadly such terrorist transgressions are routinely accompanied by mass abandonment of the victims of terrorists denying them adequate compensation for loss of life, limb, property and jobs forcing them to ask ‘Am I still a Nigeria and in Nigeria?’ Nigeria must step back from the brink. The war was declared on peaceful Nigerians of all ethnic groups. War knows no friends, only enemies and preventable dead friends across ethnic groups. Banks must step up for IDPs as for Covid not with hand-outs but with empowerment grants.

  • Ethnic profiling as red herring

    Ethnic profiling as red herring

    By

    Ethnic profiling is as unfair as it’s potentially deadly. In the hands of political manipulators it is a powerful trigger for conflicts that can tear communities apart. It deserves to be condemned unreservedly by all peace-loving people.

    In the past few weeks, we’ve been hearing the expression thrown around regularly by some Northern politicians and leaders to describe happening in states like Oyo and Ondo.

    At the weekend the usually mild-mannered Senate President, Ahmad Lawan, bluntly blamed Southwest governors for the recent ethnic violence which erupted in the region and targeted people of Fulani extraction.

    Speaking in an interview on the British Broadcasting Corporation’s (BBC) Hausa Service, he said: “The utterances of some governors in the Southwest region encouraged the indigenes who felt their leaders gave them license.”

    Profiling is about generalisation and Lawan’s angry statement did exactly the same thing. Of the six governors from the zone, only Ondo’s Rotimi Akeredolu and Oyo’s Seyi Makinde made comments of note related to ethnic conflicts.

    The former directed herders illegally occupying forest reserves to vacate them because of reports of criminal activities.

    From the very moment Sunday Igboho issued his controversial quit notice asking herdsmen to leave Ibarapa area in Oyo State, Makinde confronted him, arguing he had no authority to give such an order. He went a step further by asking the police to arrest anyone who took the laws into their own hands.

    So aggressive was he in countering Igboho’s actions that he became the butt of criticism on social media, with many deriding him as a Fulani apologist.

    Amidst the tension, I don’t recall any statement by the likes of Babajide Sanwo-Olu (Lagos), Kayode Fayemi (Ekiti), Dapo Abiodun (Osun) or Gboyega Oyetola (Osun), egging people to violence.

    It is equally noteworthy that at the height of the Shasha market crisis in Ibadan, four northern governors on a fact-finding visit declared the clashes were not about religion or ethnicity, but revolved round a leadership tussle in the facility.

    There have also been reports of how Yorubas shielded Hausas and vice versa during the conflict.

    So Lawan and the like frothing at the gills over so-called profiling looks more like blackmail and an attempt to divert attention from the real issues. We must not allow that.

    Is there anger against killer herdsmen across the south? Yes. Does that mean all Fulani are criminal? Absolutely no.

    If herders have been behaving like angels across the country, they would be profiled as angels. But a consistent pattern of violent conduct by a strain in their community has produced a stink which unfortunately is trailing the larger whole. That has to be addressed rather than the hollow blackmail about profiling.

    Perhaps we are seeing this deliberate attempt by the elite to muddy the waters because they own the cattle; herders are just errand boys who tend the expensive merchandise. So when communities begin to rise up in ways that prevent them from carrying on business as usual resistance should be expected.

    Through the ages land has been at the heart of terrible disputes. Today, with desert encroachment and exploding populations, that commodity isn’t enough to go round, and also accommodate a sentimental attachment to an outmoded way of carrying on pastoralism.

    Trying to get the point across to some Northern leaders that people are only bothered about criminality and not the ethnicity of herders, is akin to a dialogue with the deaf.

    Rather than appreciating the concerns of others, some have turned this into a political firefight operating from the wrong premises. Bauchi State Governor, Bala Mohammed, has become the vocal advocate of the right of herders to roam all territories from Timbuktu to Cape Town freely.

    Somewhere in his mind, but certainly not based on the constitution, he has imagined that Nigerian forests are no-man’s territory; irrespective of our laws vesting control over lands in the states.

    This week he got back up from one of his predecessors as governor, Isa Yuguda, who not only doubled down of Mohammed advocacy for herders to carry AK47s, he argued the country had been unfair to them because they provide beef daily for Nigerians. He reminds us that in colonial times pastoralists were a major source of government revenue.

    This position creates a sense of Fulani exceptionalism that isn’t supported by facts or reality. We can also ask whether Nigeria has been fair to millions of Niger Deltans from whose soil billions of dollars’ worth of oil has been pumped. In return all they get are polluted farmlands and fishing ponds.

    Under the military, agitators were brutally crushed fighting for a better deal from the state in places like Ogoniland.

    When the likes of Yuguda speak of Nigeria being unfair to herders who does he blame? For the vast majority of our 61 years as an independent nation northerners have been at the helm of affairs. What stopped those leaders from taking steps to correct the “unfair treatment”?

    To be fair, the position of Yuguda and Mohammed are not representative of the Northern political class. There are many others who have come out to say open grazing is not sustainable in the 21st century. Some who are governors are taking steps to provide alternatives.

    The buck passers have also tried to pin the violent acts on supposedly foreign Fulani. The irony that they are also engaged in some form of profiling is probably lost on them. Can it really be true that all herders from outside our borders are criminals and their Nigerian counterparts’ angels?

    Remember that the closest the ordinary man in rural areas comes to seeing a Fulani is through herdsman. He has no way of telling who is from Mali or Kano.

    This issue goes beyond whether herders are local or foreign, whether they carry AK47s or rocket launchers. For as long as the only model for doing cattle business is roaming thousands of miles in search of grazing, there would be conflict.

    For as long as people have a mind-set that promotes their ‘rights’ over those of other citizens, there would be clashes and plenty of raw material for lazy ethnic profiling. We really don’t want that, do we?

