The Nation Newspaper

Category: Opinion

  • IWD: The paradox of ‘forgetful’ exclusion

    IWD: The paradox of ‘forgetful’ exclusion

    By Nnedinso Ogaziechi

     

    The international Women’s Day is annually commemorated on the 8th of March. However, the whole month of March is still dedicated to the women of the world. It is a period of seeming stocktaking. The few achievements of women are celebrated but attention is equally drawn to the perennial challenges women go through around the world. The poverty, illiteracy, injustices, the inequities, domestic and sexual violence and sundry problems that women go through on a daily basis.

    However, while globally economic, political and socio-cultural issues seem to affect women on an equal basis, in Africa, the inequities and injustices weigh heavily against the women due to the fact that most African governments have still not realized that it is high time they go back to the pristine period when women and men existed in shared governance structures till the colonialists came and imposed their mono governance structure on the continent.

    This year’s celebrations, muted as it was due to the Covid-19 restrictions came with all the media fanfare and cymbals across the world. The orthodox and social media platforms were filled with all sorts of audio-visual activities from virtual conferences to limited physical activities all aimed at women raising their voices to call the attention of governments and society in general to those issues that affect women.

    One major observation however by the RoundTable Conversation is that most of the International Women’s Day events were organized by women through their socio-cultural, economic, political or religious groups. However, in Nigeria, there are major women groups that were either given a perfunctory mention or representation as the events lasted – the core rural women, the displaced, other vulnerable women and women living with disabilities. A few NGOs had one or two events for some of these vulnerable women groups but the percentage seems quite negligible in comparative terms. The vast group of women organizations seemed totally oblivious of the existence of women living with disabilities amongst the womenfolk.

    The RoundTable Conversation had a chat with the former President Special Sports Federation of Nigeria  (SSFN) and founder and National President Association for Comprehensive Empowerment of Nigerians with Disabilities (ASCEND), Chief Cosmas Okoli (OON). He regrets that able bodied women have left the women living with disabilities behind in the fight for equity and justice and the recent celebration of International Women’s Day again reinforced the fact that even women play the exclusion game they accuse men of.

    Chief Okoli noted that African women living with disabilities suffer triple jeopardy in the world. First there is discrimination against them as women, then as persons living with disabilities and again as black women. To him, life cannot get more Hobbesian than that. In Africa, governments do not factor the disabled both men and womenin policy formulations and executions. There are no policies or legislations committedly executed to help those with disabilities especially as it concerns women.

    He says he would love to see the able bodied women carrying along their own – women living with disabilities in ways that their  advocacies for women rights are seriously inclusive of those of the women living with disabilities. Women must in agitating for political inclusion include their own even when they have challenges. Women must do more than they are doing now.

    It seems that only able bodied women are getting all the considerations for a better life. The women living with disabilities are also women and the more they are given considerations  and appointments that can empower them, the faster things will begin to change. We are all humans in pursuit of happiness. The able bodied women must realize that if and when they win the war of inclusivity, they might have future fights for the inclusion of their own women living with disabilities. They need to be carried along now because in most cases they are even more feisty and articulate for issues that concern women. It is a win-win situation for women when they carry fellow women along in the struggle. Cerebral capacity and professional competence do not belong mainly to those without disabilities. Most often those without cognitive challenges are as productive if not even more productive than others who feel that ability lies in physiology.

    Women should stop personalizing struggles because it is not always profitable. Equal opportunities should not just be about men and women so women must seemingly come to equity with clean hands in terms of inclusiveness. Group struggles must not be monopolized. Those with talents and ability must be included despite any challenges they may have.

    Hope Ngwube is the South East coordinator of ASCEND and a woman living with disability and feels so bad that both the governments in the country and their fellow women seem not to have remembered them during this year’s IWD as is always the case with events held in honour of women.

    iwd-the-paradox-of-forgetful-exclusion
    Tallen

    To her, nobody remembers  the women living with disabilities not just during events but even in policy making. To her, unlike in other countries, buildings and roads are structured without any consideration for the disabled and it is worse for women because very often, they get pregnant  and the task of moving from place to place becomes more arduous and draining.

    To her, women have disabilities already so an additional burden comes with living with disabilities.  A woman with disability is facing a lot. The various tiers of government seem not to care too much for disabled people. There are no legislation functionally compelling families to send their children living with disabilities to school so most parents or guardians do not care for their children living with disabilities. In cases where they are lucky to be sent to school, the facilities are not there for their comfort and ease of movement. Most activities and teaching aids are for the able bodied as though those living with disabilities do not deserve full education and full extra-curricular activities.

    When they even struggle to get an education they graduate into a labour market that give them no opportunities. The governments must begin to plan the infrastructure in ways that every citizen able or living with disabilities can comfortably have some ease of movement.  Some women living with disabilities cannot even access their office buildings especially when they are pregnant for those who can even afford a wheel chair or crutches. We expect the Women Affairs ministries  across the country to look into the plight of women living with disabilities but it seems they keep forgetting that we have several challenges.

    The women living with disabilities just sat back watching all the events for women during this year’s IWD even though we heard of very few ones across the country. We the women want to be availed scholarships as a route to economic empowerment or sponsorships to learn a trade or acquire a skill. A woman living with disability who has an education can struggle and get a job and cater for her needs and that of the children.

    There should be automatic employment for women living with disabilities to make them less dependent on people who often exploit their situation.  An educated person living with disability cannot be a burden on anyone. The fact that most persons living with disabilities are often stigmatized must be addressed because when they are free to be fully productive, they can contribute to the growth of the economy.

