The Nation Newspaper

Category: Commentaries

  • The nationality question

    Permit me to begin this contribution with two incontrivertable assertions. Firstly, had we successfully answered what has come to be collectively known as the ‘’Nationality Question’’ in the ‘50’s and ‘60’s there would have been no civil war in 1967. Secondly, had we not chosen to forget our differences but instead had we tried to understand them the last 53 years of our existence as an independent nation would have witnessed far more unity,stability and progress than it has done. The agitation and quest to answer the ‘’Nationality Question’’ in Nigeria will not stop until the question has been successfully answered no matter how long our leaders, politicians, professionals and intellectuals ignore it and attempt to brush it under the carpet. The quest to properly identify, situate and define the rights, duties and obligations of each and every one of our numerous nationalities in a wider Nigeria will never end until it is achieved. As a matter of fact, given the sheer desperation of each of the major ethnic groups to win control at the centre in 2015, the activities of Boko Haram, the agitation of the Niger Deltans, the ressurection of MASSOB, the unmistakeable resurrgence of a rather extreeme form of igbo nationalism, the activities of various ethnic nationalist groups and the growing religious and sectarian divide in our country it has only just started in earnest and it is a cause that I have chosen to dedicate my life to. As  long as I live I will resist the idea of any part of Yorubaland being turned into a ‘’no-man’s land’’ where the Yoruba people are meant to live as second class citizens and never-do-wells and where they are treated like filth. If that makes me a tribalist or a bigot, then so be it.

    If loving my nationality,which comprises of 50 million Yoruba people, and adoring my nation of 160 million Nigerians at the same time is a crime, then I am guilty of that crime. I do not have to love one at the expense of the other. We are not America which is a nation that is made-up of immigrants and ex-slaves and a country which literally wiped out the indigenous population that they met there when they arrived who were known as the Red Indians. We are not Americans who somehow found their way into the world barely three hundred years ago but we are Nigerians. And each and every one of the great and numerous nationalities that make up our beautiful nation has a noble heritage that goes back for thousands of years. We may not be as developed or as wealthy as they are but we know who we are and we know where we are coming from. That is why I am proud of this country and all the various nationalities that make it up regardless of our difficulties and challenges. Yet we are not so different to some others. In the United Kingdom there are basically four nationalities: The English, the Welsh, the Irish and the Scottish. Each of these four nationalities is actually a tribe yet you very rarely find a British person who will tell you that he is not proud of his Scottish, Welsh, Irish or English heritage and at the same time proud of his nation. He is first an Irishman, a Welshman, an Englishman or a Scot before being British even though he  cherishes being both. He does not have to sacrifice his Irish, Welsh, English or Scottish heritage and roots for Britain and neither does he have to sacrifice Britain for his heritage and roots. He balances it well, he has the best of both worlds and this is indeed a wonderful thing. He derives his strength from both. He enjoys being Irish, Scottish, English or Welsh and cherishes it deeply just as much as he enjoys and cherishes being British. And today, centuries after Great Britain was established as one nation under one Crown and one Royal Sovereign the British citizen still cherishes his primary nationality and tribal heritage so much that power has been gradually devolved from the centre at Westminster in London to the various tribes and ethnic nationalities in the regions over the years.

    Such is the agitation for the restoration of ethnic identity and devolution of power in the United Kingdom today that Scotland is preparing for a referendum to determine whether her people should remain in Great Britain or not. This is a beautiful thing. It is known as self-determination and no human being ought to be denied that right. Taking pride in your primary roots and your ancient heritage is not a crime.That is how it is meant to be. It is only in Nigeria that we call this perfectly natural and wholesome phenomenon ‘’tribalism’’. We give it an ugly name and we ascribe to it an even uglier connotation. Everywhere else in the world, the reality of ethnic nationalities is acknowledged, respected, valued, cherished and well-managed. As a matter of fact, such diversity is a source of strength and pride for many. For example, in the nation of Belgium one will find that there is an ancient dichotomy and deep rivalries between the Flemish people of the north and the Waloons of the south. They speak different languages and have a completely different history and cultural heritage yet these two great and ancient nationalities or tribes are proudly Belgian and they rally under one flag. This is how it ought to be everywhere. I have no hate or ill-feeling towards any other ehnic group in this country or anywhere else. God knows that that is the truth. If I did I would say so and damn the consequences. Racism and tribalism is below me and such primordial traits offend my sensibilities. To harbour such views is well below my intellectual and spiritual dignity. Those that know me well can attest to this. I am just too big, too large-hearted and too well educated for that sort of thing and most important of all my christian faith and heritage does not allow me to look down on anyone or any other race. We are all children of the Living God. I have as many non-Yoruba friends just as I have Yoruba ones. I look down on no other human being, no other race and no other nationality and I do not claim that the Yoruba are better than anyone else.