  • US-Cuba relations: From embargo to total blockade

    US-Cuba relations: From embargo to total blockade

    By  Niyi Akinnaso

     

    As I approached the entrance to the Embassy of Cuba in Nigeria on Diplomatic Drive in the Abuja Central District on Thursday, February 18, 2021, for a press conference, I could not but notice its proximity to the Embassy of the United States on the same street. Interestingly, it mirrors the proximity of the island nation of Cuba to the United States. Cuba is only about 315 kilometers south of the sprawling city of Miami, Florida, in the Southeast coast of the United States.

    Moreover, the relatively low-keyed compound and structures of the Cuban Embassy contrast sharply with the imposing compound and structures of the American Embassy. The contrasts further illustrate the relative size, strength, and statuses of the two countries on the world stage. The population of the United States is about 331 million people; Cuba, only about 11 million.

    The proximity and contrasts notwithstanding, the United States has been exhibiting unprecedented hostility toward Cuba since 1960! However, the historical context of the hostility must be understood. It began partly as an extension of the Cold War between the United States and the old Soviet Union, given Cuba’s adoption of communism.

    The conflict was intensified by the opposition of the United States to Cuba’s Agrarian Reform Law, which culminated in the nationalization of American properties on the island, although not without plans for compensation. The conflict escalated, leading to the reduction of the US sugar purchase from Cuba. The final blow was the Cuban defeat of the American Bay of Pigs invasion of Cuba in 1961. Its hidden agenda of changing the regime in Cuba had failed. The US government retaliated with an embargo on trade with Cuba as well as the support of terrorist activities against the Cuban government.

    Although the Cuban action was later validated by the Declaration on the Establishment of a New International Economic Order, adopted by the United Nations General Assembly on May 1, 1974, which grants nation-states the power to exercise sovereignty over their natural resources, the United States continued with its policy of hostility toward Cuba.

    Yet, the phantom of communism used as excuse by the United States is no longer relevant. The Cold War had ended. The Soviet Union no longer exists. Its subsidy to Cuba had stopped. And the United States has normalized relations with the new nations of the old Soviet Union, particularly Russia. Yet, American hostility toward Cuba continues to this day.

    True, the 44th President of the United States, Barrack Obama, attempted to normalize relations with Cuba, including a presidential visit to the island, but the hostility resumed and even reached unprecedented heights during the administration of the 45th President, Donald J. Trump. More than ever before, Trump imposed total blockade against Cuba across the board.

    This was particularly evident in a recent 56-page report reviewed by the Ambassador of Cuba to Nigeria, Clara M. Pulido-Escandell, during the press conference. She went through the nature, extent, and effects of the blockade on Cuba’s economic and social development. The report, which focused on just one year (April 2019 to March 2020), formed the theme of the press conference and kept the press spell-bound in awe of the devastating effects of the blockade on every aspect of Cuban national life.

    Particularly affected are major production and service sectors of the Cuban economy, including the importation of fuel and other oil products; the construction sector; energy and mining sector; the transportation sector; the biopharmaceutical industry; tourism; and the communications and information technology sector.

    Equally adversely affected are the most vulnerable social protection sectors, including the health sector; food and agriculture sector; and education, sports and culture.

    Not done, the United States also imposed blockade on the external sector of the Cuban economy, notably, financial and banking sectors, including a ban on the use of the US dollar; ban on the use of courier services; and ban on the use of money transfer services, such as Western Union.

    As the Ambassador pointed out during the press conference, the effects of the blockade on Cuban lives and livelihoods cannot be overestimated. In financial terms alone, it is estimated that the accumulated economic damage over six decades of blockade is in the region of USD 1,098,008,000,000. The blockade constitutes to hinder the implementation of Cuba’s National Economic and Social Development Plan and the attainment of the 2030 agenda of the Sustainable Development Goals.

    It is difficult to estimate the human costs of the blockade, especially in this age of the COVID-19 pandemic, when the exchange of medical workers, and protective equipment, and drugs is sorely needed. Clearly, the blockade has imposed a major obstacle to the wellbeing of the Cuban people at home and to many others around the world, by reducing the government’s ability to provide adequate social protection for its citizens at home and by cutting off Cuba’s export of medical doctors and pharmaceutical products.

    The continued intensity of the American hostility toward Cuba has not gone unnoticed by the international community. On 28 occasions, the United Nations General Assembly reiterated its resolution, calling for the “Necessity of ending the economic, commercial and financial blockade imposed by the Government of the United States of America against Cuba”.

    Similarly, various regional and sub-regional organizations have condemned the American blockade on Cuba, including the African Union; the Community of Caribbean States; the Association of Southeast Asian Nations; the Organization of Islamic Conference; the Group of 77 plus China; and the Non-Aligned Movement.

    Even within the United States, various individuals, groups, organizations, and even members of Congress have condemned the American hostility toward Cuba and called for the lifting of the blockade. Hopefully, the humane administration of the 46th President, Joseph R. Biden, will accede to the numerous entreaties.

    Remarkably, Cuba has struggled to hold its own. It is about time for Nigeria to step up its support for Cuba. One way of doing it is to partner with Cuba in the biotechnology and biopharmaceutical sectors. For example, one of Cuba’s strengths in these sectors is its experience in the production of vaccines. Its homegrown Soberana 02 vaccine to combat COVID-19 has now reached an advanced stage, with many countries now trying to pre-order doses for their populations. Cuba’s door is still open for partnership with Nigeria on its production, and the opportunity should not be missed.

     

  • Williams; Happiness; Gumi: Compensation!  

    By Tony Marinho

     

     

    COVID-19 second wave brings deaths approaching 2,410,000 among 109,000,000 diagnosed cases worldwide; Nigerian cases approaching 152,000 and 1,850 deaths.

    Last week, retired Brig General Olufemi Williams was buried. He was an Old Gregorian, 1957 set, and a distinguished officer and fine gentleman, Chief of Staff during the ECOMOG campaign and Nigeria’s Deputy Defence Attaché in Washington, USA, a Knight of St John’s International of the Catholic Church and left a dignified, honest and solid legacy. May God grant his wife and children solace. Amen.

