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  • Your challenge is a resource

    My pen feels heavy writing this piece. As a student of the University of Life, I’m presently writing an examination. Challenge 111 is a compulsory course not an elective and every student of life is often tested. Those who pass are promoted and others have to repeat. A challenge is simply a difficult task that tests your ability and skill. I make bold to say that challenges are normal to living. Does that sound negative? Well, that’s a fact of life and the earlier you embrace it, the better for you. I’m confident I will get through my exam because I see my challenge as a Volcano! I remember my basic Geography class.

    Volcanoes both terrify and inspire. The terrifying eruptions are the result of magma from beneath the Earth being pushed up to the surface where it erupts as lava, ash and rock. Magma is a hot liquid that has natural buoyancy which causes it to migrate upwards. Do you know that magma is also a resource? Some countries like Iceland now drill hot rocks to magma to tap geothermal energy. Therefore, I posit using this analogy, that magma is such as the untapped inner resources in every human being. When exposed to intense pressure, it can erupt, and launch you into higher realm of creativity. Also, as volcanoes are just a natural way that the Earth releases internal heat and pressure, so also challenges are potent ways, Professor Life, uses to teach us how to release our untapped inner resources and thereby grow.

    In essence, see your challenge, be it financial, health, emotional ..as a resource with an intrinsic value that can enrich you. It takes a grateful heart to see this, little wonder grateful people are resourceful but the ungrateful choose to remain beggars.  Overtime, I have observed that sometimes the challenge we face is nothing but an imagination or self imposed limitations. It’s not unusual to feel inadequate especially when given a new task. Have you observed that remarkable works come forth when you do what you need to do despite all odds?  I had an experience in my secondary school days. My Art teacher, a disciplinarian, whom my class nicknamed ‘Dankoboko’ came to class and announced that an Art competition for all schools in Lagos state will hold at the prestigious University of Lagos. He emphasised that it was compulsory for everyone in my class to submit at least an art work for participation in the competition. I felt that was totally unfair, because some students were obviously very good in Art and I never considered myself as one. At home, I pleaded with my elder brother to help me out and save me from the impending ‘koboko’ (horse-whip) from Dankoboko, but he bluntly refused. I was all at sea. With torrents of tears pouring from my eyes, I took my pencil and started to draw, out of desperation to meet the deadline which was the following day. I drew what I saw in my mind- “A Cultural Festival”. Guess what? I won the first prize in pencil drawing! I got many beautiful gifts and even a handshake from the renowned Nigerian artist, Dr. Dele Jegede. Thanks to Dankoboko!

    Today, many are unaware of the great opportunities that come with challenges. Do you know that the loss of a loved one can be an opportunity for you to be closer to God and focus on your purpose? When you are in deep financial crisis, it could be an opportunity for you to discover your gifts/talents and trade with them. An embarrassing moment can be an opening for you to learn humility and failure can be an opportunity to strategize better. Someone said failure is not the opposite of success rather it’s part of success. It cannot be overemphasised that the lessons our challenges teach us are more profound and enduring.

    Life is not fair! Need I say that life never presents to you what you feel you ought to have rather it gives what you demand of it. To make a demand, you need to learn the skills of negotiation and the power of excellent bargaining. It is really pathetic that many in life do not know what truly belongs to them. Life shines on the dealers not the feelers! Often dealers count the cost of being comfortable and stagnant as more gruesome than facing a tough situation, yet making progress, but feelers never count the cost, rather they prefer to remain on the same spot as long as no opposition arises. Know this, ease is a greater threat to your success than challenges. Much more, dealers maximize the opportunities inherent in challenges to reap their expected gains.

    Opportunities don’t always present themselves in pleasant packages. Sometimes, opportunity might come as a big assignment that requires a lot of extra time without pay. Do you know that opportunities can come in the form of a career setback or demotion? Early in her career, the famous Oprah Winfrey, was considered too emotional for hard news stories and the management of the TV station took her off the six o’clock news and relegated her to a morning talk show to tactfully get rid of her. Unlike most people will choose to react to such setback, Oprah was elated after the first morning show was over. In her words ‘‘Thank God, I’ve found what I was meant to do, it’s like breathing to me.’’ The new opportunity that looked like a demotion helped her unlock her potential.  Overtime, the morning show evolved into ‘The Oprah Winfrey Show’. Great opportunities are wrapped in great challenges. Be wise to stay off temptations masquerading themselves as opportunities. Do you want a big opportunity? Resolve to crack big challenges. I encourage you today not to breakdown before the brick wall, rather take a break, and with every strength in you, launch out and breakthrough! Remember a right attitude wins always.

    Please send your comments to segilola2012@gmail.com.

    Listen in to Mindscope with Segilola every Monday on Eko89.7Fm at 1:10pm.

  • Demystifying our monarchs: Who’s to blame?

    Whether anyone likes it or believes it or not, the King or Queen anywhere is a deity; God’s representative on earth, to be adored and respected.

    In the United Kingdom where from we got our independence as a sovereign nation, the incumbent Queen Elizabeth II, is so revered. The hallmark of that reverence is such that much as freedom of the Press is upheld in that country, such is not permitted to the level that it becomes a licence to insult or ridicule the symbol of that society.

    You can heckle the Prime Minister or even haul eggs at him or her. That is where your freedom to do and undo ends; when you try that with the Queen, the whole nation there will rise in unison to condemn the action.  It is taboo to so behave; and you can be sure the nation’s security apparatus will bare its fangs at you.

    I’m told that at the foot of the famous Tower Bridge which splits into two occasionally to let ships pass through in South East of London, is the monstrous building where the prized crown is kept. The Chancellor of the Exchequer is in the best position to tell how much revenue accrues to the UK every year from tourists’ visits to the Monument.

    In our society here, the same respect used to be accorded the “second in command to the Almighty”, the king or the Emir or the Obi or the Amanayabo, before our values and cultures began the drift towards irrelevance, if not oblivion.