    What I insist on though is that I should be allowed to acknowledge my history and to preserve my ancient heritage, culture, values and ethos. I also insist that my people should be allowed to develop at their own pace. I am not ashamed of who I am and where I come from and had it not been for others holding us back I know where the South West and the yoruba would have been by now in terms of development. And neither would I go to England or America or Enugu or Kano and claim that I own the place or that my people built it from scratch and that they generate all the money that is there. I would never say or do such a thing and neither should I be expected to sit back quietly when someone says it about my land, my people and my territory. In this debate, I have threatened no-one, I have incited no-one, I have accused no-one and I have not sought to silence anyone with threats or blackmail. I have not expressed hatred towards anyone. Yet my family has been subjected to insults, threats, humiliation, hate-speech, misrepresentation, falsehood, intimidation, calls for arrest and lies by some people who really ought to know better. My late father of blessed memory has been insulted during the course of this debate as has my late mother, my wife, my children and my people from the South West. We have been called all sorts of names and subjected to the most filthy and disgraceful abuse and malicious lies. And now some ask me if I will ever stop this fight for the rights of my people. The answer is that I will not stop because a price has already been paid. I will never renounce my views. As a matter of fact, now more than ever before I see how important it is for us to ensure a certain degree of separate development in this country and to hold on to our heritage because we are just so different. Those that have chosen the path of aggression and open hostility and that seek to supress our voices, intimidate us into silence and drown us with their propaganda are vulger, crude and rude. That is their way. They are also experts at telling lies. Yet they cannot silence a whole nationality or just wish us away. We are here to stay. I am not looking for trouble and I abhor strife and violence. To me this is simply an intellectual exercise and we can agree to disagree and still remain compatriots and friends. However I will not give up my identity because that is all I have. I will not betray the dreams of my forefathers and their aspirations for our people. For four generations now, the Fani-Kayodes have contributed positively to the affairs of this country. Unlike some of those that are bleating and insulting us we have paid our dues. Like millions of others, we have a stake here and we are from  Yorubaland. I have a little Fulani blood in me too and I am very proud of that but I am first and foremost a Yoruba and I will live and die for the Yoruba and indeed for my nation Nigeria if need be.

    I have written about virtually every major ethnic group and nationality in this country over the last 23 years and sometimes in very harsh terms, including my own, Yet it is only when I disagree with some of our Igbo brothers and sisters and dispute their claims on Lagos that all hell break loose. Well one thing is clear. Whether they like it or not, as long as God gives me life I will voice out my opinion and articulate what millions of the Yoruba are secretly thinking on this matter but are too shy, gentle and polite to say. They may not want to talk but I will talk for them and I will voice their legitimate concerns about the future of every Yoruba child in an increasingly hostile, ugly and unsustainable Nigeria.  All the smear campaigns in the world cannot change that and neither can it stop it. If God does not smear me or mine, no man can smear us.This battle is more important to me than politics or anything else. It is a battle for the very survival of my people and my nation and with my intellect, my pen, my tongue, my knowledge and my wits, I intend to fight it till the day that I die. It is my right to voice out my views and create awareness about the imminent danger that my people are facing of being overwhelmed by others that were never really part of them. They say our territory is ‘’no-man’s land’’ yet they will never offer us theirs in return or even allow us to build there. Who is the fool here? And when we complain they have the nerve to insult us. Enough is enough. It stops today. I am not a racist or a bigot but I believe that I have a right to defend that which is mine and to preserve my identity. Though I love being both, let it be clearly understood that I am a Yorubaman before being a Nigerian and I make no apology for that.

