The Nation Newspaper

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  • Enugu: The press on retreat

    Enugu: The press on retreat

    Enugu has actors. Or is it that events in Enugu create actors and drama? A short take: Jim Nwobodo versus C.C. Onoh (political horse-trading 1980-1983), Col. Anthony Aboki Ochefu versus Gen. Muritala Mohamed (military vengeance 1984), Commodore Omeruah, Col Akonobi versus C.C. Onoh (banal sectional prejudice, 1986, 1987-1990).  Chimaroke Nnamani versus Jim Nwobodo (‘godfather and son’ war 1999- 2002) Chimaroke Nnamani versus monument and governance (2000-2007). The press was on hand to give the full account. Flip through the pages of dailies and magazines of those days now in the libraries the picture is clear as then.

    The accounts are revealing and are good source for researchers, historians and commentators, today. Now in the same Enugu, the drama is over. No event, no action? Perhaps!  The press is on retreat.

    All along, those of us who read the dailies as a matter of duty and indeed read the stories coming from Enugu then has grip of the whispers from the inner recess of government house study. Not so today. ‘We don’t like press,’ those in government now tell those who bother to worry. That is sync-mouthing the boss, the governor, who once advertised in a cover advertorial of the National Standard and the Sun newspapers (October 15 and 20, 2007 editions) on his feud with Senator Chimaroke Nnamani. I hardly read those things.  Sometimes people just draw my attention to it “have you read this one…” Of course, if I have the time I read and at times they just draw my attention to particular passages.  I read, then laugh.  In response to a reporter’s question about what was written of his face-off with his facilitator, he said ‘….Well, you may call it the face-off. Even if you call it war, it suggests that two people are at war, if he wants to write nonsense, it is entertaining.’ Government without press, without publicity!

    Chime’s aversion for media and publicity cannot click even though he feels elated that the roads he reconstructs or rehabilitates are enough advertisement of a government that is working. “Enugu is working”, his predecessor’s media team drummed. The anthem is not for this governor who has nothing to do with the past.  Yesterday is a history, the anchor of today’s enterprise and the armour for daring tomorrow’s challenges.

    Perhaps, the strategy worked for the governor; not now to be sure.  Lack of credible information breeds unhealthy rumours about a principal.  But who cares as “we laugh it off in Enugu”. That a governor escaped from a state for long holidays without alerting the people on whose mandate he enjoys the luxury of a new life is a non-issue.  A terse press release from the state Ministry of Information or his Press Secretary is trivialising governance; a state-wide radio and television broadcast is undue privilege and unearned exposure, if not security risk for the governor.

    Now, rumour is riotous.  Stories, true or false, are wild about the governor’s absence and his earned vacation overseas; that he is well is a private matter, that he is not, is a family’s care.  Perhaps, when he surfs the web and comes across impervious stories, he will laugh at his people’s meddlesomeness in his private life, after all he is, momentarily not the governor, his deputy, Sunday, is, even if on acting capacity.

    The intriguing thing is that the media he despises and chased out of his way don’t care.  And the people don’t seem to bother either. In Enugu, historical monuments built by the colonial and post-independence governments are being destroyed in the name of development or modernisation.  Polo Park has given way to fraud called shopping mall.  Cricket and hockey pitches are new bourgeoisie housing estate.

    The storm! Enugu secretariat; the Eastern Nigeria government secretariat, historical relics, has been pulled down without explanation but only whimper – a modern secretariat to replace the old-fashioned structures –at paean sessions.  Good life.

    Don’t the people need to know about what the government is doing?  Late President Umaru Yar’adua attempted to discourage Nigerians from meddling with his private life as he pinned away in a Saudi hospital.  The cabals in his closet held the nation to ransom.  It took the might of the vibrant Nigeria media and aroused national legislators to combat the cabal. If it happens in Enugu, where are the media to whip the docile dogs at independence layout to bark and hold the assailant by the groin?

    Looking at the festival of his show of disdain for publicity, can he claim really that he has been acting royal or that it is a translation of his face-off with his facilitator? The contempt for the past isn’t regal.  Even in worst situations, in the imperial kingdoms, kings and emperors compete in battlefield and in propaganda.

    One can give it to his predecessor, Senator Chimaroke Nnamani, for his drive with media. He worked, and told the world so, then and now in our archives.  Chime may ‘have no business continuing with his press team because I wasn’t going to continue with his style’.  But having a strong media team to write his ‘memoir’, as a governor, is an advantage.

    Those who snort and scavenge with the hope that they have better idea of how to run a government without strong media team ought to ask as Christians do about Christ , the Bible and Michael Bruce scribble on the fly-leaf of his Bible. Wrote Frank W. Gunsaulus, ‘The Bible Vs. Infidelity’:  Christianity does not ask: ‘What we think of the Bible? It asks: what we think of Christ? For there, the throne is yet, and so majestic is His Glory that the moment we come into His presence we are judged.  The Judge of the earth has taken His place in thought, history and hope.  He is not on trial, and He asks no question as to what man thinks of the book which has enthroned Him in literature.

    Prejudice is a trap. It is a menacing warhead, you can be sure. Nnamani’s love for publicity was real and there were grounds for it. You may hate him, but one holds to comfort that, in democracy, a government that has press as a friend or a foe is the ultimate choice of a decent leader. One question: Where is Governor Sullivan Chime?

    • Mr. Onovo is a retired civil servant and lives in Enugu

  • Education: A nation’s ultimate investment

    Education: A nation’s ultimate investment

    I recently encountered Fareed Zakaria, the internationally acclaimed author and famous host of GPS Show on CNN at Airtel’s Night of Influence in Lagos. Many years ago, I was an avid follower of Zakaria’s seminal thoughts as a columnist and my week was never complete without Newsweek Magazine. Meeting this renowned journalist was therefore like realising a very long wish.  Zakaria who attended Indian schools and colleges before moving to the United States exemplifies home grown success. So when he spoke, he addressed the heart of the matter. He also directed his attention to Nigerian leaders: “take charge of your country’s future by investing heavily in the education sector in order to provide quality foundation for Nigerian children” he warned in his opening remarks.

    Zakaria, to my mind, could not have said anything better. He spoke the minds of a good number of our country men and women. The central theme of his message dealt with what we should have known all the while but erroneously neglected. But he again admonished the political elite warning that rather than “subsidising the present or buying votes, leaders should invest in education, invest in infrastructure, invest in healthcare and invest in the future. There is so much human talent in Africa and in Nigeria. These talents need to be unlocked through education. It is an irony that countries experiencing high GDP growth are countries without natural resources. Look at Taiwan. What they have is typhoon….they do not have any natural resources; yet, they have managed to emerge as one of the countries with the highest GDP growth rate”, he had said.

    In another breath,  Zakaria also drew attention to the United States which currently exports human capital in almost all spheres of human endeavour because the country had invested heavily in education, research and training.

    For a moment, my mind gravitated between two possible realities: a future Nigeria that is secure, stable, investment-friendly and prosperous and another Nigeria that is the exact opposite of the first and I just wondered. No nation, no matter how wishful she thinks, can just wake up to greatness. Greatness, either for nations or individuals is a product of great planning, thinking, focus, concentration and preparation. As Zakaria spoke, I was agitated by one question: where are our own Zakarias?  And how can we make meaning from his undisputable gospel on education?

    Like most Nigerians, I know that our education sector is in very serious trouble. Apart from our distorted educational policies, outdated curriculum, acute dearth of infrastructure, many have also argued that our students are not learning the right things or are not learning problem solving skills and solution generation fit enough to address our peculiar needs. At other times, many of them drop out long before they get the opportunity to understand why they are in school in the first place.

    At the secondary school level for instance, the assessment is damming.  According to Alliance for Excellent Education, Nigerian secondary school students’ academic performance fluctuates from mediocre to poor. On the other hand, only 40 per cent of university students eventually earn a degree. A good percentage of those who earn the degree cannot think creatively and thus are unemployable. Sadly, international ratings of Nigerian university degrees are abysmally low in international labour market because our students are more often out of school due to incessant crises.

    For any serious country therefore, these statistics are grim and as a people, we cannot afford to stand aloof. It is convenient to blame government, policy implementers and school administrators but it is also important to note that we cannot talk about school failures and dropouts  without looking at how we treat our children. About 70 per cent of Nigeria’s children live in poverty, one of the highest rates of childhood poverty in the entire developing world and this seriously hinders the quest for knowledge. Research also shows that young Nigerians spend almost 40 hours a week watching television whose content centres principally on violence and mind-corrupting programmes. This is compounded by the fact that some of our leaders across board view artistic and intellectual pursuits with scorn and disdain.

