The Nation Newspaper

Category: Opinion

  • Odia Ofeimun’s house of 70 mansions

    Odia Ofeimun’s house of 70 mansions

    Segun Ayobolu

     

    WHEN exactly did the name, Odia Ofeimun, come into my consciousness? I guess it was as a young secondary school student at Ilorin, Kwara State, shortly after Nigeria hosted the Second World and African Festival of Arts and Culture (FESTAC) in 1977. On the literary terrain, at least, that surely was another country. The public library located at the Sabo Oke area of Ilorin was well stocked and efficiently run. Virtually all the titles published under the rubric of the famous African Writers Series (AWS) was available in the library. Of course, there were other books of diverse genres and subjects available to the reading the public in the modest two-storey building. Not only could we read, we were allowed to borrow books for periods of up to two weeks at a time if I recall correctly. To the best of my knowledge, hardly were the books ever defaced or stolen.

    It was at the library that I came across an anthology of writings from the FESTAC event comprising short stories, poems, drama and essays. I borrowed the book for extended periods and avidly read through the literary offerings. I remember in particular being fascinated by one or two short stories by Cyprian Ekwensi as well as poems by one Odia Ofeimun in the book. One of Odia’s poems I read over and over then was titled ‘Emotan’ although I cannot remember now what so struck me about the poem or even details of what it was about. But Odia Ofeimun’s poems were amongst those that stimulated my interest in poetry and even my attempts to try my hands at poetry.

    Years later as an undergraduate at the University of Ibadan, I actually joined ‘The Poetry Club’ established by the late Harry Garuba and even though I religiously attended meetings of the group at the Faculty of Arts, I always felt too timid to recite my poetry scribblings as they did not appear to me meet the standards of poetry set by Ofeimun and other poets I read. I was thus amazed when Professor Femi Osofisan actually published a number of the poems I had only half heartedly sent him in his literary journal, ‘Opon Ifa’. Even then, I was not encouraged enough to continue my adventures in poetry.

    At the commencement of the politics of the Second Republic with the formation of political parties in 1978, I found the welfarist policy platform of Chief Obafemi Awolowo compelling and was naturally attracted to his newly formed Unity Party of Nigeria (UPN). Even as a 15 year old teenager, I was a UPN polling agent in Ilorin in the series of elections that ushered in the Second Republic much to the discomfiture of my father. Although an ardent Awoist himself, my father was naturally concerned that I was too young to thrust myself into the ‘ebullition’ of Nigeria’s all too frequently violent politics. But I was passionate enough about Awo’s progressive policies to take the risk.

    Again, on the political terrain, I came across the name, Odia Ofeimun. He had been appointed as private secretary to Chief Obafemi Awolowo. Given Awo’s legendary self discipline, capacity for hard work, attention to detail, uncompromising commitment to punctuality, integrity and diligence, it was obvious that not just anybody could qualify to be employed as his personal staff. Even though Ofeimun was to leave the job in controversial circumstances and his personal integrity unjustly and wrongly impugned, the truth was later uncovered and his innocence established even though the great man reportedly never personally apologized for the error as Odia eminently deserved.

    Yet, it is a tribute to Odia’s moral integrity and ideological fidelity that, even though he parted ways with Awo on a personal note as his staff, he remained committed and faithful to the sage’s politics, ideas and programmatic agenda for Nigeria. As a student at the Department of Political Science, University of Ibadan, in the early to mid 1980s, the name Odia Ofeimun was again thrust into my consciousness. The poet and polyvalent intellectual had graduated with a Bachelors degree in political science from the Department years earlier.

    For my undergraduate research essay, I had chosen to write on ‘The Political Thought of Chief Obafemi Awolowo’. My supervisor and professor told me that Odia Ofeimun was at the time working on a doctoral thesis on the politics and ideas of Awolowo and that he was coming up with a very fascinating and original perspective. Even if he does not complete it as a doctoral thesis, I think Odia stills owe the world a definitive work on Awlolowo’s role in the political and socio-economic development of Nigeria. One of the essays in Odia’s book, ‘A House of many Mansions’ is titled ‘Obafemi Awolowo: Nigeria’s Man of the Century’.

    In the essay, he illustrates his uncanny ability to link personalities and issues that appear superficially distant when he reflects on the impacts of Lord Lugard and Obafemi Awolowo on Nigerian politics. In his words, “While Lugard, his ideas and legacy, dominated the first half of the century, Awolowo was, pre-eminently, the personage whose ideas and political struggles most positively defined the second half”. He continued, “Of course, the paradox needs to be emphasized that, antithetical as their different legacies appear, both Awolowo and Lugard put their stamp on time and events through a lusty commitment to intellectual labour, personal discipline, the pursuit of organizational rigour and administrative proficiency. What the historian M.I. Okonjo writes of Lugard in his ‘British Administration: A Nigerian view”, is also true of Awolowo: of having ‘more than unusual preoccupation with the business of documenting and justifying…a passion for detailed definition of principles and rules…’ and ‘an obsessional zeal’ induced in ‘activist loyal disciples’.

    The essays in ‘A House of Many Mansions’ illustrate the encyclopedic knowledge and catholic interests of Ofeimun, a man of character and intellect, a devotee of the life of the mind, a patriot who takes Nigeria seriously and has committed his life to contributing to her rapid development and socio-economic transformation. As his admirers celebrate the ‘House of 70 mansions’ that Odia Ofeimun’s life is at  70, this column wishes this great man a very happy birthday and even more fruitful and fulfilling years ahead.

  • Olawale Oshun at 70

    Olawale Oshun at 70

    EMMANUEL OLADESU

     

    HE does not relish praise singing. He is not a noise maker, but a silent worker in the vineyard of progressive politics. The lesson of his life is his aversion for primitive accumulation and kleptocracy in high places. For the humble politician who has chosen to always live by example, contentment is great again.

    No politician who has come across Olawale Oshun will deny him an applause. He is, simply, a great asset to the polity.

    His 70th birthday on March 26 will be a celebration of humility, decency, decorum and dedication to worthy political causes, particularly regional integration and true federalism. Unfortunately,  no drums will be rolled out. The event slated for Ibadan to celebrate him has been postponed due to Coronavirus.

    Unlike men of the old order-Awo, Zik, Sardauna, Penkelemeesi, Cicero Ige and Ajasin-the current crop of leaders have no time for writing. But, Ijebu-Imushin, Ogun State- born Oshun has enriched our knowledge of contemporary history through the well-researched books he authored. These are: ‘Afenifere and the Infidels,’ Clapping with one hand:June 12 and the crisis of a state-nation’ and ‘The Open Grave: NADECO and the struggle gir democracy.’

    Oshun’s greatness is not determined by wealth or material acquisitions. Yet, he is not a political actor without a second address. That may be responsible for his disdain for political desperation and do-or-die politics. Although he has been outside elective and appointive office since 1993, he has carried on with personal dignity, poise and grace. On some occasions when he served as administrative officer, party manager and team leader for party primary in any state, the party secretariat attested to his political experience, administrative acumen, persuasive talent and reconciliation skills.

    His associates and relations believe that, personally, he is a fulfilled person. However, Oshun has not been thinking about himself alone, but also about his beleaguered country since the late eighties when he put his hands on the political plough, never to look back, as it were.

    As the septugenarian dissects the polity regularly, reality dawns on him that the country of his dream has not been attained. Nigeria has remained a disunited unitary state, instead of a federal nation-state that should guarantee unity in diversity.

    Although Oshun has consistently lent his voice to the agitation for federalism as a chieftain of Afenifere,  Secretary of National Democratic Coalition (NADECO), and a leader of AD, AC, ACN, and APC, the country is still being held in the Unitary Confinement or Prison. If care is not taken, his generation may not witness the restoration of the federal principle.

    Here lies the danger. The country may wobble on in pretension and decay. Its present state of fragility may herald ultimate state failure. Put succinctly, the implication is that there can be no peace in an atmosphere of injustice.