    We ignore our differences at our own peril and this is not only naive but it is also exceptionally dangerous. They made the same mistake in Yugoslavia through the ‘70’s and 80’s until the explosion came out of the blue in the ‘90’s and all hell broke loose. No-one saw the war coming in that country except the more discerning and brilliant minds who had been shouting for decades before it came that their very own ‘’nationality question’’ had to be answered and that Colonel Broznin Tito’s dream of an eternal and everlasting old Yugoslavia was unsustainable. No one listened to those discerning voices and consequently, millions were killed in the most horrendous and vicious civil war that Europe had ever seen. From being one country where the people and numerous nationalities were compelled to ‘’forget their differences’’ by law, Yugoslavia was eventually broken up into five sovereign independant states as a consequence of fratricidal butchery and unrestrained and all-out war. I pray that we never break up and that we never witness or fight such a war in Nigeria. The answer is to understand and settle our differences and not to conveniently forget them.

  • Falling standard of education: Who is to blame?

    The problem of education emerged from the neglect which the sector suffered from the 1980s leading to the gradual erosion of the system. Inadequacy of funding, lack of teaching tools and modern classrooms, poor numerations and the acute shortage of qualified teachers, have all contributed to the fall in the standard of education in Nigeria.

    Westernised Nigerian society which is a high source or way of distribution to students instead of studying, students (pupils) spend their time watching television, playing video games, listening to music channels (Channel O) and the present calamity face book, hi5, on line media etc. which prevent them from reading that’s necessary for knowledge acquisition.

    Lack of dedication and punctuality to duty by the teachers has contributed to the fall in the standard of education. The teachers show divided loyalty to the teaching job; most teachers pay lip-service to their job, spending more time and energy in other businesses and less time in the classroom.

    Parents also share in the blame; most of them simply do not care about their children’s education. They put all their attention towards money-making, leaving the children’s guidance and motivation to the house maids and drivers, as a result, the children’s projects, home work will not be done, neither will they be reminded to study at home. Some children derail and drop out.

    Government is largely responsible for the falling standard of education; they change policies concerning education so frequently, leaving both teachers and students confused. They also do not equip classroom and laboratories appropriately to make for effective learning. Corrupt officers who misuse institutions’ money/funds go unpunished. Exam malpractice which is one of the major causes of falling standard of education has not been tackled by the government. Look at the TSS issue, frequent strikes and the present universities’ school fees increase. Haba!!!

    To gauge the seriousness of a society, especially its seriousness about attaining national development goals, we need to appraise the nation’s educational system.

    Can we harvest the critical/creative minds necessary to manage the democratic process if we do not invest in human capital development? Or compete in the globalised world of the twenty fifth century; if a nation does not face its education development seriously, then there is a lot that is wrong with such society.

    To revive the educational sector in order to help in building the individuals to be able to assist the process of developing the society, government should make sure our schools are equipped with functional libraries and laboratories, with classrooms having modern instructional technologies; computers connected to the internet, projectors audio-visual and video conferencing equipment etc.

    Teachers cannot perform miracles without the necessary teaching aids (tools). Primary and secondary schools, which are the foundation of education should be properly built, funded and adequately staffed. It is also the duty of the healthy learning environment which also aids the teaching and learning interaction. That is why the united nations benchmark is that countries must put 26% of their budgets into education.

    If the government provides or educates its citizens through functional education then the people will take their right places in the social, political, economic and even religious life endeavours so we can reach great heights and be among the first twenty countries by 2020.

    By Adamu Muhd Usman.

    Kafin Hausa Jigawa State

  • Nigerians not made for the law

    SIR: The Afenifere Renewal Group (ARG) is not shocked that Senate President, David Mark, was quoted to have said Sovereign National Conference is not workable under the 1999 Constitution. He went as far as saying that Nigerians “have ratified the [1999] Constitution by our conduct.” In other words, Mark is telling us that referendum is not needed to ratify constitutional amendments; our silence and judicial actions is enough sign of acceptance.

    We found this statement as an assault to peace-loving Nigerians, which have always bent over backwards to accommodate deepening levels of bad leadership in the country. We equally found Mark’s statement as an indirect confrontation on Nigerians to show their denunciation of 1999 Constitution through their conduct.

