The Nation Newspaper

Category: Wednesday

  • Ethnic champions as opportunists

    Ethnic champions as opportunists

    By Festus Eriye

     

    Last weekend President Muhammadu Buhari let out a plaintive cry. The Nigerian elite, he said, were harassing his government, refusing to acknowledge what had been achieved in his time in office.

    If I were Nigeria’s president at this time, I, too, would feel harassed. An unscripted pandemic has dealt a devastating blow to an economy that was making its way gingerly to a modest recovery.

    Buhari just appointed new heads for the armed forces – an acknowledgement that former service chiefs had failed to stem security challenges that have paralysed the country north, south, east and west.

    The Boko Haram insurgency on its own was enough for the then opposition All Progressives Congress (APC) to successfully paint former President Goodluck Jonathan as clueless in 2015 – clearing a path for his defeat at the ballot box.

    Today, that insurgency remains a primary national security headache – a reality confirmed when shortly after their inauguration, the new military chiefs headed straight to Borno State – epicentre of the conflict. The symbolism was obvious because they didn’t head for Zamfara, Kaduna or Katsina States which have also been under the hammer of rampaging bandits.

    Across the country kidnapping has reached epidemic proportions with no state left unscathed. There was a time when violent armed robbery was considered a major problem, not any more. A new generation of criminals have embraced this other activity because of its huge financial returns.

    On top of all these, ethnic tensions are boiling over. At the centre of it all are herdsmen who for as long as anyone can remember have roamed the country grazing their cattle. Even as a little boy I recall coming across the harmless looking herders who usually only had a stick slung languidly across their shoulders.

    These days, a new generation ply their trade caressing AK47 rifles to ward off threats. Over the years the damage done to farmlands as they traversed the land became a flashpoint. Now, they are regularly accused of being involved in the booming kidnapping business.

    It’s hard to dismiss this as lazy ethnic profiling because of testimonies of countless victims on the Abuja-Kaduna Expressway and other parts of the country as to the ethnicity of their captors. So, where there was a problem between farmers and herders, it is now compounded by criminality.

    Unfortunately, despite mounting evidence and public outcry in many states, official response has never adequately addressed the problem. Matters came to a head recently when Ondo State Governor, Rotimi Akeredolu, ordered herders who were illegally occupying forest reserves to quit. His order would be spun by those desirous of promoting a sense of victimhood to mean an ethnic group was being expelled from a part of the country.

    Following closely on the heels of the Ondo order was the phenomenon called Sunday Igboho who embarked on a personal crusade against those identified as criminal herders accused of rape, kidnapping and murder in the Ibarapa area of Oyo State.

    His actions led to the flight of the Sarkin Fulani of that community, Alhaji Saliu Abdulkadir, accused of being complicit in the illegal activities. As I argued last week, fairness demands these claims are investigated to establish their veracity.

    A raging debate about self-help has been ignited by Igboho’s move which has triggered copycat action by the so-called Eastern Security Network of the Independent Peoples of Biafra (IPOB). This group has also taken it upon itself to enforce a ban on open grazing imposed by the governors of the zone.

    The response to all these activities has been predictable. Federal and state governors have been quick to condemn individuals taking laws into their own hands – warning of the implications for peaceful coexistence. Certain individuals and organisations in the north have equally raised the spectre of war and retaliation.

    Amidst the rising passions it is not surprising that many have succumbed to sentiment, refusing to address the issues at stake in an honest and unbiased way. For instance, to suggest that what is happening is just a blind attack on the Fulani nation is unhelpful.

    No sane person who has a sense of history would want to embark on the path of ethnic cleansing, knowing what havoc that has done in countries across the world and the legal consequences for champions of such activity.

    There are Fulani who are professors, doctors, administrators etc and the vast majority are law-abiding. The cattle business is only a part of their identity; it’s not wholly representative of who they are.

    This is not about their constitutional right to live where they like and make a living within Nigeria. However, it would foolhardy to pretend that bad apples within their midst are not making it easy for some to lazily stigmatise the ethnic group.

    At the heart of current tensions is how to enable them carry on their business activities without doing harm to host communities who are mostly agrarian. It is about bringing to heel those amongst them who have veered into criminality. Take away those triggers and the current heat would evaporate.

    In this wise, the recent proposal by Kano State Governor, Abdullahi Ganduje, calling for a ban on the movement of cattle from north to south as is currently done, deserves serious consideration. States that are interested in the RUGA concept and grazing reserves should be encouraged to do so in order to remove the friction points.

    Unfortunately, groups like the Northern Elders Forum (NEF) and rabble-rousers like a certain Professor Umar Labdo are doing their level best to spin this as an attack on Fulani existential and constitutional rights.

    It is unfortunate that such individuals and associations are only keen to defend their group rights without showing consideration to how the exercise of such rights limit the ability of other Nigerians to enjoy theirs. There’s hardly a word of condemnation for the criminal actions of some in their midst, rather an arrogant assertion of their rights.

    It is sad that the NEF rather than seeking to calm tensions would suggest in their statement yesterday that northern state governors should be making arrangements to receive their kinsmen ‘forcefully ejected’ out of certain states in the south.

    Unfortunately, we have seen over time how these groups and individuals seek to remain relevant through excitable utterances, without weighing the wider implications of their words.

  • Mask crime; TI; Governance  

    Tony Marinho

     

     

    COVID-19 second wave brings deaths approaching 2.5million among 105million diagnosed cases worldwide, Nigerian cases approaching 135,000 and 1,650 deaths.

    Why do we do nothing like with the Petroleum Industry Bill, always promised but never passed in 20 years but in contrast go overboard with draconian laws guaranteed to increase corruption?

    So, Nigeria’s way to get people ‘Covid Compliant’ and to obey Laws of Covid Prevention is a judicial enforced N20,000 fine and a six-month incarceration in overcrowded prison cells. Sadly, medically this prison aspect of punishment is a guaranteed Covid spreader and will give the ‘Covid Convicts’ ‘Covid on arrival’ or during the six months.

    Or perhaps the prisoners will carry Covid to the correctional service and its guests- the prisoners of Nigeria. And please, even the fine is a ‘government crime against the citizens’ and hugely disproportionate in Nigeria with 70% poverty with 80% of those working earning less than N500/day. N20,000 is more than the minimum wage before it was raised to N30,000 a sum still not paid by businesses and even government organs. A fine of N1,000 per offence sounds small but would be sufficiently irritating for anyone convicted to commence mask-wearing.