    The involvement of traditional rulers in politics was the starting point where the dignity of monarchs across the land began to ebb; and some of them descended in behaviour unbecoming of their status that their self-respect also began to be called to question.

    That said, why do we, especially in the South Western part of the country take delight in always ridiculing our own ‘deities’ at the least opportunity? If we fail to appreciate what we have from creation, how do we expect others from different backgrounds to accord them with dignity and respect?

    In spite of modernisation, Northerners still reverence their Emirs and you hardly know what goes on behind the curtains in their palaces; but not here. Over there, up North, any infringement of this unwritten law, can earn the culprit a fatwa being issued on him!

    This issue must engage Yoruba leaders and elders’ attention more than some of the other less fundamental things they involve themselves in. For example, it is fast becoming a fad for people to poke fun at our monarchs anytime they perceive their conduct to be unbecoming of their high status. I suggest these elders and leaders engage our traditional rulers in private, on the minimum standards of behaviour expected of them, below which they must not fall.

    While that is going on, all traditional and cultural organisations in our land should also not hesitate to protest within the ambits of the law, anytime some people in and out of the media feed on certain private activities of monarchs, with a view to ridiculing them and the traditional values we hold dear.

    I have the current trending news about the Ooni of Ife and his Olori Wuraola in mind. If two lovers think of reviewing their amorous relationship behind the palace walls, why should it be reduced to the insulting absurdity that we are currently seeing in the devil-may-care social media.

    But noblesse oblige! Those who seek equity must come with clean hands. If an adult in white flowing robes choose to fondle a little chick on his laps, should he then complain if the chick defecates on his white garment?

  • Who’s the greater danger to society, the politician or the lawyer?

    The question provokes controversy; but why not?

    Given past and current happenings in our country, these classes of citizens hold the levers of a nation’s survival and they can use it, for ill or for good, for the remainder of citizens including those in whatever other professions.

    I’m privileged to be in politics, more as a partisan and less as a professional in politics. That is quite deliberate because in whatever profession or vocation I’m involved in, I apply myself totally to it almost to the exclusion of any other thing; such that I can talk authoritatively when the issue of that profession or vocation is being discussed.

    I have seen enough in politics for some 40 years to admit that there are some terribly bad ones among us for which integrity is an anathema. They lie without caution, malign without measure and enjoy putting out other people’s candles as if that will make theirs burn brighter.

    Such people learn little from the leaders who prop them up, forgetting that, as posited by Jim Rohn, their life does not get better by chance, but by change.

    Showbiz personality, Oprah Winfrey expatiated on that by saying that the greatest discovery of all time is that a person can positively change his future by merely changing his attitude.

    This category of politicians are beyond redemption and they have indulged in such callous and un-Godly attitudes to others for too long that to expect them to behave naturally and normally to others, is simply alien to their being.

    And, you also have another category of politicians who believe in propriety, and orderly behaviours, that many observers believe they are in the wrong profession or vocation. They may be agitated occasionally by the tantrums of their colleagues who make all politicians to be lumped together as evils that must be exorcised from society.

    But bad as some politicians are, they constitute lesser danger to society than some of those in the legal profession. You do not need to look far, for examples. Only recently, a man said to be a lawyer approached a court seeking legal protection for Citizen Evans who was said to have confessed to have masterminded high-profile kidnapping and murder of innocent citizens across the land.

    We are yet to hear from the appropriate organs of the law if they approve of such untoward conduct and, if not, what sanctions are being contemplated.

    The rot is not confined to the Bar as recently revealed that the Bench is not also immune from it. Midnight meandering in the legal jungle culminating in Jankara judgements were commonplace up till sometime in the most recent past. The point must therefore be made that it is of paramount importance that the judiciary and all other law officers should not only be integrous but must also enjoy the absolute confidence of the people.

    Mercifully though, the Temple of Justice has not yet been violated with such foul manners as some of the lawless lawmakers across the land had turned the hallowed chambers of the states’ Houses of Assembly and the Upper Chamber into boxing and wrestling arenas. May that day never come when judges and Justices will have to take cover from fiery fists and deadly upper cuts from litigants and their lawyers alike!

    Whereas an aberrant political class can be whipped back to line by a Judiciary that is upright and impartial, once the Judiciary is compromised, the last hope of the citizenry is dashed and society inexorably becomes endangered.

    Some of the worst constitutional and political crises in our country’s history were either created or aggravated by some discreditable members of the Bar and Bench, from the First Republic to the present time. As someone succinctly put it then: “they betrayed the sacred trust of the people, sold their conscience for a mess of pottage and plunged the nation into darkness”

    Amenhotep IV, Pharaoh of Egypt once said that “the peace of society dependeth on justice”. By necessary implication, there can be no lasting peace where there is no justice.

    Put another way, an irresponsible political class we may yet endure, but a rapacious Bar and a heavily compromised judiciary the nation can ill-afford.

  • Asaba: Memories of war

    “The stupid neither forgive nor forget.  The naïve forgive and forget.  The wise never forget but forgive.” —Thomas Szasz

    As the Asaba community both at home and in the Diaspora, prepare for this year’s memorial ceremonies in honour of the victims of the October 7, 1967 massacre in the town, it is perhaps an opportunity for a sober reflection on the unfortunate civil war, focusing particularly on Biafra’s controversial thrust into Midwestern Nigeria on that August 9, 1967 – a thrust which saw Asaba, Benin and a host of other towns fall in quick succession, but eventually tragically got lost due to a strange quirk of fate.

    In retrospect, one cannot but agree with Gen. Alexander Madiebo that “despite the unfortunate development in the course of the campaign, Biafra did the best thing at the time to have undertaken the campaign”.  Rationalizing the operation, Madiebo explained among other things that “we did it not to conquer Nigeria but to force her to bring the war to an end and start negotiations.  It also relieved pressure on our own troops in the northern sectors of the war, particularly Nsukka from where the enemy withdrew the bulk of the troops with which they initially fought back.”