    In Finland, there is a lesson for Nigeria. On all the international education measuring standards where Nigeria did so badly, Finland came tops. According to the World Economic Forum, Finland has one of the most competitive economies in the world and this is one of the reasons for their excellent outing in education.  They also have another advantage: the country offers high quality and free early childhood education.  The most interesting part of Finland’s success story is their collective believe that “education is an investment in their economy, in their healthcare and in their environment, which is why they provide free college and graduate school to all eligible applicants”.

    But how did we get here? And how can we escape from this accident waiting to happen? The late Chief Obafemi Awolowo once said that “he who fails to prepare, prepares to fail”.  Are we failing to prepare and therefore preparing to fail?  I believe education still holds the key and we must seriously pay attention to Zakaria’s admonition.

    Ghana, our next door neighbour represents what determination, hard work and planning could do to a serious nation. That country’s tragic story of economic recession is well known. However, at independence in1957, Ghana had what she had called an expanded basic education that was world-class. But by 1980, Ghana’s education sector was in ruins: dilapidated classrooms, fewer desks, no teachers and in several instances, a single textbook was shared by an entire class.  Then shortly after, government embarked on an education reform programme that almost immediately increased enrolment, improved access, learning outcomes and better education system management. In fact, government went in search of partners and donor agencies and collaborated with them to strengthen private education.

    Today in Ghana, there is a thriving Teacher Training, Information Communications Technology and Technical/Vocational education systems.  And our children gladly apply to their premium university, the University of Ghana, Legon, Accra where they are happy paying discriminatory fees. But this stable education landscape in Ghana is a product of major and consistent policy initiatives in education. And to read that the country is inspired with the hope that education remains the only investment in reducing Ghana’s high level of poverty is particularly humbling for me.

    This generation of Nigerian leaders have a duty to ensure that the good old days of Nigeria’s superb education returns.  I believe that the next generation will judge today’s leaders on this score because the future depends largely on education. Part of this revolution should begin with greater funding for our public schools.  Secondly, I think it is high time we restructured our curriculum and learning environment so as to make scholarship interesting and pleasurable. A critical element of the reform should include providing qualitative primary and secondary education free and compulsory to every Nigerian, including the physically challenged. We must therefore revisit the Individual with Disabilities Education Act if we wish to achieve the Nigeria of our dream. And if we all desire a great country with a strong middle class and an employable youth, then we must all appreciate that education is the only way to our collective aspirations.

     

    • Peterside, a member of the House of Representatives is Chairman, House Committee on Petroleum Resources (Downstream)

  • Nigerian pastors and private jets

    The news media and the social internet sites like Facebook, Twitter and several Nigerian online portals have been abuzz since Saturday, November 10, after reports that Pastor Ayo Oritsejafor, the President of the Christian Association of Nigeria (CAN) and President of the Pentecostal Fellowship of Nigeria (PFN), had joined the rarefied ranks of Nigerian pastors who owned private jets. It was Pastor Ayo’s birthday and he was also celebrating his 40th anniversary as an ordained minister of the Gospel of Jesus Christ. So, some wealthy members of the church where he serves as the Senior Pastor, Word of Life Bible Church, Warri, contributed money and bought an airplane as a gift for him. The President, Dr. Goodluck Jonathan, was among the several local and international dignitaries who were in Warri to rejoice with Pastor Ayo on the august occasion.

    Expectedly, criticisms have trailed the development. Pastor-bashing is now commonplace in Nigeria, especially on social media like Facebook, even by some who claim to be “Christians” but have no understanding whatsoever of the Bible and have no respect for spiritual authority.

    Not unexpectedly, even the latter-day “social critic”, good governance “crusader” and President Jonathan-basher, Mallam Nasir El Rufai, joined the bandwagon not wanting to miss an opportunity to politicise the matter. He tweeted “@afo4u: @elrufai And the church members are wallowing in abject poverty”…irony of life, but it is CAN, PDP branch…so anything is possible.

    And, in response to El Rufai’s malicious tweet which went viral on the internet, some have even alleged that it was the Presidency that actually bought the private jet for Pastor Ayo Oritsejafor!

    The statement by Nasir El Rufai, a chieftain of the Congress of Progressive Change, who has been critical of the Joint Task Force for its response to Boko Haram activities in the north, underscores the manifest mischief of some who have been attacking Pastor Ayo Oritsejafor using the airplane gift as their excuse.

    This is not surprising. Pastor Ayo Oritsejafor’s election as the President of the Christian Association of Nigeria in 2010 was historic. It was the first time that someone from the pentecostal fold would become the President of CAN. His emergence as CAN’s leader also happened at a time when the terrorist jihadist group, Boko Haram, began escalating its murderous activities in the northern part of Nigeria. And in January, 2011, just months after Pastor Ayo’s elevation as CAN’s President, the Central Bank of Nigeria under the leadership of its Governor, Mallam Sanusi Lamido Sanusi, introduced its Malaysia-style Islamic banking which Justice Gabriel Kolawole of the Federal High Court, Abuja recently declared to be unconstitutional and illegal. It became incumbent on Pastor Ayo to articulate and voice out the stance of the Nigerian church on these two issues. And his passion and conviction in dealing with these issues have come to define public perception about him.

    For many Christians, particularly in northern Nigeria, Pastor Ayo’s leadership of CAN could not have been more timely. Not one to be intimidated into silence, Pastor Ayo’s forceful statements on national issues cannot be ignored. For those who would have preferred him to be subservient and kow-tow to the reactionary elements who, though not even of the Christian faith, had successfully influenced the actions of some of the past leaders of CAN, Pastor Ayo was soon accused of “heating up the polity” even when it was clear to all that he was merely responding to the actions of those who were actually causing division, strife and the death of thousands of innocent and hapless Nigerians. For a man known for his utmost commitment to God and the establishment of His Kingdom, hypocritical posturing and pandering to the gallery for photo opportunities to be hailed as a politically correct “pacifist” while thousands of his Christian brothers and sisters are plunged into utter misery and rendered widows, widowers or orphans was not an option. Loquacious Mallam Nasir El Rufai merely gave voice to his constituents who have been frustrated by Pastor Ayo Oritsejafor’s uncompromising and principled stance on the on-going war against the church and Christians in Nigeria. As far as I know, the Nigerian pastors that currently have private jets are Bishop David Oyedepo, Pastor Adejare Adeboye, Pastor Chris Oyakhilomen and, of course, Pastor Ayo Oritsejafor who was given one just last Saturday by members of his congregation as he celebrated 40 years of ministry.

    These men have to travel very frequently around the world ministering. Redeemed Christian Church of God has thousands of branches and millions of members on all continents of the world. Winners’ Chapel and Christ Embassy equally have many international branches and hundreds of thousands of members. Pastor Adeboye, Bishop Oyedepo and Pastor Oyakhilomen travel thousands of kilometres monthly doing God’s work and have to be in places not well-served by commercial flights. On his part, Pastor Oritsejafor travels every other day within and outside Nigeria as the President of the Christian Association of Nigeria. I know him personally and can confirm that he hardly spends a full week at home in Warri because of his very busy ministry itinerary.

    The Pope rarely travels more than thrice internationally in a year. Yet the Pope has a private jet. Why has nobody complained about that?

    Very few know about the social and philanthropic work which these men of God and thousands of others are doing. In reality, the church is doing more than any government, international agency or Non-Governmental Organisation to fight poverty, illiteracy and diseases in Nigeria today. The church in Nigeria is much more effective than the government at all levels. It is not just in the habit of churches and Christian ministers to be boasting about their poverty-alleviation programmes and charity work like companies and many non-faith based NGOs love to do for public commendation and approval. They leave God, the Rewarder, to judge what they do in the “closet” and reward their good work both here on earth and in the hereafter.

    That there are some pastors who are fleecing the sheep and whose god is their bellies does not mean all wealthy pastors are scammers. Many of them are entrepreneurial and do not even get remuneration from their churches. In fact, they are often the biggest donors or givers in their churches.

    Prosperity is scriptural. The worship of Mammon (money) is not. Let us not be like those “Christians” of whom Kenneth Hagin Sr. wrote in one of his books that they prayed: “Lord, please keep our pastor humble. We will keep him poor”!

    What was Jesus’ experience with matters like this? Let’s see John 12:1-16:

    1. Six days before the Passover, Jesus came to Bethany, where Lazarus lived, whom Jesus had raised from the dead.

    2. Here a dinner was given in Jesus’ honour. Martha served, while Lazarus was among those reclining at the table with him.