    The fact that about  95% of women living with disabilities are illiterates  is not good for the country’s economy. That makes them fully dependent on others and that again affects the productivity of their care-givers. The three tiers of government must be involved in the plan to make lives better for persons with disability in a country where fatalism forces most people to see disability as a curse from the gods and as such they care little for those with such disabilities.

    The RoundTable Conversation wants women in all sectors, the private and public sector to show less apathy to the welfare of the women living with disabilities. True there are some efforts to care for some of the women but it does seem it is a tad too little given the plethora of complaints from those that spoke to us. Again the paradox of women forgetting their other half while  complaining about male exclusion is so unnerving.

    Like Chief Okoli observed, most of the women living with disabilities are very cerebral, eloquent and talented and as such the women advocates must carry them along the general aspirations of all women because womanhood is the same and they have shared human experiences that must make them care for each other.

    The RoundTable however applauds a state like Lagos that has appointed a female living with disability, Adenike Oyetunde as a Senior Special Adviser on People Living With Disabilities  (PLWD) in addition to having an agency that handles their issues and some other incentives for their public transportation system. The Roundtable expects the womenfolk in Nigeria to walk the talk and advocate for the needs of every woman irrespective of class or status.

    The dialogue continues…

  • Choose to challenge sexual predation

    Choose to challenge sexual predation

    By Philip Amiola

     

    SIR:  A 2019 study by NOI Polls found that three out 10 respondents know someone who has been raped in the past and 72 per cent of the victims are minors (1-15 years) while 24 percent are young adults aged 16-25 years.

    Earlier in 2017, the Nigeria Bureau of Statistics had reported 2,279 cases of rape and indecent assault. But the actual figures could be much higher since many cases are not reported for fear of further victimization and lack of faith in the criminal justice system.

    All of these points to the need for urgent and decisive action to not only bring perpetrators to book but also challenge the entire system that supports the prevalence of this menace.

    There is no simple solution to the problem of sexual predation. And candidly, even the most respectable persons can get entangled in either side of the problem, given the right circumstances.

    This reflects the insight of first-century preacher, Saul of Tarsus, in a letter to his followers: “If you think you are standing strong, be careful not to fall.”

    Eugene Peterson’s paraphrase is even more incisive: “Don’t be so naive and self-confident. You’re not exempt. You could fall flat on your face as easily as anyone else.”

    A lot of advocacy on sexual predation and gender-based violence has been geared towards punitive measures. While it is indeed important to punish offenders and seek justice for victims, we must not neglect the fact that we can begin to make immediate gains by implementing preventive and protective measures.

    In many cases, acts of sexual predation and abuse don’t just happen. They are the culmination of personality problems, wrong values, media violence, sexual innuendos, grooming and various kinds of inappropriate behaviour that have been overlooked or explained away.

    Organizations must start paying attention to minor misconducts and questionable behaviours that might be symptoms of deeper problems.

    If we commit to addressing these underlying issues through a deliberate process that enforces proper behaviour and reinforces the right values, we will see significant gains in our fight against sexual predation and abuse.

    One practical way to start moving in the right direction is to create and conscientiously implement a safeguarding policy in every organization, especially schools, religious organizations, hospitals and other institutions that care for children and youths.

    A safeguarding policy expresses the organization’s commitment to protect vulnerable individuals from abuse, harassment, neglect, violence or any form of harm. It also assigns responsibilities and outlines procedures for dealing with issues that may arise.

    Everyone must take responsibility for implementing preventive and protective measures against all forms of abuse, especially sexual predation and gender based violence.

    To this end, all members of staff should be trained to identify violations and take appropriate action.

    As individuals and organizations, we must take responsibility for our actions and inactions. What we don’t challenge will not change. We have the responsibility to stand against sexual misconduct and abuse, thereby playing our part towards creating a more inclusive world.

     

    • Philip Amiola, www.philipamiola.org.
  • Trouble spews again

    Trouble spews again

    By Usman Bulama

     

    SIR: With a litany of daily woes, one is already inured to news of violence and mayhem across the country. The decade-old Boko Haram is not abating; so are the bandits of the Northwest, and the age old skirmishes in the Middle Belt. Bad news is all that is available for the ears to hear; and as the abnormal becomes the normal then it is no more a news. Therefore, when one heard the recent feuds involving Fulani herders and residents of the Southwest, one only saw it as news because the Southwest has managed to hold sedate and calm while the rest of the land is boiling.

    The latest conflict however, must not be viewed as unique or an isolate from other herder/farmer conflicts. The Fulanis being pastoralists and engaged in transhumance for centuries have for long traversed the West African region up and down in search for pasture. In the process they have had conflicts with almost all sedentary farmers because the later quite genuinely detest cattle destroying their farms while foraging. As frequent as these clashes were, in the past things were sorted out amicably between the two groups as resource constraints weren’t as tight as they are now. And the relationship between farmers and herders could be so cordial that they engaged in trade by barter. Farmers supplied grains to the Fulanis, while the later gave out milk and butter in return. But times have changed, and no thanks to the ballooning human population with consequent shrinkage for lands to till and some taken away for developmental purposes.

    Besides, climatic factors made once fertile lands transform into deserts. Hence, the feud between sedentary populations and the foragers got amplified due to the severe decline of natural resources. Worst, even as food production dwindled, the little yields were not spared by the herders. The more the lands up-north got barren, so did the number of Fulanis fleeing southwards. While Fulani populations are still ubiquitous amongst the northern and middle belt areas; their population in the south swelled rapidly. What more, the Boko Haram conflicts and the frequent clashes in the Middle Belt have all fuelled Fulani incursions into the south.