    What many people did not know at the time is that it was the then Israeli Ambassador to Nigeria, according to Ojukwu, that sold the idea of the operation to him, having noticed a chink in the federal armour on the western flank of the River Niger.  In fact, six years later in 1973, Israel achieved a decisive victory in her fourth war with Egypt, adopting the same strategy.  Recall that in the Yom Kippur war, which the Arabs surprisingly launched against the Jewish state on October 6, 1973 while the latter was relaxing and celebrating the Holiest Day in the Jewish calendar, Egypt and Syria launched an elaborate attack featuring 5,000 armoured tanks on the Egyptian side and about half as many on the Syrian side.  Within three days of fighting Israel’s first line of defence had crumbled.  Besides the stunning collapse of her Bar-Lev-line in the Sinai Desert reputed to be the strongest fortress in the world, a sizeable percentage of her legendary air force had also been destroyed by Soviet-made ground-air missiles, while the enemy continued to blaze away in high morale.

    The Israeli Prime Minister, Mrs. Golda Meir, a woman known rather to be a stoic, wept openly seeing the heaviest casualty figures ever in Israeli history.  But the war suddenly took a dramatic twist as from October 9, when the Israelis took over the initiative and launched a counter –offensive, after noticing a chink in the Egyptian armour across the western bank of the Suez Canal.  Crossing the canal under cover of night using Pontoons, an Israeli general fresh from retirement deftly ferried troops and heavy armour across the water, established a bridgehead and swiftly advanced towards a nearby expressway to Cairo, the Egyptian capital, thus cutting off a huge chunk of the Egyptian army in the forward lines.

    Simultaneously, the same scenario was being replicated on the Syrian sector, where a column of Israeli troops was advancing along Damascus highway.  By the time the Israelis got to a shelling range of both cities, sensing clear disaster, President Anwar Sadat of Egypt called Moscow which reached out to Washington, and Henry Kissinger, America’s secretary of State, collaborating with the UN, effected a ceasefire on October 24, leading to the ultimate Camp David Peace Treaty signed by Israel and Egypt in March, 1979.

    Similarly, in the Nigeria scenario, in 1967, if the tempo and progress of Biafra’s robust trans-Niger campaign had not been compromised and stalled and Lagos and Ibadan were captured or seriously threatened, Gowon possibly would have had no choice but reach out to Ojukwu for a ceasefire. In the inevitable negotiations, the enforcement of the Aburi Accord being Ojukwu’s sole agenda obviously would have had a smooth ride and nobody would have faced all this restructuring wahala today, because as Ojukwu had to explain later in BECAUSE I AM INVOLVED, “the concept, Biafra, was a deliberate line drawn for a persecuted people to have a beacon of hope, a line drawn so that a fleeing people can hope that at least once they reach there they would have love and succour…  The philosophy was that of self-defence… an attempt to found an alternative base to continue the combat against neocolonialism.”

    Looking back now, what surprises some of us now in our 70s is not so much the bungling of the noble trans-Niger operation as the discriminatory attitude of the federal troops towards the Midwestern communities.  Apart from the gruesome decapitation of Col. Henry Igboba, whom they reportedly found in the Benin prison, no other atrocity was committed in the Edo area, unlike in Ika Ibo area, especially at Asaba where hundreds of able-bodied unarmed men were lined up and shot dead.

    Did Asaba deserve this savagery considering its contributions towards the evolution and development of Nigeria?  Asaba is the hometown of frontline nationalist Dennis Osadebay, the first premier of Midwestern State and a former opposition leader in the Western House of Assembly.  Osadebay once acted as Nigeria’s Governor-General.  Asaba is the birth place of Chief S. I. O. Odogwu, the renowned industrialist and large-scale employer of labour.  The historic Asaba Institute as far back as 1895 had raised people like Obed Azikiwe, the father of Dr Nnamdi Azikiwe who was among the architects of our independence.  At a point in our history, Asaba was the hub of Nigeria’s telecommunication system.  Had the inimitable economic instincts of Sir George Goldie prevailed, given its unique location, Asaba would have been the capital of the country.  And today, besides the generation of Odogwu et al, Asaba has produced a host of young entrepreneurs who believing that “economics drives politics” have developed venture capitalist conglomerates with tentacles in vast areas: engineering, finance, oil services, mining, healthcare etc.

    A good example is Alban Ofili-Okonkwo, a former governorship candidate and an advocate of robust private sector in Nigeria.  Incidentally, Ofili-Okonkwo is the arrowhead of this year’s remembrance ceremonies in Asaba, with the theme “Remembrance and Forgiveness”, and featuring a colloquium with a profound theme: In Pursuit of Rebirth – all geared towards Asaba’s resurgence.  The highlight of the event will be the presentation of the latest book on the Civil War.  Entitled “The Asaba Massacre – Trauma, Memories and the Nigerian Civil War,” the book was written by two distinguished scholars, Professor S. Elizabeth Bird (Anthropologist) and Professor Fraser M. Ottanelli (Historian) both of the University of South Florida.

    Let me conclude this piece with a parody of a Balewa/Johnson/Moynbee exhortation: “War avenges the dead on the living; the vanquished on the victors. The nemesis of war is intrinsic. Nigeria is large enough to accommodate us all, in spite of our differences. Let us therefore strive to achieve a federation in which the people  of the north and south work together for the common good; a country in which sectional groups do not confront each other in bitter hostility, but provide a framework in which North and south can act together to assure the security of all. The glory of war is moonshine”.

     

    • Nzeakah is a former newspaper editor.

     

  • Farewell to people’s Imam

    Farewell to people’s Imam

    The late Chief Iman of Lagos, Sheikah Garuba Akinola Ibrahim, died on September 24 at the Lagos State University Teaching Hospital (LASUTH) in Ikeja. He was 79.