    It is unfortunate that the fiscal crime of ‘over-fine’ or ‘hyper-fine’ against the citizens is a very common weapon of governance, but often unchallenged by the entire SANship of Nigeria, PLC-Please Leave Cheque! Examples abound like malicious traffic fines, land use and ground rent charges higher than UK fines. Such fines are morally indefensible in Covid-time with joblessness and little successful business with no or minimal profits. Why must citizens always suffer? Where is our Ombudsman or O-woman?  Yes, many disbelieve Covid, swallowing misinformation made worse by poor health levels of education in media outlets and the maybe defunct National Orientation Agency, NOA. In fact, we have inadequate NOA action. Of course, Covid itself is an issue but the NOA is expected to be the leading and loudest voice in every ear and poster everywhere we turn shouting and signing the correct Covid information at federal, state and LGA levels to ensure that everyone, even those who deny, are aware even if they refuse to comply.

    Covid News Update: There is in the scientific and social media one preventive and curative drug commonly available which some studies have shown kills COVID-19. Of course, we have had wrong information before. However, this drug is old with 30b doses given for parasitic infestations. Medically, it is harmless except to the few with allergies or dizziness. Is it worth taking, just in case it works in your case? Discuss with your medical experts. The UK apparently has approved the drug. Unfortunately, the pharmacies are already overpricing the drug. However, the drug may, with any one of the new Covid vaccines, put a stop to the pandemic by mid-year June/July 2021.

    With more than 1000 citizens dying a day in some countries it is appropriate to REMIND YOU AGAIN OF ‘COVID COMPLIANCE’ AND PLEASE CUT THIS OUT AND USE IT AT HOME AND OFFICE…

    1. ‘WEAR A NOSE AND MOUTH MASK’ -not a ‘MOUTH ONLY’ or ‘THROAT’ mask,
    2. ‘WASH HANDS’ frequently AND
    3. ‘WIPE CONTACT POINTS’ like utensils, door handles, chairs.
    4. ‘KEEP SIX FEET APART’ aka ‘SOCIAL DISTANCING’ in office and from staff who go out of home and office. These points will save someone you know and love and many unknown casual contacts from being needlessly buried six feet under!

    Government is rejecting Transparency International’s assessment of Nigeria’s fight against corruption. It is called ‘Perception Index’. Regardless of the TI rating ask yourself and 10 or 50 people around you if the consensus in your area of operation is that Nigeria has improved or remains static in a quagmire of corruption witnessed every day by everybody everywhere – even children. Does the average Nigerian feel that corruption has fallen in service delivery by MDAs, security services, health facilities, customs services etc? Look at the stories of corruption related to the permanently disgraceful failure of governance called The Apapa Wharf gridlock.

    Government is wasting time, energy, media space, manpower and money fighting back against the TI’s indicting report. Why not learn lessons and move on to working to improve the TIPI 2022 Report? Has Nigeria ended even the most visible and simplest and most disgraceful corruption problems?  Like police force wrongful arrests, bail demands and abuse of power and also at customs- the port entry points strangling businesses and paralysing the economy so much that many businesses died, never started, left for Ghana or diverted goods to Togo etc which then cross into Nigeria by bribery, hook or crook?

    A severely under-policed Nigeria awaits ‘Permission from Government’, and the new armed forces chiefs to defend itself against the onslaught of heavily AK47+ armed men, with or without cows, who have already destabilised citizens nationwide.

    Governance is not a joke but a 24-hour alert leadership requiring drones, phones and spies communicating in undertones. The president’s trip to Daura is of doubtful succour to the millions of traumatised IDPs in and outside camps or the millions of farmers, farmhands and families with stolen lands, livelihoods and crops and over 120million terrified citizens from further invasion of states by murderous terrorists sowing murder, kidnapping, food shortages and a famine – ingredients of WAR. We must be defended, or defend ourselves, before we are all dead.

  • Nigeria and its herders nightmare

    Nigeria and its herders nightmare

    By Festus Eriye

    His name leapt out of nowhere, but he didn’t just materialise from thin air to acquire instant notoriety. Sunday Igboho, the Yoruba nationalist whose actions and utterances have stirred passions recently, has been flying under the radar – associating with key political players in the Southwest for a while.

    But it was his intervention in the spate of kidnappings and killings in Ibarapa area of Oyo State that arrested national attention.

    His call came on the heels of Ondo State Governor, Rotimi Akeredolu, telling herders who had illegally taken over the state’s forest reserves to leave within a week.

    The governor’s directive drew an immediate reaction from President Muhammadu Buhari’s spokesman, Garba Shehu, who called it ‘unconstitutional.’

    As it turned out something got lost in translation because Akeredolu merely ordered herders out of an area restricted for preserving certain animal species and flora and fauna. His didn’t kick an ethnic group out of the state.

    But a combination of his decree and Igboho’s private initiative soon had the usual suspects up north beating the drums of war.

    In short order the Arewa Consultative Forum (ACF) declared that the Oyo strongman’s order could precipitate a war and called for his arrest. They were joined by a leading northern newspaper whose furious editorial warned Akeredolu and Igboho were “playing with fire.”

    The temperature has cooled a bit with Monday’s summit in Akure of Southwest governors, their Kebbi and Jigawa counterparts as well as representatives of the Miyetti Allah Cattle Breeders Association of Nigeria (MACBAN). Their communique called for an end to open grazing and reiterated the directive for herders to vacate the said forest reserves.

    While this is a helpful intervention, all it does is douse tension for the moment. Trouble will flare up sooner or later because nothing fundamental has been done to address what’s at the root of the problem: the insistence of herders that their right to feed animals – even when that activity results in the violation and destruction of others people’s property – somehow supersedes every other right.

    Even worse, it’s been established over and again that elements within the herders’ community have embraced kidnapping and other criminal activities – making them a terror to their host communities from the Middle-Belt to the Southeast and South-South zones of the country.

    For instance, there are lurid allegations of abductions, rape and killings against Abdulkadir and his community. These should be investigated and prosecutions brought against those found culpable. That’s not too much to ask as a way of restoring peace and harmony to the community.

    Unfortunately, whenever there’s a flare up of anger on the part of those whose farms and crops have been destroyed, whose wives have been raped and even killed, it’s narrowly framed as an attempt to impinge on an ethnic nationality’s right to earn a living. The question is at what cost?