    Oshun is highly educated. Not because he is a graduate of the University of Ibadan, where he studied Agricultural Economics, or because he did post-graduate studies in Manpower Development and Planning at the University of Lagos, or because he attended the Times Journalism Institute, Surulere. Those are the restrictive four walls of learning.

    Rather, it is because of his induction into the culture of his society and the inculcation of the tradition, customs and mores, which give form, content and predictability to it. It is because be is able to apply all these time-tested values to his life, career and service to his fatherland.

    The most outstanding is the concept of ‘omoluabi,’ which is the core of a life of honour, duty, patriotism, integrity and credibility.

    Oshun was a pioneer member of the National Youth Service Corps(NYSC). He was in the Federal Civil Service from 1974 to 1984.

    From the onset, Oshun perceived politics as an avenue for service to the people. He may have first enlisted as budding politician with idealistic yearnings. His first baptism of fire came when he vied for the chairman of Mainland Council. Politicking is expensive. The race of politics may not be for the fitted. Merit is not always upheld. His permutations appeared faulty. There was shortage of political experience at that level. Thus, he lost. But, he did not return to his shell in frustration.

    In 1988, he was elected into the Constituent Assembly set up by the Evil Genius, Military President Ibrahim Babangida, who was implementing a dubious transition programme. The picture of Nigeria as an amalgam of incompatible heterogeneous tribes became clearer to him, based on the dividion, wheeling, dealings and compromises that characterised the Constituent Assembly under the guidance of the military.

    Diarchy was foisted on the polity. Political parties were set up and imposed on politicians. While Oshun was a member of the House of Representatives,  the National Assembly was being intimidated by the military Executive, and the Judiciary was also being coerced to tow a particular line.

    As Chief Whip of the aborted Third Republic House, he was a major player in the military-civilian confrontation triggered by the criminal annulment of the historic, free and fair presidential election won by Chief Moshood Abiola of the defunct Social Democratic Party (SDP).

    Oshun was among brave  and bold parliamentarians who dared the military by demanding for the de-annulment of the credible poll. It was a risky venture, particularly in the days of the maximum ruler, Gen. Sani Abacha. The detailed account of his involvement makes an interesting reading in his books.

    The pro-democracy battle was in vain for obvious reasons. Although IBB was forced to step aside, he deliberately handed over to an interim contraption headed by Chief Ernest Shonekan, who was later toppled by Gen. Abacha, according to the military game plan.

    Abiola, the symbol of the struggle, died without realising his mandate.

    Also, when civil rule was restored in 1999, federal power landed on the palms of military collaborators,  lackeys and confederates.

    Oshun became the Secretary of NADECO, following the arrest and detention of Ayo Opadokun in 1994. The struggle had assumed a new dimension and Abacha regime faced the heat. But, Oshun too was later arrested and detained without trial for seven months. Following threats to his life after his release, he went into exile in the United Kingdom, where he continued his NADECO activities.

    In 1998/99, the coast was clear for another dispensation. Oshun joined the AD, which was moderated by the latter-day crisis-ridden socio-political group, Afenifere. The party was a late comer. But, refusal to register it meant the exclusion of the Southwest from the hurriedly packaged Abdusalami Abubakar transition programme.

    The party was enveloped in tension right from D’Rovans, Ibadan. Reflecting on the fate of AD, Oshun was to attribute its protracted crisis to the rift between 1999 presidential aspirants Chief Ajibola Ige (SAN) and Chief Oluyemisi Falae, on one hand, and the feud between Alhaji Ganiyu Dawodu and Asiwaju Bola Tinubu in Lagos on the other hand. Effective crisis resolution is doubtful in Afenifere.

    Thus, the crisis escalated and reconciliation collapsed. Ige campaigned for Falae, but he never forgave the Ijebu Igbo mafia. Following the failure of the proposed 60:40  sharing formula, Dawodu left for PAC. The party failed to survive. By 2003, it became a shadow of itself in the Southwest, its stronghold.

    While Southwest lost AD, which had become a liability, the region was full of nostalgia for Afenifere, its time-tested socio-political mouthpiece. Paradoxically, only Lagos AD, which was rejected by the bloc which Oshun described as “Afenifere Controlling Leadership” in 2003 polls, survived. Tinubu became the last man standing as PDP captured the other five states-Oyo, Ondo, Ogun, Osun and Ekiti.

    In post-Adesanya period, Afenifere broke into two factions, led by Pa Rueben Fasoranti and Senator Ayo Fasanmi. Its party, AD, was was ebbing away. A faction supported Ambassador Yusuf and later, Mojisoluwa Akinfenwa leadership of AD;  the other faction supported Ahmed Abdulkadir and later, Bisi Akande, and much later, Michael Koleoso leadership of AD.

    When the two sides failed to reconcile, ‘younger’ Afenifere patriots, led by Oshun, formed the Afenifere Renewal Group (ARG). Prominent members at its inception were Jimi Agbaje, Kayode Fayemi, Kunle Famoriyo, Ayo Afolabi and Segun Odegbami.

    An Afenifere elder, Chief Ayo Adebanjo, in his reaction to the birth of ARG, dismissed the new group,  saying that it was unnecessary. “What are they renewing? What has become outdated that they are now renewing?,” he asked.

    Yet, Oshun’s ARG embarked on reconciliation in Southwest. It broker a peace meeting between Fasoranti and Fasanmi camps at the IITA Conference Hall, Ibadan. The two had their differences, but in terms of ideology, philosophy  and commitment to Awoist principles and programmes, they were on the same page.

    At the meeting, Oshun spoke briefly. He was not economical with truth. He said the prolonged animosity would lead to negative consequences that will be detrimental to the interest and welfare of the race.

    The antagonistic factions aired their grievances. But, there was no commitment to a truce by the disciples of Chief Obafemi Awolowo. There was no renewal of old love. Although it appeared both sides were disposed to  sheathing their swords and coming together when the 80th birthday of Adebanjo was underway, the highly inflammable media interview by the celebrator discouraged the Fasanmi camp. Since then, two factions of Afenifere have been flexing muscles. The  organisation has been weakened by the self-inflicted crisis. It is now almost a toothless bulldog.

    ARG turned its attention to other cardinal programmes, including the push for regional integration by the Yoruba Academy, the campaign for the study of Yoruba language in Southwest schools, the agitation for true federalism, and building foundational intellectual support for the initiative that culminated in the security network, Amotekun.

    The Development Agenda for Western Nigeria (DAWN) is the brainchild of ARG in its efforts at fostering regional socio-economic cooperation.

    The group has also empathised with the plight of Yoruba outside the Southwest, the consistently oppressed and marginalised kith and kin in Kwara and Kogi lumped together with the North. It has also solidarised with the Yoruba kings of Lokoja and other towns, who prefer the redesign of the map of Nigeria to permit their integration with Yoruba-West.

    Oshun is held in high esteem at Yaba/Mainland as a political leader. In his native Ijebu, he is a community man. Apart from running a non- governmental organisation which has supported educational endeavours, he has also been actively involved in other problem-solving, developmental activities.

    At 70, God has been kind to the gentlemam. But, because he is a Nigerian, he has regrets. Nigeria is only making progress at a snail-like speed.

    Oshun’s ‘lamentations,’ therefore,  revolve around the followings: the decline of ideological culture, the absence of party supremacy, the collapse of party discipline, the monetisation of politicking, the disastrous impact of graft on national image, the bad image of the state as the greatest corrupter of society, the decline in quality of education, soaring poverty among the masses, wobbling economy, persistent insecurity, disunity in Yorubaland, scourge of lopsided federalism, and threat to the social order by the pandemic, Coronavirus.

     

     

  • National policy on skill acquisition for Nigerian youths (II)

    National policy on skill acquisition for Nigerian youths (II)

    By Ayobami Salami

    But with more Nigerians now seeing skill acquisition as the way out, the stigmatisation of vocational training is lessening gradually. And now that it evidently positions youths for international opportunities, the scale is tilting in favour of skill acquisition with many now talking about TVET – Technical and Vocational Education and Training. The Federal and State Governments as well as some philanthropists and even politicians now have skill acquisition programmes, through which they are trying to make things better. The irony, however, is that while there are strategies on skill acquisition and vocational education, an articulated national policy is still lacking. Policies are meant to guide the decision and actions of managers and their subordinates in strategy implementation.