    3. Then Mary took about a pint of pure nard, an expensive perfume; she poured it on Jesus’ feet and wiped his feet with her hair. And the house was filled with the fragrance of the perfume.

    4. But one of his disciples, Judas Iscariot, who was later to betray him, objected,

    5. “Why wasn’t this perfume sold and the money given to the poor? It was worth a year’s wages.”

    6. He did not say this because he cared about the poor but because he was a thief; as keeper of the money bag, he used to help himself to what was put into it.

    7. “Leave her alone,” Jesus replied. “It was intended that she should save this perfume for the day of my burial.

    8. You will always have the poor among you but you will not always have me.”

    9. Meanwhile, a large crowd of Jews found out that Jesus was there and came, not only because of him but also to see Lazarus, whom he had raised from the dead.

    10. So the chief priests made plans to kill Lazarus as well,

    11. for on account of him many of the Jews were going over to Jesus and believing in him.

    12. The next day the great crowd that had come for the festival heard that Jesus was on his way to Jerusalem.

    13. They took palm branches and went out to meet him, shouting, “Hosanna! Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord! Blessed is the king of Israel!”

    14. Jesus found a young donkey and sat on it, as it is written:

    15. “Do not be afraid, Daughter Zion; see, your king is coming, seated on a donkey’s colt.”

    16. At first his disciples did not understand all this. Only after Jesus was glorified did they realize that these things had been written about him and that these things had been done to him.

    If Jesus were alive today and a Nigerian, religiously-minded “Christians” would abuse and condemn him for not agreeing to Judas Iscariot’s suggestion that the expensive perfume be sold and “given to the poor”. Some people like to point to the fact that Jesus rode a donkey into Jerusalem. But, they conveniently ignore the verses in the same chapter of the Bible (John 12 above) where we are told Mary poured perfume worth One Year’s Wage. That is about N216,000 today if we use the minimum wage of N18,000 per month. Designer perfumes sell for no more than N20,000 for a 100ml bottle of a high-end eau de parfum!!

    The point is: “Moderation” is subjective. For example, if a person has a net-worth of say N1Billion, why would you begrudge him for having a car that costs even N50Million? Or why complain if he owns an airplane that costs $5million if he thinks his business and lifestyle demand that he owns a jet? And who says that means he cannot or does not give generously to the poor?

    What then would be said about very wealthy people in the Bible whom God blessed exceedingly like Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, Joseph, David and Solomon, for example? And they were men of God: prophets and teachers. David wrote a lot of Psalms and Solomon wrote much contained in the book of Proverbs and Ecclesiastes. Solomon was so lavish in his lifestyle that the Queen of Sheba heard of his opulence and travelled all the way to Israel to see for herself.

    1st Kings 10:

    1. When the queen of Sheba heard about the fame of Solomon and his relationship to the Lord, she came to test Solomon with hard questions.

    2.  Arriving at Jerusalem with a very great caravan—with camels carrying spices, large quantities of gold, and precious stones—she came to Solomon and talked with him about all that she had on her mind.

    3. Solomon answered all her questions; nothing was too hard for the king to explain to her.

    4. When the queen of Sheba saw all the wisdom of Solomon and the palace he had built,

    5. the food on his table, the seating of his officials, the attending servants in their robes, his cupbearers, and the burnt offerings he made at the temple of the Lord, she was overwhelmed.

    6. She said to the king, “The report I heard in my own country about your achievements and your wisdom is true.

    7. But I did not believe these things until I came and saw with my own eyes. Indeed, not even half was told me; in wisdom and wealth you have far exceeded the report I heard. 8. How happy your people must be! How happy your officials, who continually stand before you and hear your wisdom!

    9. Praise be to the Lord your God, who has delighted in you and placed you on the throne of Israel. Because of the Lord’s eternal love for Israel, he has made you king to maintain justice and righteousness.”

    10. And she gave the king 120 talents of gold, large quantities of spices, and precious stones. Never again were so many spices brought in as those the queen of Sheba gave to King Solomon.

    11. (Hiram’s ships brought gold from Ophir; and from there they brought great cargoes of almugwood and precious stones.

    12. The king used the almugwood to make supports for the temple of the Lord and for the royal palace, and to make harps and lyres for the musicians. So much almugwood has never been imported or seen since that day.)

    13. King Solomon gave the queen of Sheba all she desired and asked for, besides what he had given her out of his royal bounty. Then she left and returned with her retinue to her own country.

    14. The weight of the gold that Solomon received yearly was 666 talents,

    15. not including the revenues from merchants and traders and from all the Arabian kings and the governors of the territories.

    16. King Solomon made two hundred large shields of hammered gold; six hundred shekels[ of gold went into each shield. 17 He also made three hundred small shields of hammered gold, with three minas[g] of gold in each shield. The king put them in the Palace of the Forest of Lebanon.

    18. Then the king made a great throne covered with ivory and overlaid with fine gold.

    19. The throne had six steps, and its back had a rounded top. On both sides of the seat were armrests, with a lion standing beside each of them.

    20. Twelve lions stood on the six steps, one at either end of each step. Nothing like it had ever been made for any other kingdom.

    21. All King Solomon’s goblets were gold, and all the household articles in the Palace of the Forest of Lebanon were pure gold. Nothing was made of silver, because silver was considered of little value in Solomon’s days.

    22. The king had a fleet of trading ships at sea along with the ships of Hiram. Once every three years it returned, carrying gold, silver and ivory, and apes and baboons.

    23. King Solomon was greater in riches and wisdom than all the other kings of the earth. 24. The whole world sought audience with Solomon to hear the wisdom God had put in his heart.

    25. Year after year, everyone who came brought a gift—articles of silver and gold, robes, weapons and spices, and horses and mules.

    26. Solomon accumulated chariots and horses; he had fourteen hundred chariots and twelve thousand horses, which he kept in the chariot cities and also with him in Jerusalem.

    27. The king made silver as common in Jerusalem as stones, and cedar as plentiful as sycamore-fig trees in the foothills.

    28. Solomon’s horses were imported from Egypt and from Ku—the royal merchants purchased them from Kue at the current price.

    29. They imported a chariot from Egypt for six hundred shekels of silver, and a horse for a hundred and fifty. They also exported them to all the kings of the Hittites and of the Arameans.

    So, how does one explain King Solomon’s immense wealth (which God Himself gave to him) and his obscenely opulent and exotic lifestyle? In fact, Jesus even endorsed King Solomon when He said: “A greater than Solomon is here” in reference to Himself. And, today, those of us who are truly Christ’s can even exceed Solomon’s wealth if we would be Kingdom-focused and walk with God in complete obedience and holiness. Personally, I am looking forward to being a billionaire and being used by God to advance the Gospel of Christ in these Last Days. Like God said in Zechariah 1:17, it is by prosperity that His cities (His Kingdom) shall be spread abroad.

    Let us honour our men of God who are celebrated worldwide. If there is any veritable case of fraud or embezzlement against any clergyman, let the law take its course. To generalise that all wealthy pastors are thieves and assume that they must be exploiting their church members is twisted, unjust and wicked.

     

  • Of Nigerian pastors and private jets

    The news media and the social internet sites like Facebook, Twitter and several Nigerian online portals have been abuzz since Saturday, November 10, after reports that Pastor Ayo Oritsejafor, the President of the Christian Association of Nigeria (CAN) and President of the Pentecostal Fellowship of Nigeria (PFN), had joined the rarefied ranks of Nigerian pastors who owned private jets. It was Pastor Ayo’s birthday and he was also celebrating his 40th anniversary as an ordained minister of the Gospel of Jesus Christ. So, some wealthy members of the church where he serves as the Senior Pastor, Word of Life Bible Church, Warri, contributed money and bought an airplane as a gift for him. The President, Dr. Goodluck Jonathan, was among the several local and international dignitaries who were in Warri to rejoice with Pastor Ayo on the august occasion.

    Expectedly, criticisms have trailed the development. Pastor-bashing is now commonplace in Nigeria, especially on social media like Facebook, even by some who claim to be “Christians” but have no understanding whatsoever of the Bible and have no respect for spiritual authority.

    Not unexpectedly, even the latter-day “social critic”, good governance “crusader” and President Jonathan-basher, Mallam Nasir El Rufai, joined the bandwagon not wanting to miss an opportunity to politicise the matter. He tweeted “@afo4u: @elrufai And the church members are wallowing in abject poverty”…irony of life, but it is CAN, PDP branch…so anything is possible.