    Justice Adewale Thompson in a judgment on Suit No AB/26/66 delivered at the Abeokuta Division of the High Court on 17th April, 1969, had this to say about open grazing:

    “I do not accept the contention of Defendants that a custom exists which imposes an obligation on the owner of farm to fence his farm whilst the owner of cattle allows his cattle to wander like pests and cause damage.  Such a custom if it exists, is unreasonable and I hold that it is repugnant to natural justice, equity and good conscience and therefore unenforceable…in that it is highly unreasonable to impose the burden of fencing a farm on the farmer without the corresponding obligation on the cattle owner to fence in his cattle.”

    Sadly, the administration hasn’t reacted in ways that show it understands the frustrations of host communities. If anything, its utterances create the impression it’s more interested in fighting the corner of herders than in national cohesion.

    When in 2018 there was another massive incident of bloodletting arising from clashes between farmers and herders in Benue State, many expected Buhari would show up in the state to express concern. He didn’t. He instead lectured a delegation that went to Aso Villa to discuss the killings to “go and accommodate your brothers.” The unstated implication being that a certain lack of generosity on the part of the hosts was the problem.

    At a meeting in London with the Archbishop of Canterbury, Justin Welby, he assured that ‘enduring solutions’ were being worked out to stem the bloodletting.

    It’s verging on three years since that promise was made. In that time the RUGA initiative has bitten the dust and not much else done to deal with the problem. Herders are still roaming free across the land.

    In the face of their depredations, Nigerians are forced to listen to arrogant and provocative statements by the likes of National President of Miyetti Allah Kautal Hore, Bello Abdullahi Bodejo.

    “All the lands in this country belong to the Fulani, but we don’t have any business to do with land if it doesn’t have areas for grazing,” he declared in a recent newspaper interview.

    “We don’t sell land, we don’t farm. What we consider is the areas that have cow food. If the place is good for grazing, we don’t need anybody’s permission to go there.”

    With this mindset enabling the typical herder, he traverses the landscape oblivious to other people’s right. It’s the perfect trigger for conflict as people would rise to defend their ancestral lands and homes at some point.

    It’s the job of government to ensure peaceful coexistence between different ethnic groups. But when state actors refuse to act promptly, they open doors for individuals to intervene with self-help.

    The government doesn’t help matters when its own actions are easily rubbished as hypocritical and riddled with double standards. The Inspector-General of Police, Mohammed Adamu, was tripping over himself to arrest Igboho for supposedly inflammatory talk; he wasn’t so zealous when a certain Prof. Isa Muhammed Maishanu of the Muslim Solidarity Forum issued a quit notice ordering Catholic Archbishop Matthew Kukah to leave Sokoto just because he criticised Buhari.

    You can arrest a thousand Igbohos; it won’t change anything until you arrive at a solution that acknowledges that this is the 21st century and cattle business cannot be conducted as it was in the 19th century. It must be a solution that enables breeders do their business without destroying the properties of host communities, or terrorising same with an even more lucrative stream of income – kidnapping.

  • Akeredolu and security in Ondo forests

    Akeredolu and security in Ondo forests

    By Niyi Akinnaso

    Anyone who does not know that, in addition to Boko Haram insurgents, kidnappers, armed robbers, rustlers, and, yes, herdsmen have contributed immensely to insecurity in Nigeria is either deceitful or lives in a bubble, where he or she is screened away from reality.

    Similarly, any Nigerian living in Nigeria should have known by now that the distinction between these categories of molesters of lives and deprivers of livelihoods has become blurry, partly because they are all armed and partly because they operate in similar ways. Besides, the effects of their operations on lives and livelihood are about the same. As a shorthand, I will henceforth use the term bandits to cover these categories.

    Given the high profile operations of these bandits in Ondo state since the kidnapping of Chief Olu Falae and the destruction of his farm multiple times, it is more than baffling that anyone would blame any Governor, who operates within extant laws, for taking necessary steps to defend the lives and livelihoods of the people in his or her state.

    For a brief illustration, let me recall the killings by bandits at various times within the past eighteen months of (1) Oba Adegoke Adeusi, the Olufon of Ifon, a first class traditional ruler in the state; (2) Mrs. Funke Olakunrin, the daughter of Chief Reuben Fasoranti, the leader of the Yoruba sociocultural group; (3) Professor Gideon Okedayo, Professor of Mathematics and Acting Dean of the School of Post Graduate Studies at the Olusegun Agagu University of Science and Technology; and, very recently, (4) Dr. Amos Arijesuyo, a Deputy Registrar and Head of the Guidance and Counseling Unit at the Federal University of Technology, Akure.

    As these killings were going on, major roads and expressways across Ondo state became increasingly dangerous-Sagamu-Ore road; Ore-Benin road; Ore-Ondo-Akure road; Ilesa-Akure road; Ikare-Owo road, Owo-Akure road; and Owo-Benin road, to name a few.

    On top of insecurity on the roadways, farmlands and forests became more and more insecure. Even unfenced compounds in cities were turned into grazing areas for herdsmen. The increasing incursion of herdsmen into people’s compounds, farmlands, and, especially, regulated forest reserves became a serious cause for concern. The sheer size of the reserve poses problems for supervision and patrol, which is why Governor Rotimi Akeredolu ensured that farmers and loggers in the reserve were duly registered. It is within this context that Governor Akeredolu mandated those who wished to carry on with their cattle-rearing business to register with appropriate authorities within the next seven days or risk evacuation from the forest.

    Against the above backgrounds, it is unfortunate that Governor Akeredolu’s instruction generated controversy. In order to fully grasp the furor that followed his instruction, it is important to probe into why the controversy occurred at all. There are three major reasons.

    First, the press was not helpful in reporting what Akeredolu said. Nor did anyone probe into the underlying reasons for the position he took. Rather, many reporters went for sensational headlines and inflammatory reportage, focusing on the ultimatum rather the substance of the order.

    Second, rather than seek clarification, the presidency, or at least its media department, inflamed matters by tilting its statement in defence of the herdsmen. For example, it was  Garba Shehu, the Senior Special Assistant to the President on Media and Publicity, who brought “language”, “ethnicity”, “geographical origins”, “religion”, and “language” into the discourse and implied that Governor Akeredolu might be unilaterally “ousting” herders from his state. Again, in reporting the statement by Shehu, the press focused on the implied negativity of his statement than on reporting Shehu’s attempt at a middle-of-the-road position.

    While many observers were surprised at the presidency’s immediate reaction to Governor Akeredolu’s statement, I was not, because it has become standard practice for this presidency to sprint to the press, either in self defence, in defence of sacred cows, or in defence of its nebulous position that the unity of the country is non-negotiable. With regard to herders, we have seen the presidency time and again drag its feet on matters affecting herders, even where it was clear that some of them committed criminal acts.