    What a national skills development policy does is that it inspires a deliberate attempt to incentivise productivity along clearly defined developmental pathways. Unlike the model obtainable in the country today where there is a litany of strategies put forward to regulate the skills acquisition process in the country, a properly defined skills acquisition policy would provide firm guiding framework to support rapid and inclusive growth. It will also support the drive for enhanced citizens’ employability and capacity to not only adapt to contemporary work demands, but also significantly contribute to national productivity and living standards.

    As things stand now, all Nigeria has to show for skills acquisition are results of scattered efforts without a clear-cut policy; a situation that looks like going somewhere without a direction. The government and citizens agree that skill acquisition is essential but there is no clear cut policy to drive the many strategies being used. Without mincing words, Nigeria has had enough of knee-jerk efforts at skilling our youth. It is time to walk the talk! Outside the three tiers of government and associated agencies, the Dangote Group, believed to be Nigeria’s biggest employer within the organised private sector, could only employ about 30,000. As commendable as this appears, it is only a drop in the ocean of frustrated and unemployed Nigerians.  Since it has been discovered that most employers are SMEs (Small and Medium Enterprises), attention needs to be paid to them, to the benefit of the country’s economy.

    Interestingly, the First Technical University, (Tech-U) Ibadan, was developed with the need to focus on skill acquisition and not just certificates. This impelled the injection of entrepreneurship into the curriculum; Tech-U’s response to the unemployment problem.

    There are, indeed, some lessons from the Tech-U education model. The university is going to the basics with its new Tech-U Advanced Academy; from primary to the secondary level, Tech-U has started inculcating the entrepreneurship culture into the youth right from childhood, from where they will be nurtured into adulthood. This is premised on the fact that entrepreneurship principles, values, and skills can be developed and nurtured through educational processes.

    At the tertiary level, the Triple P Model is effectively deployed. First, they are taken through the principles; which include subject matter instruction through entrepreneurial orientation as well as lectures through faculties and the assessment of personal entrepreneurship characteristics. The next phase is the process; that is, the procedure for translating principles into entrepreneurial outcomes. Students at this level also have the benefit of entrepreneurial mentorship. The practice is the third inevitable part and it involves hands-on TVET training, industry experience, introduction to mentors and industries, the finishing school stage and the point where the students have their own start-ups. The poster boys and girls of this initiative are branded as Tech-Uprenuer ambassadors that come with some institutional incentives.

    Knowing full well that TVET training is not restricted to students alone, the University’s TVET Centre has also made provisions for artisans who need to be reskilled. In its two years of existence, Tech-U is making a statement through its entrepreneurial edge which has been famously dubbed “the Tech-U advantage”. As part of its target to train 1,000 youths before the end of 2019, the university has been able to train over 700 not-in-school, not-in-training and not-in-employment youths in various technical and vocational skills while more than 300 artisans have been up-skilled and retrained. I make bold to say the University has the database of the youths trained.

    These did not happen by chance. From their first year, all Tech-U students are taken through entrepreneurship orientation while entrepreneurship development training is also made compulsory at all levels. The university has recorded a number of other feats; every Tech-U student is proficient in one technical or vocational skill or the other, thanks to the compulsory Diploma Certification in Entrepreneurship and Technical Skill Development for all students. The paints used in the university are produced by students who also take up the painting jobs at the university. With their proficiency, some Tech-U students engage in technical jobs outside the university at their leisure. The Students’ Start-Up Fund too has been helpful for innovative students who have ideas that have already been transformed into startups.

    The fact is that two things happen when the entrepreneurial capacity of youths is developed; the economy is strengthened because it has a direct contribution to the socio-economic development process through the development of indigenous expertise and it also helps to address youth unemployment. Policy and support programmes for TVET, therefore, need to be well-coordinated in Nigeria to achieve desirable results.

    Though youths are being trained in TVET, the outcome is not yet commensurate with the efforts being put in. And the higher a country ranks in terms of TVET training, the better for the country in the world economy. It is therefore not wrong to say that TVET development has a lot to do with economic and national development in the long run.

    Matthew Lauer in his article titled: The future of work requires a return to apprenticeship, published in The Nation of March 9, 2020, put it succinctly when he noted that the skills required for the skilled jobs are not taught in the traditional university. He argued that the Fourth Industrial Revolution will eliminate many whiteand blue-collar jobs. This is perhaps the reason many countries are now prioritising TVET, and he cited the example of Switzerland where 2/3 of young people are pursuing dual-track classroom and vocational training.

    The point must be made that nations do not just become great. Greatness is assured only on the heels of concerted investment in their people. Therefore, for Nigeria to emerge as a superpower, as commensurate with its latent potential, there has to be calculated investment in people and skills. This, of course, will be with a view to fully developing comparative areas of strength and positioning for global relevance.

    Nigeria will do well to learn from the stories of such outstandingly successful models as you find in Asia, for instance. The phenomenal progress countries such as China, South Korea and India have made with technology show what is possible when nations own their destinies and follow through with definite strategic roadmap. There are indications that the growing rate of Chinese students studying STEM-related courses in America in the last few decades, for instance, is not unconnected with a covert agenda for technological transfer.

    Taking a cue from similar policies deployed in advanced economies like the industrially-rich Germany, the imperativeness of the policy stems from its usefulness in providing sharp strategic direction to the overall formal and informal skills development processes in the country. Covering such broad areas as institution-based skills development and sectoral skills development which includes formal and informal apprenticeship models, the policy would assist to align the developmental priorities of the nation with active measures to produce the relevant manpower for both immediate and future needs of the nation.

    Sadly, there was a time the country thought better and acted in consonance with best global practices. Just sixty years ago, through the 1959 Ashby Commission Report, the Nigerian government had been counselled on her manpower needs for post-school certificate and higher education over a 20-year period. That report had enunciated both the intermediate and high-level manpower needs of the country, detailing the actual supply rate and estimated capacity of the nation’s tertiary educational institutions.

    It should be said that Nigeria needs to now urgently implement thorough skills gap analysis to help provide real-time data and on the actual human capital needs of the country. With such data, the nation is better informed on the extent of skills deficiency and the opportunities available for transformation.  Anything short of this is tantamount to paying lip-service to solving the current job crises in the country.

    Like Confucius, the Chinese philosopher,  said, “Success depends upon previous preparation, and without such preparation, there is sure to be failure”. Without a national policy in place, it will yet be a long walk to the ideal situation in skill acquisition.

    Concluded

    • Professor Salami is the Vice-Chancellor, First Technical University, Ibadan.
  • Why Nigeria must arrest COVID-19 now

    Why Nigeria must arrest COVID-19 now

    By Ademola Orunbon

    What began with a handful of mysterious illnesses in a vast central China city has traveled the world, jumping from animals to humans and from obscurity to international headlines? First detected in the last days of 2019, the novel coronavirus has infected tens of thousands of people-within China’s borders and beyond them – and has killed more than 8,272. It has triggered unprecedented quarantines, stock market upheaval and dangerous conspiracy theories. Indeed, most cases are mild, but health officials say the virus’s spread through the United States appears inevitable.

    There are many compelling reasons to conclude that SARS-CoV-2, the virus that causes COVID-19, is not nearly as deadly as is currently feared. But COVID-19 panic has set in nonetheless. You can’t find hand sanitizer in stores, and N300 face masks are being sold online for exorbitant prices, never mind that neither is the best way to protect against the virus (yes, just wash your hands). The public is behaving as if this epidemic is the next Spanish flu, which is frankly understandable given that initial reports have staked COVID-19 mortality at about 2–3 percent, quite similar to the 1918 pandemic that killed tens of millions of people.