    Sheikh Ibrahim was born on December 7, 1937 (1356AH) into the family of Ibrahim Ankuri of Isale Eko in Lagos.

    His father was Alfa Tijani Ibrahim, who was also one of the former Chief Imams of Lagos. Alfa Tijani became the Imam of Lagos 10 years after Imam Garuba Akinola Ibrahim was born.

    Alfa Tijani died in 1954, six years before Nigeria got her independence. The late Sheikh Ibrahim’s mother was Hajia Ibrahim popularly called as “Iya lle Kewu.”

    Ibrahim’s family is among those entitled to the position of the Chief Imam of Lagos. The family has a history of generations of succeeding Imams in Lagos – from Alfa (Imam) Ibrahim Ankuri to Alfa (Imam) Tijani Ibrahim and Imam Liadi Ibrahim.

    Sheikh Garuba Akinola Ibrahim is a descendant of Alfa Nafiu Gana.

    Imam Garuba grew up on Lagos Island. He attended the Ahmadiyya Primary School Elegbata in Lagos. Thereafter, he moved to Government College, Ibadan, Oyo State, for his secondary school education.

    He started elementary Arabic and Islamic education under the tutelage of Alfa Abdul Rahman Suyuti, who he joined to visit some cities in Nigeria, Ghana and Côte d’Ivoire.

    After acquiring sufficient knowledge, he joined the transport company of former Baba Adinni of Lagos, Alhaji Abdul Waheed Elias, called Elias Transport Service.

    He later joined the Nigeria Security Printing and Minting Company (NSPMC) in 1965. He retired after 32 years of service in 1997. While in service, he attended series of courses at home and abroad. He became a Senior Manager at the Currency Department of the company before he retired.

    He was installed the Chief Imam of Lagos on July 4 2000. He succeeded his brother, the late Imam Liadi Alade Ibrahim (OBE), who was the Chief Imam of Lagos between 1959 and 1998.

    Before he became the Chief Imam, Sheikh Mujitaba Giwa acted as the Acting Chief Imam of Lagos.

  • Corruption, governance and ailing health sector

    Recent developments in the nation’s health sector suggest that all is not well. Particularly, they serve as warning signals to the health minister, Professor Isaac Adewole, and other principal officers in the ministry to keep their house in order. At the time of writing, the nation’s health institutions are almost paralysed as a result of industrial actions by the Joint Health Sector Unions (JOHESU). Sadly, this is coming on the heels of the exchange of accusations of fraud between the Health Minister and the Executive Secretary, the National Health Insurance Scheme (NHIS), Professor Usman Yusuf.

    In the view of industry watchers, part of the reasons for the crises was because matters were left to degenerate under the watch of the minister and his team as they failed to pay attention to burning issues thereby losing the opportunity to nip the crises in the bud.

    A persistent challenge in the Nigerian health sector is human resources’ crisis, which has the tendency to cripple the sector. Inadequate investment, weak administration and corruption remain the cause of poor health workers’ welfare and the widespread inefficiency in the healthcare work force. The importance of a country’s health workforce cannot be overemphasized; it is the building block needed for health systems to function effectively and to have a healthy populace. A vibrant health workforce can only be driven by the existence of a dedicated healthcare governance structure which provides the administrative framework for the health system to successfully function and achieve set national health objectives.

    No doubt, the lingering crises within the health work force are a big constraint to health system development and sustenance in the country. If not given the desired attention by the health minister and the minister of labour and productivity, the crises will simply compound the existing shortfall in the national health coverage. When health workers’ unions embark on incessant industrial actions as a result of unfulfilled promises or resolutions by government and health authorities, it creates more burdens for the already inadequate healthcare services and disease control efforts.

    A key reason often attributed to the incessant strikes in the nation’s health sector is poor remuneration and welfare of health workers. Workers in different health institutions in the country have, on different occasions, expressed their grievances over poor and inconsistent salaries and deplorable working conditions through industrial actions or threats of such actions. The recently suspended strike by doctors under the umbrella of National Association of Resident Doctors (NARD) and the strike by the Joint Health Sector Unions (JOHESU) and other professional unions in the health sector exemplify this.

    There have also been supremacy tussles among medical professional unions, complaints of marginalisation and discrimination in the appointment of health authorities in the Ministry of Health, widespread discrepancies in the remuneration of health workers on the same grade levels across the various levels of government, among others. Allegation of undue favouritism/privilege towards a particular professional group in the health sector at the expense of other professional groups is also rife. This supremacy tussle, which is usually between medical doctors and other healthcare professionals, has prompted the alignments and realignments among various professional unions in the sector.

    Furthermore, poor healthcare services and the failure to fix the health sector are other issues that should be critically examined. They are often the primary reason for the rampant overseas medical treatment by many wealthy citizens of the nation who have lost faith in the Nigerian health system. This practice, which has come to be known as medical tourism, is now commonplace and grossly abused. It is no longer news that some personnel and professionals in the health ministry now run a racket with it by indiscriminately and corruptly recommending overseas medical treatment for top government functionaries for all manner of ailments, including those that can be handled in the country’s healthcare facilities and by its health experts. Health Minister, Professor Isaac Adewole, rightly attested to this at a public forum sometime last year where he noted that “medical tourism to India is a racket and the country loses billions of naira yearly due to the fraud.”

    It is imperative for the President to swing into action to prevent the crises in the health ministry from festering. The Ministry of Health should demonstrate the capability to address grievances by trade unions of workers under its employ. The Ministry of Labour must endeavour to bring all warring parties in this matter to the table in order to seek an amicable resolution. This crisis, if not checked by the appropriate authorities, will ultimately hinder the nation from achieving optimum healthcare delivery to its populace.