    Third, the Miyetti Allah Cattle Breeders Association of Nigeria (MACBAN) understandably rose in defence of the herders. They acted more in reaction to press reports than to the substance of Governor Akeredolu’s statement. Understandably, the MACBAN would privilege herders over other groups in defence of their business.

    It is refreshing that, at the end of the day, when delegates of the Governors Forum, including the Governors of the tri-state area of Ondo, Ekiti, and Osun, met with delegates of MACBAN the other day, it became clear that the controversy was unnecessary after Both parties agreed that illegal occupation of the state’s forest reserve should be condemned and banned. In addition, night and underage herding were banned across the Southwest.

    Nevertheless, the controversy was useful as it allows for clarification of Governor Akeredolu’s statement and for expert opinion on the legality of his order to the herders (see especially Festus Ogun’s “Akeredolu’s vacation order to herdsmen is legal and constitutional”, The Guardian, January 26, 2021).

    The controversy also allowed Nigerians to appreciate the support for Governor Akeredolu’s order in the South, especially the Southwest. True, Governor Akeredolu was sometimes an outlier on some issues, but the people of Ondo state in particular and the Southwest in general stood with him on this one.

    There is also a lesson for state executives in communicating with the public and with our run-quickly-to-the-press reporters. Matters that have serious policy implications should not be presented casually or without sufficient preamble that would contextualize the policy. Governor Akeredolu had enough background to share with the press and the public when he gave the order for the herders to register like other users before using the forest reserve. He should have done so.

    Nevertheless, the focus on the forest reserve should not take the focus away from general insecurity in the state as indicated at the beginning of this article. It is heartening to note that Governor Akeredolu has begun to cast a wider net beyond the forests, by beefing up security measures across the state.

  • Implicit taxes; Heavy heart!

    Tony Marinho

     

    COVID-19 second wave brings deaths approaching 2.15milliion among around 100 million cases worldwide, Nigerian cases approaching 122,000 with 1,510 deaths.

    Economics: The statement that Nigerians pay one of the ‘highest implicit taxes’ by [Prof to be] Dr. Adewumi Adesina, re-elected president of African Development Bank, is known to Nigerians earning and spending honest money. It is only unknown to those who are the heaviest, least productive burden on society, particularly politicians, the civil service and contractors whose 60-year main job was to provide infrastructure. This is another undocumented extractive industry which including bribes, exorbitant ‘Salaries And Perks’ for politicians and inflated contract fees for which the citizenry has paid a price too heavy in underdevelopment. It makes them need to stay in power or be connected to power for continuous extortion payments to meet these perks which should have been provided d the citizenry.

    Countries stagnate and die if corruption is more than 10%. Sadly, our financial corruption level is estimated at 50-100% with many totally undelivered but fully paid for contracts for which loans have to be paid back making the cost an unimaginable 110% corruption. This means innocent citizens are forced to owe money for the corruption of fellow Nigerians in authority added to the corrupt duplicity in our international dealings. These have conspired to impoverish the citizenry financially further compounded by Covid-19.

    Adesina has added to the acknowledgment by financial and academic authority of our burden of each being a ‘Local Government Area’ having to provide all infrastructure adding weight to the cost of doing business with generators, fuel, water purchases, vehicle repairs from bad roads, delays, customs problems etc. Nigerians have faced a tough service delivery failure time. Even this was compounded by the disgraced naira precipitated by a poor foreign exchange growth culture.

    Why do Nigerians not get tax relief for government’s ‘failure to provide’ electricity? This should be recognised and therefore all economists and taught in schools of economics and social and political studies can now include a tax line on ‘Implicit Tax’ as an item for tax relief in their calculations.

    Nigeria’s heavy heart: Insecurity.

    The economics of Nigeria’s milito-political-economic Corruption Incompetence, Neglect and Selfishness, CINS, are no longer the full story of our horrible road to the current suffering. We face a more sinister corruption than financial corruption and it is finally precipitating a disaster. Everyone has been tested by today’s unjustified and unnecessary terror as there was no threat by farmers or anyone else. This is a self-made terror and self-made war! We face Federal Government Policy Corruption – the unhidden and hidden agenda policy corruption- since the military and its 1999 constitution. Ask yourself the ‘National Anthem Question’ -Do ‘Truth and Justice Reign’?

    Nigeria’s heavy heart beats sadly. More deadly attacks and bandits killed. Suffering today’s terror travails common only in countries worse Nigeria, the self-acclaimed giant of Africa. Nigerians, including 2.5+mllion traumatised human beings labelled IDPs in camps, fear for themselves. We have witnessed 50-100,000 murders related to government’s inability to protect first, farmers from those claiming, without government arrest for treason, to ‘own the country’ and then, failing to protect Nigerians from terrorists and kidnappers. They are not simple deaths but vicious murders by machete and machinegun. Nigerians fear for wives and husbands going about daily chores or work. They fear for children at home or in school. They fear their workers, drivers, domestics and maintenance staff invited into the house for repairs. It was better in the past but has become dangerous now.

    Nigerians are peaceful and just want a safe haven to benefit from being ‘Faithful, Loyal and Honest’, tenets in the ‘National Pledge’. They live in peace, intermarry, have best friends from other ethnic groups and have freely travelled around Nigeria in safety and expectation of safe arrival. Nigeria’s ethnic groups generally do not trample over the human rights of the ‘indigenous citizens’. Above all, in their own native part of the country, they expect respect for ancestry, inheritance and ownership based on legal, family or financial purchase terms.

    We have boundary tensions. However, the herders who march through other people’s property burning produce and destroying lives and farms are a real and present menace made worse by presidential policy compounded by foreign and local terrorists. And please add poverty which has thrown millions towards petty and sometimes major criminality seeking a living. Our less than fantastic courts have not convicted enough corrupt Nigerians with long enough jail time or fast enough to curb corruption.

    A county where any group claims the country and abuses the rights and property of others without federal government condemnation is in a war situation or facing anarchy.

    I could have been born elsewhere, lived in village running a farm and suddenly being run off that same farm or murdered because I object to someone feeding my 300 days hard farmer labour and a bank loan crops to cows?? No compensation for malicious damage? How many must die before we cry? How many murders before we are permitted to arm to adequately defend ourselves. We do not live peacefully in our own family plot. How much is the price we must pay to stay alive in our own little corner of our own country? How much blood must be shed-5pints x 100,000 -a blood? Or is the policy plan for us all to be docile, domestic servants or dead?