    In a nation that is still grappling with the scourge of extremists and insurgents, this statement is no less a malfeasance. That Nigerians have been peacefully advocating SNC should not be misinterpreted as a ratification of the 1999 Constitution and Mark should not deem this as an acceptance of the institution he heads.

    Mark has condemned 170 million Nigerians, even the generations yet unborn, to the provisions of 1999 Constitution, thereby concluding that Nigerians are made for the law. This is an indication of Mark’s degrading opinion of Nigerians who deserve better from him as the custodian of the nation’s democratic institution. Whereas the law is made for man in countries that Nigerian leaders like Mark aspire to overtake in their touted pursuit of Vision 20:2020.

    Mark asked “where will the Sovereign National Conference be deriving its sovereignty from, and under what framework? How will the conference be convoked and by whom and under what terms?”

    He should not forget that colonialists took away the sovereignty of ethnic nations, an illegality that was doused at Independence, repeated in 1966, and has been perpetrated ever since, culminating in the 1999 Constitution.

    Sovereignty belongs to the ethnic nations that constitute Nigeria and it is in politicians’ interest that a Sovereign National Conference be convoked to chart a new constitution that will properly transfer this sovereignty to democratic structures. Only then can there be lasting peace, progress, development, and freedom for all in Nigeria.

    Why is the National Assembly afraid of referendum if not because it is afraid that many of its activities are perceived as illegal in the minds of Nigerians? Referendums have been held even in countries like Norway where it is not constitutionally recognised. Therefore, NASS has no excuse for not subjecting its constitution amendment process to referendum.

    A Nigerian, Obiageli Ezekwesili, had at a time challenged the federal government to a public debate on its reckless spending. Lately, she had challenged National Assembly also to a public debate. While we salute Ezekwesili’s patriotism, we are saying the country needs more than a public debate; we need a national dialogue.

    To continue to put it off is to reinforce the growing perception that there is a ruling elite controlling Nigerian economy to the deprivation of the masses. Such perception never ends in comics and it pays to do things right when we are all still smiling. Nigeria is negotiable.

    • Kunle Famoriyo

    ARG, Lagos

  • Use infrastructure levy for Aba roads

    SIR: Payment of Infrastructural levy in Abia state dates back from 1999 when the then civilian governor, Dr Orji Uzor Kalu, seeing the level of infrastructural decay in the state, especially in Aba introduced the phenomenon in order to ameliorate the people’s suffering as a result of the impassable nature of their roads. And since the bill was passed into law by the state house of Assembly, it has come to stay.

    The motive behind this concept was to create a synergy between the government and the people with a view to, among other things, tackling headlong and with quick dispensation the problem of infrastructural decay in the state. Although some individuals kicked against it, Aba residents were thrown into jubilation as the development would enable the government repair most of their major roads in the city that had deteriorated to a sorry state.

    In line with their expectation some of the roads like: Ohanku, Obohia, Osusu, Omuma, Eziukwu, Ibadan, Okpu Umobo and others were given a face lift. Bypasses were also constructed including Emelogu ring road. But because palliative measures were applied on them they lasted only for a short time before degenerating into their present pitiable state.

    In spite of this development, Aba residents did not cease from paying the levy. But to their chagrin, up to this moment nothing meaningful has been done on these roads, and they are still deteriorating. The question now is: Is the fund realized from this concept misused or misdirected?

    Government should as a matter of urgency, revisit these roads to avoid a total collapse of business activities in this commercial city that has been the major source of revenue to the state. It is foolhardy to kill the goose that lays the golden eggs.

    • Nkemakolam Gabriel

    Port Harcourt

  • NMA and health workers strike

    SIR: I read with disgust the Nigeria Medical Association (NMA)’s attempt to praise doctors for working to frustrate the strike action of other health professionals. I am disappointed because the NMA ought to have used its energy to prevent the strike. To make matters worse, NMA is claiming it has the right to call out its members for strike in future when the need arises. Weird logic.