    And, in response to El Rufai’s malicious tweet which went viral on the internet, some have even alleged that it was the Presidency that actually bought the private jet for Pastor Ayo Oritsejafor!

    The statement by Nasir El Rufai, a chieftain of the Congress of Progressive Change, who has been critical of the Joint Task Force for its response to Boko Haram activities in the north, underscores the manifest mischief of some who have been attacking Pastor Ayo Oritsejafor using the airplane gift as their excuse.

    This is not surprising. Pastor Ayo Oritsejafor’s election as the President of the Christian Association of Nigeria in 2010 was historic. It was the first time that someone from the pentecostal fold would become the President of CAN. His emergence as CAN’s leader also happened at a time when the terrorist jihadist group, Boko Haram, began escalating its murderous activities in the northern part of Nigeria. And in January, 2011, just months after Pastor Ayo’s elevation as CAN’s President, the Central Bank of Nigeria under the leadership of its Governor, Mallam Sanusi Lamido Sanusi, introduced its Malaysia-style Islamic banking which Justice Gabriel Kolawole of the Federal High Court, Abuja recently declared to be unconstitutional and illegal. It became incumbent on Pastor Ayo to articulate and voice out the stance of the Nigerian church on these two issues. And his passion and conviction in dealing with these issues have come to define public perception about him.

    For many Christians, particularly in northern Nigeria, Pastor Ayo’s leadership of CAN could not have been more timely. Not one to be intimidated into silence, Pastor Ayo’s forceful statements on national issues cannot be ignored. For those who would have preferred him to be subservient and kow-tow to the reactionary elements who, though not even of the Christian faith, had successfully influenced the actions of some of the past leaders of CAN, Pastor Ayo was soon accused of “heating up the polity” even when it was clear to all that he was merely responding to the actions of those who were actually causing division, strife and the death of thousands of innocent and hapless Nigerians. For a man known for his utmost commitment to God and the establishment of His Kingdom, hypocritical posturing and pandering to the gallery for photo opportunities to be hailed as a politically correct “pacifist” while thousands of his Christian brothers and sisters are plunged into utter misery and rendered widows, widowers or orphans was not an option. Loquacious Mallam Nasir El Rufai merely gave voice to his constituents who have been frustrated by Pastor Ayo Oritsejafor’s uncompromising and principled stance on the on-going war against the church and Christians in Nigeria. As far as I know, the Nigerian pastors that currently have private jets are Bishop David Oyedepo, Pastor Adejare Adeboye, Pastor Chris Oyakhilomen and, of course, Pastor Ayo Oritsejafor who was given one just last Saturday by members of his congregation as he celebrated 40 years of ministry.

    These men have to travel very frequently around the world ministering. Redeemed Christian Church of God has thousands of branches and millions of members on all continents of the world. Winners’ Chapel and Christ Embassy equally have many international branches and hundreds of thousands of members. Pastor Adeboye, Bishop Oyedepo and Pastor Oyakhilomen travel thousands of kilometres monthly doing God’s work and have to be in places not well-served by commercial flights. On his part, Pastor Oritsejafor travels every other day within and outside Nigeria as the President of the Christian Association of Nigeria. I know him personally and can confirm that he hardly spends a full week at home in Warri because of his very busy ministry itinerary.

    The Pope rarely travels more than thrice internationally in a year. Yet the Pope has a private jet. Why has nobody complained about that?

    Very few know about the social and philanthropic work which these men of God and thousands of others are doing. In reality, the church is doing more than any government, international agency or Non-Governmental Organisation to fight poverty, illiteracy and diseases in Nigeria today. The church in Nigeria is much more effective than the government at all levels. It is not just in the habit of churches and Christian ministers to be boasting about their poverty-alleviation programmes and charity work like companies and many non-faith based NGOs love to do for public commendation and approval. They leave God, the Rewarder, to judge what they do in the “closet” and reward their good work both here on earth and in the hereafter.

    That there are some pastors who are fleecing the sheep and whose god is their bellies does not mean all wealthy pastors are scammers. Many of them are entrepreneurial and do not even get remuneration from their churches. In fact, they are often the biggest donors/givers in their church.

    Prosperity is scriptural. The worship of Mammon (money) is not. Let us not be like those “Christians” of whom Kenneth Hagin Sr. wrote in one of his books that they prayed: “Lord, please keep our pastor humble. We will keep him poor”!

    What was Jesus’ experience with matters like this? Let’s see John 12:1-16:

    1. Six days before the Passover, Jesus came to Bethany, where Lazarus lived, whom Jesus had raised from the dead.

    2. Here a dinner was given in Jesus’ honour. Martha served, while Lazarus was among those reclining at the table with him.

    3. Then Mary took about a pint of pure nard, an expensive perfume; she poured it on Jesus’ feet and wiped his feet with her hair. And the house was filled with the fragrance of the perfume.

    4. But one of his disciples, Judas Iscariot, who was later to betray him, objected,

    5. “Why wasn’t this perfume sold and the money given to the poor? It was worth a year’s wages.”

    6. He did not say this because he cared about the poor but because he was a thief; as keeper of the money bag, he used to help himself to what was put into it.

    7. “Leave her alone,” Jesus replied. “It was intended that she should save this perfume for the day of my burial.

    8. You will always have the poor among you but you will not always have me.”

    9. Meanwhile, a large crowd of Jews found out that Jesus was there and came, not only because of him but also to see Lazarus, whom he had raised from the dead.

    10. So the chief priests made plans to kill Lazarus as well,

    11. for on account of him many of the Jews were going over to Jesus and believing in him.

    12. The next day the great crowd that had come for the festival heard that Jesus was on his way to Jerusalem.

    13. They took palm branches and went out to meet him, shouting, “Hosanna! Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord! Blessed is the king of Israel!”

    14. Jesus found a young donkey and sat on it, as it is written:

    15. “Do not be afraid, Daughter Zion; see, your king is coming, seated on a donkey’s colt.”

    16. At first his disciples did not understand all this. Only after Jesus was glorified did they realize that these things had been written about him and that these things had been done to him.

    If Jesus were alive today and a Nigerian, religiously-minded “Christians” would abuse and condemn him for not agreeing to Judas Iscariot’s suggestion that the expensive perfume be sold and “given to the poor”. Some people like to point to the fact that Jesus rode a donkey into Jerusalem. But, they conveniently ignore the verses in the same chapter of the Bible (John 12 above) where we are told Mary poured perfume worth One Year’s Wage. That is about N216,000 today if we use the minimum wage of N18,000 per month. Designer perfumes sell for no more than N20,000 for a 100ml bottle of a high-end eau de parfum!!

    The point is: “Moderation” is subjective. For example, if a person has a net-worth of say N1Billion, why would you begrudge him for having a car that costs even N50Million? Or why complain if he owns an airplane that costs $5million if he thinks his business and lifestyle demand that he owns a jet? And who says that means he cannot or does not give generously to the poor?

    What then would be said about very wealthy people in the Bible whom God blessed exceedingly like Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, Joseph, David and Solomon, for example? And they were men of God: prophets and teachers. David wrote a lot of Psalms and Solomon wrote much contained in the book of Proverbs and Ecclesiastes. Solomon was so lavish in his lifestyle that the Queen of Sheba heard of his opulence and travelled all the way to Israel to see for herself.

    1st Kings 10:

    1. When the queen of Sheba heard about the fame of Solomon and his relationship to the Lord, she came to test Solomon with hard questions.

    2.  Arriving at Jerusalem with a very great caravan—with camels carrying spices, large quantities of gold, and precious stones—she came to Solomon and talked with him about all that she had on her mind.

    3. Solomon answered all her questions; nothing was too hard for the king to explain to her.

    4. When the queen of Sheba saw all the wisdom of Solomon and the palace he had built,

    5. the food on his table, the seating of his officials, the attending servants in their robes, his cupbearers, and the burnt offerings he made at the temple of the Lord, she was overwhelmed.

    6. She said to the king, “The report I heard in my own country about your achievements and your wisdom is true.

    7. But I did not believe these things until I came and saw with my own eyes. Indeed, not even half was told me; in wisdom and wealth you have far exceeded the report I heard. 8. How happy your people must be! How happy your officials, who continually stand before you and hear your wisdom!

    9. Praise be to the Lord your God, who has delighted in you and placed you on the throne of Israel. Because of the Lord’s eternal love for Israel, he has made you king to maintain justice and righteousness.”

    10. And she gave the king 120 talents of gold, large quantities of spices, and precious stones. Never again were so many spices brought in as those the queen of Sheba gave to King Solomon.