    Moreover, failure to swiftly resolve this crisis may result in public healthcare services being further priced beyond the Nigerian masses, many of whom cannot afford private healthcare services given the present economic situation. It is instructive to note that the seeming inability of government to effectively tackle prevalent health sector crisis in the country is the reason private healthcare service is barely affordable by the average Nigerian. This reason also directly or remotely accounts for why child and maternal mortality rates remain alarmingly high and preventable/curable diseases like malaria, meningitis and poliomyelitis continue to afflict the country.

    Above all, the minister of health must show strong resolve in ensuring efficient healthcare governance and management of their workforce. Any nation that wants to boast of a viable economy must have a vibrant health sector.

     

    • Odusile writes from Lagos

  • Anambra: APC, youths and Nwoye factor

    Ahead of Anambra November 18 governorship election, candidates of 37 political parties and their running mates have emerged. There are contenders, but great majority are pretenders in the race. There are parties to watch and parties to mock. Among the three senatorial zones in the state-North, South and Central, the North holds the ace, having produced candidates of the major parties in the election-All Progressives Congress (APC), Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) and All Progressives Grand Alliance (APGA).

    While the candidates of APGA, Willie Obiano and that of the PDP Oseloka Obazee are of the old political order in the state that needed to be changed, that of the APC, Tony Nwoye is a paradigm shift from the old order. Nwoye’s emergence and overwhelming victory in the primary signalled a new order in the politics of the state. It is a true manifestation of his acceptability in the state, especially among the youths in the grassroots, who are the majority voters. Coming at a time, the National Assembly is considering a bill on “Not Too Young to Run” is quite timely.

    Luckily for the people of the state and entire Igbo land, the choice of Nwoye at a time the South-east zone is in dire need of reconnecting with the “centre” is a blessing in disguise. This is because Nwoye’s victory in the forthcoming election will serve as a huge vehicle to take the zone to the centre ahead of 2019, when other states in the zone will definitely join the moving train there in 2019. This will not only give the people of South-east complete sense of belonging politically, they will have their due share.

    With Nwoye’s leadership records and achievements over the years, he has shown that he is a leader to be trusted with huge responsibility any day, any time, especially when it has to do with his home state Anambra. This is where Nwoye was born and brought up and has always identifed with his people, especially in time of need.

    Nwoye’s giant strides in leadership are not a thing of today. It began at a time not many medical students in the university delve into Students Union Government (SUG) politics because of the enormity of their academic and practical schedules, but Nwoye braved the odds.

    Asa junior student at University of Nigeria, Enugu Campus (UNEC), he maturely led members of the University of Nigeria’s Medical Association (UNMSA), to pressure the university authority to lift the ban on students’ unionism after many years of ban. He later won a seat to represent the medical students in the student’s union House of Representatives. From there, he contested and won the Speakership of S.U.G House of Representatives, becoming the first medical student to serve in that capacity in the history of university.

    Not resting on his oars, with his always-ready-to serve-or-lead attitude, huge leadership responsibility beckoned on him in 2003, when against all odds, he was elected National President of National Association of Nigeria Students (NANS). That was how he became the first Igbo man to occupy the position till date.

    Realising the need to maximise his leadership qualities as a vibrant youth, the Peoples Democratic Party in Anambra State elected him Assistant Secretary of the party in 2005. Following his exemplary performance, he was made the substantive chairman of PDP in 2006 at the age of 21. It was under his leadership that PDP won majority of the seats in state and National Assembly elections in 2007.

    Having provided leadership that was embedded in strength of character, Nwoye was invited by his people to contest House of Representatives in 2011. He contested and was massively voted for only for some forces of darkness within and outside the state to connive and thwart the peoples’ wish by declaring another person winner of the election. Nwoye and his people fought the injustice in court and his stolen mandate was returned to him.

    It is of note to also recall that in line with the confidence and trust the people had in him, Nwoye emerged the PDP governorship candidate in 2013 election. This was despite a protracted legal tussle between him and other bigwigs in the party over the ticket. It took a high level conspiracy between the then APGA-led government of Peter Obi in the state, President Goodluck Jonathan’s presidency and other external forces to influence the election in favour of Obi’s now estranged godson and incumbent governor, Willie Obiano. Nwoye emerged second runner up.

    It was in compensation of the injustice meted to Nwoye in 2013 that made his people to re-elect him into House of Representatives in 2015. Having seen that PDP has lost its original vision, coupled with the leadership crisis that hit the party, Nwoye consulted his people who advised him to defect to the All Progressives Congress (APC) and serve them better. That was how and why Nwoye defected to APC.

    With the wealth of practical leadership experiences that spanned over a decade, there is no doubt that Nwoye is the man to beat in the election. Nwoye stands shoulder high above all other candidates in the race, including the duo of Obaze and Obiano, who are offshoots of Obi’s shaky political dynasty. APC’s choice of him was not by accident, but popularity, quality and grassroots-based. Nwoye represents hope for youths in the leadership of Nigeria.

    So far, Nwoye has proven that age is just a game of number in leadership. With the way events are unfolding in the state ahead of the election, it appears the people of Anambra have decided to effect leadership change that will place governance in the state on the shoulder of a viable and accessible youth like Nwoye. This is also in fulfilment of the saying that the youths are the leaders of tomorrow. Nwoye’s success story in the leadership positions before now raise hope that being given a higher responsibility of governor, he will serve better and selflessly for humanity.

    Nwoye is not only a consummate leader and tactical politician; he is a medical doctor, who decided to suspend practice for a while to serve his people, having seen that leadership challenge has become a recurring decimal. With Nwoye as a leading candidate in the poll, there is light at the end of the tunnel for the APC, youths and people of Anambra State.

     

    • Chimanya, a cleric wrote Awka, Anambra State.