    Femi was senior brother to late murdered Funsho Williams, another Gregorian, 1962 set, a brilliant student, star athlete, engineer in Lagos State of Ministry Works, participating in the design of Lagos end of the expressway and the Jakande monorail, which would have carried Nigerians on one billion trips but was aborted by the Buhari regime in 1983, costing cancellation cost of about $184m. Sadly Funsho’s execution/murder/assassination remains ‘unsolved’. The instigators walk among us. Shame!!

    We also mourn Pa Lateef Jakande, 1979-1983 first and governor of Lagos State, the most project-completion and builder-for-the-masses governor ever.

    Condolences to families of unfortunate serving victims of the NAF plane crash in Abuja and also to Nigeria and Nigerian Air Force. Unbelievably sad! Meanwhile 11 killed in Igabi by murderers.

    Nigeria falls down the World Happiness Index, towards the unhappiest place on earth. 2020 is the lowest since 2011. Ask government if it knows or cares! Probably not!

    Yes, sell the refineries. But note how quickly they will work. We sabotage ourselves!  Nigerian governments cannot run businesses and sabotage others with multiple obstacles like excessive power charges or multiple sometimes lethal police and customs checkpoints nationwide! The business of governance is enabling environment for business.

    Thankfully, the SARS judicial panels bites. N10m is not enough compensation for wrongful death [murder] or injury [torture] by police but it is a start. Deposit the compensation money before the panel dissolves and the panel should pay the money to avoid Nigerian standard administrative corruption-driven bottlenecks.

    The world explores the planets, the sun and landing last week on Mars. Nigerians are dying over cows being misled by AK-47 herders, destroying livelihoods and life. Pity!! But Nigeria also has space scientists like Dr Aderin-Pocock appearing on Sky News.

    Buratai says Nigeria’s war may last 20 years. Maybe true, but unacceptable! An indictment on government about this undeclared war and demoralising. In 20 years, all state capitals may have fallen to terrorists/warlords and war-ladies! We must enlarge weaponry inventory!! Nigeria is bleeding thousands of civilians, soldiers and police annually to be multiplied by 20 years. This will ruin farming further precipitating an irreversible famine war zone nationally. Can West Africa take 50-100million Nigerian refugees? Nigeria seeking to be 81 in 20 years cannot allow banditry/terrorism to fester along with the abscess of internationally funded Boko Haram/ISISWA. Over 20 years Nigeria could die from septic violence.

    Just how many mass-student kidnapping and child murders will we be forced to witness over 20 years. Chibok, Dapchi, Kankara and now Kagara! Poor children. Observe our internationally televised disgrace, failing our children in security and providing zero education quality with disgustingly squalid, despicable decay and depreciation in Nigeria’s bare dirty science classrooms? Yes, join SERAP in demanding forensic audit of SEPEBs and UBEC 2004-2020.

    Compensation???? Sheik Gumi, doctor/retired military officer, travelled to Nigeria’s ‘No-Go’ areas, met murderers, preached peace and maybe financial ‘compensation for not murdering’???

    For equity and federal character, words unknown to Buhari, Sheik Gumi must now visit their victims, five million IDPs, in and out of IDP camps and preach ‘Peace and Compensation’ to farmers for lost life, livelihood and trauma? Sheik Gumi, ask Lai Mohammed, to announce ‘victims’ compensation’!! The 150m unhappy Nigerians expect Sheik Gumi to tell Nigerians about Presidency, NASS and CBN’s ‘Compensation for Livelihood Losses to herders, terrorists and bandits’ plans for lost property, produce, income, limbs and lives. Compensate farmers, villagers and attacked travellers deprived of safety.

    A minister of defence, protected by Nigerian soldiers, tells unarmed Nigerians to defend themselves against a rapid fire AK47s involved with knives in killing of over 100,000 citizens. Shame. Increase the armed forces, police and local police to protect all, not just government officials. Even army camps lose heavily armed military and police. The minister must direct the National Orientation Agency to distribute ‘Defend Against AK47/machete attack’ Posters, just like government Covid19 Posters.

    No contact with farmers, no conflict. Governors’ forum’s Ganduje of Kano and Fayemi of Ekiti summarised the conflict cause -poor herder education, progress and development; poor productivity for cows’ meat and milk, conflict contact points nationwide, invasion of international cattle from Chad/Niger. Roaming cattle method is detrimental to herders’ personal growth, education and income, increasing conflicts. Ganduje suggests ‘Modern Ranching’ with zero conflict points, safer job for herders, less theft, healthier cows, better access to food, water and reproduction techniques like artificial insemination for genetic diversity. Livestock feed requires mechanisation employing thousands of agriculture graduates on such ‘Mechanised Farms’ and ‘Modern Ranches’. Consequences of delay are incompetence and disaster for Nigeria.

    Nigeria-2021 requires cows, fattened on ranches in home states, veterinary care and money feed-paid from owners, a business investment, transport by trailer, train or truck, maybe refrigerated, to market. Not nuclear physics! Just Primary Agric-Economics 1-0-1!! Food costs money. Farmers are business persons. Pay for crop, but not in fire and blood! Cow food and water must not cost lives.

    Meanwhile huge electricity costs kill homes and businesses! Why? NERC wake up!!!

  • Nigeria’s ethnic tensions: Words are not enough

    Nigeria’s ethnic tensions: Words are not enough

    By Festus Eriye

    Three statements by prominent Nigerians in the past one week show how we live in parallel universes, defined by social or political positions, geography or our ethnicity. We may deny it, but our utterances soon show us up.

    For many up north, especially among the cattle-owning and rearing Fulani, the raging brouhaha about farmers-herders conflict is simply a case of selfish and insensitive people conspiring to frustrate their business.

    Spokesmen of the Miyetti Allah Cattle Breeders Association of Nigeria (MACBAN) have repeated provocations that forests wherever they are found are God’s gift to them and they are free to roam freely – not minding whose property is trampled in their path.