    The fact that sedentary farmers in the south started witnessing unprecedented Fulani migrations than they ever knew was alarming to them. Naturally, there was going to be conflict; and the conflict went beyond the normal herder/farmer feuds. Fulani cattle were rustled and in turn most of them got impoverished. In the circumstance, the once serene and placid Fulanis moving through the bush with his cattle, and every tribes’ favourites for cracking jokes became wild and carried AK 47 guns to defend himself and his cattle. Some of them either buoyed by the guns they hold or out of frustrations that they have lost their cattle to rustlers became kidnappers. With these developments the state was set for the violent conflicts that occurred in Ibadan and other places in the south.

    Be that as it may, and even plus the consequent killing of Fulanis, their cattle, and the arson on their dwellings; what was worst is the ethnic profiling that every Fulani is a criminal!

    That those they are grouped together with as Hausa/Fulani; or other tribes from up north with similarity in culture were all targeted makes issues more complicated.

    And ditto; there is no rationality in the consequent embargo of food supplies from the north to the south; or the threats by the later to embargo its own supplies to the north. The north and south are in a symbiotic relationship and their economics are interwoven such that partnership and trade if disrupted is to the perils of both regions.

    The salient issue that must be addressed is the failure of government and its institutions to plan ahead and implement measures that would forestall such untoward troubles. Twenty or thirty years ago, government must have noticed the increasing population, declining natural resources and potential exacerbation of feuds over natural resources. And, even when such plans are put in place the failure to implement them due to ineptness, inertia and corruption makes such plans to fail.

    One example suffices, the River Basin Authorities established in the 1970’s were meant for food security along with adequate plans for livestock fodder that would have curtailed Fulani migrations. Alas, all the River Basin Authorities are now comatose or near comatose. And this failure, along with other dysfunctional plans brought us where we are and trouble spews all over.

     

    • Usman Bulama, Main Village, Maiduguri.  
  • Handling health and environment

    Handling health and environment

    By Kayode Ojewale

     

    SIR: World Health Organisation (WHO), defines environment as, “all the physical, chemical and biological factors external to a person, and all the related behaviours.” About five decades ago, WHO also defined health as “a state of complete physical, mental and social well-being and not merely the absence of disease or infirmity.” It can be inferred from these definitions that man’s interactions with everything that surrounds him determine his well-being.

    A school of thought, generally accepted by many environmentalists, has it that, virtually everything that man does, is in response to his environment. Man’s environment, internal or external, dictates his actions most times and hence affects the quality of life. Our environment affects us and we affect it in turn. This is because our environment does to us what we do to it in areas of treatment and handling. It may be indirectly, but we certainly do. This therefore establishes man’s core relationship with his environment.

    Some environmental experts have even argued that man is the real threat to his own life on planet earth. This narrative can change when we engage in healthy activities that will protect, maintain and restore the quality of our environment.

    Humanity has forgotten that the environment can exist without man, but no man without the environment. We are then at the mercy of the environment when we are attacked by diseases that are environmentally-induced. How then do we treat the environment to avoid being stricken by illnesses? Or in what ways have we been negatively impacting the environment by our actions and inactions as humans? Why have we neglected or paid little attention to the way we take care of our environment as humans? Where exactly did we miss the understanding of the role environment plays in our health as we daily interact with it? Why is the environment so important just as the human health? When are we reconciling with our environment by giving it what it deserves and demands?

    Certain human activities like overexploitation of resources, indiscriminate bush burning, pollution and deforestation all destroy or negatively impact the environment on a large scale. The environment is as important as our health and must be protected because a healthy environment or ecosystem provides us with food, clean water and purified air. A healthy environment also regulates climate and maintains our soil. Man’s failure to protect his environment is borne out of his poor understanding of the role it plays. An unhealthy environment will certainly snowball into unhealthy lifestyle. The time to reconcile with our environment is now so that we can save our own lives.

    Diseases are best prevented when the environment is healthy. Humanity must live life with this caveat in mind: When man dies, the environment still lives; but when the environment dies, it automatically signals the arrival of death for man.

    • Kayode Ojewale,  Idimu, Lagos.

     

  • Do IDPs and abducted school girls celebrate International Women’s Day?

    Do IDPs and abducted school girls celebrate International Women’s Day?

    By Nnedinso Ogaziechi

    The international Women’s day is two days away.  While it is not all gloom and sad news for the Nigerian woman given the recent global focus on the new Director General of the World Trade Organization (WTO) Nigeria’s Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala and some of the Nigerian women that made it into the cabinet of President Joe Biden,  a lot needs to be done for the future of the Nigerian girl child.

    The fight for the progress of any nation must be anchored on the vision the country has for its young ones. Education and health should be the two most important sectors of any economy that is looking to a better developed future. That is not implying that infrastructural development and other ancillary sectors do not matter.

    However, as the global focus turns to the women and girls in this month of March, the women of Nigeria wish as always to draw attention to the things that matter; the poverty, the insecurity, the illiteracy, the child marriages and all those actions that impede the development of both the girl-child and women.

    The recent abduction of almost three hundred school girls in Jangede in Zamfara state coming on the now perennial abductions of school children from Chibok, Dapchi, Kankara, Bini Yadi and others says a lot about the Nigerian security and education system going forward. The Roundtable Conversation feels that beyond the negotiations, releases and rescues, the grave damage to the education sector by the abduction of innocent school children in a country with the global highest of out-of school children is an ill-wind that blows no one any good.