  • Lagos and the ‘resurrected’ Awo

    In Othello, one of his famous works, iconic playwright, Williams Shakespeare, flawlessly stresses the importance good reputation with the following words: “Good name in man and woman, dear my lord, is the immediate jewel of their souls: Who steals my purse steals trash; ’tis something, nothing; ‘was mine, ’tis his, and has been slave to thousands; But he that filches from me my good name robs me of that which not enriches him, And makes me poor indeed.”

    This, perhaps, amply describes what the motivation of late sage, Chief Obafemi Awolowo, throughout his political and public service career in building for himself a rare reputation that was hinged on integrity, sacrifice, commitment and selflessness. No wonder, 30 years after his demise, his name still rings a bell across the land and beyond, opening impregnable doors for members of his family as well as political associates.

    It is therefore not surprising when the late sage metaphorically resurrected in Lagos State on Tuesday with the state government’s unveiling of a new iconic statue in honour of the revered icon that many simply refer to as Awo. The striking sculpture located along Obafemi Awolowo Way by the Lagos Television (LTV) junction in Agidingbi, Ikeja, is no doubt a befitting replacement to the old Awolowo statue that used to be at the Allen Avenue round-about in Ikeja, Lagos. Standing at 20 feet, the new Awo statue reinforces the unwavering commitment of the Lagos State government to appreciating the contributions of patriots whose deeds and ideals were instrumental to the social-economic and political well-being of Lagos State in particular and Nigeria in general.

    Designed and produced by Hamza Atta, the Awo bust represents and projects the true value of the late sage and calls the attention of everyone, especially students of history to the legacy of the leading statesman. Undoubtedly, the statue will serve as a constant reminder to all, especially future generations of the need to value the sacrifice of our heroes and strive towards upholding and promoting the ideals which some of them lived and died for. It is mainly in doing this that we can truly ensure that the labour of our heroes past is not in vain.

    Hannah Arendt, German-born US philosopher and historian, once said that the connection between history and nature is by no means an opposition. History receives into its remembrance those mortals who through deeds and words have proved themselves worthy of nature, and their everlasting fame means that they may remain in the company of the things that last forever. Immortalizing our heroes, is surely one way of spurring present and future generation of Nigerians to effectively connect  with our past with a view to committing them to the vision and ideals of our founding fathers. With several agitations for one thing or the other across the country, there is, indeed, no better time to do this than this particular period in the history of our dear nation.

    In Nigeria, the subsequent drop in the quality of leadership inevitably is the result of decline and seemingly loss of hope by many in the nation.  One of the most important ways of instilling patriotism and inculcating self-belief and a ‘can do’ spirit in our youths is through immortalizing our heroes, both past and living. It is important that we regularly cull from the life of our heroes, great lessons in discipline, altruism, honesty, focus, perseverance, patriotism and hard work among other useful virtues. It is hoped that by immortalizing our heroes and ultimately calling attention to the ideals they hold in high esteem, our compatriots, young and old, would be encouraged to live a selfless life that is anchored on patriotism and integrity.

    These are some of the virtues that made Chief Obafemi Awolowo, one of the founding fathers of Nigeria, traverse the country’s socio-political landscape as a colossus for decades. Born in Ikenne, Ogun State, on March 6, 1909, the late sage has been variously described by different people in diverse ways. For instance, he was once described by late Chief Emeka Odumegwu-Ojukwu as the ‘Best President Nigeria never had’.  Former military ruler, General Yakubu Gowon also dubbed him as a ‘reverred political leader’ while   former military dictator, General Ibrahim Babangida, once referred to him as ‘the main issue in Nigerian politics’.

    In 1954, Chief Awolowo became the first Premier of the defunct Western Region and it was during this era that the foundation for the evolution of modern Yoruba land was effectively laid. With an economy that was mostly agrarian, Awolowo developed and made the then Western Region a model for the rest of Africa in terms of socio-economic development. Some of the infrastructures that were put in place by his administration endure till date.   These include the first television station in the Africa, (now National Television Authority, NTA), the University of Ife, Ile-Ife (now, Obafemi Awolowo University), the Liberty Stadium, Ibadan, Cocoa House, Ibadan, various industrial hubs across the region among others.

    A strategic thinker and visionary leader, Chief Awolowo had an intriguing political career. In 1963, he was found guilty of conspiring to overthrow the government of Nigeria and was sentenced to 10 years imprisonment. In 1966, while still in prison, Awolowo wrote Thoughts on the Nigerian Constitution which talks about the upholding of a federal form of government composed of 18 states. Later, in 1966, he was released from prison by the Federal Military Government of General Gowon and the following year he was invited to join the same government as Federal Commissioner of Finance and as Vice Chairman of the Federal Executive Council.

    Chief Awolowo actively served the Gowon Military Government throughout the duration of the Nigerian civil war from 1967 to1970. In The Strategy and Tactics of the People’s Republic of Nigeria, a book he wrote in 1970, Chief Awolowo came up with strategies and plans that could make the then Federal Military Government’s post-war spending to be  wholly devoted to socio-economic development rather than military adventurism. He resigned from the Federal Executive Council in 1971 to protest the continued retention of military rule.

    In 1975, following the overthrow of the Gowon government, he issued a statement questioning the country’s military spending. In 1979 and 1983 respectively, he ran for president as the candidate for the defunct Unity Party of Nigeria, UPN, losing on both occasions to Alhaji Shehu Shagari. He returned to private life upon the termination of democracy by the Buhari –Idiagbon led military junta in December 1983. But then, he was always commenting on national issues, offering wise counsels to those in power from time to time.

    Though he died in Ikenne, his country home on May 9, 1987 at the age of 78, 30 years after, the good deeds that he did has continued to live after him. Herein lies the foremost message behind the recent unveiling of the imposing Awo bust in Ikeja, Lagos. One only hopes that current crop of leaders across the country would see beyond the allure of power, but search painstakingly to properly unearth what made Awo and his likes thick.

     

    • Ogunbiyi is of the Lagos State Ministry of Information and Strategy, Alausa, Ikeja.