     

  • The Coronavirus diaries (22)

    The Coronavirus diaries (22)

    By Festus Eriye

    Vaccines are increasingly looking like the sliver of light flickering for humanity at the end of a long, dark COVID-19 tunnel.

    In Israel, the rate of new infections is trending downwards after the  country vaccinated approximately 27% of its citizens – about 2.43  million people of its population of nine million. It leads the world in   number of shots administered.

    Theirs is a story that should hearten other countries that the pandemic  can be brought under control in the near future. But if you are  Nigerian, there’s still a way to go before an appreciable percentage of our population gets jabs.

    Not even the most positive projections of Minister of Health, Dr. Osagie Ehinare, give hope. Like most African countries, we are banking on the COVID-19 Vaccines Global Assess Facility (COVAX) – a World Health Organization (WHO)-backed programme, set-up to split a billion doses across 92 low- and middle-income countries.

    But this facility can only take care of 20% of our population of over 200 million people. On Monday, Ehinare announced that an additional 10 million doses are to be supplied as from March.

    As these things go, rollout could actually happen as projected, or more realistically be dragged out to April or May due to factors like logistics and financial capacity.

    So while the poorest countries are yet to get out of the starting blocks, many developed economies are already counting millions of shots administered.

    In the UK over 3.5 million people have received jabs, while new US President Joe Biden has committed his administration to vaccinating 100 million people in his first 100 days in office.

    The lopsided nature of access to the vaccines was addressed Monday by WHO Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus when he raised moral questions about countries using their economic clout to corner the bulk of available vaccines.

    He argued that most manufacturers were giving priority to regulatory approval in rich countries, where the profits were the highest. “This could delay COVAX deliveries and create exactly the scenario COVAX was designed to avoid, with hoarding, a chaotic market, an uncoordinated response, and continued social and economic disruption,” he said.

    “More than 39 million doses of vaccine have now been administered in at least 49 higher-income countries. Just 25 doses have been given in one lowest-income country. Not 25 million; not 25 thousand; just 25.”

    But the challenge in Nigeria is as much economic as it is attitude. Not even the deadly second wave has convinced some that the pandemic is real. Two hundred people died in the last four weeks. Active cases rose from 3,000 two months ago to over 20,000 due to new infections.

    Yet prominent deniers like Kogi State Governor, Yahaya Bello, are now morphing into anti-vaxxers stirring up conspiracy theories and encouraging hesitancy.

    At a time when his colleague governors are leading the charge for enhanced local production to make up for the shortfall from external sources, Bello was captured in a viral video denouncing the expected vaccines as killers.

    Speaking before a crowd cheering his every utterance, the governor referenced the Pfizer vaccine disaster in Kano many eons ago. The pharmaceutical company was sued after 11 children died in a clinical trial when the state was hit by a devastating meningitis epidemic in 1996.

    He said: “Vaccines are being produced in less than one year of COVID-19. There is no vaccine yet for HIV, malaria, cancer, headache and for several other diseases that are killing us. They want to use the (COVID-19) vaccines to introduce the disease that will kill you and us. God forbid.”

    “We should draw our minds back to what happened in Kano during the Pfizer polio vaccines that crippled and killed our children. We have learned our lessons.

    “If they say they are taking the vaccines in the public, allow them take their vaccines. Don’t say I said you should not take it but if you want to take it open your eyes before you take the vaccines.”

    Somehow being a governor has transformed Bello into an expert on vaccines.

    Not all Nigerians – especially the rich and powerful – have adopted such a hostile attitude. A couple of weeks back former Vice President Atiku Abubakar received a jab in Dubai. A few days, the very stylish Ebelechukwu Obiano, wife of the Anambra State governor, was seen in a video taking the Moderna vaccine somewhere in the US.

    There no denying that fear has been a by-product of this horrible pandemic that has claimed over two million lives: fear of contracting the virus, fear of what the rushed vaccine can do to your system.

    Still, it takes a certain level of fright for a man to truncate his travels and camp at the airport for fear of catching the virus.

    This week reports emerged of a man of Indian origin found living inside Chicago’s O’Hare international airport for three months, after missing his flight on purpose, because he was too scared of coronavirus to fly home.

    The 36-year-old Aditya Singh arrived in Chicago on a flight from Los Angeles on 19 October last year, and had been living in the airport’s security zone ever since, managing somehow to avoid detection. He was finally arrested last Saturday.

    Lastly, a few days ago Presidential Task Force (PTF) chairman, Boss Mustapha, suggested another national lockdown wasn’t off the table if the level of compliance with COVID-19 protocols remains abysmally low.

    He shouldn’t be too shocked if Nigerians aren’t taking things seriously. They are simply following the government’s example.

    Many are wondering: if this pandemic is so deadly or real, why are schools are reopening over the objections of health professionals and over every scary new statistic?

    Why are the PTF and NCDC preaching social distancing and crowd avoidance when another arm of government is obdurately pressing ahead with the National Identification Number (NIN) enrolment exercise that is generating crowds?

    The minister argues people were given adequate time but forgets the disruptions occasioned by coronavirus and its attendant lockdowns since April last year.

    If his ego permits, he and his team should immediately suspend the exercise, or extend it indefinitely such that people don’t continue their ongoing suicide missions. Dead men don’t need NIN.

  • IVERMECTIN: The wonder anti-COVID-19 drug

    IVERMECTIN: The wonder anti-COVID-19 drug

    By Niyi Akinnaso

    If you are a regular reader of this column, you are most likely to believe that COVID-19 exists, infects, and kills people. But you may not know how devastating it has been for the world population. Specifically, as of 4:00pm on January 19, 2021, it has infected over 96 million and killed over 2 million worldwide. Here in Nigeria, it has infected over 112,000 and killed at least 1,449. Note that these are only reported cases locally and globally.

    Furthermore, if you are still under the impression that there is no cure for COVID-19, then please read further about a cheap drug that has now been found to be very effective against COVID-19, either as a prophylaxis to prevent infection from taking hold or as treatment after infection. The drug is Ivermectin, which is available as a generic drug or under the brand name Stromectol.

    This drug has been around since the 1980s. It was originally used mainly in creams and lotions to treat lice. A tablet form was later produced to treat parasitic infections of the intestinal tract, skin, and eyes. It later became a cure for roundworm infection and second-line treatment for scabies and rosacea, a skin condition that results in redness and causes pus-filled bumps on the face. Finally, it was also found to be a cure for onchocerciasis, also known as river blindness, caused by insect vectors, especially black flies, that breed in water.