    When people complain about herders going about with AK47 rifles we get mindboggling rationalisations like the sort offered by Bauchi State Governor, Bala Mohammed, who argues they carry guns to protect themselves from bandits and cattle rustlers.

    Mohammed has since tried to walk back those statements somewhat in the face of criticism from all sides. His Benue State colleague Samuel Ortom, for instance, sought to know what law permits herders to go about carrying assault rifles.

    There’s national consensus that governments at all levels have failed to protect Nigerians and that failure doesn’t affect Fulani herdsmen only. Should we all then resort to carrying firearms because the police and military can’t shield us from rampaging bandits and kidnappers?

    Many are furious at the perceived profiling of their entire group. While it is never right to tar everyone with the same brush, perhaps the offended should put themselves in the shoes of victims for one minute.

    Imagine how a hapless villager feels when he is suddenly confronted with an armed herder whose animals have just damaged a farm he spent months cultivating? Will he jump for joy? He may be angry but too terrified to protest because of the gun he’s staring at. Imagine his frustration and impotence in the face of a destroyer who shows no remorse but rather carries on with a sense of entitlement!

    Several days ago, women in rural parts of Edo State took to the streets in protest over not being able to go to their farms, for fear of being raped or killed. These are real life testimonies of victims; they are not the words of people suborned into some grand conspiracy to tarnish the image of an entire ethnic group.

    Amidst heightened anxiety over quit notices issued to herders illegally grazing in forest reserves in Ondo State and the self-help initiative of Sunday Igboho in the Ibarapa area of Oyo State, petrol was literally poured afresh on the simmering fire as Hausa and Yoruba traders went toe-to-toe in a seemingly unrelated clash in the Shasha market in Ibadan.

    By all accounts what began as a nothing incident between two individuals quickly snowballed into a battle in which antagonists mustered along ethnic lines.

    Such was the potential for the Shasha incident degenerating into something worse, that a delegation of firefighting Northern governors raced to Ibadan to confer with Governor Seyi Makinde.

    The Presidency weighed in with another of those statements filled with generalised condemnations of criminality and assurances of coming governmental actions that do anything but assure.

    Indeed, this latest statement by presidential spokesman Shehu Garba seemed more devoted to defending President Muhammadu Buhari from charges that his attachment to his ethnic group wouldn’t let take the actions necessary to deal with the problem.

    Many are especially angry over the perception herdsmen fingered in crimes across the country are hardly ever brought to justice. It was an allegation Shehu was eager to dispel by claiming that numerous such cases were under prosecution. He then passed the buck to the police to back up his assertion with further details.

    His statement would have been more impactful if it was backed by raw data as to who was being tried where. As it turned out a claim without facts simply rang hollow.

    Nigeria is on edge and stronger stuff is needed to deescalate tensions. Hate thrives in vacuums created by governmental inertia; it takes root when words are not backed up action.

    The president may have spoken in times past to condemn criminality, but people are asking for him to go beyond politically-correct remarks. His spokesman says he’s not a showman; just expects relevant agencies to run on the basis of his past statements.

    Nigerians are not asking him to put on some ‘Action President’ act. They are sending out desperate SOS cries for concrete action, for him to speak ‘personally’ and not from a distance through surrogates and subordinates. It’s not enough to simply tell us ‘I feel your pain.’

    It is perhaps in that sense that Ondo State Governor, Rotimi Akeredolu, spoke when he challenged Buhari to make a strong statement on criminality as it concerns armed herders.

    “If the president decides that he’s going to make any statement, what all of us will expect from Mr President clearly, is for him to at least come out and let Nigerians know, as we know, that he does not support criminality,” he said.

    “The president has said before that if you find anybody with arms that are unlicensed, they should arrest them. That will be a wonderful statement again.”

    I find it remarkable that this is coming from a governor and member of the president’s own ruling All Progressives Congress (APC) and I read between the lines a sense of frustration that the president is not seen to be leading from the front initiatives to stamp out the fires.

    For this, we should be grateful to the governors. They– northern and southern governors, have agreed to outlaw open grazing. This consensus should be backed by legislation at federal and state levels.

    It has also been pointed out that most arms-carrying herders are foreigners whose crimes are quickly attributed to all Fulani pastoralists. That may be the case.

    So what specifically is being done to address this? Do our armed forces, overstretched between containing insurgency in the Northeast and banditry in the Northwest, have the capacity to stop these herders turned security risk from crossing our porous northern borders easily?

    The current security challenges are very dangerous, with unpredictable consequences if not firmly dealt with. Whatever is done now would just be a palliative, only structural and constitutional measures can deliver permanent solutions. Can Buhari take that critical leadership step in this direction?

  • The fish stinks first at the head

    The fish stinks first at the head

    By Niyi Akinnaso

     

    This old saying, traced to the Turkish poet, Rumi, in one of the six books of poetry he wrote in the 13th century, now has numerous variations, notably, “The fish stinks from the head” and “The fish rots from the head”. Taken literally, only the first of these variations is true of the fish. Usually, the fish first rots from the guts. However, the stink often comes out of the head unless the fish is perforated at the belly.

    Commentaries indicate that the original Turkish usage was a metaphor of responsibility. That is, it was another way of saying, “The buck stops at the desk of the leader of a family, an organization, a corporate body, a state or nation.” No matter where the rot begins, its genesis is often blamed on poor leadership and it is the leader’s duty to fix the problem.

    Perhaps no metaphor is more applicable to Nigeria at this time than that of the stinking fish head. Come to think of it. Nigeria is a very big fish, the biggest in the whole of Africa. Its stench is, therefore, more noticeable, not only to Nigerians and fellow Africans, but also to global observers.

    At no time in Nigerian history is the domestic outcry against the stench louder than it has been in the last couple of years. The outcry is now approaching a crescendo. But where is the stench coming from? From all parts of the nation-fish. If we liken the various sectors of national life to the body and the entire entrails of the fish, what we get is an offensive stench.