  • Why Ndigbo must must forgive Buhari

    If you do not forgive your fellow man, how then can you seek for forgiveness from God? This is the question that captures the full essence of Christianity. The Bible illustrates: A rich man wanted to take stock of his business. He called all his servants to give account. In the process, he discovered that one of the servants could not account for N100,000. He ordered that he be locked up and be made to pay to the last kobo. But the defaulter fell flat on his knees and begged for mercy, asking to be given more time to enable him pay.

    Moved with pity, the master asked him to go, for all his debts were forgiven.

    Overwhelmed, the defaulter left, rejoicing. However, that joy was short-lived, as he soon encountered a man who owed him N1,000. In anger, he seized the debtor by the throat: Pay me what you owe!

    All pleas for mercy and to be given time to redeem the debt, fell on deaf ears.

    Still unable to pay, he dragged the debtor to the police station, who charged the matter to court and had him jailed according to the law.

    Distressed by this great show of wickedness, some of the servants of the rich man, who witnessed the entire episode, ran back to their master and narrated everything to him. The rich man ordered that he be brought to him immediately. You this man, he thundered, how much did you owe me that I forgave you, yet you could not forgive the debt of the person that owed you far less? He ordered his servants to bind and throw him into a dark room, where he will suffer and gnash his teeth.

    Does this biblical narrative ring a familiar bell? Right now, Nigeria is dealing with one. Or does anybody really need an interpreter to decipher the similarity between this and what is happening between President Muhammadu Buhari and the Igbo people?

    God granted the President a second chance after spending an entire 103 days abroad dealing with an ailment. It is almost certain that he must have made supplications to Allah, and promised to be a better person if he was eventually spared. But what does he give in return?

    Don’t blame anybody who waited for the broadcast, the President promised the nation on his return, with bated breath. Not a few actually believed that he would be a new Buhari, burnished and refined by his near-death experience, having confessed himself that he had never been so sick in his life, and mellowed by realisation that he lived only because God willed it.

    Today, many of those who harboured that expectation are not only hugely disappointed, but are actually bracing up to the new reality that nothing has changed and nothing would probably change.

    For Ndigbo, nothing could conduce a more compelling reality. If there was any iota of hope otherwise, the events of the last two weeks or so, must now jolt them back to face the truth. They must now come to terms with the fact that under a Buhari Presidency, theirs would be weeping, wailing and gnashing of the teeth.

    If anything, the designation of the Indigenous People of Biafra (IPOB) as a terrorist organisation, has indeed not only made it more apparent, but opened a new vista as to the cross Ndigbo must bear at this time.

    With the new tag on IPOB, degrading, cruel and inhuman treatments seem imminent. Massive arrests, torture, imprisonment and even death cannot be overruled. All it takes is to be branded an IPOB member. People’s homes and businesses could even be targeted, buildings pulled down in the explanation that their owners are IPOB members or communities sacked, in pursuit or search for IPOB members. Nobody really knows how far and wide it could get.

    Of course, in each episode and even the worst-case scenario, there will be a retinue of government agents and supporters to rationalise. Easy judicial pronouncements will also be obtained, as in the instant case to provide official cover. Even people from the South-east will be there to take ownership of the onslaught, casting their people who are victims as agent provocateurs.

    After making 48 critical appointments without an Igbo man or woman, those who shouted, were again branded Wailers and shouted down. What did those the previous governments appointed achieve? When the President made his infamous 97-5 (3) per cent mathematical analogy, those who cried out were similarly scuffed at as Buhari haters crying because they lost avenues for free money.

    When Fulani herdsmen went on rampage in the South-east and instead of arresting them, those who tried to defend themselves against the obvious invasion, as happened in Enugu, were rounded up and detained for months in Owerri prison, countless Buhari lovers struggled to outdo themselves in rationalising it.

    Today, the build-up has endured, such that Nigeria’s security council, could take the most critical decision that would have great impact on Ndigbo, like the IPOB case, without a single Igbo man participating, because they have been totally excluded. Not even the latest National Peace Corps is headed by an Igbo. Yet, people line up to rationalise it.

    On the flipside, in these days when nobody seems sure of anything, Nnamdi Kanu is even a suspect. Some have actually branded him as some sort of agent, who delibrately offered himself to be used to prepare his people for the slaughter house, because, no rational person would be that tactless and brazen, if the agenda is actually noble. Not only are his high-voltage rants against other ethnic groups immature and dangerous, given the diversity of the same Igbo people he claims to be protecting, setting up groups like the Biafran Secret Service (BSS) and Biafran National Guard (BNG) against all reasons and advice, without the needed elements to back them up was not only dangerous, but had serious suspicious implications. After all, is it no longer true Igbo saying that you stay in the house of a coward to point to the ruins of a warrior?

    Nobody really knows the reason for the bird to be dancing in the middle of the road, except that the drummer is in the bush. However, Ndigbo are no fools. They will surely get to the root of the whole matter, where everything will be revealed in the fullness of time.

    But before that every Igbo man must bend his knees in supplication to God, as the first and only option and saving grace for now.

    But in doing so, they must first free their minds. Doing so must be to totally forgive Buhari and those who have caused them harm. It is difficult, but they must, because the only way they can obtain mercy from God is to forgive those who have wronged them.

    Those who crucified Jesus Christ, must have expected to receive a curse for their atrocious action. Instead Jesus, not only forgave them, but prayed to His father on their behalf. Stephen, as he was being stoned to death for his faith, also prayed to God thus: Father, do not hold this against them.

    Think about the late Pope John Paul 11. Mehmet Ali Aðca, who shot him, in 1981, had intended to kill him. Yet, the first thing he did when he came out hospital, was to visit him in prison and not only totally forgave him, but asked for his freedom.

    If that is still not enough, Nelson Mandela, brought it closer home, when he forgave those who jailed him for 27 years.