    What is particularly interesting about this drug is that at least 90 percent of the parasitic infections it was designed to cure were prevalent in Africa. The drug was found to be so effective against these infections that it even eradicated them and related infections. The drug is so cheap that it was even distributed free of charge in many African countries, including Nigeria.

    As the world struggles to find a cure to COVID-19, a group of Australian researchers went to work on Ivermectin, only to discover in various experiments that it inhibited the replication of SARS-CoV-2, the virus that causes COVID-19. The finding led to more research in human populations. Altogether, at least 27 studies have been conducted in numerous countries, including Argentina, Bangladesh, Egypt, India, Iran, Pakistan, Spain, and the USA.

    The findings show that Ivermectin substantially reduces the risk of death from COVID-19 by between 65% and 92%, depending on the severity of the case before the commencement of Ivermectin medication. Some of the studies show that death even could be completely averted, if the drug was promptly administered in the early stages of infection. Even more importantly, Ivermectin was found to be more effective than monoclonal antibodies and convalescent plasma, both of which are widely used in the treatment of COVID-19 in the United States.

    Similarly, when Ivermectin is used as prophylaxis, it substantially reduces COVID-19 infections, by as much 90% or higher! This puts Ivermectin in the same class or higher than available vaccines. When both are compared, it makes sense to invest in Ivermectin, which costs next to nothing, rather than in vaccines with their prohibitive costs and availability problems.

    Even more worrisome is the efficacy of available vaccines on the Nigerian population, especially since Nigeria was not a participant in any of the test phases of the vaccines. By contrast, many Nigerians have used Ivermectin one way or the other in cream, lotion, or tablet form in the past. Moreover, unlike vaccines, Ivermectin is globally available, low cost, and needs no special shipping or handling. Finally, unlike vaccines, whose tolerance has not been tested on the Nigerian population, Ivermectin is well tolerated.

    Unfortunately, however, the drug has suffered ignoble delay in recognition, especially in the United States, despite its long-standing approval by the Food and Drug Administration (the equivalent of our NAFDAC). There are two major reasons for this delay. One has to do with the conflict between the political and scientific communities in the United States as a result of the obstinacy of the outgoing American President, Donald Trump, and his demonstrated disregard for science and scientists. This is evident, for example, in his handling of COVID-19 and climate change.

    Another reason for the delayed response to Ivermectin is the early huge investment in COVID-19 vaccine by major Western and Asian countries, especially the United States, the UK, and China. Clearly, these investors would like to recoup their capital by selling the vaccines to other countries. As a result, they have remained tone-deaf to pharmaceutical remedies for COVID-19 or at least relegated them to the background.

    Recently, however, on January 14, 2021, the National Institute of Health in the United States approved the inclusion of Ivermectin as an option for use in COVID-19. This followed powerful and convincing presentations by Front Line COVID-19 Critical Care Alliance (FLCCC), which detailed the efficacy of Ivermectin in the prevention and treatment of COVID-19 to two relevant and powerful Committees in the United States.

    One was the American Senate Committee on Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs, which held a hearing on “Early Outpatient Treatment: An Essential Part of a COVID-19 Solution” on December 8, 2020.  The other was to the National Institute of Health (NIH) Treatment Guidelines Panel on COVID-19 on January 6, 2021.

    Fortunately, there is now a group of researchers in Nigeria, led by Professor Femi Babalola, the Principal Investigator of the IVERCOVID study, whose whose purpose is to conduct a double blind randomized clinical trial to assess not just the efficacy but also the safety of Ivermectin in the prevention and treatment of COVID-19 in Nigeria. The trial may also be able to provide useful guidelines for the dosage of the drug for prophylaxis and for treatment of COVID-19 as there are no such guidelines at the moment.

    This trial is now very urgent in view of the ongoing spike of infections in the country. It has cleared NAFDAC approval and given a nod by the Presidential Task Force on COVID-19. It will be a great shame indeed, if the study were to suffer from lack of funding.

    For those, who are already taking the drug in Nigeria, it is best taken on an empty stomach about an hour before food. Finally, patients of asthma and liver condition should consult their doctors before taking it.

  • Naira/reserves; Lagos-Ibadan

    Naira/reserves; Lagos-Ibadan

    Tony Marinho

     

     

    COVID-19 second wave brings deaths approaching 2,035,000 among 95,100,000 diagnosed cases worldwide. Nigerian cases approaching 109,500 with 1,430 deaths.

    Good News: India has $586billion foreign reserves. Think. Nigeria giant of Africa has only $35billion which Fitch Ratings forecasts to grow to $42b in 2021 though the naira may depreciate. The precipitous fall of the naira recently and the pathetic fall from N1: $1.5 in the 1970s to N385-478-496: $1 has many causes: corruption, lack of saving will etc. The value of our incomes has once again been rubbished. A very straight-forward economic reason is Nigerian past leaders’ failure to install a trans-party deliberate policy to save a targeted $100-200b in our foreign reserves – peanuts from our multi-trillion oil dollar income. This economic failure to grow our reserves was mainly due to ‘spending demands’ from governors. Why is Nigeria cheated and not nurtured? If gold in Zamfara belongs to Zamfara State, then Niger Delta oil belongs to those states and communities.

    Bad News: More murders including priests by terrorists, more condolence messages. Jubril Martins-Kuye, former senator and minister dies. May they all RIPP.

    Lagos-Ibadan Gridlock: A stakeholders meeting is being called again after truckers some with 900kg of cement parked on Ogere shoulder caused yet another gridlock. Officials blame ‘Christmas and New Year holidays. Should we cancel them? The problem is with the road parkers not the road passers. Historically the old Lagos-Ibadan road had a Sagamu gridlock due to trucks wrongly parking on the shoulder narrowed to one lane. Back then the road was a two lane ‘face-me-I-face you’ road, highly dangerous to overtake because of winding parts and dense diesel truck and tanker smoke. The perpetual Sagamu gridlock got General Yakubu Gowon (rtd) to initiate the Lagos-Ibadan Expressway. At a table during a wedding in Ibadan, Gowon told me and others that the expressway was designed as a six lane, three each way road. The successor authority stripped 120km each way 240km of tarmac road gone. Whoever cancelled that road, paid for or money saved, set Nigeria back creating today’s failure.