    The rot is noticeable in the national economy. There is hunger all over the land. Commodity prices have risen sharply. Not only for food and regular consumables but also for basic utilities, especially electricity bills. The pump price of petrol has increased. The Naira has fallen sharply in value.

    True, the situation has been worsened by the COVID-19 pandemic, but the inflation rate has been steadily increasing over the last five years, driven largely by sharp rises in food and consumable costs. The falling value of the Naira and poor leadership are the chief drivers of the current inflation rate. Yet, no clear path to post COVID-19 economic recovery has been provided. Therefore, there are no indications whatsoever that a better tomorrow lies ahead.

    The education sector has been at a virtual standstill due partly to the COVID-19 pandemic and partly to the government’s failure to fulfill its agreement with the university unions. The attempt to provide online learning at the primary and secondary levels exist only on paper. In practice, neither the schools nor the students have the necessary facilities and training for online learning. It is not surprising, therefore, that only 39.82 percent of the candidates passed at credit level in five subjects, including English and Mathematics.

    The shortcomings in the nation’s healthcare system were vividly demonstrated by massive shortages of necessary equipment and facilities to combat the COVID-19 pandemic. At the beginning, there were only a handful of laboratories where PCR tests could be conducted. Thanks to domestic and international donations, more and more labs were built as the pandemic spread across the nation. But the focus on the killer virus has accentuated the neglect of previously inadequate facilities for other diseases. The result is a further breakdown of the existing facilities.

    Perhaps no sector has attracted more attention lately than the security sector, worsened recently by marauding killer herdsmen and widespread banditry. The herders not only encroach on farmlands and other private property, they maim, rape, kidnap, and kill. And without repercussion.

    In the absence of a coherent solution to the problem from the leadership at the centre, victims and their leaders have begun to resort to self-help. No father will fold his arms when an intruder shows up on his compound, threatening the inmates lives and livelihoods.

    Thus, in Ondo state, Governor Rotimi Akeredolu took a firm position against herdsmen, who encroach of the state’s forest reserves. They either register and obtain a license to operate or they will be prosecuted.

    A group of youths in Ogun state borrowed a leaf from the Ondo Governor by issuing a seven-day ultimatum to cattle herders in Yewa North Local Government Area, following fatal clashes between the herders and local farmers.

    In Oyo state, we saw Sunday Igboho rise up to fill the void left by the Governor of the state, Seyi Makinde, whose approach to the herdsmen’s atrocities was considered too conciliatory and at the expense of his subjects. Makinde’s inadequate action eventually led to the grave consequences witnessed in Shasha market in Ibadan last week. There were at least 20 casualties and hundreds injured or displaced.

    In all three cases, it took joint meetings between a group of Northern Governors and the host Governor to deescalate the conflicts at least temporarily. Till date, President Muhammadu Buhari has neither visited the affected states nor condemned the killer herdsmen.

    It can be deduced from the above why Nigeria, as the metaphorical fish, is rotting away. Unlike a literal fish, however, the leadership has a role to play in healing the rot of metaphorical fish. Unfortunately, the leadership has failed. Rather than stand up to the killer herdsmen, the presidency, many a Northern leader, including some Governors, and the Miyetti Allah Cattle Breeders Association of Nigeria have chosen to ethnicise the problem, by siding with, or seeking to protect, the herdsmen.

    The rot of the fish and its stinking head did not escape global scrutiny. That’s why Nigeria ranks low on all recent global indices of evaluation. On the Corruption Perception Index, Nigeria scored 25 out of 100, ranking 149  out of 180 countries ranked.

    Similarly, Nigeria emerged as the 14th most fragile country in the world after countries were assessed on 13 factors, including economy, security, group grievance, elite cohesion, and demographic pressures.

    Moreover, Nigeria’s Human Development Index now stands at 0.534, with an average life expectancy of 54.81 years. The likelihood of dying relatively young is very high indeed, if you live in Nigeria!

    In view of the foregoing analysis, many Nigerians are now asking if they even have a President. A President, who cares about them, if not for them.

  • Lekki; Ranching prevents clashes

    Tony Marinho

     

     

    COVID-19 second wave brings deaths approaching 2,410,000 among 109,000,000 diagnosed cases worldwide; Nigerian cases approaching 146,000 and 1,750 deaths.

    The flare up of fighting has created a new dimension and new IDPs from destroyed lives and IDP camps in those cities. We must urgently step back from this brink. Hot words lead to hotter war. Every tribe and family have people in other parts of the country. We must reject retaliation, but government must exercise its responsibility of education and use the law to punish criminals.

    It seems there is government backing for the carrying and free use of AK47s ‘for self-defence’ first against cattle rustlers years ago and then apparently against farmers rightfully defending their crops. Why can the farmer not carry an AK47? How come the armed herders are not reprimanded by even their own cattle owner hierarchy which is however quick to send legal representation in reported cases? This allows gun use and farm anarchy to grow across the country. Time to pay compensation to affected farmers and protect them!    The reigniting of the END SARS protest at Lekki Toll Plaza may be in good faith for failure to meet expectations. Unfortunately, government has allowed the general security, travel and economic situation to deteriorate dramatically. There is little morale and physical leadership or citizen recovery from the huge losses of the actual Lekki shut down and the subsequent nationwide bloody and infrastructure – destroying wave engulfing the police, government and private sector.

    If there is a recurrence of that disastrous add-on massive destruction in multibillions now, every Nigerian will be a victim, physically or emotionally or financially leading to the final act in our long running tragedy- the play written by 50 years of greed-driven failed political leadership called ‘Project Nigeria – cause and consequence’ now running on the world’s political stage.

    The post-ENDSARS panels of enquiry show police must pay more attention to human rights abuses. Internal self-policing needs reform. The vicious murders of police and the 50+ stations destroyed with other destruction by the citizens were carried out by some calculated strategy and also by some criminals seeking revenge and looters in the locality. The damage to police morale and consequent withdrawal of visibility and performance lapses has adverse effects on safety with increased insecurity. Happily, however, we witness some huge police successes in solving crimes especially the now-rampant kidnappings. But prevention is better than cure.