    11. (Hiram’s ships brought gold from Ophir; and from there they brought great cargoes of almugwood and precious stones.

    12. The king used the almugwood to make supports for the temple of the Lord and for the royal palace, and to make harps and lyres for the musicians. So much almugwood has never been imported or seen since that day.)

    13. King Solomon gave the queen of Sheba all she desired and asked for, besides what he had given her out of his royal bounty. Then she left and returned with her retinue to her own country.

    14. The weight of the gold that Solomon received yearly was 666 talents,

    15. not including the revenues from merchants and traders and from all the Arabian kings and the governors of the territories.

    16. King Solomon made two hundred large shields of hammered gold; six hundred shekels[ of gold went into each shield. 17 He also made three hundred small shields of hammered gold, with three minas[g] of gold in each shield. The king put them in the Palace of the Forest of Lebanon.

    18. Then the king made a great throne covered with ivory and overlaid with fine gold.

    19. The throne had six steps, and its back had a rounded top. On both sides of the seat were armrests, with a lion standing beside each of them.

    20. Twelve lions stood on the six steps, one at either end of each step. Nothing like it had ever been made for any other kingdom.

    21. All King Solomon’s goblets were gold, and all the household articles in the Palace of the Forest of Lebanon were pure gold. Nothing was made of silver, because silver was considered of little value in Solomon’s days.

    22. The king had a fleet of trading ships at sea along with the ships of Hiram. Once every three years it returned, carrying gold, silver and ivory, and apes and baboons.

    23. King Solomon was greater in riches and wisdom than all the other kings of the earth. 24. The whole world sought audience with Solomon to hear the wisdom God had put in his heart.

    25. Year after year, everyone who came brought a gift—articles of silver and gold, robes, weapons and spices, and horses and mules.

    26. Solomon accumulated chariots and horses; he had fourteen hundred chariots and twelve thousand horses, which he kept in the chariot cities and also with him in Jerusalem.

    27. The king made silver as common in Jerusalem as stones, and cedar as plentiful as sycamore-fig trees in the foothills.

    28. Solomon’s horses were imported from Egypt and from Ku—the royal merchants purchased them from Kue at the current price.

    29. They imported a chariot from Egypt for six hundred shekels of silver, and a horse for a hundred and fifty. They also exported them to all the kings of the Hittites and of the Arameans.

    So, how does one explain King Solomon’s immense wealth (which God Himself gave to him) and his obscenely opulent and exotic lifestyle? In fact, Jesus even endorsed King Solomon when He said: “A greater than Solomon is here” in reference to Himself. And, today, those of us who are truly Christ’s can even exceed Solomon’s wealth if we would be Kingdom-focused and walk with God in complete obedience and holiness. Personally, I am looking forward to being a billionaire and being used by God to advance the Gospel of Christ in these Last Days. Like God said in Zechariah 1:17, it is by prosperity that His cities (His Kingdom) shall be spread abroad.

    Let us honour our men of God who are celebrated worldwide. If there is any veritable case of fraud or embezzlement against any clergyman, let the law take its course. To generalise that all wealthy pastors are thieves and assume that they must be exploiting their church members is twisted, unjust and wicked.

     

  • Genocide; ‘Biafran’ culpability and Achebe’s impressions

    Genocide; ‘Biafran’ culpability and Achebe’s impressions

    IN the maelstrom of reactions to Chinua Achebe’s new book, amongst is a noteworthy opinion that Achebe’s book presents us with an opportunity, perhaps for rational enquiry into some of some of the events that led to the rise and fall of ‘Biafra’, and its aftermath. It seems that to further understand Achebe’s position; the viewpoints of other persons mostly of Igbo origin may be examined.

    ABC Nwosu has alleged there was pogrom, genocide and mass starvation of innocent children in Nigeria in 1966 and in ‘Biafra’ from 1967 to 1970. Undoubtedly and most regrettably, children suffered from the effects of the Nigerian Civil War while the blockade of ‘Biafran’ territory was a reality during the Nigerian Civil War, but it is grossly unfair and inaccurate for anybody to give the impression that the starvation of children was a deliberate policy of the General Yakubu Gowon led Nigerian Federal Government and for Achebe to have amplified his baseless and queer impression that Chief Obafemi Awolowo sought to exterminate Igbos in order to improve the fortunes of the Yoruba people.

    Achebe has consistently had kind words for Aminu Kano in both The Trouble with Nigeria and in his biography authored by Ezenwa-Ohaeto, where at page 138, Achebe recollects an encounter with the Nigerian delegation at a conference he attended in Kampala, Uganda, as roving ambassador of ‘Biafra’. He states “I remember very well seeing Aminu Kano on the Nigerian delegation sitting in front and looking so distressed. This is one of the strongest impressions the man made on me, compared to people like Chief Enahoro who was leader of the delegation swaggering as conquerors, and even Asika. Aminu Kano seemed to be so different; in fact, he seemed to be looking out of the window. While his colleagues were speaking arrogantly and bent on our surrender, Aminu Kano was calm and in pain”.

    The well-orchestrated pogroms in the North in 1966 during which thousands of Igbos and other southerners were slaughtered were, to say the very least, indefensible, and deserved redress. Chuks Iloegunam in the very well researched book, Ironside [the biography of Major General Aguiyi-Ironsi] details in pages 172 to 183 the pogroms in Northern Nigeria. He states on page 175 that “People have been hard to convince that Mallam Aminu Kano played a principal role in organising the genocide perpetrated against Ndigbo in 1966, simply because of his position as a politician of the talakawa or common folk. And these doubters include those who readily believe the complicity of politicians such as Adamu Ciroma, Umaru Dikko, Suleman Takuma, Mamman Daura, Inuwa Wada and others. But [Iyorchia] Ayu is right in mentioning him, as a notable party to the bloody conspiracy. This fact was confirmed by Hajia Gambo Sawaba, one of the foremost women politicians in Nigeria and a member of Mallam Aminu’s defunct Northern Elements Progressive Union [NEPU]….”   Perhaps Achebe, who is only human after all, has a major problem with his impressions and is better suited to writing fiction and fantasy rather than analysing reality.

    A well, publicised statement that ‘’It would appear that the God of Africa has created the Igbo nation to lead the children of Africa from the bondage of ages by  Dr Nnamdi Azikiwe, President of the Pan-Igbo Federal Union. (The West African Pilot of July 8, 1949) and another that ‘’Igbo domination of Nigeria is only a matter of time’’- Charles Dadi Onyeama, a prominent Igbo lawyer [later jurist] and member of the Central Legislative Council, 1945. (Pg. 204 ‘’Ethnic Politics In Kenya and Nigeria’’ by Godfrey Mwakikagile),  together with the flawed execution of the Five Majors’ coup, the perceived triumphant attitude of Igbos after the coup, the alleged ‘Ibonisation’ policies of Ironsi,  and the notorious Decree 34 certainly created suspicion but cannot justify the unrestrained and calibrated violence unleashed in reaction against Igbos and other southerners.

    But given the regional sensibilities and ethnic fraught politics of Nigeria, it is important to note the opinion Bernard Odogwu [Head of Intelligence, Biafra] expressed before the ‘return match’ coup of July 1966 and later published in “No Place to Hide – Crises and Conflicts inside Biafra”; “First I ask myself this question, ‘What will be the position as soon as the present mass euphoria in welcoming the ‘revolution’ in the country fades away?’ There is already some rumour here within diplomatic circles that January 15 was a grand Igbo design to liquidate all opposition in order to make way for Igbo domination of the whole country. What then is the Igbo man’s defence to this allegation in light of the sectional and selective method adopted by the coup plotters?

    “Although, sitting here alone as I write this, I am tempted to say that there was no such Igbo grand design, yet the inescapable fact is that the Igbos are already as a group being condemned by the rest for the activities of a handful of ambitious Igbo army officers; for here I am, with the rest of my Igbo colleagues, some thousands of miles away from home, yet being put on the defensive for such actions that we were neither consulted about, nor approved of. Our Northern colleagues and friends now look on us Igbos here as strangers and potential enemies. They are now more isolated than ever before. Their pride is hurt; and who would blame them?