    I remember in the 1967-70 getting stuck on the old Ketu-Sagamu- Ibadan road at the Sagamu gridlock and have also spent too many hours at the Expressway Ogere gridlock. A gridlock preventable by wrong ‘No Parking Signs’ and ‘Wrong Parking Fines’ delivered by Ogun State government traffic and the FRSC authorities who can video and read the names of the transport companies owning the obstructed trucks and charge the Corporate HQ N200,000 wrong parking fees.  Why should they be allowed to disrupt the travel plans of millions? Building a new park is good but may take 20 years judging from the expressway reconstruction -since 2013 to now, eight wasted years with billions of naira and work hours lost to political lack of action! Solving gridlock is about getting Nigerian truck drivers to have common road sense and teach that they and their corporate bodies are not a law unto themselves and must consider others.

    Nigerians are participating in Covid-19 vaccine development, the incoming Biden administration in USA, the NASA and other space probes invading space light years away. So why can Nigerians not keep Ogere open year-round? Ask yourself!

    I and my family, like you, have been in hundreds of scary traffic jams at Ogere and towards and exiting Lagos on the misnamed Lagos – Ibadan Expressway – a road we used to do in 45-60 minutes which can now take 7-10 hours. Surrounded by large sometimes petroleum filled tankers and inflammable truck almost unable to open the car door without touching another car or the massive tyre of a trailer, you recognise your vulnerability to fire and attack as it grows dark around you. Now the attacks by AK-47 bearing terrorists are especially in daylight so we all are fearful driving or stuck. We are not helped by some police or solders appearing koboko or stick in hand willing to break your windscreen or side mirror to force you to move a few unavailable inches to ensure some ‘oga and oga-ess’, surrounded by quadraphonic siren sound, can pass.

    Sadly at the birth of 2021, Nigerians are nationwide facing a tsunami of murderous kidnapping and serious terrorism created in the pursuit of ethnic agendas and a get-rich-quick phenomenon in the face of dwindling sources of jobs and revenues for families turning copycat youth into murderous criminals capitalising on a faltering police structure straining post-ENDSARS from poor, misused manpower and an inability to apply 21st Century police technology despite over seven different ID systems costing billions each and the universal use of cell phones and internet by everyone else. Also add terrible infrastructure especially poor roads, a still struggling electricity supply and security.

    Look at what Biden does in 100 days and see what Nigeria has done in 50 of our 100 months [8 years =96months] in this Buhari Presidency and also interrogate your governor about state growth value? Is he governor or a taker or just an undertaker – sending condolence messages but not preventing any deaths?

    The USA changes hands today, from Trump to Biden, demonstrating that the democracy is all about power monopoly by the personality of the winning leader and a few friends. Democracy is ‘democratic autocracy’ or ‘demo-autocracy’, distinguished from an obvious direct ‘dictatorship’ or the ‘communism’ variations. In all power ultimately resides in one person’s hands -a ‘Good Demo-Dictator’ or a ‘Bad Demo-Dictator’.

  • USA; Policing; Security databases

    Tony Marinho

     

    CVOVID-19 second wave brings deaths approaching 1,950,000 among 90,500,000 diagnosed cases worldwide, Nigerian cases approaching 1,000,000 with 1,400 deaths. Will Nigeria get the vaccine against Covid-2019 in 2021? Masks protect you from others an others from you.

    TO REMIND YOU…

    1. ‘WEAR A NOSE AND MOUTH MASK’ -not a ‘MOUTH ONLY’ or ‘THROAT’ mask,
    2. ‘WASH HANDS’ frequently AND
    3. ‘WIPE CONTACT POINTS’ like utensils, door handles, chairs.
    4. ‘KEEP SIX FEET APART’ aka ‘SOCIAL DISTANCING’ even in the office and from staff who go out of home and office.

    Close attention to these points has saved millions of lives and will definitely save someone you know and love and many unknown casual contacts from being needlessly buried six feet under!

    The USA events have clearly shown what the maniacal politics of one man can inflict on even the supposedly exemplary leading stable nation known for selling, spreading and even going to war to disseminate democracy. Not it faces ‘democrazy’ actions of one man in what history will record is a ‘Tempestuous Tantrum’ which has shaken those at home and abroad. The US is not without its embedded faults especially its racist methods of police actions and its ingrained racism perpetuated by institutionalised differential government investment for different racial segments of society unchanged and now challenged more widely as it has been shamelessly unleashed during this ‘Terror Term’. Nigeria has long been subject to such ‘one man maniacal’ milito-political events for years because of a self-interest politics overwhelming the need to grow and develop the sick country bleeding its pride, its currency and under-developing its long-suffering citizenry. Today we must publicly question the legality of the tsunami of lies told by electioneering politicians in the US. Lies are the wrongly legitimised weapons of war in our own politics in Nigeria.  We live on political lies about budget allocations, census figures, employment statistics and death counts.  Why are politicians allowed to lie worldwide so much? How do we hold politicians to account for the mega-lies they routinely tell against each other, the state and the citizens?

    It is a new year but old problems explode around us. The prayers did not ‘vanish’ our problems. We are reaping what politicians sowed for us over the last 50 years and now our farmers cannot farm without fear and huge being killed or kidnapped. Famine is a real threat.  The media sickeningly vomits the daily terrors and ‘instant murders’. Man’s primitive and professional inhumanity knows no limits. Insecurity is a constant and very depressingly companion. Trust has been eroded. Crime affects every profession and workspace, every social class. The greed of some in the upper classes has precipitated neglect of the lower classes. The lower classes know their numerical power now and only a massive SDG/welfare plan will prevent a backlash. It could consume the good and a few of the bad perpetrators who miss the escape routes and planes.  Just as everyone has a misery Okada story from the ‘Okada Epidemic’ and with the police so too now everyone has a personal, family or work story of a physical crime. Wherever families gather, a census will show that at least one member has been a victim or knows a victim of crime.

    The high crime rate is astronomical and can be directly related to many years of a greedy corrupt self-enrichment ‘Poor delivery/ Low outcome’ of governance at federal, state and LGA level, under-budgeting for health and education, electricity paralysis destroying Nigeria’s industrial growth and job market. Add a refusal to maintain, develop road and rail infrastructure with strangling of our port services and clogging our transport arteries. Nigeria is being strangled and nearly killed because the leaders loved themselves above the need for country’s Sustainable Development Goals.