    The focus of all tiers of government in this women’s month must be how to restore the confidence of parents, children, teachers, communities and other caregivers in the education sector while working harder to fix the security infrastructure.

    The Roundatable Conversation sat with Dolin Holt the founder of Caprecon Foundation that has for the past thirteen years been caring for some women and girls in IDP camps across the country. He decries the impact of displacement on women and girls in the IDP camps. To him, the impact of insecurity on the lives of women cannot be overemphasized.  Already in the country, the number of displaced women and girls is too huge and comes with a multitude of other problems.

    His foundation has been on ground and noticed that the displaced women and girls are not just victims of displacement. They are further victimized and their problems further exacerbated by predators. Their caregivers often take advantage of the girls and women who are hungry and desperate to feed their children. Some of the women are sexually violated in exchange for food. Hungry and desperate, human lives get cheapened as some of them in a bid to survive often submit to the indignities of violations and trafficking.

    The Caprecon Foundation also helps the women and their children to get into the makeshift schools around but there is still a huddle, when parents can’t even care for themselves, education becomes a luxury and no, education should and must not be a luxury. The urge to survive supersedes the hunger for education. So because most of the parents at the IDP camps are already traumatized, sending their children off to school is one risk they fear to take because there always seems to be an Armageddon next door.

    According to Dolin, beyond the IDP camps and the family units across the country  are disintegrating because in most cases men are either killed or abducted living the families in disarray. There can’t be progress when the greater number of women and girls in any state live in fear and suffer constant sexual, physical, psychological and  economic abuses.

    He believes that governments at all levels must brace up especially as the world celebrates the International Women’s Day to step back and realize that women and girls are the pillars of the future because one gender cannot keep the world running. Each gender has its natural roles that cannot be undertaken by the other.

    The impact of abductions and kidnappings on the psyche of both children and their parents is a clear keg of gun powder for the country. He fears that already even without conflicts, poverty and ignorance have been keeping children off schools. The impact of the series of abductions would ultimately be the last nail in the coffin for a developing country like Nigeria. No parents want their children to be victims so they would rather keep them illiterate and alive than sending them to school to be abducted.

    The hunger to get children educated might wane across the country as insecurity takes an upper hand. Dolin feels that it is not too late for governments at all levels to put education and security  nthrough careful planning and investment.

    In a country that has one of the highest levels of girl child illiteracy,  the incessant abduction of girls from schools can only  worsen the situation and no government can make any developmental leap without very well educated women.  An educated girl has a million and one advantages as she gets to become a woman, she delays childbirth, has a number of children she can raise properly and gets to be productive for the development of the country.

    The Caprecon Foundation understands the strategic import of displacements and lack of education for every child across the globe and that informs the choices they made at inception to provide the psychological succor for the vulnerable and displaced. They believe that just providing materials for the camps is not enough because most of the people especially women in the IDP camps are broken in ways that some of them are suicidal given the ubuses they face on a daily basis.

    A woman that is already homeless, constantly raped will bear kids she can neither feed, nurture nor educate and the children if they ever survive grow up to be ready recruits for the insurgents that put their parents in the worse conditions and the cycle of poverty goes on.  That there is lack of growth for the economy is because there is widespread poverty which can be tackled with better attention to security and education.

    Food security all over the word is dependent on the ability of a nation to maximally provide for the agricultural sector and a great part of that provision is through security. In a developing nation like Nigeria where the agricultural sector contributes a great percentage to the nation’s GDP, insecurity for the women who make up to 70% of the agricultural work force would spell famine.

    There is a reason the United Nation agencies and other global bodies invest in the development of women and girls. As a global participant, Nigeria must re-evaluate the attention it pays to its women and girls. The protection of lives and property of each citizen lies with every tier of government.

    As the global body rolls out its cymbals to celebrate women this March, governments across Nigeria must wake up to protect the highest victims of insecurity in the country – girls and women. The global pandemic has worsened the plight of women and girls as  global economies continue to surfer due to the impact of the pandemic.  It is pertinent that the International Women’s Day becomes a re-awakening moment for Nigeria.

    For too long, religious and socio-cultural issues have made life tough for most women nationally. The global pandemic has added the proverbial salt to injury as more women and girls are now mo, re now poorer, exposed to domestic violence, lost their means of livelihood, more are losing their lives as care givers, being kidnapped, victims of banditry and herdsmen attacks  both in their homes, farms or other places or work.

    Leaving girls and women as perennial victims of an unplanned system where their lives are not safe and secure would always birth chaos and economists and development experts have constantly pointed the way forward for nations through their agencies. From cradle to grave, the girl child seems a victim of its own existence as the adults that are supposed to protect her often turn her into a permanent victim. Many nations that have understood the contributions of women to development are some of the countries with the best standards of living. They have long understood that when every citizen is invested in, they all become optimally productive.

    It is very instructive that most of the nations struggling with development are mainly the countries where the girls and women have to battle too many socio-religious nuances that often impede development. Those that insist on the mantra, “train a woman and you train a nation” have in those words buried the true value of protecting women and girls and investing in their development.

    It is an irony that Nigeria is so blessed yet so poor as the lives of its women seem to be one of the most challenged in the world. Education for the girl child must not be negotiable. It is sad that the Chibok girls abduction merely opened the floodgates to more abductions of Nigerian children both boys and girls.

    The International Women’s Day as a global moment of celebrating womanhood must not be a mere happenstance .The country must make everyday matter for the Nigerian girl that grows into the woman that would add value to national development. This can only be possible when they are educated, protected and healthy.