    The NMA is acting like a man who goes rat hunting when his house is on fire. Right now the Federal Government is trying to stop paying salaries to House Officers under the guise computerized salary payment. Teaching hospitals are now being asked to pay interns and house officers from their internal revenue. The result of this is that many will not be able to employ as many as they do today. This will compound the backlog of frustrated medical graduates.

    What the leadership of the NMA do not realize is that the current Minister of Finance has a long held desire, since here first tenure, to stop paying interns. Computerized payroll has provided a good excuse.

    Could it be that the present leadership of the NMA belong to the group of medical elders that like the idea of not paying interns and using them as cheap labour?

    • Nehemiah Sokponba

    Medical Store Road

    Benin

  • Awo, APC and 2015

    Awo, APC and 2015

    Thirty years ago, on 15 December 1983, at the Sixth Annual Congress of the defunct Unity Party of Nigeria (UPN) held at the Ogun State Hotel, Abeokuta, Chief Obafemi Awolowo, in his characteristic manner, in his speech on that occasion, looked into the future. It was the first annual congress of the party after the highly flawed August 1983 General Elections, which returned the Presidential Candidate of the then National Party of Nigeria (NPN) Alhaji Shehu Shagari, for a second term in office as President. Chief Awolowo was the Presidential Candidate of the UPN in the election.

    In the memorable speech, Chief Awolowo floated the hypothesis of the Synthesis of the Thesis and the Antithesis. He spoke of the “binary compounds of thesis and antithesis which may be evolutionary or revolutionary in which, whether we like it or not, all human beings are inescapably involved… When the war is over, only the best of us will be accommodated in the synthesis with the best in the antithesis in complete dominance”.

    There were six registered political parties that took part in the 1983 General Elections. The NPN and UPN were the two leading political parties. The simple analogy deducible from the Awo postulation or rather, prophetic pronouncement, was an advocacy of a two-party configuration for Nigeria.

    Two weeks after the explosive thought provoking address, on 31 December 1983, the military struck again and terminated the democratic process. General Muhammadu Buhari took over with his lieutenant, Brigadier Tunde Idiagbon. Notably, for the 20 months they were in the saddle (before they were booted out on 27 August 1985) the Buhari/Idiagbon regime said no word about the return of the country to democratic rule. It was however a different ball game with the succeeding Ibrahim Babangida regime that promptly announced a Transition to Civil Rule programme.

    On 13 January 1986, about five months after it came into power, and three years after Awo’s Abeokuta Declaration, military President Babangida inaugurated a 17-man Political Bureau headed by Dr. J.S.Cookey with the mandate to conduct a nationwide debate towards fashioning out a viable and enduring ‘‘people oriented political system devoid of perennial disruptions’’ for the country. Its term of reference among others also include a ‘‘review of Nigeria’s political history, identifying the basic problems which led to our failure in the past and suggest ways of resolving and coping with the problems’’.

    At the end of its assignment, following an exhaustive debate across the country and a critical, in-depth appraisal of our past political experiences, the bureau recommended a Two-Party System for the country. The recommendation was accepted by government but it rejected the suggestion by the bureau on the imposition of two distinct ideologies – Western Liberal Capitalism and Socialism – for the two political parties. Government was of the view that ideologies should not be imposed but should emerge from the consensus and activities of the political parties.

    Empowered by the relevant decrees, the National Electoral Commission with Professor Humphrey Nwosu as Chairman, on 4 May 1989, barely 24hours after the ban on political activities was lifted, released guidelines for the registration of political parties. Thirteen political associations collected, completed and returned the relevant application forms for consideration for registration. Nwosu, on September 25, 1989, presented the report and recommendations of his commission on the verification and assessment of the political associations to the government. The best six associations were recommended for consideration.

    In the estimation of the Armed Forces Ruling Council (AFRC) none of the six scaled the hurdle for registration as a political party. The bombshell of a verdict was contained in an address by Babangida on Saturday, October 7, 1989 creating two political parties; National Republican Convention (NRC) and the Social Democratic Party (SDP). The two parties, with professed ideological leanings; A Little to the Right, A Little to the Left, were automatically registered by the electoral body.

    Babangida left no one in doubt of his conviction that a Two-Party System is the panacea to the myriad of problems that had bedeviled Nigeria’s political landscape. In the determined effort to make the system permanent and enduring, he got government to build party offices for the two political parties in Abuja, all the state capitals and the headquarters of all the 454 local governments existing at the time.