    Yes, Igbo people must not only endure Buhari for the next two years or even six years for the treatment they have received so far and the ones yet to be received, they must also forgive him. The power of forgiveness far surpasses the greatest ammunition ever fashioned by the human hands.

  • NIMASA’s worthy example

    While government institutions should be about serving the people and not mainly for profit making, logic also says that such institutions should strive not to operate at a loss. However, over the recent years, many Ministries, Departments and Agencies (MDAs) in the country seem to have worn the toga of revenue drains.

    But recently, two agencies – Joint Admissions Matriculation Board (JAMB) and Nigerian Maritime Administration and Safety Agency (NIMASA) – broke the evil jinx and actually made reasonable contributions to the federal purse.

    It’s easy to understand JAMB’s profitability. With Nigeria’s huge youth population, coupled with the hunger for education, it was expected to deliver more earning to the treasury as citizens embrace it. NIMASA of course, given its mandate and the virility of Nigeria’s maritime space, is also expected to make good revenue. But before this current dispensation, these two agencies were not profitable.

    And so when the Federal Government via the Ministry of Finance and the Office of the Accountant-General of the Federation recently commended NIMASA for its revenue performance in the past one year, it came to many Nigerians as a pleasant surprise.

    While addressing a conference on compliance with the Fiscal Responsibility Act in Abuja, Finance Minister Kemi Adeosun, had singled out and commended NIMASA as one of the agencies doing well in terms of revenue generation and remittances to the federal government’s Treasury Single Account (TSA). Though she didn’t mention the figures then, NIMASA later declared that it remitted N9.975bn and $46.025 million in 2016 as against N4.955bn remitted in 2015.

    Truth is, Nigerians have always known many government institutions as mere conduits for corruption. That Adeosun made NIMASA the poster boy for the MDAs should not come as a surprise to industry watchers. And now, following this development, the federal government wants to probe the previous heads of both NIMASA and JAMB regarding their revenue drive.

    “Unlike NIMASA and the Joint Admission Matriculation Board (JAMB), some agencies and departments are operating in such a manner that returned minimal funds to government,” said Adeosun.

    “To this effect, a circular has been issued restricting allowable expenses in line with reforms occurring across government businesses, as compliance checks would be undertaken regularly to ensure that all agencies and departments adhere to the new requirements.”

    Mrs Adeosun also noted that the current management of NIMASA has introduced processes that blocked loopholes and thus increased revenue generation, subsequently improving its reputation and leading to confidence from stakeholders in the maritime sector.

    Tagging along with Adeosun’s position was the Accountant-General of the Federation (AGF), Ahmed Idris, who commended NIMASA.

    He said: “It was also the first time in recent years that NIMASA will remit huge revenue into the government coffers.”

    Idris also urged other MDAs to be more creative in their revenue generation drive so as to meet their targets and collectively earn revenue to fund the 2017 budget.

    If the transformation at NIMASA appears as magic, it may simply mean that the Director General, Dakuku Peterside, is a magician. But his magic of increased revenue generation most probably lies in identifying and blocking loopholes responsible for siphoning of government funds, thereby improving its reputation which ensures confidence from stakeholders in the maritime sector.

    Even though the current management reduced its operational cost, it generated more money at six months than it did in the past two years. What was different? This time, the major difference would appear to be infusion of new ideas by the Peterside-led management.

    Since the President appointed Peterside as NIMASA Director-General on March 10, 2016, Peterside had always reiterated that the maritime sector, if properly harnessed, can successfully fund a huge component of the total budgetary requirement of the country.  And aside being recognised for transforming NIMASA and increasing the agency’s contributions to Consolidated Revenue Fund (CRF), Peterside has been recognised on other fronts.

    In April this year at the third conference of the Association of Africa Maritime Administrations, AAMA, in Abuja, Peterside was unanimously elected first President of AAMA at the end of the conference, putting Nigeria atop Africa’s maritime podium.

    And recently, Peterside informed stakeholders at a forum in Lagos that the agency has begun the automation of all its processes in order to allow for probity and accountability.

    He also disclosed that the agency had devolved more powers to its zonal offices to allow for early conclusion of transactions to ultimately plug revenue leakages and that NIMASA is now operating 24 hours in line with the Ease of Doing Business initiative of the federal government.

    NIMASA has also concluded plans to disburse $100 million Cabotage Vessel Financing Fund (CVFF) to indigenous ship owners at a single digit interest. Peterside disclosed this last month during a stakeholders’ session organised by the Nigerian Ship Finance Conference and Exhibition, NISFCOE. With the high interest in the country, this move will boost stakeholder confidence.

    “We would match the CVFF fund with some money coming from the financial institutions”, Peterside had said.

    “This will crash the rate of borrowing, and that is why we are passionate about disbursing CVFF to bring our own funds to come almost at the cost of nothing and match it with their own fund coming at the rate of 25 percent. The first thing that would happen is that the rate would crash from 25 percent to a one digit interest rate.”

    “CVFF is lying at the Central Bank of Nigeria under TSA arrangement, we are working hard to disburse it, and it is over a hundred million dollars. We are in talks with the Central Bank of Nigeria; we want to change the terms of trade from Free-on-board (FOB) to Cost-Insurance and Freights (CIF), but how many persons are prepared for this regime? If we get NNPC to change the terms of trade and we are getting the support of the Presidency, if we get it changed, how many of us are ready?”

    That Nigeria has potential and virile leaders to make her truly a great on the world platform is a fact. The way it stands now, parties profiting from the hitherto lackadaisical operation mode at NIMASA will not be happy at the change there. Those voices must not be considered as the agency is for not for the profiteering of cabals but for the good of all Nigerians. So far, Peterside’s strides at NIMASA have earned him commendations from both President Muhammadu Buhari and Vice President Yemi Osinbajo. NIMASA and the country need such people.

     

    • Odafe writes from Lagos.