    The Roundtable Conversation wishes that all tiers of government in Nigeria would take the first step to re-ordering the lives of women and girls in ways that their lives matter, that the governments realize that when a woman is not free, no man is free because the man comes from a daughter, a mother, a sister or a niece. The chain of development can’t hook without the input of the girl that grows into a woman.

    The dialogue continues…

  • Season of tattoos and cross-dressing?

    Season of tattoos and cross-dressing?

    By Onyeka Nwelue

    SIR: There is something happening in Nigeria right now. It is not political. It is not cultural. It is gormless, dopey and injudicious.

    Fans of Nigerian celebrities are busy, tattooing faces and names of their ‘celebrities’ on their legs, posterior, forehead and on their hands. They will then take pictures and send to the celebrities. Like hostage-taking, they expect the celebrities to pay them attention and pay them money. Bobrisky has been forthcoming with recognising them and dishing out lots of money to them. Some celebrities too, are lukewarm.

    This is not about being woke: What is the essence of doing that? To show love? That is not true love. Even those who are carrying these tattoos don’t even like themselves. So, they are incapable of loving someone else.

    Everyone says: “There is hunger in the land.” There is no hunger in the land. Where did they get the money to even tattoo anything? The idea is to emotionally blackmail the celebrity. Would anyone tattoo someone’s name on his body, if there was no internet, making it easy for the fan to torment the celebrities?

    Someone has to tell comic skit makers in Nigeria that cross-dressing is not comic. My favourite comedian in Nigeria is Mr. Macaroni. I have never seen him dress like a woman, but I watch every single comic skit and adverts that he produces. He is intelligent, composed, smart, professional. It will be bovine to compare him with the clueless ‘comedians’ who have to dress up like women, to force us to laugh. Somehow, I have never caught myself laughing. I get irritated instead.

    Many of these comedians who cross-dress are men filled with insecurity, who are unsure of their sexuality, who want to use comedy to say what they are and who they are, which is fine, but then, many of them, pretend to be homophobic publicly. The idea of wanting to be a woman alone exposes the trueness of your male gender that you can bend. It is either they are stopped or they should be seen and treated equally like Bobrisky.

    There is no need to cross-dress, to make anyone laugh. I have never laughed, watching these guys. It is off-putting rather, to be mild. And you can deduce from them that these people are a bunch of ignorant kids, who, on having access to cameras and sound, think they can do anything and get away with it. It is scatterbrained. Life is not about the projections you make alone. It comes with its squabbles.

    Stop the cross-dressers who think they are doing comedy and stop all the rattling with tattoos of celebrities on their bodies. Stop all of them!

    • Onyeka Nwelue, Johannesburg, S/Africa.

  • Why Kanu’s mission will remain misguided

    Why Kanu’s mission will remain misguided

    By Victoria Ngozi Ikeano

    SIR: Mazi Nnamdi Kanu needs no introduction. He is leader of the proscribed Indigenous People of Biafra (IPOB) which is more of a movement than a geographical expression in practice. His objective is to have a ‘Biafra state’ carved out of the present Nigerian nation and he defines its geographical composition as consisting of all five states in the southeast as well as Rivers, Delta, Kogi and Benue states, despite objections from some of the states.

    IPOB has eclipsed its predecessor, the Movement for the Sovereign state of Biafra (MASSOB) led by Chief Ralph Uwazuruike. Reason for this may be IPOB’s rather extremist tactics and media visibility with its own radio to boot.

    Majority of people in the southeast do not agree with Kanu or MASSOB on the issue of secession.  They believe that their personal and collective interests are best served in a (bigger) Nigerian state with proper governance structures to address their cry of marginalization. For one, the zone is situated on a relatively small land mass such that were every easterner to pitch his/her tent there, it would not accommodate them all literally.  Secondly, south-easterners are generally widely travelled people that invest and build wealth wherever they are, outside of the zone.  So, they are more or less stakeholders wherever they find themselves. An unofficial statistic showed that Igbos are the second most populous group in most Nigerian towns after the native, indigenous group. In this circumstance the best policy for the Igbos is one of ‘live and let live’.

    Kanu disdains this time-honoured understanding and instead embraces antagonism, vilification of other tribes as well as pouring vituperations on the presidency as an institution and the person of the president.

    It bears repeating that Kanu does not speak for the Igbos; he does not represent their cause or Igbo nationalism. Evidence of this is that no notable Igbo personality sides with him. The political class, clerics, apex cultural organization, opinion leaders, etc., do not approve of his agenda or ways which sometimes verges on inciting violence.

    Truly,  no government in the world would fold its arms while a group unilaterally declares  its intent to secede, having its own currency, flag , army, etc., attacking  the police at will and setting up road blocks  in its supposed sphere of influence while verbally assaulting constituted authority and others  via its  radio station transmitting within the Nigerian state.

    Kanu’s followers are largely disenchanted youths that are angry with the Nigerian state for various reasons.  He no doubt has a strong hold on them. This iron grip and cult following has been helped by his spewing of conspiracy theories in his media outlet as well as the conservative and social media that continue to provide him a platform to voice his agenda. He and his band of followers believe that they are fighting a just cause for the Igbos and see themselves as Igbo nationalists.

    They err for, even if a ‘Biafra state’ were to be realized (as a hypothesis) there would still be grumblings, echoes of dissatisfactions within because of its latent diversity; it is not a strictly homogenous entity as such. Even within family units, there are dissensions, how much more within larger entities?