    So much has been said over the years about the June 12, 1993 Presidential Election as the freest, fairest and the best in the history of the country but not many had acknowledged the fact that the historic development was largely made possible by the Two-Party arrangement. It left us with only two options. Consequently, there was little or no acrimony. Religious, tribal, ethnic and other primordial considerations were subsumed as the membership of the two political parties cut across all divisive barriers.

    Twenty years after, here we are again. With the registration by INEC – on July 31 of the All Progressives Congress (APC) a merger of the former Action Congress of Nigeria (ACN), Congress for Progressive Change (CPC) and All Nigeria People’s Party (ANPP) and a faction of All Progressives Grand Alliance (ANPP), Nigeria is set on the path to the emergence of two strong political parties with some other mushroom parties on the fringes, that would, with time, die naturally.

    Looking back, it is discernible from our past experience that we have always exhibited a tilt towards a two-party arrangement. After the 1959 General Election, the NPC (North dominated) had to go into a coalition with the NCNC (East dominated) to form the government at the centre leaving the AG (West dominated) in the opposition. A similar scenario played out towards the 1964 General Election with the emergence of the Nigeria National Alliance (NNA) and the United Progressives Grand Alliance (UPGA) from the various political parties of the time.

    A situation similar to that of 1959 surfaced again after the 1979 General Election with a coalition arrangement between the NPN (North rooted) and the NPP (East rooted) leaving the UPN (West rooted) as the main opposition party. In the course of the Second Republic, the NPN/NPP fraternity collapsed. Subsequently, the three governors elected on the platform of NPP, joined their nine other colleagues of the UPN (5), GNPP (2), PRP (2) that had been meeting periodically (12 Progressive Governors) for matters of mutual interest thus constituting a formidable opposition to the ruling NPN.

    We can also not forget in a hurry, the alliance between the AD and APP for the 1999 Presidential Election which pitched Chief Olu Falae, as the joint presidential candidate of the two parties, against Chief Olusegun Obasanjo of the PDP. The notable and significant difference between the past coalitions and the birth of APC is that, APC is an outright merger with all the parties involved dissolving into one block. – a welcome development that would impact positively on the nation’s polity, as a whole.

    As Chief Awolowo stated in his Thesis, the arrangement cannot be perfect at a go “The dialectic process represents principles of change and of progress: of progress from lower to higher, from part to whole, from the indeterminate to the determinate…The goal of the dialect procession is perfection; it aims at the perfection of all the virtues embodied in it. There are stages, epochs and eras in the dialectic process…”

    We should not expect perfection from the APC from the outset. Perfection would come with time. One prays that the party and its leaders would be able to go through the crucible successfully as the journey towards 2015 continues. This nation, at this point in time, is in dire need of a truly new breath of fresh air, a strong opposition party, an alternative to halt the slide towards a one-party-state, to save our ears from the sickening crackles of the groove repeating gramophone record that ‘we will rule for donkey years…

    • Akinyemi, journalist and public affairs analyst sent the piece via akinyemi ayo@yahoo.com

  • Daniel’s desire

    A friend of mine who is now middle-aged and portly would look back at his teenage years and shake his head in wonderment. With an indulgent smile tingling his extraordinarily handsome face, he would tell you he has no reason to be alive today and in fact, he really ought to have died many times over. “They were wild, wild days when I believe evil blood was coursing through my veins; what I did not do was what I did not conceive; 13 to 19 those were really the days of my life.” Tony, his name is, would regale you about his escapades – his first brush with sneaking away with daddy’s car and driving it through a fence; his first and momentary escape from home and from his ‘jew’ parents; first escape from the boarding house, his first beers and subsequent addiction to alcohol, his first cigarettes and other ‘smoking’ stuff, his first hump as he is proud to describe it (but let’s call it conjugal experience) with the big house help, then an aunty, then… oh never mind.