    Serial government refused to match population growth with police service and security growth except the abuse of governance to acquire personal security. Personal political and ‘big man’ security takes a large number of the police service personnel. Properly paid for that would beef the police budget allowing recruitment of other officers for the rest of us. We need more police and soon but at what level-federal, state LGA or Community?  At last Nigerian states, after a long battle, have been given permission to have Community Police by Arewa and Northern Governors’ Forum, so used to saying a retrogressive ‘No’ to almost every move that does not come from them. This is evidenced by the 900+ Community Police trained by, I believe Kaduna State, and quickly followed by Community Police in Lagos State and elsewhere.

    Nigerians have asked for community police and state police for many years. But this is only one failure in a raft of failures to a country and its people by the overwhelming power of a selfish politics which fails to deliver security but insisting on a personal police detail.

    Even with Community Police we must actively prevent community Police crime. The lack of strong internal safeguards and ‘Policing the Police’, have hampered the growth of the police.

    Within the police the lack of world police practice has hampered security. Fingerprint and Photograph Databases are available today in SIM, BVN, NIN, TIN, PIN, Driving Licence, Passports, Voters Card costing multibillions of naira. They must be interlinked and used against our outrageous crime rate in 2021. This is an age of science in crime.

    Stay safe- cover your nose and mouth!!

     

  • Oyewusi Ibidapo-Obe (1949-2021)

    Oyewusi Ibidapo-Obe (1949-2021)

    By Niyi Akinnaso

    It is very difficult for me to say goodbye to Oyewusi Ibidapo Obe just as he entered his first year of retirement. His sudden departure left everyone in shock, especially his family; his friends; the communities of the various universities as well as many industries, organizations, and professional bodies he served meritoriously at various times.

    By the time he bowed out on Sunday, January 3, 2021, Ibidapo-Obe had worn many hats and warmed many hearts. At least five of the hats stood out. First and foremost, he was an outstanding academic (as student, scholar, researcher, teacher and mentor). He was in flying colours from his first day at the University of Lagos, where he earned his first degree in Mathematics, suma cum laude, by bagging First Class Honours.

    He continued the streak during his postgraduate training at the University of Waterloo, Ontario, Canada, where he earned a Masters degree in Mathematics, with a minor on Computer Science, and a doctorate degree in Civil Engineering, specialising in Applied Mechanics/Systems. He published widely in learned journals and moved very quickly up the academic ladder, becoming a full Professor within seven years of earning his Ph.D.

    Although his formal academic training climaxed at the University of Waterloo, Ibidapo-Obe continued to rejuvenate his intellect and administrative capacity with new knowledge. At various times, he attended workshops, roundtables, and conferences in elite universities in Europe and the United States, including Oxford University, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, and Harvard University.

    Second, he methodically prepared himself as an academic administrator by steadily climbing the administrative ladder as Head of Department, Dean of Faculty, Deputy Vice Chancellor, and Vice Chancellor, all at the University of Lagos. His administrative feat did not go unnoticed. He was again appointed by the Federal Government to be the pioneer Vice Chancellor of the Federal University at Ndufu Alike Ikwo in Ebonyi State.

    He extended the frontiers of academic and administrative excellence with the presidency of the Nigerian Academy of Science and the fellowships of the Academy of Engineering as well as the Nigerian Computer and Mathematical Association of Nigeria. He was also elected Fellow of the African Academy of Science and the World Academy of Science. He was also the Vice President of the Network of African Science Academies.

    Third, Ibidapo-Obe was an industrialist, although he never owned an industrial enterprise. Nevertheless, he sat on various Company Boards, including Zenith Bank and Ikeja Hotels, PLC, which gave him the opportunity to participate in the construction of the Sheraton Hotels in the country. Incidentally, Ibidapo-Obe’s foray into the industry was rooted partly in his early tint as a worker in British Petroleum and in his appointment by the management of the University of Lagos as the pioneer Managing Director of the UNILAG Consult, the university’s consulting firm. By his own admission, “That also brought some excitement about my interaction with the Private Sector. Some of my best friends, who are now directors and chairmen of banks and other organisations, I met them while doing that”.

    What was remarkable about Ibidapo-Obe was his unparalleled ability to promote an effective linkage between town and gown, by bringing the industry to the university and vice versa. This also allowed him to uplift the image of the university like never before.

    Fourth, in the course of forging a link between the university and various companies and industries, Ibidapo-Obe became a prominent socialite, especially in Lagos. As he moved from one social gathering to another, he earned the nickname of the People’s VC, while he was the VC of the University of Lagos.

    However, he did not suddenly become a socialite. He had been so all his life. Indeed, he met his wife, Sola, at a party. And, as fate would have it, his last major public outing was also a party he attended, barely a week before he died. It remains unclear whether or not he contracted the coronavirus at that party.

    Fifth, Ibidapo-Obe was an excellent family man. He loved and was dearly loved by his wife, four children, and many grandchildren. Open and liberal as he was, he was a strict disciplinarian at home. At the end of the day, however, his family was the better for it.

    Ibidapo-Obe was passionate, honest, and forthright about his work and thoughts. I once had a prolonged argument about the idea of federal character, quota system, and zoning, all of which which he vehemently opposed. “Oye”, I said to him, “how do you want to accommodate the multiplicity of nationalities, ethnicities, and religious orientations in the country”? “Egbon”, he responded, “I don’t care. Meritocracy should be the rule”.

    The debate ended when I told him I was not opposed to meritocracy but that it could be applied even within a quota system, that is, within the region, nationality, or ethnicity to which a position was zoned. We both agreed that certain positions, such as Service Chiefs, should be shared across the country, rather than be concentrated in one region.

    Ibidapo-Obe surely left indelible legacies. The world will forever have a share of his intellect, which survives in over 150 publications and the numerous students he mentored in nearly 50 years of academic engagement. He also provided a comprehensive account of his service as Vice Chancellor of the University of Lagos (2000-2007) in a 483-page book, From Excellence to Distinction: The University of Lagos on World Intellectual Map, published by Safari Books).

    I reviewed the book when it was launched and I was looking forward to also reviewing his stewardship at the Federal University in Ebonyi State and his chairmanship of the Technical University in Ibadan. He had informed me about the book midway or so into its writing and advised me to get ready to review it. The book’s working title at that time was The University of the Future. I don’t know whether he completed the book. I do hope, however, that whatever he wrote so far would be published.

    Ever since I knew Oye in the 1960s, he always bubbled with life, bouncing all over the place. His sudden departure due to complications of COVID-19 is yet another lesson to the elite, like every other Nigerian, that immunity against the virus has yet to appear. It still can shoot down anybody. However, it cannot take Oye’s memory and legacies from us.