    Each component unit that makes up Nigeria has its strengths and weaknesses and the union should grow stronger through mutual exchange. No single unit is an island nor can it develop fully as an island unto itself. Many Igbos believe that they are not getting a fair share out of the Nigerian state. However, the way to redress the situation is not by spewing hatred among Nigerians or drumming songs of war and secession which is highly improbable.  Rather it is through dialogue – representatives of the nation’s diverse groups sitting down to fashion out a satisfactory (not a perfect model) to live and pursue everyone’s aspirations in harmony for the common good. This requires that each component unit tables its fears and hopes and all reaching a compromise in the spirit of give and take, on a political, social, economic template that is agreeable to all while preserving our common heritage. You may call this template whatever name you wish.

    • Victoria Ngozi Ikeano, Lafia, Nasarawa State.

  • Nigeria’s divergent tales of fishermen and herdsmen

    Nigeria’s divergent tales of fishermen and herdsmen

    By Ejeviome Eloho Otobo & Oseloka H. Obaze

    In Nigeria, two important traditional food and agricultural occupations face existential threats. The fishermen in the coastal areas of the country and the herdsmen in the North are beleaguered by environmental challenges. The environmental challenge confronting the herdsmen arises from naturally occurring desertification; while that confronting the fishermen is mainly man-made, and the result of years of oil exploration-related environmental degradation of the Niger Delta.  These environmental challenges are detrimental to the lives and livelihoods of both fishermen and herdsmen and have deleterious impact on the national economic output.

    Meanwhile, a recent book, titled “Insecurity in the Niger Delta:  A report of Emerging Threats in Akwa -Ibom, Bayelsa, Cross River, Delta, Edo and River States,” published by a group of Nigerian scholars, documents how sea pirates frequently attack, kill and seize the equipment of fishermen in the coastal regions. In other words, the fishermen, in addition to suffering losses in fishing output because of environmental degradation, are also experiencing threats from pirates. This is analogous to the threats posed to the herdsmen by rustlers. But there the similarities end.

    Not only have the fishermen and the herdsmen responded differently to the environmental and security threats they face, but so have been public policy responses to their respective plights.  Where the fishermen and farmers ascertained the culpability of international oil companies in environmental pollution, they have filed series of lawsuits in foreign jurisdictions to seek redress, as several recent cases in The Netherlands and the United Kingdom have shown. For now, nothing better illustrates the poor public policy response to the environmental degradation of the Niger Delta than the tardy implementation of the 2011 UNEP Report on Environmental Assessment of Ogoniland. 

    By contrast, the nomadic herdsmen have responded to their environmental challenge by migrating to the Middle Belt and the South. This has led to increased clashes with sedentary farming communities over grazing and water rights. Moreover, some of the herdsmen-turned-bandits have been accused of involvement in kidnapping, robbery and raping, leading to heightened sense of insecurity in affected communities.   The scope of insecurity from the herdsmen attacks is reflected in two recent international reports. The first is the Global Terrorism Index 2020, which attributes 26 percent of all terror-related deaths in Nigeria in 2019 to attacks by the herdsmen. The second is a research report titled, “Fulani Militias’ Terror2017-2020″ by a Brussels independent legal researcher, which indicates that between 2017 and May 2020, herdsmen launched 654 attacks and killed more than 2,539 people. These are deeply disconcerting data, from a foreign policy and foreign investment perspective, inasmuch as they cast a harsh spotlight on Nigeria.

    Public policy responses to the plight of the herdsmen, in particular at the federal level, have ranged from advocating restoration of colonial and post-colonial migratory routes to creating grazing areas, cattle colonies, and rural grazing areas within the National Livestock Transformation Plan. As the insecurities, arising from the herders’ attacks in various parts of the countries, have intensified, the political leaders have offered sharply contrasting views on issues such as the right of the herdsmen to settle in any part of the country; the practice of herdsmen settling in the forests; the bearing of  arms by the herdsmen, in particular AK-47; the condescending assertions by Miyetti Allah Cattle Breeders Association of Nigeria that Nigeria belongs to them; and their demand that cattle ranches must be established for them by all 36 states.

    The political leaders’ divergent views on such a basic issue as how to tackle the herders’ problem are emblematic of lack of elite consensus on a range of public policy issues. It is also illustrative of prevalent huge trust deficit in Nigeria. In times of national crisis, citizens look to their political leaders for solutions buttressed by moral leadership. Instead, the political leaders have settled for false moral equivalences, as evidenced by the false moral equivalence initially drawn between the Niger Delta militants and Boko Haram, and currently between Niger Delta militants and bandits. Alas, the use of amnesty as a securitization paradigm for tackling banditry remains a double-edged sword.  The impact of amnesty for bandits in the Northwest has been disappointing, more so as terror-impacted communities are reluctant to accept rehabilitated erstwhile insurgents. Paying ransom to bandits only induces further banditry. The return on investment makes pay-for-peace pricey, and unsustainable.

    As various analysts have emphasised, cattle rearing is a private concern just as fishing, farming and other agriculture-related processing enterprises. The challenges of the herdsmen—like those of the fishermen—are mostly economic in nature. The economic adaptation problems of the herdsmen have been mismanaged and allowed to morph into a security threat. Moving forward, public policy must return the herdsmen crisis to the economic context to which it belongs, and allow the states and private sector to compete for cattle resources without unviable demands being imposed. The constitutional provisions set out in sections 43 and 44 provide a basis for addressing the herders’ challenges: the right to settle anywhere and the right to acquire moveable or immoveable property uncompulsorily.