    “Secondly, I ask myself the questions posed to me this afternoon by my colleague: What would I do if I were placed in the position of the Northerner? What do I do? How do I react to the situation? Do I just deplore and condemn those atrocities or do I plan a revenge? I do not blame the Northern chaps for feeling so sore since the events of the last few days. They definitely have my sympathy, for it must have been shocking to say the least, for one to wake up one fine morning to find nearly all one’s revered leaders gone overnight. But they were not only Northern leaders as such, and I am as much aggrieved at their loss as any other Nigerian, Northern or otherwise. I am particularly shocked at the news that Major Ifeajuna personally shot and killed his mentor, Brigadier Maimalari. My God! That must have been Caesar and Brutus come alive, with the Brigadier definitely saying ‘Et tu Emma’ before collapsing………

    “…….As for the new man at the helm of affairs, Major General Aguiyi-Ironsi, he too like the majority of the Majors is an Igbo, and that has not helped matters either.…..

    “Granted that he is such a good soldier as he is reputed to be, the question is: ‘Are all good soldiers necessarily good statesmen? Again how well prepared is he for the task he has just inherited?’ I do hope that he is also as wise as he is reputed to be bold, because if you ask me, I think the General is sitting on a time bomb, with the fuse almost burnt out. We shall wait and see what happens next, but from my observations, I know the present state of affairs will not last long. A northern counter-action is definitely around the corner, and God save us all when it explodes.”

    Major General’ Alexander Madiebo, the Commander of the Biafran Army, in the informative and comprehensively detailed book; the Nigerian Revolution and the Biafran War, at pages 46 to 50, relates how he obtained advance information about the planned pogroms of 1966 and accordingly briefed Aguiyi-Ironsi in the presence of Mobolaji-Johnson [then Governor of Lagos State], to no avail. Aguiyi-Ironsi labeled Madiebo a rumour monger. Ironically, the February 1966 coup had been widely celebrated, even in the North, but after the selective execution came to light, together with the failure to try the coupists, and unsuitability of Aguiyi-Ironsi’s policy decisions, especially Decree 34, were noted, Northern reaction became, in the Nigerian context, inevitable, inasmuch as the actual fighting troops of the Nigerian Army were predominantly northerners.

    The conduct of some Federal troops during the Civil War certainly was not all wholesome. The Asaba massacre was a major disgrace. The  indiscriminate bombing by hired Egyptian pilots, which was similar to but not on the same scale as Nazi Germany air blitz of London, Allied forces carpet bombing of German cities and USA destruction of Nagasaki and Hiroshima with atomic bombs, all during the Second World War, USA large scale napalm bombing during the Viet Nam war, etc, was unfortunate. But only very few Igbo persons, Achebe and ABC Nwosu inclusive, have ever addressed the problems faced by ‘minorities’ in ‘Biafra’. Arthur Nwankwo in the excellent book, Nigeria: The Challenge of Biafra frankly states on page 71 that “Suspicion of collaboration with the Federal troops made the Biafran non-Ibos victims of molestation and even torture and death from over-zealous Ibos. Understandably, these unhappy events turned these people against the Biafran state which they identified as an Ibo state. It must, however, be placed on record that among the Biafran scientists, leaders, propagandists and soldiers were many Efiks, Ibibios, Ijaws, and Ogojas who excelled in their work, and who received Biafran state honours for their services”.

    It is quite understandable that ‘Biafran’ die-hards harbor grudges against Chief Obafemi Awolowo, SAN. From all indications, the erudite, learned, sagacious, versatile and eminent Chief, a practical economist of note, was responsible for the change of Nigerian currency during the civil war. The effect of this change was of ruinous and catastrophic effect to ‘Biafra’. According to Alexander Madiebo [in the Nigerian Revolution and the Biafran War, pages 381-382] “The Biafran financial disaster, if not a total collapse of the change in currency by Nigeria in January, 1968, was the most important single reason why we lost the war. At the end of the financial chaos which followed in Biafra, we had lost over 50 million pounds which would have made a world of a difference in our favour if properly utilised for the execution of the war’.  By this currency change, amongst other reasons, Awolowo’s greatness as a national leader in his commitment to the unity and progress of Nigeria above and beyond ethnic boundaries and loyalties is manifest, despite Achebe’s insistence to the contrary, immediately after Awolowo’s demise.

    Another excellent novelist, Cyprian Ekwensi, in The Nigerian Civil War 1967-1970, History and Reminiscences [edited by General HB Momoh], states at page 508 that “ Now, another thing which helped Biafran propaganda which I have talked about was credibility. If I tell you now that I contested for Senator in my village and I had 300,000 votes-the whole population of my village is about 30,000-I had 300,000 against my opponent who had 500,000, now how do you prove it? Don’t you see? When you are telling someone something which is unprovable, he has two choices. One, to believe you, and two, not to believe you. If he believes you it will be on your past record of truth. If he doesn’t believe you it will be on your lack of credibility. Now, Nigeria committed a lot of lack-of-credibility acts. They would say there would be a conference for peace tomorrow and they would be bombing the town in which the peace conference would be held tonight. So as the outside world saw them as people who were showing us their might rather than bringing back a strayed part of the Federation into the fold again. We gave the number of children dying per day as 1,000. Can you prove that? Can you disprove it? But can you believe it? That is propaganda. And we said 2 million Biafrans were killed in the war in 30 months. So, when we started returning to Lagos one of my friends saw me and said, “Ah! I thought you’ve died. Okoko Ndem you are alive-they said all of you died-2 1/2 million people died.” Now Nigeria couldn’t disprove that thing. So that is part of the secret of propaganda. That is, working with probable facts rather than convincing facts”.

    He also confirms, at page 509, that relief flights were utilised to smuggle arms into Biafra; “What a risk we were taking! If that thing blows up everybody goes. Arms, part of this way; milk and corn flower (sic) part of the other way; rice and all those other things”.  He also reveals that Uli Airport, at a point in time, handled 40 flights per night, bearing ‘relief materials with arms built into them”.

    When asked the question, “Most of the information going out of Biafra was exaggerated. Why was this so?” Ekwensi replied: “Have you ever heard of the statement, ‘All is fair in love and war?’ Is that wrong? Are you saying it is wrong?” [Page 510].

    On malnutrition of children, he states: “It was there. I had a friend named Charles Ogonna who had seven children. The children’s colour changed to gold because of malnutrition and their bellies became very big. You see a child with a fat belly and yet he is hungry. Don’t you see-what is in that belly? So it did affect; there were no regular meals. In every situation in Nigeria or Africa somebody will take advantage of it. The relief materials were being sold in the market. They were not given to the relief centres and refugee centres. We had our refugees too. So people were selling the relief”.

    He confirms that “People were stealing and selling the food. You could buy it in the market but you couldn’t get it in the relief centres”. [Page 510.] And yet, the main targets of the relief efforts; children, were dying from starvation, while some Biafrans profited from the theft and sale of relief food.

    The irresponsible and refusal of ‘Biafran’ authorities to agree in very good time to land corridors for day time supplies of relief materials, especially food, to be administered and distributed by international aid agencies manifest in ABC Nwosu’s  reference to ‘human pride and human freedom’ as the reason for “Biafran’ stubbornness in not compromising in food and relief allied negotiations and rampant theft of relief materials are fundamental and callous ‘Biafra at all costs’contributive factors to the unfortunate starvation of innocent children, a fact that ‘Biafran’ die-hards pathetically refuse to countenance. To utilize Nwosu’s words, ‘these sick and twisted minds’ are those ‘Biafrans’ that sacrificed ‘Biafran’ children to starvation due to overweening and foolish pride, and those that stole and sold relief materials for gain.

    In the foreword to thought provoking book, Reflections on the Nigerian Civil War; Facing the future [1969], by the courageous Ralph Uwechue, Dr. Nnamdi Azikiwe  states that “I commend this book to those who are interested in resolving the Nigerian crisis with realism”,  but the likes of Ojukwu, Nwokedi, Achebe and Nwosu, defiant hardliners, definitely were obviously not interested. Uwechue at page 139 states; “It is here perhaps that the question of the responsibility of a timid Ibo elite comes in. The Biafran masses, enslaved by an extremely efficient propaganda network and cowed by the iron grip of a ruthless military machine, had neither the facts nor the liberty to form an independent opinion. The case of the elite was different. Biafra’s choice was clear after the double losses of (a) territory, with the fall of Biafra’s major towns, Enugu, Port-Harcourt, Calabar, Onitsha, Aba and Umuahia and, (b) war funds, with the exhaustion of Biafra’s treasury in February 1968 caused by Nigeria’s switch to a new currency which suddenly rendered practically valueless some thirty million pounds in Biafran hands. Those who had access to the facts knew that the time had come to seek a realistic way to end the war and save millions of defenseless Ibos and innocent children from disaster. In private they expressed this view but proved too cowardly to take a stand and tell Ojukwu the truth. On the contrary, they allowed themselves to be used for the public denunciation of those who took the risk of calling for a halt. Yet, when their cherished handiwork was threatened with collapse, these front-line advocates of ‘fighting to the last man’ were the first men to flee”. It is not unreasonable to suspect that Achebe and Nwosu remain defiant ‘Biafran’ propagandists who also believe their inaccurate and often times fictional handiwork.