    The huge police presence at Lekki Toll Plaza is hyper reaction to the so-far new peaceful protest at a time when near-anarchy exists in some other cities and is out of proportion to the legal protest which required police protection from any hooligans, not arrest. Both police and protesters require a rethink.

    Just as now we all have knowledge of at least one IDP employing those who fled to our neighbourhood or are selling vegetables at street corners. Government is not helping by arresting poor impoverished people for Covid mask violations and seizing and selling vehicles of those who drive the wrong way on the highway -a severe offence of course -but is it worth losing a car in a poverty-struck country?

    Nigerians must step back from this brink of inter-ethnic clashes precipitated by single misunderstandings. An interpersonal disagreement on a single street between persons of different ethnic groups should not indict the entire ethnic group but it easily escalates into an ethnic street clash and further into an inter-ethnic clash by sometimes irate locals who viciously destroy their own shops in the subsequent riot and exploded by social media in five minutes. See how accidents involving okada escalate! It is important to educate the indigenous population to understand that every ethnic group has good and bad elements, mostly good who themselves dislike the bad among themselves. Lumping an ethnic group into ‘bad’ is dangerous and must be discouraged and educated against.

    With all the brains in Nigeria, the cow issue needs to be stopped. Now! Ranching will stop contact between good and bad herders and good and bad farmers. Ranching will reduce rustling to zero and remove the need for an AK47. Ranching ‘back home’ in state of origin of cattle will force recalcitrant owners to do what other livestock owners do -feed the cows’ under their care and when fattened, use train and trailer transport.

    The invasion and destruction of entire villages and execution of 30 -50 farmers, mass murder, cannot be justified. Presumably, other unprovoked murderous groups, Boko Haram and ISISWA carry out such heinous criminality? But remember, video evidence is overwhelming of wilful herders’ involvement in destruction, slashing and burning and cows-feeding-on-crops. So, they are not just innocent cow protectors. How did vicious vindictiveness creep into their psyche? Was its abandonment by their cow owners leaving them to find 24/7 ‘free food and water’ for cows without any funding? This is a crime by the owners! Add no schooling for years in the bush lead to despair among cow herders facing a bleak future. Could this also fuel today’s murderous criminality?

    Immediate ranching will stop the cow conflict leaving the security forces to hopefully face terrorists. Nigeria must urgently take the cow out of the security equation; face famine from ‘frozen farms’.

    We must step back from this brink.

  • Vaccine nationalism

    Vaccine nationalism

    By

     

    Of the new faddish terms associated with the mitigation and treatment of COVID-19, such as “social distancing”, “plateauing”, “second wave”, “spike”, and, most recently, “vaccine nationalism”, none seems to carry as much semantic load as vaccine nationalism, because of its connotations and implications.

    On the surface, vaccine nationalism is a me-first approach to the procurement of available COVID-19 vaccines by richer nations, while poorer nations are left in the cold. Not only have richer nations hoarded the technology and key components of vaccine production, they also have pushed for first access to a supply of available vaccines, by procuring doses of the most promising vaccine candidates even before they had completed clinical trials.

    By mid-August 2020, according to a report in the journal Nature in that month, wealthy nations had pre-ordered over 2 billion doses of six vaccines in development. The United States alone had secured 800 million doses of at least 6 vaccines, with an option to purchase about one billion more. The United Kingdom had purchased 340 million doses, about five doses for each citizen. Japan, Israel, and the European Union nations also had locked down hundreds of millions of doses of vaccines for their populations.

    That’s why by the middle of January, 2021, it was reported that 39 million doses of the Covid-19 vaccine had been administered in wealthier nations, compared to just 25 doses across all poor countries in the world (The Guardian (London) February 3, 2021). By February 9, 2021, over 134 million doses had been administered in 73 countries, about 45 million in the United States alone.

    No doses were administered in all of Africa, except a few hundreds in Egypt, Morocco, and Guinea. South Africa, which had ordered one million doses of the Oxford-AstraZeneca vaccine, could have been the fourth country but it suspended its vaccination campaign after a new study revealed that the AstraZeneca vaccine is less effective against a variant of the virus found in the country.

    From the foregoing, it is clear that Africa is the biggest victim of vaccine nationalism. The World Health Organization and the Global Alliance for Vaccines and Immunization anticipated this problem. That’s why they both joined hands with the Coalition for Epidemic Preparedness Innovations, set up by the WHO, to negotiate with various vaccine manufacturers for the supply of COVID-19 vaccines to poorer nations. The ultimate goal is the facilitate equitable distribution of the vaccines across nations. This initiative is what has come to be known as COVAX.

    It is this noble goal that richer nations have sought to thwart with vaccine nationalism, a self-centered approach anchored on the hoarding of vaccines for their own populations. The initiative has been condemned worldwide as a morally bankrupt approach to the COVID-19 pandemic.

    This condemnation stems from the idea that the world has become a global village. What happens to any member of this village has potential ripple effects on other members. This is particularly true of a global pandemic, such as COVID-19. The proof is in the speed with which the virus travelled with airplane passengers from China to the rest of the world (see Jin Wu, Weiyi Cai, Derek Watkins and James Glanz, How the Virus Got Out, The New York Times, March 22, 2020).

    Although, under the COVAX initiative, WHO, GAVI, and CEPI have succeeded in acquiring a proportion of the vaccines to distribute to about 140 relatively poorer nations, none of these nations is ever going to have enough. It is, therefore, left to each nation to purchase as much more vaccines as it could afford.

    As part of efforts to make for the shortfall, the African Union also set up the African Vaccine Acquisition Task Team. Assuming Nigeria is able to secure the 16 million vaccine doses promised by COVAX and the 42 million doses expected from AVATT, only 29 million citizens will be vaccinated at 2 doses each. That will still be less than 15 percent of a population of over 200 million and a far cry from the 75 percent needed for a reasonable degree of herd immunity against the virus.