    Allow me to be the bearer of good news. These frightening numbers are unlikely to hold. The true case fatality rate, known as CFR, of this virus is likely to be far lower than current reports suggest. Even some lower estimates, such as the 1 percent death rate recently mentioned by the directors of the National Institutes of Health and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, likely substantially overstate the case. We shouldn’t be surprised that the numbers are inflated. In past epidemics, initial CFRs were floridly exaggerated. We are already seeing this.

    In the early days of the crisis in Wuhan, China, the CFR was more than 4 percent. As the virus spread to other parts of Hubei, the number fell to 2 percent. As it spread through China, the reported CFR dropped further, to 0.2 to 0.4 percent. As testing begin to include more asymptomatic and mild cases, more realistic numbers are starting to surface. New reports from the World Health Organization (WHO) that estimate the global death rate of COVID-19 to be 3.4 percent, higher than previously believed, is not cause for further panic.

    But the most straightforward and compelling evidence that the true case fatality rate of SARS-CoV-2 is well under 1 percent comes not from statistical trends and methodological massage, but from data from the Diamond Princess cruise outbreak and subsequent quarantine off the coast of Japan. A quarantined boat is an ideal—if unfortunate—natural laboratory to study a virus. Many variables normally impossible to control are controlled. We know that all but one patient boarded the boat without the virus. We know that the other passengers were healthy enough to travel. We know their whereabouts and exposures. While the numbers coming out of China are scary, we don’t know how many of those patients were already ill for other reasons.

    Here’s the problem with looking at mortality numbers in a general setting: In China, 9 million people die per year, which comes out to 25,000 people every single day or around 1.5 million people over the past two months alone. A significant fraction of these deaths results from diseases like emphysema/COPD, lower respiratory infections, and cancers of the lung and airway whose symptoms are clinically indistinguishable from the nonspecific symptoms seen in severe COVID-19 cases. And, perhaps unsurprisingly, the death rate from COVID-19 in China spiked precisely among the same age groups in which these chronic diseases first become common. During the peak of the outbreak in China in January and early February, around 25 patients per day were dying with SARS-CoV-2. Most were older patients in whom the chronic diseases listed above are prevalent.

    This is where the Diamond Princess data provides important insight. Of the 3,711 people on board, at least 705 have tested positive for the virus (which, considering the confines, conditions, and how contagious this virus appears to be, is surprisingly low). Of those, more than half are asymptomatic, while very few asymptomatic people were detected in China. This alone suggests a halving of the virus’s true fatality rate. On the Diamond Princess, six deaths have occurred among the passengers, constituting a case fatality rate of 0.85 percent. Unlike the data from China and elsewhere, where sorting out why a patient died is extremely difficult, we can assume that these are excess fatalities—they wouldn’t have occurred but for SARS-CoV-2. The most important insight is that all six fatalities occurred in patients who are more than 70 years old. Not a single Diamond Princess patient under age 70 has died.

    The data from the Diamond Princess suggest an eightfold lower mortality among patients older than 70 and threefold lower mortality in patients over 80 compared to what was reported in China initially. But even those numbers, 1.1 percent and 4.9 percent respectively, are concerning. But there’s another thing that’s worth remembering: These patients were likely exposed repeatedly to concentrated viral loads (which can cause worse illness). Some treatments were delayed. So even the lower CFR found on the Diamond Princess could have been even lower, with proper protocols.

    This all suggests that COVID-19 is a relatively benign disease for most young people and a potentially devastating one for the old and chronically ill, albeit not nearly as risky as reported. Given the low mortality rate among younger patients with coronavirus—zero in children 10 or younger among hundreds of cases in China, and 0.2-0.4 percent in most healthy nongeriatric adults (and this is still before accounting for what is likely to be a high number of undetected asymptomatic cases)—we need to divert our focus away from worrying about preventing systemic spread among healthy people—which is likely either inevitable, or out of our control—and commit most if not all of our resources toward protecting those truly at risk of developing critical illness.

    Coronavirus in Nigeria, just as in some other African countries, has fortunately not spread the way we feared it would. This has baffled even the WHO. However, a Nigerian, who returned from the United Kingdom last two weeks Friday, tested positive for the new coronavirus, Lagos State Ministry of Health said on Tuesday. “She is clinically stable and is being treated at the Infectious Disease Hospital, Lagos,” Nigeria’s health minister Dr. Osagie Ehanire said.

    Now, Nigeria has confirmed nine new cases of the coronavirus in four weeks but not recorded any death. The latest cases bring the total confirmed cases so far to 12. All nine new cases had a travel history according to the Nigeria Centre for Disease Control (NCDC). The agency also implored Nigerians to remain calm as public health response activities are intensified across the country. “A detailed travel history of each case is being compiled and contact tracing has begun, Our National Emergency Operation Centre is supporting response in the states.

    Nigeria has placed travel restrictions to 13 countries. The countries include China, Italy, Iran, South Korea, Spain, Japan, France, Germany, the United States of America, Norway, the United Kingdom, Netherlands and Switzerland. Now, all travelers returning from these countries prior to the restriction will be in supervised self-isolation, monitored by Nigeria Centre for Disease Control (NCDC) and Port Health Services which could also curb the spread of coronavirus in the country.

    The good news is that we have huge advantages to leverage: We already know all of this and have learned it remarkably quickly. We know how this virus spreads. We know how long people are contagious. We know who the most vulnerable patients are likely to be, and where they are. Healthy people who are hoarding food, masks, and hand sanitizer may feel like they are doing the right thing. But, all good intentions aside, these actions probably represent misdirected anxieties.

    • Orunbon wrote from Abeokuta, orunbonibrahimademola@gmail.com
  • Not for the Love of Abuja

    Not for the Love of Abuja

    By Bala Dan Abu

    The dust generated by the visit of Governor Darius Dickson Ishaku to Abuja must have come to those who have bothered to subject the facts of the case to critical examination as a big surprise. It is a perfect example of making a mountain out of a molehill. A lot of views expressed including newspaper opinions and comments were largely biased, most of them anchored on sentiments.

    Opposition politicians in Taraba State and their collaborators outside the state have been busy counting the number of days the Governor has stayed in Abuja. They have also emphasized the fact that he has not handed over the instruments of office to his deputy while being silent on the fact that the Governor has committed no constitutional infringement with his stay in the Federal Capital City. Of course, the reason for the Governor’s stay in Abuja, as rational and cogent as it is, doesn’t matter to those who are on this “crucify him” mission.

    For the sake of those who do not know, there is nowhere in the 1999 Nigerian Constitution (as amended) that limits the number of days a governor can spend outside the state he governs. It only states in Section 190(1): “ Whenever the governor is proceeding on vacation or is otherwise unable to discharge the functions of his office, he shall transmit a written declaration to the speaker of the House of assembly to that effect, and until he transmits to the Speaker of the House of Assembly a written declaration to the contrary, the Deputy Governor shall perform the functions of the Governor as acting Governor.”

    For emphasis, power can only be transmitted to the Deputy Governor on two conditions, that is, when the governor proceeds on vacation and when the Governor is unable to perform the functions of his office. None of these two conditions is applicable in the present case of Gov Ishaku. He is neither on vacation nor incapable of performing the functions of his office. The man who has visited several embassies, presided at the sensitization meeting on the Mambilla Hydro project and received numerous visitors including journalists cannot be said to be incapable of performing the functions of his office. The leg injury he sustained from a domestic accident has not in any way incapacitated Governor Ishaku.

    To achieve that, a section of the Nigerian media was conscripted into the conspiracy to label Ishaku as a run-away governor. When the case of constitutional abuse against the Governor failed them, they devised the theory of a non-existing tension in Taraba State and attributed it to Ishaku’s absence. But none of the reports sited any sign of the so-called tension in Taraba State.