    But my friend Tony in all of his braggadocio about being a tough teenage prankster, he has been shamed by 13-year-old Daniel Ohikhena. The brave heart from Benin has been in the news in the past week for achieving a feat no other lad has accomplished successfully. Dan hitch-hiked – not like those silly runaway teenagers who stand by the roadside and flag down motorists – but he hitch-hiked a plane purportedly to America but found himself in Lagos. He stowed away safely in the tyre compartment of an aircraft and rode the skies, the storms; he cruised at about 30,000 feet about sea level and endured the turbo-charged rambunctious touchdown and taxing of a jet… whoosh! Hardball wagers that he would have strolled over to the international terminal and continued on his journey to the U.S. if he had not been caught out at the Lagos domestic airport after a most successful first leg of his expedition.

    Dan is the typical ‘crazy’ teen except that he possesses extraordinary derring-do, spunk and an overflow of Dutch courage. He always told his siblings he would surprise them some day and bring his family’s name to limelight. Daniel has done just that by this singular 45 minutes adventure. Some people have been splitting hairs about security lapse at the Benin Airport and the negligence of the pilot and crew. All of these may well be and Dan would be a wake-up call to airport personnel across the country.

    But teens will be teens and they will get up to their pranks even to extremities such as this. The lesson is to pay more attention to our teens – at family levels, at community levels, schools, local councils, churches, corporate bodies, on and on. How many playing fields do we have in neighbourhoods these days? What about youth centres, civic centres and sports clubs? All of these have vanished from most of our communities today. Who is engaging our teens creatively these days on volunteer basis especially during long vacations? Local councils used to organise activities but even they are comatose now, needing help. Quizzes, debates, talks, essay and art competitions, etc would keep minds like Dan’s from wandering off to crazy schemes.

    We have heard some people making loud offers of scholarship to Daniel as if he has just won an important competition; Hardball thinks the offer is misguided and apt to lure other impressionable teens into undertaking suicidal stunts. What he needs is a thorough psychological examination and sustained counseling. We could take it a step further by setting up a sort of foundation around him for counseling youths and helping them manage their ambitions; role models would come and give talk for instance and let teens know that you don’t ever have to travel abroad to succeed in live – something like a comfortable TALK CENTRE for kids.

  • Okagbare: Flying without wings

    Would Hardball be overly negativist to assert that Nigeria is in the age of degeneracy? On all fronts, we seem to suffer debilitating atrophy; in my humble estimation, we seem to shrink in size, wane in strength and fall in the esteem of the rest of the world. Consider for instance, a band of ruffians by the tag of militants or terrorists challenging our military might (air, land, sea and even spooks) and holding the giant of Africa to ransom for years. How about the so-called ‘oil thieves’ making a mess of the federal might and stealing enough crude oil to serve the whole of Africa? They have rendered the government in power impotent and effete. How much more detestable can a country get if a 13-year-old lad would loath it to the extent of creeping into the tyre compartment of a domestic flight (Benin to Lagos) purporting it to be headed for the United States of America? We can go on and on but to what end?

    The point here is not about the unending woes besetting our dear country, no, it is about our track and field queen, Blessing (let’s call her Okapi) Okagbare who recently wiped the shame off our face at the recently concluded World Athletics Championship in Moscow, Russia. She was the only bright light of the Nigerian contingent having won a silver medal in long jump and a bronze in the 200 metres race. Okagbare, the quintessential athlete, lithe, endowed with the doughty beauty of a super sportswoman was virtually flying without wings. She excelled in spite of all odds and oddity that Nigeria has become; by sheer divine unction she has refused to wither under the crucible of the Nigerian situation, the way the talents of thousands of her other compatriots have come to naught.

    Track and field, table-tennis, the lifting games, boxing and of course football are Nigeria’s areas of particular strength. In the 80s and early 90s, Nigeria did not only sit atop Africa but dominated the world. Remember Modupe Oshikoya, Charlton Ehizuelen, Oliver Orok, Chidi Imo, Dele Udoh, Atanda Musa, Yusuf Ali, the Ezinwa brothers, Francis Obikwelu, Chioma Ajunwa, Mary Onyeali, Falilat Ogunkoya-Osheku, just to list a handful. Nigeria’s dominance especially in sprint became a global phenomenon when American scouts took numerous young Nigerian talents to study on scholarship in U.S. colleges. They were exposed to the best of facilities, training and tournaments such that in just a few years they became world beaters because they possess the streak of Nigerians’ natural strength and athleticism. The great athletes of U.S., Jamaica and Cuba are of our ancestry, the will to succeed makes all the difference.