    It is unfortunate that Nigeria has put itself in this position. However, it is still not too late to fill this gap. The answer lies in an alliance with Cuba for a joint production of Soberena vaccine as I advocated last week (Why Nigeria should invest in Soberena vaccine against COVID-19, The Nation, February 3, 2021).

    Cuba, readers will recall, is one nation which decided early that it will never go bowl in hand to any Western nation to beg for alms. It developed one of the planned economies in the world and invested heavily in education, healthcare, and in medical and biotech facilities. It began its own COVID-19 vaccine production, not just one but four candidates. The most advanced of them is Soberana 02, now in the last phase of clinical trial.

    With its own vaccine production, Cuba has been able to turn vaccine nationalism by wealthier countries on its head. However, rather than engage in vaccine nationalism of its own, Cuba is taking two steps. First, it is committed to the production of at least 100 million vaccine doses on completion of trial in March. This immediately leaves an excess of about 80 million doses after vaccinating all its citizens.

    Second, Cuba is seeking partnership with willing nations interested in local production in order to ramp up production and help others. This is Cuba’s way of filling the moral gap left by wealthier nations hoarding COVID-19 vaccines.

    Again, I urge appropriate Nigerian authorities to take another look at the Cuban effort and consider partnership. It will not only provide enough vaccines for the Nigerian population, it will also provide a lasting facility for vaccine production as well as appropriate training. It could well be the beginning of a long-lasting relationship with mutual rewards.

  • FMCs; Never ‘bow to the cow’

    Tony Marinho

     

    COVID-19 second wave brings deaths approaching 2.3million among 106,650,000 diagnosed cases worldwide. Nigerian cases approaching 141,000 and 1,700 deaths.

    A governor has called for different Federal Medical Centres, FMCs to each specialise in a different disease e.g. heart, kidney, and liver in different states perhaps where such diseases are common locally. This suggesting is well-intentioned coming from a good man fighting for the lives of his citizens against insurgency and health challenges including hepatitis and Covid. God Bless him. One must suggest that the citizens of each state in 2021 deserve the best treatment for any disease within the boundaries of the state. It used to be heart-breaking to see sick fellow Nigerian patients, many with language and cultural differences, in Ibadan for ‘specialised cancer care’ from all states of the country. The huge undocumented costs of ‘Interstate Medical Tourism’ in travel, accommodation and family dislocation trauma is a drain on state resources and an unnecessary burden on the citizen.

    Most medical specialists recommend that the key is not to get the ‘few patients to the specialist in another state’ but to get the ‘specialist to more patients in the same state’. FMCs must provide all what the larger traditional teaching hospitals deliver in specialty care bringing all state citizenry to within one day’s journey of care. The citizens deserve this in view of the huge funds state governments received over the last 30 years. FMCs should be all-encompassing specialist centres. There are 15 teaching hospitals in London alone.  Even a state with 2.2m is as big in population as Gambia, Botswana, Gabon or Lesotho making it equivalent to the 146th most populated country, bigger than 50 or so other countries. Our governors have a presidential responsibility to upgrade all facilities to international standards. Temporarily, next-door states can share the specialities to bring specialist care quickly to the citizenry.

    States are notorious for neglecting and underfunding health and under-employing and underpaying medical specialists and lag behind in getting expensive equipment. But a fantastic health specialist service would be an accolade and money maker for the state. The citizens would not travel 500-700km for care in overcrowded facilities which often break down.

    Governors must make top-quality medical services a priority. Unfortunately, most states neglect even minimum care and ‘Specialist Maternal and Child Health Services’ are woefully below WHO and SDG standards causing a tragic murderous high death rate among our poor defenceless women and innocent children on that most dangerous day in the life of a woman and child in the ‘War of Life’- the ‘Delivery Day Battle’. Remember each state in Nigeria is bigger than 60 countries worldwide which have Heads of State. Our governors, with similar population responsibility, must provide hugely better medical and social services. Most of their predecessors failed, squandering the money. Governors must provide excellent state medical specialists and facilities.

    President Buhari welcomes a guard change by South Africa at the AU. Unfortunately, he does not practice what he congratulates others for. His regime is rife with insulting violations of federal character, a key ‘Citizens‘ Comfort Factor’ in the citizen’s perception of the ‘unity of Nigeria’. We all witness the strange elongation of tenure for the armed service chiefs and the ‘nearly’ outgoing IGP. It boggles the mind that the president refused to appoint successors among the teaming highly-trained high-ranking officers and gentlemen with military dispatch thus damaging morale and disturbing the ‘order of service’. It is doubtful if the service chiefs will be admitted to any Human Rights-conscious countries as ambassadors.

    ‘Sit-tightism’ is a problem in Nigerian politics negating growth and SDG achievement. Nationwide, the citizenry faces fear, gunfire and machete attack with blood flowing anywhere anytime with kidnapping and heartless mindless and callous execution of the hapless victims even after on payment of ransom often with the subsequent kidnap of the person who delivers the ransom.

    So, we are a country, not a nation, struggling against a twin terror of first unbridled banditry and terrorism – 19 people killed and abductions in Kaduna-, by foreign imported and local militia under WA-ISIS and Boko Haram supported by some powerful forces. The second terror is the astronomical rise in ‘Cow Terror’ where cows, and their AK-47s herders [who asked them who bought their guns] spit frequent fire, life-terminating, and supported by blood-letting machetes, demand, devour and destroy with total right-of-way across ancestrally farms and lovingly tended farm produce. That farm produce, paid for with an Agric-bank or extended family loan, was destined for the citizens’ stomach not a free meal in a wayward cow’s stomach. Yet no one is prosecuted to deter repeat offences.

    Nigeria has been at a dangerous crossroads for years reaching a murderous head. Could we all soon be dead? Stop your cows! No other Nigerian would dare drive pigs, goats, chicken, and turkeys onto anyone’s farm, nationwide, without expecting a justified angry reaction for wilful damage and destroying another’s hard work. The owners of the renegade cows must be stopped, brought before a commission of enquiry and forced to pay compensation for life and livelihood lost before we have no cows and no farms.