    A lot of people couldn’t help ask how anyone could talk of tension in a place where everybody is free and going about his normal duties without let or hindrance, where there are no security threats and breaches, strikes and protests. Those who have paid attention to happenings in Taraba State and who are not seeing things through the heavily politicized lenses of the opposition politicians, will say that there is no tension of any sort in the state. In fact, the period of Ishaku’s absence has been the most peaceful in the state since the conclusion of the 2019 general election in March last year. There has been a drastic reduction in kidnapping, banditry and inter-ethnic clashes and killings. Even the roads in Southern Taraba, particularly, Takum-Wukari, Takum-Katsina-Ala and Wukari- Makurdi which became known as the axis of killings and kidnapping after the elections, have since become safe again. This is largely a product of the effort of Gov Ishaku.

    While in Abuja, Gov Ishaku vigorously campaigned for help from local and international bodies towards security of lives and property as well as the socio-economic development of Taraba State. Ishaku visited the offices of the World Bank to seek its intervention in some of the projects and programmes of the state government. At the Japanese Embassy in Abuja which was another port of call for the Governor, the Ambassador promised to send a team of Japanese experts to study first hand, the request of Governor Ishaku for assistance.

    The Governor’s traducers have also been asking why he is not back in Taraba State if his condition of health is not as bad as has been created in the minds of the public. The answer is simple. The Governor publicly admitted sometime ago that he had suffered a domestic accident which affected one of his legs. He said so during the Mambilla project sensitization meeting in Abuja. During that event, he walked unsupported into and out of the venue. There are video clips of that event and others in which Gov Ishaku had participated while in Abuja. All these are a proof of the incontrovertible fact that the Governor is healthy enough and capable of performing the duties of his office.

    Governor Ishaku’s condition, though not serious enough to affect the discharge of his duties as governor, still requires the attention of specialists in Abuja in order for him to recover fully and quickly. The best he can do in these circumstances, and which he is already doing with the greatest sense of responsibility and commitment, is to pay attention to his duties while also receiving the attention of his doctors.

    Governor Ishaku has ensured that governance does not suffer while he is in Abuja. During the period also, the state government commenced the dualisation of the Airport Road in Jalingo. The dual carriage way project which comes with an overhead bridge is the first of its kind in the entire North East geo-political zone. All other road projects embarked upon by the administration are going on smoothly.

    Educational institutions in the state also received new sets of instructional materials. Only a few days ago, the news of the new WAEC results for Taraba State students hit the news waves bring a lot of joy to education managers in the state. The state scored 84.74 percent. This represents the number of students from the state who passed with five credits and above in the examination. That puts Taraba State ahead of all the states in the North.

    While the Governor is in Abuja, civil servants and their retiree counterparts are receiving their salaries promptly. More than 3,000 new people were recruited into the civil service. Only last year, 3000 teachers were employed. This is besides the over 4,000 woen and youths taken out of the unemployment queue through government’s skill acquisition programme .

    Governor Ishaku is not in Abuja for the love of Abuja. He has good reason to be here. He is very eager to return to Jalingo and he will do so in no distant time. But he should do so in good health. That is his wish and the wish and desire of the people of Taraba State for him. And I believe that God will grant our wish and desire on this matter soon.

    • Dan Abu is the Special Adviser to the Governor on Media and Publicity.
  • Time to turn around Okeho hospital

    Time to turn around Okeho hospital

    By Olutayo Irantiola

    Sir: Okeho, as a community, has been renowned to be a part of the history of the colonial and post-colonial Nigeria. There are certain factors that showed that we are a very crucial part of the politics of Oyo State. The area was firstly known as Okeho/Iganna district council, which was created in 1955 with thirty-six wards in the defunct western region of Nigeria. In 1976, Kajola local government was created, with headquarters at Okeho as a result of the local government reforms. The local government is one of the thirty three (33) local governments in Oyo State, the major towns in Kajola LG are Ilero, Ilua,Ayetoro-oke, Isemi ile, Iwere-oke,Ilaji-oke and other hamlets.

    In 1987, the Oyo State Hospital Management Board was inaugurated. The Board has three zonal offices at Ibadan/Ibarapa, Oyo/Ogbomoso and Oyo North managing fifty one health outlets within the state. The Board is expected to provide an all- encompassing health care that is accessible, affordable and high quality with a view to restoring, transforming and repositioning our health sector. Other health facilities within Oyo North are located at Saki, Iseyin, Iwere, Iganna and Ado-Awaye.

    Few weeks after the Board was inaugurated, the General Hospital, Okeho was commissioned by the then Military Governor of Oyo State, Col. Adetunji Olurin on the 11th of June, 1987. As such, this shows that the hospital was one of the pioneer General Hospital in the state. While going through the facilities it was seen that the administration of the late Governor Lam Adesina, commissioned projects such as the Female/children’s Ward and the Mortuary Block in 2000. Unfortunately, within the space of 33 and 20 years of commissioning these facilities, the hospital has become a morbid secondary healthcare institution.

    The hospital, being one of the oldest General Hospitals in the state, with the best structure, is grossly underutilized and wasting away, located on a large expanse of land at the entry of the town cum junction that leads to other neighbouring communities, the hospital has become a shadow of itself. In fact, the people of Okeho and environs can attest to the fact that this hospital does not provide affordable, accessible and quality medicare. People have either of these two choices- visiting private health service providers within their localities or move to the State capital, Ibadan- when they need medicare.

    At the moment, the two major storey buildings within the hospital, the administrative and Female/Children’s Ward have their roofs blown off. When I attempted to climb the stairs, I was almost stung by wasps and on getting upstairs, bats flew out of one of the rooms. What sort of equipment would be in an uncovered building?

    Going further into the premises, one would see that the mortuary is no more functional. The building is abandoned. It’s quite disheartening to see that nothing can be preserved in its current state.

    Prior to this time, people usually believe that drugs given to patients in any Government health facility is always genuine. However, the Pharmacy of this hospital is not well-stocked, inversely, patients would be required to get their drugs from any private pharmacy in town.

    From what I can see the Laboratory in this hospital is working but one can be sure that it is just the basic tests that would be carried out here. All of these attest to the overall “commitment” of the Government to the welfare of her citizenry. Equally, the waste disposal method is also sordid, it’s all emptied in a shoddy pit and burnt periodically. It should not be too much to build an incinerator for proper disposal.

    Aside the dilapidated buildings, there are also a lot of uncompleted buildings. The truth be told, if this sort of facility was located in any urban area, it would have been overtaken by hoodlums. I would agree that indigenes and residents of Okeho might not be able to pay heavily but if they get value for their money, they would definitely pay up their bills.

    We need to start with at least a very functional building, well equipped. We deserve more in Okeho, our relevance should transcend every four years when the political class are jostling for office. We need hospitals that are adequately equipped in Okeho and Oke-Ogun in general.

    • Olutayo Irantiola, peodavies@hotmail.com.
  • Police brutality won’t curb cyber crimes

    Police brutality won’t curb cyber crimes

    By Kizito Duru

    Sir: For some years now, there is is hardly any month without the harsh tag ENDSARS occupying a prominent position on trends on twitter. This sums the perception of the police from the public, making mockery of the ‘police is your friend’ gospel preached in the media by the uniform men. For every story that accompanied the #endSARs tweet is a horrible experience of people from different parts of life. They found twitter and other social media platforms as a place they could ventilate their experiences with the police, notably operatives in the department of Special Anti-Robbery Squad (SARS).

    Truth is, when one sits back to sincerely ponder over the myriads of challenges negating members of the Nigerian Police Force in their duty to ensure a crime free society, you would want to spare some line of words to appreciate their efforts. Whether or not you agree, with poor welfare package, analogue crime fighting methods and the ultimate fact that the nation is a developing but critically ailing society, our corps deserve some appreciation and encouragement for the sacrifices they make.

    However, why there have been advocacy to improve the relationship between citizens of the country and the police which swore to protect them, recent events have further undermined the “Police is your friend” cliché. Last weekend, a student at the Federal Polytechnic Nekede, Owerri, Imo State, was rushed to the hospital after operatives of the Nigeria Police Force invaded his room and beat him to unconsciousness. His crime? He took to his heels upon sighting the police men around his lounge. The victim, a student of Mass Communication, was identified as Cajetan Okereke.