    Today, sports, as all other spheres of national life, suffer neglect, a lack of vision and initiative. Round pegs are ensconced comfortably into square holes and everything has come to a near standstill. Today we jubilate over Okagbare’s silver medal; but at the last Olympic Games in London Nigeria returned virtually empty-handed and shame-faced. We vowed to return to the drawing board but nothing was done beyond the vow. Who is seeking out our talents and making sure they are trained to be world champions? To think that every school in the land has a potential world beater in one sport or the other; we just need to pick the best from school sports and harness them.

    Today, Okagbare is being hosted and toasted over a modest effort and there it ends. But there is a need to elevate her to a federal project, a Nigerian brand and an anchor for the repositioning of athletics in Nigeria? Having lost gold medal by just a tiny notch there is need for a ministerial or even presidential push to help her achieve her potential and beat the world in her fields. We must avail her wings to fly and have her beat the path for others.

  • Suntai and Taraba youths

    SIR: Who and where are these so called “Taraba Youths” reported as protesting and demanding, that Governor Danbaba Suntai of Taraba State address the people publicly if he is applying to the Taraba House of Assembly to resume duty?

    The so-called youths should cast their minds back, compare and contrast the difference between the coming home of late president Yar’adua and Governor Suntai. You would agree with me that the coming of the governor was transparent. He arrived alive in view of all Nigerians and waved to all his well-wishers.

    Apart from that, the acting governor of the state and the Governor of Adamawa State were given free access to visit and discuss with him, unlike Yar’adua whom even his Vice-President, Senate President and those at helm of his affairs were not aware of his coming, or allowed to visit him. In order words Yar’adua was brought home under suspicious circumstances and other Nigerians and religious bodies were silent just to allow peace prevail in the country.

    Though I am not from Taraba, my sincere advice to the so-called youths is to stop bringing religious sentiments into Taraba State politics so that the sleeping dog will lie. they should also not take the tiger by the tail.

    • Oboyi Simon

    Abbattoir Road, Jos.

  • Ngige’s emergence, step in right direction

    SIR: As the euphoria that greeted the registration of the All Progressives Congress (APC) wanes, it’s time the party got down to business; and there’s indeed great work to be done. While well-meaning Nigerians look up to the party and indeed wish her success, cynics and particularly reactionaries can only pray and hope that she meets with disaster. The first major test for the APC will come in the forthcoming governorship election in Anambra State.

    Anambra is one state that has way too many political heavyweights (including those in politics for service and others mostly for personal aggrandisement) perhaps for its own good. This explains the rancour that often accompanies elections in the state and their very keenly contested nature. The November 16 gubernatorial election will not be any different. Already politicians are jostling for the various parties’ tickets.

    There were quite a number of formidable candidates in the Anambra APC, but of the lot, two stood out. They included Senators Chris Ngige and Annie Okonkwo. These tested and eminently qualified senators have all it takes to go all the way and win the election. But the question was: who will bear the party’s flag? Will the two mighty Irokos from the same senatorial zone battle it out in a primary? This was one question that agitated me and perhaps the party’s leadership.

    One of the hallmarks of a great soul is the ability and even readiness to place common good above personal good, the willingness to sacrifice for the progress of one’s society, organisation etc. Senator Okonkwo demonstrated these noble traits and more when he not only let Ngige have the APC’s gubernatorial ticket without a fight but also vowed to put in all effort towards ensuring victory for the party come November 16. This is a clear demonstration of political maturity and points to a man fit and indeed destined for high office in the near future. It would be nice if the other equally credible APC candidates demonstrate the same maturity and queue behind Senator Ngige.

    The emergence of the immensely popular Ngige is indeed a step in the right direction. His track record as a grass root politician who has the interest of the masses at heart speaks for him. His candidacy places the APC in pole position in the Anambra gubernatorial race. The other parties will no doubt throw up formidable candidates, but who among them can beat Ngige in a free and fair contest? I sincerely don’t see any.

    • Nnoli Chidiebere Aba, Abia State.