    There’s a moral urgency to addressing the herders’ problems plaguing Nigeria. Hopefully, the elements of a long-term solution are in prospect. These include the recognition by the Northern Governors Forum that open grazing is not viable; the recently announced decision to map out 30 grazing reserves within the implementation of the NTLP; the growing demand to ban the use of AK-47 by herdsmen; the evolving consensus that criminals should not be ethnically profiled, but must be prosecuted to the full extent of the law; and the federal government’s announced intent to seek amendment of  ECOWAS Protocol on Transhumance in order to curb violence and banditry by foreign herdsmen.

    • Otobo is a Non-Resident Senior Fellow at the Global Governance Institute, Brussels. Obaze is Managing Director and Chief Executive Officer, Selonnes Consult in Awka.

  • We need to know who owns the land

    We need to know who owns the land

    By Anthony Cardinal Okogie

    SIR: “We want to know who owns the land.” So declared late Nigerian artiste, Sonny Okosun in his song “Papa’s land.”

    Today, can it be said that Nigeria, under the watch of this government, has been taken away from us by bandits, herdsmen and kidnappers?   One is permitted to think aloud on this matter because criminals are behaving as if Nigeria belonged to them alone while the rest of us are to be treated as their tenants.

    “The Lord’s is the earth and its fullness,” declared the Psalmist.  Indeed, God created and gave us this land.  Yes, history testifies that ancestors of various ethnic communities in Nigeria most probably migrated from elsewhere.  They settled in this part of the world like other migrating ethnic communities who moved from one place and settle in another.  Then came colonialists.  They too were migrants who took the land from us, not for our benefit, but for the European industrial revolution.  They enriched themselves by impoverishing Africans.

    It can be said that, since October 1, 1960, with the birth of the Nigerian state, Nigeria belongs to all Nigerians.  The impression must not be created and the policy must not be implemented that Nigeria belongs to members of one ethnic community more than she belongs to members of other ethnic communities.  For this reason, the archaic logic of conquest must be consigned to its rightful place, that is, to the trash can of history. And if this country is to know peace, if Nigeria is to become a land where no one is oppressed, their ideology of impunity must be corrected.

    We Nigerians must come together and discuss our life in common.  The tragic recurrence of kidnapping, banditry, and insurgency summons us all to take responsibility for peace and stability in Nigeria.  Even the blind knows we are not heading in the right direction.   The matter is not about “Fulani herdsmen”.  Neither is it about “northern bandits”.   It is about criminals who, irrespective of their ethnic or religious, or regional affiliation, must be identified, apprehended, prosecuted, and, if found guilty, treated according to the laws of the land.  It is about searching out their sponsors and bringing them to justice.

    So many questions beg for answers.  In a not too distant past, when news came that arms were being smuggled into Nigeria, we asked: who has been bringing arms to Nigeria?  Was anyone put on trial for this crime?  If so, what was the outcome of the trial?  Why is it that our government has not been able to secure this land and its inhabitants?  Why is it that Nigerians are no longer safe in a country they call their own?  Why is it that our security agents eagerly and forcefully dispersed young and defenseless Nigerians, peacefully protesting the iniquities of the same agents, only to fail or refuse to apprehend those who are terrorizing us day and night? To these and related questions, Nigerians are yet to receive credible answers from our security agencies.

    It is sad to note that the security of life and property has become the first casualty in our land of politics without morality.  It is difficult to believe that our government is able and willing to protect Nigerians.  Yet, when legitimate questions are put to a government that ought to be accountable, given its much-vaunted democratic credentials, those who ask questions are seen as unpatriotic!

    We must tell ourselves the truth: Nigerians have fallen victims of dirty and wicked politics whose actors engage and arm their militias during the season of electioneering campaign, fail to disarm them, and fail to settle debt owed to them after the campaign.  Could it be the case, as some have been suggesting, that the arms they used to terrify political opponents are what they now use to traumatize Nigerians?

    Innocent lives are lost every day.  There is bloodshed in our land.  The psyche of the average Nigerian is subjected to torture.  Our children are being abducted at school.  Their abduction represents abduction of the future of Nigeria.

    Nigeria is in dire need of responsible, accountable and competent leadership.  We need leaders who unite, not those who divide in order to get into power and consolidate power.  Nigeria does not need leaders who divide and exploit the division.  We are in urgent need of a leader who will preside over our ethnic and religious diversity to unite and not to divide. I ask again: who owns the land?

    • Anthony Cardinal Okogie, Archbishop Emeritus of Lagos.

  • Whither Nigeria’s Moses or a Gandhi?

    Whither Nigeria’s Moses or a Gandhi?

    By Feranmi Adeoye

     

    It was a cool evening in 1592 BCE at Goshen, North Cairo, Egypt. Jochebed, a Jew, had just delivered her last son. The birth was a secret and had to remain so if the child would survive. At that time, Pharaoh of ancient Egypt had ordered that every newly born male child of the Jewish women must be killed. The Egyptians had successfully subjugated the Israelites in slavery for 350 years and they needed to stave off any likelihood of their deliverance.

    After his birth, Jochebed’s child strangely beamed with light. Everything was unusual about him. Little did his mother know that it was he who would liberate his generation from the evil claws of slavery and oppression. So, the mother took care of him for three months, kept him in a water-proof basket, set him down among the papyrus reeds occupying the brink of the Nile and went back home tearfully leaving his survival to the hands of her God who gave her the strange child. The Egyptians would no longer find and kill Moses in her custody.

    The sequence of events that followed was mysterious. Pharaoh’s daughter went to the river to take a bath; found the basket; picked up this irresistibly beautiful foundling; requested a lady nearby who was Miriam the child’s sister, to procure a Jewish nurse for him. The child’s mother, Jochebed was invited and paid to take care of him; the endangered child was taken to the king’s palace to grow up as a prince at the very place where the death order that should have killed him was made. The child grew up in the very dwellings of the oppressors of his own people, enjoyed all the privileges of the princes of Egypt.