    Cajetan saw a police van approaching the hostel and out of fear ran into a room with some of his lodge mates since it had become a tradition for men of the security agency to arrest students indiscriminately. The police team went after him, banging his door as if he was declared wanted by the state governor. Upon opening it, the student stated, the policemen, numbering about four, hit various parts of Cajetan’s body including his chest before he slumped. An eye witness said that the corps left Cajetan unconscious and fled the hostel with the excuse that their victim had wasted time before opening his door. Cajetan was rushed to a nearby hospital where he was rejected before he was brought to the school’s medical center where he is responding to treatment.The big poser is, why the police come after Cajetan? They took him for an Internet fraudster!

    If Nigeria really wants to end cyber crimes, it must not be by stop and search. The search should be done on the internet where the crime is committed, making use of efficient monitoring mechanism. You cannot stay in Lagos and catch a thief in Kaduna. The cyber route should be followed to end cyber crimes. That is why there is EFCC, an anti graft agency, saddled with the responsibility of dealing with financial crimes, including cyber crimes in the country. To my knowledge, no cyber crime is committed without connection with the Bank and I am also aware that the CBN has a policy in place which it initiated to check financial crimes. What SARS should rather do is to liaise with the apex bank, its subsidiary banks and EFCC to apprehend and prosecute perpetrators of cyber fraud and other related offences, and this must be done within the armbits of the law.

    The Inspector-General of Police and the federal government of Nigeria should, therefore, address this issue forthwith and stop SARS from posing terror to Nigerians instead of being their security.

    •  Kizito Duru, durukizito30@gmail.com
  • The place of culture in civilisation

    The place of culture in civilisation

    By Usman Baba

    The first time I spent time with the former president of France, Nicolas Sarkozy; the first thing I learned about the French people is that they value their culture so much. We were in a room where there were a lot of English speakers and very few French speakers, yet he refused to speak in English, even though all the French people who were with us understood English very well.

    France has the world’s best policy on globalization. It spends so much time complaining that foreign invaders are killing off its economy that no one notices how French products are taking over the planet.

    Have you checked recently who provides your electricity, who owns your transportation system, who feeds your army, even who built your city’s public toilets? Especially if you live in Europe, there’s a strong chance you’ll find a French multinational, such as EDF, Transdev, Sodexo or JCDecaux. That’s not to mention the countless French brands on every shoping street in the world. For instance; Carrefour, Leroy Merlin as well as TOTAL fuels and lubricants stations as an example in Africa. Carrefour lures West Africa shoppers from markets into malls. Adapting culture is one of the strongest reasons the French and the rest of the developed countries keep dominating. Moreover, the South East Asians also value their culture so much. Especially Japan and the rest. The Middle Easterners also still value culture. How about Africa? Culture is indeed a vital factor to be taken into consideration when discussing or contemplating action in development.

    Africa is a vast continent with a huge diversity of cultural norms and practices. There are great variations among it is regions, countries and ethnic groups and this needs to be recognized. Rather than see this as an impediment to development, the continent should take advantage of this rich cultural diversity in its quest for economic development and should change its attitude towards work, interpersonal trust, time, youth and women.

    Successes in Botswana (Hanson, 2008), Mauritius (Zafar, 2011) and other countries prove that Africans can be punctual, innovative, entrepreneurial and forward-looking. In addition, much greater use should be made of the creative talents available At the same time, we must accept that the attributes which underpinned the rapid success of countries like Japan and other developed countries will take time to take root in Africa.  To improve its economies, the culture of good governance cannot be seen as a distant luxury to be aspired to but avoided in practice. To boost economic development all important cultural values must be in place and must be governed by transparency, accountability, trustworthiness and empowerment. Like Japan, each individual African country should build its own economy based on its cultural values.

    Furthermore, can we, as development planners, take lessons from the example of Japan? One thing is clear. We cannot take a set of cultural values from one country and hope to implant them in another society. Japan was successful because it built its economy on its own home-grown values. Looking specifically at the development trajectory of Africa, we are forced to conclude that, while there are many aspects of African culture that can be used positively for the development of the continent, some aspects of African culture have delayed progress. In view of this, let’s briefly examine some of the cultural factors that have had a negative impact on the economic development of African countries and thereafter consider some cultural assets and their potential held by the continent.

    Do we need trust more than anything in our society? Yes we do. According to the Japanese, interpersonal trust is an important cultural strength, especially in large corporations, and if a person loses this trust, he or she brings shame to the entire family. There have even been occasions where people have been forced to commit suicide. In Africa, as a consequence of colonization, most of the traditional cultural values have been eroded or weakened; in particular, the concept of trust. In many African countries people do not trust their governments because they feel that they are not doing much to reduce unemployment and poverty or to combat corruption. In Japan, if a senior government official is accused of corruption, the official immediately resigns to face the law. In Africa, nobody resigns; if anything, they will fight back and claim that their detractors are on a witch-hunt. In Africa, at the business level, the concept of trust is selective. For example, in fields such as law and medicine, there are some professionals who share facilities but maintain separate and distinct accounts. In family-owned small and medium-sized enterprises, it often happens that family members find it difficult to get along together once the head of the family dies. In some cases, siblings and children start fighting, resulting in protracted legal suits.

    In general, there is much suspicion and mistrust in many African societies, particularly in the area of business, leading business people to keep everything within the family rather than seek productive and forward-looking partnerships, as is the successful model in developed countries.

    Developing societies cannot afford the luxury of a social welfare system. As Okafor (1974) acknowledged, in African society everyone is accommodated through the extended family system. Consequently, if a family has one relatively successful member, that fortunate person is expected to provide for the family. While this system has merits – it encourages a charitable disposition and fosters cohesive family loyalties – in some instances, it is exploited and abused by members of the family. In this way, it can even create dependency instead of encouraging family members to try to stand on their own two feet.

    Do we still need the concept of time? Yes. It is often remarked, anecdotally, that the concept of time in Africa is somewhat flexible by comparison with that of developed countries. There seems to be some substance to this popular cliché, however. Several African scholars argue that, despite the importance of time-keeping in some traditional customs, Africans are not good at keeping time. In their traditional milieu, however, Africans were compelled by certain routines to strictly respect time. For instance, there were particular times when certain ceremonies had to take place, such as a events. That said, in post-colonial Africa, many things have changed, including the attitude to time-keeping. Those working in the private sector who must reach work on time are placed under particular pressure by this post-colonial lackadaisical attitude. Those working for the public sector do not always observe the same constraints, however. Thus, if a good turnout is needed for planned meetings, constant reminders must be sent and follow-up is essential in all areas of interaction.

    Do we need to forget about job discrimination? Yes we do. Until recently there were some jobs that Africans would not take. For example, during the 1970s and 1980s, many Africans in major towns and cities had a tendency to avoid certain jobs because of cultural or gender stereotypes. Men were reluctant to work as cleaners, cooks, janitors or waiters in hotels and, if they did, they would say that they were still looking for a proper job or were doing a temporary job while they looked for a permanent one. They were hoping to be clerks, soldiers, policemen and drivers. Given our weak economies, featuring high unemployment and poverty, all available vacancies or jobs should be highly competitive and should be filled by willing recruits without discrimination as to gender or cultural considerations.

    Do we need more cooperation and partnership? Yes we do. For example, during the fight against apartheid in South Africa, freedom fighters sought unity by their songs in the battle against their oppressors. Most of the former political prisoners on Robben Island, such as former President Nelson Mandela and Walter Sisulu acknowledged that liberation songs were not only a morale booster, but also fueled and united them to continue fighting until they were free.

    In this connection, African governments should take advantage of this huge asset and support traditional African moral songs as part of their cultural reforms.

    Abubakar. Sent through auabubakar@yahoo.com.

  • Obasanjo’s grandstanding on restructuring

    Obasanjo’s grandstanding on restructuring

    By George Akume

    Former President Olusegun Obasanjo needs no introduction in his home country Nigeria, indeed in Africa and beyond. As a governor elected in 1999, we built a relationship that was based on my high opinion of him, needless to say that he also had a high opinion of my humble self. I remember my discussion with him during his visit to Benue State preparatory to the Jos Convention of 1999, when I referred to what Ken Saro Wiwa wrote about him in his book ‘On a Darkling Plain’.