     

  • Osun cocoa industry must not die

    That was His Majesty, late Oba Tijani Oladokun Oyewusi, Agbonran II, Timi of Ede’s message of hope delivered at the commissioning of the multi-million naira Cocoa Products Industry, Ede on October 17, 1982, with late Chief Bola Ige as old Oyo State governor in attendance. This writer covered the event for Radio Nigeria, Ibadan. But that hope is now almost lost, as this promising major foreign exchange earner for the economy of Osun State is not meeting the yearnings and aspirations of its founding fathers. The present state of operation in the company is not encouraging. Several avoidable factors were responsible for the situation, as the industry was a child of circumstance.

    From the onset, one squabble or the other reared its ugly head. The first expatriate Managing Director of the company, K. W. Sheldon tried his best to put it on sound footings but lost out in a dirty board-room politics in a dramatic manner. The government-owner of the company thereafter decided in 1990 to lease it out.

    This brought about a marriage of strange bed-partners. Another round of squabbles ensued. The two principal lessees of the factory, Worldwide Industrial Ventures Limited and Dalami (Nig.) Limited, got embroiled in allegations and counter-allegations, with two legal luminaries – late Chief Fredrick Rotimi Alade Williams (Timi the Law, SAN) and Chief Afe Babalola (SAN) representing the parties slugging it out at an Osogbo High Court.

    The administration of Alhaji Isiaka Adeleke, first executive governor of Osun State later took the bull by the horns by giving the final nod to Worldwide Industrial Venture Limited to run the affairs of the company. Dalami (Nig.) Limited again went to court to contest its termination and this went on for years before it was resolved by Oyinlola government.

    R. P. Singh and his managers at Worldwide Industrial Venture Limited would later breathe a new lease of life to the hitherto troubled company following an agreement it struck with the government. It started operation fully on February 1, 1992.

    At the time Worldwide Ventures Limited took over, production capacity was at five percent level. But it raised the production capacity to 60 percent, by injecting substantial funds into importation of spare – parts as well as locally sourced ones from the Nigeria Machine Tool Limited Osogbo and Nigeria Sugar Company Foundries, Bacita.

    The unexpected happened in 1995 when the agreement of Worldwide Ventures Limited was crudely terminated by some over-zealous officials of the Ministry of Commerce and Industry, acting on the instruction of the then military administrator, Anthony Udofia. Worldwide Ventures Limited was thrown out of Cocoa Product Industry premises in a jungle manner. What followed could be better imagined than described. There and then began the unending and protracted problem of the industry till today.

    Osun State government’s only industry, which in fact is a goldmine, if properly managed, is the Cocoa Product Industry, Ede. It is a veritable source of foreign exchange earnings for the state. It is capable of generating the much needed internal revenue for the state at this crucial moment of its development. More so, with the bad state of infrastructure in major towns of the state.

    But then, it is left for the state government and the State House of Assembly, to tell the people of Osun what a Chinese promoter – QUIAN CHUAN Living Spring Cocoa Investment Company Limited, is doing in the factory site for upward of more than three years now. They were brought in by the administration of former governor Olagunsoye Oyinlola. Since they took physical possession of the company, nobody has deemed it fit to explain to the members of the public on what terms the Chinese people are set to run the industry. So many things are shrouded in secrecy. We need to know.

    Is the 40% equity share participation, that the government is alleged to be insisting upon from the company, the factor delaying the signing of the Memorandum of Understanding (MoU)?

    So many questions are begging for answers. Are the Title Deeds documents ‘missing’ somewhere in the Ministry of Commerce and Industry? This is one major obstacle that should be resolved without further delay. Nobody, no matter how highly placed, should be allowed to constitute themselves into clog in the wheel of progress of transforming the Cocoa firm from inertness into an active entity.

    Is this not another subtle attempt to scare away foreign investors? What we need in Osun State is accelerated industrial development. We just need to be briefed on how much the Chinese investors paid to Osun State government through the administration of former governor Oyinlola before it was given the nod to come in.

    The Cocoa Product Industry erstwhile managers and workers, who have been on forced holiday for more than seven years, should be given the right of a recall to take the company to greater heights. If Cooperative Cocoa Industry Akure, which is just a quarter of the size of Ede Industry could produce uninterruptedly for so many years, nothing stops the Ede complex from being a leader in the sector. Ile-Oluji Cocoa Industry is waxing stronger.

    Kudos should go to His Highness, late Oba Tijani Oladokun Oyewusi, the Time of Ede, and the Federal Council of Ede Descendants’ Union and other concerned Osun indigenes, for their untiring efforts in getting solutions to the ailing industry. Their effort should be complemented by the State House of Assembly Committee on Commerce and Industry, through its own independent inquiry as what is happening right now in the company. Over to you, Hon. Kamorudeen ‘Debo Akanbi.

    Governor Aregbesola will also write his name in gold, in the industrial hall of fame of Osun, by acting decisively and promptly on the affairs of Cocoa Product Industry.

    He should not allow himself to be deceived by government bureaucrats, who may not give him the true picture of affairs in the company for reasons best known to them. Cocoa Product Industry Ede is a company of yesterday, today and tomorrow for the people of Osun State. It is posterity-bound, prosperity-inclined. Osun State Ministry of Commerce and Industry should endeavour to pay up all statutory entitlements due to the workers laid off for the past seven years.

    Osun Cocoa Product Industry, for whatever reasons, has no cause to die prematurely. The dream of its founding fathers, under the leadership of late Chief Bola Ige, should live on. Governor Aregbesola should act with precision to bring the industry back to production. Osun Cocoa Products Industry must not die, it deserves to live. The sweet aroma should endure.

     

    Lawal wrote from Ede, Osun State.

  • Disconnect in reasoning on Oyo N50b bond

    There is no doubt that the years of military dictatorship and the bitter facts of the African historical past have sidled into the lexicon and thought process of Nigerians. The troika of the people, government and the governed are not blameless in this regard. While governments see themselves as reincarnation of the African kings and kingdoms that can do no wrong, the governed and the people in general problematize the art of governance, erecting a buffer between them and the government which they elected; or purportedly elected. This results in the ‘we’ and ‘them’ division where government is the ‘them’ and the people the ‘we’. The ‘we’ don’t trust the ‘them’ as the former implicates the latter in the stagnation of its development.

    In the ensuing warfare between the ‘we’ and the ‘them’, a lot of weapons are utilized, some fair and some foul. Because the ‘them’ is not part of the ‘we’, it is sought to be brought down viciously with a combination of outright falsehood, inflated untruth and what, in common parlance, is called roforofo.

    Mr. Ayodele Adigun has traversed the two divides of ‘we’ and ‘them.’ Being a former Director of Budget and Planning, Permanent Secretary, Ministry of Finance, among other ministries, Commissioner for Special Duties and Secretary to the Oyo State Government under Senator Rashidi Ladoja, before his current out-of-office situation which, to ex-political appointees, is called political Siberia, he can speak for both divides with oracular certainty. So when he wrote the Disconnect in Oyo N50 Billion Bond (The Guardian on Sunday, October 28, 2012,Tribune, October 31, 2011), because he holds ‘Gold Card’ membership of the ‘we’ and ‘them’ divides, he was expected to have brought to bear his accumulated acumen, experience and dispassionate understanding of the peculiar turfs of the two divides. But, alas, as this piece seeks to state presently, the unpleasant incubus of his present occupation with the ‘them’ has wiped off the essential ingredient of objectivity required of him.

    The piece began with a pretension to objectivity, however. As someone who had served as top civil servant in Oyo State and having been saddled with the responsibility of fiscal policy management, preparation and implementation of budget and financial appropriations, he said, he had ample reasons to disagree with the N50 billion bond which the Oyo State House of Assembly recently authorized the state government to collect. Which is a legitimate dissent. But when the piece went into the details of the dissention, you could not but pity a state that lifted such a character to the highest echelon of power in the past. Like a deadly blow, the reality would hit you as to why Oyo State had stagnated for this long and why a state of firsts suddenly relapsed into coma. When a man who had risen that high parades such abysmal mischief and flaunts it with candour, you needed not look far for a testament to the stasis of Oyo State. The piece betrayed the credentials paraded by its supposed author, forcing any financial analyst to wonder if Disconnect in Oyo N50 Billion Bond was actually authored by a road-side hate-hawker who needed to affix the name and credentials of the Adigun to his venomous ware. But, for the sake of argument, let us address its content.