    On the scale of life, one human is worth more than all the cows in the world.  No country can survive in 2021 if it forces its farmers and citizens to ‘Bow to the Cow’ or die!  Nigeria will never ‘Bow To The Cow’.

  • Why Nigeria should invest in Soberena vaccine against COVID-19

    Why Nigeria should invest in Soberena vaccine against COVID-19

    By  Niyi Akinnaso

     

    Soberana 02 is the name given to the most advanced of four vaccine candidates against COVID-19, being developed by the small island nation of Cuba. The other three are Soberana 01, Abdala and Mambis. Having followed the development of Soberana 02 from inception, I have no hesitation in recommending it to the Nigerian Center for Disease Control; the National Agency for Food and Drug Administration and Control; and the Presidential Task Force on COVID-19 for serious consideration. But before you take your eyes off this page, please follow this brief introduction into Cuba.

    Cuba is a small country, consisting of the island of Cuba and several minor archipelagoes. As of 2020, its population is just over 11 million people, less than the population of Lagos metropolis. It is a Socialist Republic alright, but it is one of the most influential states of the Caribbean region. You don’t have to love or hate communism to appreciate Cuba’s social, economic, educational, and, especially, medical and pharmaceutical strides.

    Cuba is endowed with numerous natural resources, including petroleum, and cash crops, including sugar, citrus, coffee, tobacco, and livestock. Its land is very arable and the country is heavily industrialized. What is more, Cuba has one of the highest literacy rates in the world at 99.8 percent. While Nigeria ranks near the bottom pile in the recent Human Development Index at 0.534, Cuba ranks high at 0.778, higher than any African country and higher than other countries in its region.

    Cuba did not come about this achievement by accident. It invested heavily  in human capital development, as illustrated in its high literacy, and social welfare. Moreover, it deployed huge investment to its medical and pharmaceutical industries.

    Slammed by total embargo by the United States government ever since the project to dislodge Fidel Castro was established in 1962, Cuba has had to find its own remedies. It quickly looked inward and began to build its own medical and pharmaceutical industries, in addition to developing its own economy to self-sufficiency levels.

    In no time, Cuba emerged as the only country in South America and the Caribbean region to be medically and pharmaceutically self-sufficient and to even supply other countries in the region as well as in Latin America, Asia and Africa. Cuba’s advances in medical and biotech research attracted the attention of the famous American documentary film maker, Michael Moore, two decades ago. In a riveting documentary in 2007, titled Sicko, Moore compared the American and Cuban healthcare systems and gave Cuba the nod.

    Cuba’s health policy emphasizes prevention and primary care as well as robust citizen participation. The result is the total elimination of polio, tuberculosis, typhoid fever, diphtheria, and many other communicable diseases still afflicting African countries, including Nigeria.

    Of particular interest to me now is the attention Cuba has been paying to the development of vaccines, which led to the establishment of the Finlay Vaccine Institute, which has been in the forefront of its vaccine development in recent years. The communicable diseases listed above were eliminated with homegrown vaccines. Here’s how José Moya, local representative of the World Health Organization, put it recently: “Cuba has more than 30 years’ experience in producing its own vaccines and almost 80% of the vaccines in the national immunisation programme are produced in the country”.

    Against the above backgrounds, Cuba’s investment in vaccines to inoculate against COVID-19 is not surprising. Its leading vaccine candidate, Sovereign 02, is now in Phase 2B, after recording huge success at Phase 1 clinical trial, when early immune response was recorded at just 14 days of trial. What is unique about the Cuban vaccine is that, unlike others which rely on the live virus or Messenger RNA to induce immune response, Soberana 02 only uses part of the virus. Its placement in the body generates immune response, without causing major reactions. Therefore, it does not require extra refrigeration, like other vaccine candidates.

    The plan is to move the vaccine trial to Phase 3 with 150,000 volunteers in March. This will be the last phase before drug registration. Right now, Cuba is looking for partnerships not only in the trials but also in joint production of the vaccine in the coming months. Partner or no partner, Cuba’s plan is to produce at least 100 million doses of the vaccine this year and many more later. The figure can be ramped up with partnerships.

    Already, several countries have expressed interest in acquiring the vaccine. They include Vietnam, Iran and Venezuela as well as countries with Cuba has collaboration agreements, including Pakistan and India. So far, however, only Iran has signed a partnership agreement with Cuba for joint production of the vaccine. According to the Iranian Health Ministry spokesperson, 50,000 volunteers would be recruited to carry out the Phase III clinical trials in Iran. However, technology transfer and joint production were preconditions for allowing human testing in the country.

    Nigeria’s partnership with Cuba in this instance has three major advantages. First, it is much cheaper than investing about N400 billion in Western commercial vaccines to meet the shortfall in the free COVAX vaccine supply.

    Second, since Cuba is ready to produce the vaccine locally in Nigeria, the impact on reviving Nigeria’s moribund vaccine production facility and on human capacity development cannot be overestimated. It could well be the establishment of a long-lasting vaccine institute of international standards.

    Third, in addition to cementing South-South collaboration, such a partnership is sure to reinforce Nigeria’s international status and begin to wean the country from Western grips.

    Fourth, there is a high symbolic value to Nigeria’s collaboration with Cuba. Here is a country with deep African roots, where cultural practices of African, indeed Nigerian, origins have survived for centuries. This is not surprising, given the high number of about 800,000 African slaves shipped to Cuba, twice as many as those shipped to the United States. Today, Blacks account for at least 10 percent of the overall Cuban population, while those of mixed blood account for about 27 percent.

    For Cuba, the development of Soberana 02 to combat COVID-19 is a matter of sovereign pride. Indeed, that is why the vaccine is named Soberana in the first place. Soberana is Spanish for “Sovereign”. Iran’s partnership is also viewed by Iranians as a matter of self pride for their country. It could also be so for Nigeria and Nigerians.