    Recounting his encounter with Obasanjo during the Nigerian civil war, Ken Saro Wiwa wrote that at first sight, Obasanjo’s mannerism can easily make one to believe that since he is not as smart looking as Col. Adekunle, he could not deliver and not be a competent combatant. Ken Saro Wiwa added that to the contrary, in less than a week, Obasanjo had reestablished order in the Division. He ordered soldiers back to the barracks. He watched Obasanjo at close quarters when he was addressing his troops for the final offensive against the Biafran army. He was very impressed. I told the General this comment by Ken contradicted sharply with what Gen. James Oluleye said of him in his autobiography that he was a bundle of tricks.

    When I brought that aspect of the book to his attention, he had a good laugh. He solemnly intimated me that Nigeria is a structurally complex and a socially pluralistic country and  as such, without tricks no leader could survive. It is an advice Obasanjo must have given himself over and over again. I lamented the very poor showing of our PDP in the South West especially Ogun State, his home state. He regretted that the Yorubas were making a costly mistake about secession. He would not be involved with such a tragic event. The Yorubas would be goaded by the Ibos to make a tragic move with cataclysmic consequences. The Ibos would ditch them, join the north and destroy them in a revenge offensive.

    General Obasanjo shot himself into limelight when Gen. Gowon posted him to the 3rd Marine Division towards the end of the civil war in 1969 to take over from the celebrated, courageous, and charismatic Benjamin Adekunle, the Black Scorpion and Commander of the Commandos. The Colonel, it was alleged, had become war-weary, hence the inevitable need for a change of guards.

    Fate beckons, during his time as Commander of the Division, Colonel Obasanjo received the instrument of surrender from Col. Effiong the Biafran Army Commander, bringing to a close a very sad chapter in the history of Nigeria. Colonel Obasanjo instantly became a war hero. He wrote the book “My Command”.

    Fate beckons. He became the Federal Commissioner for Works; the ascent to prominence and authority had begun. The 1975 coup catapulted him to the number 2 slot in the military and political hierarchy of the country – Chief of Staff, Supreme Military Council. Fate beckons again, with the assassination of Gen. Murtala Mohammed, Gen. Obasanjo became the Head of State.

    Along with Gen. Mohammed, they turned Nigeria from 12 to 19 state structure and drew up the roadmap to return Nigeria to participatory democracy. They inaugurated the Constituent Assembly and assembled a committee of 50 wise men, headed by the legal guru, Chief Rotimi Williams, to draft the Presidential 1979 Constitution. Fantastic record.

    The “Ali Must Go” demonstrations across the Universities tarnished an unblemished record with the killings of Ahmadu Bello University students on the orders of the Commander-in–Chief. The New Nigerian Editorial entitled: “Our Fatherland, our Honour: where are you?” aptly described the mood of the Nation.  But in a deft and sagacious move, Gen. Obasanjo in 1979, to the acclaim and appreciation of the Nigerian students, abolished tuition fees in all Nigerian Universities.

    It was against this background that I met our would-be President in 1999 at Hilton Hotel, Abuja. He was agitated at the rise of Ekwueme in the opinion polls. Ekwueme’s surge in the polls was of such a concern to Obasanjo who contended that anybody who tries to dismember Nigeria cannot be Commander-in-Chief. He showed me a huge scar at the back of his right thigh from an injury he sustained when his convoy was ambushed on his way from the frontline, killing 9 out of his 11 body guards. He called Ekwueme a bloody Biafran who cannot be President. I assured him of the full support of Benue delegates at the Jos Convention held in February, 1999. Adding to his already impressive legacy, he went on to win the 1999 elections with a landslide.

    Continuing on Obasanjo’s patriotic credentials, despite our occasional differences, he reminded me that he still had a lot of respect for me since our disagreements were on principles. A case in point, he called me to Abeokuta and directed to ensure the defeat of some politicians who were contesting for elective positions in the PDP because of their irresponsibility, corruption and lack of patriotism. Obasanjo recalled many instances particularly the case of my successor for Governor of Benue State whom he called unprintable names. He resisted the young man’s candidature but relented through pleadings.

    Yet, this brief portrait of a complex and sometimes contradictory Obasanjo will not be complete if one does not include the heroic sacrifices some members of his family are making in the service of Nigeria. For instance, his, son, Lt. Col. Obasanjo whom I met during my tenure as Governor of Benue State, when he was then a Captain, is a brilliant officer who was recently wounded and eventually evacuated during a battle against the Boko Haram terrorists.

    In about 2001, patriotism again manifested itself. On our return from an official visit to Japan, where President Obasanjo was lavishly and affably received by his host, Prime Minister Koizumi, the Presidential Adviser on International Relations, former MD Daily Times and Ambassador to Brazil, Dr. Patrick Dele Cole, was completely enmeshed in diatribe with us on restructuring, resources control and fiscal federalism in vile language. He did not notice the presence of Mr. President. The President launched a counter offensive that badly shook the Adviser. “Today, he roared, you vilify the Hausa-Fulani, Tiv, Bachama, Angas, Birom, Yoruba e.t.c because of oil. Did you plant oil in your soil through hard work?. If not for these people, you would have remained slaves in your region.” Vantage Obasanjo, most of us were impressed with his command of history and facts and display of courage and uncommon sagacity. Three weeks later, Dr. Cole was dropped as his Adviser. Such was his obsession with respect to restructuring.

    President Obasanjo is a bag of paradoxes and contradictions that portray him as frequently grandstanding or posturing on critical national issues. That has recently been the case with his shrill and potentially divisive antics as a self-serving restructuring irredentist cum iconoclast. Joining pokers of hate and disunity, President Obasanjo may be cleaning his name from our Nigerian legends list.

    It is pertinent to ask what, in his legerdemain-like iconoclasm, Obasanjo means by restructuring.

    To some advocates of restructuring, Nigeria should simply be dismembered and let every component unit go its own way. The attempt to restructure Nigeria in this way is not new. In fact an attempt in this direction led to a brutal civil war between 1967 and 1970 in which millions of people died. Some want confederation. Others see restructuring in terms of resource control.

    Many want creation of additional states. In fact the 2014 Conference on Constitutional Reforms convened by the government of President Goodluck Jonathan recommended the creation of eighteen additional states to make for a fifty four-state structure.

    To many Scholars and Politicians, Nigeria has been over structured since 1914. The 1946 Arthur Richard’s Constitution broke Nigeria into regions – North, East and West. According to Chief Richard Akinjide, the 1979 Constitution of Nigeria is the best and only few aspects on the Exclusive list need to be tinkered with to suit prevailing circumstances. The Constitution of the Unites States is the only constitution that the country has ever had, done over 250 years ago and it is the same Constitution that is in operation today with a few amendments. When that constitution was enacted, there were only 13 states. Today, there are 50 states and they are still using the same constitution. What they do is that apart from making amendments, there are interpretations by the Supreme Court of the United States and that is why the role of the court is very, very critical, Chief Akinjide concluded.

    The military intervened in 1966, created a 12-state structure,  which culminated into 36 states and the Federal Capital Territory we have now.

    Today, at 83, it sounds hollow for ex-President Obasanjo who, until recently, was not an apostle of restructuring to quickly and brazenly become a disciple of restructuring in a more deadly manner: brand new constitution or brand new war. He writes off a democratic National Assembly for being incapable of giving Nigerians the constitution they deserve. Randomly and lopsidedly selected Nigerians by President Jonathan for his own National Conference in 2014 is preferred to the people’s representatives as the call for implementation of the Jonathan National Conference paper gathers momentum in a restricted bracket of the Nigerian populace. Let us not forget about the fact that Southern delegates far outnumbered Northern delegates to the said conference.