    In the end, Egypt, through him, was defeated by the Jewish nation in a grand style. For this, every Jew acknowledged that Moses was truly a born leader.

    Unlike Moses, Mohandas Karamchand Gandhi was not a born leader, so to speak. There were no special circumstances around his birth neither was there a supernatural encounter or childhood obsession to inflict him with the hunger for freedom and deliverance of his people. Yet, he would become the leading figure in India’s struggle to gain independence from Great Britain.

    Mahatma or “the great-souled one” as popularly called by his followers was born on October 2, 1869, at Porbandar, present-day Gujarat, India. When he was 19, Mohandas went to study Law in London. He returned to India in the mid-1881 to set up his legal practice which was not very successful. Later on, he was sent by an Indian firm to work in its office in South Africa where he stayed with his wife and children for roughly 20 years. The apartheid he encountered in South Africa ignited a fire within him. And the journey started when, in a first-class railway compartment, he refused to give up his seat for a European passenger. He was thrown out and beaten up by a white driver.

    After that time, as a means of non-cooperation with authorities, he began to teach the concept of satyagraha (truth, insistence) which is a form of nonviolent resistance or civil resistance. After the ordinance on the registration of its Indian population passed by the Transvaal government, among many key incidents that took place, Gandhi led a campaign of civil disobedience in South Africa in 1906 and it lasted for about eight years.

    He returned to India in July 1914 and by 1920, he had already become the most prominent personality in the movement for independence. He was called Mahatma by his followers because of his eloquence and ascetic lifestyle focused on prayer, fasting and meditation. Through the instrumentality of the Indian National Congress, Gandhi was able to convert the movement into a large organization which attempted to boycott British influence in India at different spheres. Though he ended the resistance movement after violence broke out, he started a new civil-disobedience campaign in 1930. This was precisely against the colonial’s government’s tax on salt. The resistance was called off after the British authorities made some concession.

    Later in 1947, Britain granted India its independence but partitioned the country into India and Pakistan. Gandhi opposed partition but finally agreed, believing that the Hindus and Muslims could create room for internal peace after independence. To show his desire to bring peace in Delhi, he embarked on yet another fast but was killed on January 30, 1948, by Nathuram Godse, a Hindu fanatic exasperated by Gandhi’s attempts to ensure peace between Jinnah and other Muslims.

    Gandhi, before his death, spent his life preaching love, peace, tolerance, peaceful protest and simple living. History has proven that oppression does not last forever. An oppressed people will eventually break free from the ugly chains of unfairness and maltreatment.

    The pathetic story of Nigeria is that of a people trapped in an age-long history of oppression and injustice. Its leaders, like the wicked Pharaoh of Egypt, catch fun in being ruthless and have traded the fear of God and the love of humanity for desperate hunger for power and ill-gotten wealth made from exploiting the people and their resources. Most men who have tried in the past to change the lugubrious situation ended up joining the bad eggs they once attacked. Nobody has successfully been able to resist the dark but enticing force of corruption, partiality and tribalism that bedevil the seats of power. Someone said that the evil seed planted long ago by some group of jolly friends who traded Nigeria have grown wild; so wild that the birds of terrorism, kidnapping and others of the same feather are now chilling out on its boughs and twigs.

    More people are getting enlightened by the day and young vibrant minds are mastering leadership skills in their numbers across the country. It reached its crescendo in 2020 when the Nigerian youth caught a high energy to resist bad governance but all soon faded into the thin year. That strategy could not be effective in the face of stubborn leadership and the clog in the wheels of genuine socio-political development called ‘democratic process’.

    One begins to wonder what or who exactly can cure this quagmire. However, the message is clear that the people are ready for their deliverance. A wise observer will submit that they only await that saviour who will be at the forefront and champion a charismatic strategy. Once he emerges, the earth will quake! Now at a time when the clouds are gathered for the salvation of Nigeria, who should we expect to lead us into our victory? While we can all be leaders, the truth is, someone must be at the forefront. And somehow, he will hold the key to the salvation-movement.

    From history, saviours may be divinely sent to save people from oppression after a massive outcry to God, the creator of the world. That was the case of Moses. Nigerians are very religious and that may qualify to be in the similitude of Israel due for deliverance. Some other born leaders, not necessarily saviours, in this category include Sir Winston Churchill and Margaret Thatcher while Mahatma Gandhi and Nelson Mandela were leaders that ‘didn’t look like it’ but were made by life experiences. Made-leaders are the few people who take an unconventional approach to tough life situations they experience in their growth process and decide to give themselves wholly to the cause of saving their brethren from the pit of injustice, slavery or oppression. They are likely to be more than born-leaders. This does not mean that born-leaders fall from the sky with little or no experience. But overwhelmingly, from childhood, born-leaders are obsessed with an unflinching passion for adventure as they easily deploy natural leadership traits. So, when they combine their natural qualities with the skill set of trained leaders, they are usually exceptional.

    For Nigeria, nobody knows, yet, who or where the forerunner is. Meanwhile, as Mahatma Gandhi said, we must be the change we wish to see in this world. So, while we await the one person who is the ‘sent one’ to start the mid-fire, let us position our heart and mind to be just, fair and good even in matters of little significance. The truth is this: only men of character can lead their people to their long-awaited Canaan land.

    • Adeoye, is a legal practitioner based in Abuja.