    With due respect to President Obasanjo, he had the highest opportunity among all Nigerian leaders to restructure Nigeria the way he wanted. Along with the Late Gen. Murtala Mohammed, they restructured Nigeria from 12 to 19 states. Fate beckoned when he became President in 1999 and repeated the feat in 2003, winning his second term with a landslide. Asked in 2003 by a Retired General of South Western extraction, Gen. Obasanjo told his guest that the National Assembly was in his pocket and he was therefore in total control of all the branches of government. A rare opportunity for the President to restructure his country. Having ruled for 11 and 1/2 years – an unprecedented record in rulership for any country-why did he fail to restructure? Do we have to resort to war over restructuring? No, never. President Obasanjo’s attempt during his second term to restructure featured only his third term agenda. Very sad. We fought and defeated this evil plan.

    Today, the world is a global village: see Somalia, Rwanda, Iraq, Syria, Afghanistan, Lybia and recall the experiences of Liberia and Sierra-Leone. A war in Nigeria will end with cataclysmic consequences – millions of deaths, hundreds of thousands of war lords, refugee problem (remember the boat people). May the drums of war cease. May the National Assembly be allowed to do its constitutional sacred work. Should we prefer violence, then all passport holders must deposit their passports with the Department of State Security (DSS) while borders will be officially closed to prevent privileged citizens from fleeing the country.

    Leadership entails sacrifice and consistency in the face of difficulties and uncertainties. With our leadership potentials and driven by our patriotism, ingenuity and creativity, we must work hard to secure the peace and territorial integrity of our country. Once again, we say no to war and destruction; the march to Armageddon and Golgotha must halt. Let us co-write the history of our greatness today.

    God Bless Nigeria

    Happy 83rd Birthday Baba.

     

    • Sen. Akume is Minister of Special Duties
  • Sanusi’s odyssey

    Sanusi’s odyssey

    By Robert Kayode Idowu

    When he came tumbling down last week, the path of former Emir Muhammadu Sanusi II of Kano away from royal pinnacle was no less turbulent than the path of his ascendance to that peak. He came down in a hail of controversy just as he had gone up in the heat of controversy.

    Recall that just before he became emir in 2014, the ace economist and banker was controversially removed as Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) governor by former Goodluck Jonathan administration, manifestly on account of his needling exposé about underpayment of some $20billion into the national treasury arising from fraud in government funding of fuel importation subsidies, illicit transfer of state oil assets into private hands and other losses associated with mismanagement at the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC) over a 19-month period.

    It was in its pushback that then Jonathan presidency incredibly accused him of “financial recklessness” and “far-reaching irregularities” in his stewardship at the apex bank since 2009. The administration suspended him few months ahead of constitutional expiration of his five-year tenure as CBN helmsman, and he was yet at judicial war with that government when he was chosen as Kano emir in June 2014.

    Six years on, Sanusi has for some while been locked in existential battle with Kano State Governor Abdullahi Ganduje for his royal throne. He lost out early last week with his dethronement and banishment by the Ganduje administration. For Sanusi’s deposition as the 14th Kano emir, the state government alleged insubordination on his part and disrespect for lawful instructions by the governor. It expectedly had statutory provisions to cite as façade for the obvious act of personal vindictiveness, namely Section 13 of the Kano State Emirate law 2019. But the animosity between the two personages had been in public domain and for long threatened to overboil. Only there were celebrated truce mediations by eminent Nigerians, which we now know beyond doubt fell utterly flat.

    Resulting from the estrangement between Governor Ganduje and Sanusi II, there were frantic sub-plots of efforts to diminish the royal. Among these were the governor’s fracturing of the historical Kano emirate into five, just so to whittle Sanusi’s sphere of authority; the state anti-graft agency’s insistence on probing the former emir for alleged N3.4billion fraud despite being restrained from doing so by a court of law; and only penultimate week, the state house of assembly’s institution of a probe linked to purported public petitions accusing the former emir of ‘unethical conducts that contradicted the culture and tradition of Kano people’ – whatever that means! Assembly members were yet squared up in fisticuffs as they processed what to do with the purported petitions early last week when the Kano State Executive Council met and summarily resolved to remove and banish the emir.

    As top banker and later as royal father, Sanusi wore his mind on his sleeves and is reputed for strong convictions with brutal candour. It, however, seems the case it wasn’t just the Kano governor he crossed with those convictions but the whole northern establishment. In his passionate candour, the former emir tore into historical beliefs and practices that were considered sacred articles of northern heritage. Recently, he spoke against the patronage and merit-blind convention of quota system. He berated the northern leadership elite for poor human development indices relative to other geopolitical regions of the country – among them, pervasive indifference to low level interest in education, about 87 percent of the Nigerian poor being in the North, prevalent child marriage and female gender oppression, and the phenomenon of out-of-school street children known as the almajiri who he wanted rehabilitated.

    Even if there had been some doubt, it is glaring now that the exploits of Sanusi II neither sat well with the northern elite nor fitted cultural designs of northern royalty. And this was to the extent that when he was booted off the throne early last week by Governor Ganduje, there was not a voice raised by the northern establishment in his support. One exception perhaps is Kaduna State Governor Nasir el-Rufai – and that, obviously out of personal friendship and like-mindedness with the dethroned emir. Remember it was at el-Rufai’s 60th birthday celebration that the royal had unleashed one of his strongest takedowns of the northern narrative. Within 48 hours of Sanusi’s dethronement, the Kaduna governor saddled him with two political appointments: one as deputy chair of the board of Kaduna State Investment Promotion Authority and another as chancellor of the Kaduna State University.

    But el-Rufai is a lone and feeble striker against a full squad of bullish defenders. Even if Sanusi II was disposed to immediately get cracking on those new assignments, he was effectively incapacitated because he had been banished and placed on abusive lockdown of house arrest – not in Kaduna State where he was keenly sought after, but in a remote community of Nasarawa State where the people neither really wanted him nor knew what to do with him having been foisted on them.

    President Muhammadu Buhari has publicly washed his hands off the Sanusi saga, but he could say it to the birds. There is no doubt, of course, that it isn’t within his statutory remit to order dethronement of an emir, and that he “does not have a history of intervening in the affairs of any state in the country unless the issue at hand is of national consequence.” But you do not as a state governor kick out an emir of Sanusi’s caliber without getting firm buy-in of the country’s leader. And why not in this case, anyway? President Buhari is a full-blooded product and beneficiary of the very regimen that Sanusi had been tearing at. Besides, both Nasarawa State Governor Abdullahi Sule and new Kano Emir Aminu Ado Bayero have gone calling on the president at Aso Villa for debriefing following Sanusi’s dethronement and banishment.

    Sanusi II is one of the North’s – indeed Nigeria’s – brightest stars, added to his privileged background that saw him passing through among the best educational institutions available anywhere. As such, he must have been fully in the know what comes with the territory of his royal activism. That perhaps informed his equanimity when he described his removal from the Kano throne as destined by Allah and a thing of pride that he ended up as his grandfather, 11th Emir of Kano Muhammadu Sanusi I, who was deposed by First Republic Northern Region Premier, Sir Ahmadu Bello. “We have accepted whatever Allah decides. We have agreed. We appreciate (God). We are happy and we know it is what is best for us,” the junior Sanusi added in a four-minute video that was made public after his banishment.

    Under the existing framework of law, it is battle fishing to challenge the power of Ganduje to dethrone the monarch. But the forced domiciliation of Sanusi at a location not of his choice, and denial of his freedom of movement and voluntary associations, among other liberties, is a vicious overreach. Sanusi has himself resorted to the judiciary on this particular score, and he secured some reprieve last Friday with the court ordering his immediate release. Still, no matter where President Buhari stood on the deposition, he has a window of opportunity to arbitrate and thereby redeem his own image, besides saving Nigeria the negative image posed before the world by the abuse of the former emir’s rights.

    One last thing: it is highly doubtful that the vocal royal will be permanently silenced by his deposition. But even if he is, his voice is a genie already out of the bottle. It will haunt the Nigerian nationhood until the values he preached take root.

    • Please join me on kayodeidowu.blogspot.be for conversation.