    At a very early stage of the piece, ‘Adigun’ unfurled his ignorance and inability to distinguish between a loan and bond. This naivety envelopes the piece. The write-up is so ridiculously awash with unbridled ignorance and arrogance that the first thing to do is educate the author about the points of divergence of the two financial instruments. First, a bond can only be collected at the capital market while a loan is got through the bank. The Federal Government, through Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), guarantees it and peers its searchlight into the purpose of the bond which requires finical long-term process and financial plan. Thus, if your reason for bond is too jejune, the federal government refuses to guarantee it. There is a fixed rate for bond as against a loan that fluctuates and the former must be used for development purpose and thus cannot be diverted from the stated purpose. This is why it takes a longer time to repay a bond than loan. The tragedy of loans is that being a short-term instrument, it is mostly used for long-term projects. In the case of Oyo, the reasons for procuring the bond are for the urban mass transit plan of government; development of agricultural silos of 10,000 metric tonnes in each of the three senatorial districts as Oke Ogun is the food basket of the state, construction of a 108-km Ibadan Circular Road, building of a canning/agro-processing factory, housing estate and others. But, to the ‘Adiguns’, this is balderdash as this will trump up ‘that boy’ as the Oyo messiah. Lest I forget, is it mischief or ignorance that made ‘Adigun’ say Olagunsoye Oyinlola in Osun State took bond when the whole world knows that what he took was a loan?

    Now, to the second prong of ‘Adigun’s diatribe. In one breath, he acknowledges that there is a “validity of the extremely bad position of decadence (sic) of infrastructure” in Oyo State but failed to posit that this was an inheritance bequeathed by apparently short-sighted Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) administrations of the state in the last nine years. Adigun starred prominently as engine room of this systemic rot, especially as Secretary to the State Government.

    ‘Adigun’ was however right: a generation-long decadence confronts Oyo State today. That rot did not, nevertheless, start today; it is a product of the leadership of about a decade now looking the other way, while infrastructure in the state meandered from stagnation to collapse. Roads, very many of which were constructed during the Second Republic and in the era of the military, suffered lack of maintenance and were sparsely built upon. Roads and bridges were either haphazardly constructed, thus leading to their fall shortly after construction, or were not constructed at all. In the last ten years, Oyo witnessed a leadership atrophy which saw a gradual decay of all things bright and beautiful in the once pace-setting state. It was the ill-luck of Governor Abiola Ajimobi that these haphazardly-maintained infrastructure, especially roads and bridges, due to age and leadership disdain for their maintenance, are collapsing during his time.

    Though he acknowledged this much in the said piece, ‘Adigun’, thereafter meandered into cants of immense proportion. What concrete evidence, in terms of major projects, can the Ajimobi administration claim to have put on ground, he asked, that will justify the “loan” he is accessing? Here, ‘Adigun’ the Nigerian politician, who recently openly decamped to Ladoja’s Accord Party, from Adebayo Alao-Akala’s PDP, comes out. To the constituency where ‘Adigun’ belongs, you could murder the god of truth and replace it with the goddess of absolute falsehood; no one drags you by the nape of your trousers to account for your paradiddles.

    The Ajimobi government’s massive infrastructural intervention in Oyo State, in the face of acute inherited rot, is the sing-song of the people of the state. Right now, over 200 roads, being constructed by the government in the last 17 months, are in various stages of completion. They are verifiable and government has published the addresses of all of them. Aside the N2.1 billion Mokola fly-over bridge which links one of the busiest inter-state commercial routes in Nigeria, which will be handed over by the contractor to government in a short while, about 15 major bridges, including the Bodija, Omowumi, Arulogun bridges and many others in the state, are in various stages of completion. Yet, ‘Adigun’, the highly-rated public servant, has not seen any of these. It coheres with his kind.

    Before now, Oyo State had acquired the renown of being one of the filthiest states in Nigeria. This typecast was accumulated from years of governmental neglect and societal complicity. Indeed, many of the development partners contacted by the current state government decried the filthy nature of the state capital and averred that unless a total urban renewal was done, no investor would bring his fund to the state. Ajimobi began the renewal in earnest. Right now, major streets in the state capital have received lifelines, with glaring testimonials from all and sundry that Oyo is cleaner than Ajimobi met it. Yet, top civil servant, ‘Adigun’, has elected not to see these. Literal and metaphorical filth, inside which Oyo swam, was the state’s habitat, as far as the ‘Adiguns’ are concerned and anyone who seeks to drag the state out of this pond of pigsty must be halted for his unnecessary aesthetics.

    A pervasive gloating surrounds Disconnect in Oyo N50 Billion Bond that whittles down whatever interventionist essence it entails. For instance, ‘Adigun’ scurrilously attacked the public intellectual role that Governor Ajimobi has taken up on behalf of society, a role which has been commended across board. He, vicariously, is at ease with the social stigma Oyo State had carried in the last ten years, boasting of governors who were either perceived as near-dunce or too intellectually bankrupt to answer to the mantra of ajisebi Oyo laari… The reverberating applauses from an enthralled audience in the hallowed hall of Chatham House in London, which made Oyo State indigenes weep for joy, to the din of kudos from academics of Okada University, which made an Oyo State indigene to be proud, once again, after the impression Alao-Akala and the man before him gave the world that to hail from Oyo was synonymous with being vacuous upstairs, have no effect on the narcissi of ‘Adigun.’

    On the whole, it is apparent that the ‘Adigun’ who wrote the piece under reference belongs to the ‘intellectual’ wing of the NURTW kingpins that Oyo has bred and fed like self-inflicted vermin for decades now; he is a foot-soldier of the principalities and power who have stagnated Oyo State for decades and who have rewritten the fortunes of that glorious state. To them, an Ajimobi is bad news who is too ‘against method’ – apology to Feyereband – to be encouraged in a state where you could find the pathway of maggots wriggling their bodies to the rhythm of the power cabal who hold the state by its jugular. To them, if this folk continue unstopped by any crude method, he would upset their applecart and the charlatans who had held the reins for decades would be things of the past in Oyo State.

    One of their gambits failed woefully of recent. A carefully woven falsehood, woven to be as fascinating as a tapestry, especially in a Nigerian audience where the ‘them’ comprises thieves who pilfer the people’s patrimony, was flung for the world to feast upon. Ajimobi’s wife, they told a scandal-thirsty media, had been apprehended in the United Kingdom. After the initial condemnation by a fickle-minded Roman audience-like Nigerian public, the truth looked out from the window in its immaculate majesty and the ‘Adiguns’ were worsted beyond recognition in the sight of a public that had chanted ‘Hossanah!’ at them and ‘crucify her!’ to their victim.

    As the months roll by and their targeted pre-election year gets near, the ‘Adiguns’ would still take shuttles into their pouch of venom and spit gall that will tar-brush the Oyo silent revolutionary who would soon be their nemesis. To be fair to ‘Adigun’ and his paymasters, you cannot worst his drab and clueless masters (both former and present) by constructing a Mokola bridge whose kind was last seen in Ibadan about 30 years ago under David Medayese Jemibewon; worst him by paying wages on the 25th of every month; employ 20,000 youths which even the PDP-led FG, nor any government in Oyo history has never done; construct, under 17 months, more roads (quality ones) than all the past leaders of Oyo State put together had done in decades; begin the dualization of all roads leading to major towns in the state, including the notorious Challenge; like a matador, shout ‘Peace!’ and sanity returns to a state where bloodletting was the order of the day; snatch it from the jaws of dirt; buy 100 38-seater buses and propose another 100 smaller ones, as well as hundreds of taxi cars and award for dualization Dugbe-Eleiyele Junction-Onireke-Agbarigo Road-Dugbe Road; be renovating over 700 dilapidated schools; be planning to construct a 108-km circular road; say that in spite of all these, you are just beginning, and expect the principalities and powers not to send their ‘intellectual’ Rottweiler to attack you.

  • Sheila Solarin and the rest of us

    Just last week we got news of the death of Mrs Sheila Solarin, wife of the late author, educationist and social activist, Dr Tai Solarin. Mrs Sheila Solarin was very much but not just the wife of her husband. In her own right, she deserves a special mention and recognition for her contribution and achievement as person and personality. Since her death, we have indeed read a lot of tributes from both private and public sectors of the country. Showing respect, expressing appreciation and offering any form of support we can to her family is the least in these circumstances.

    Beyond and maybe, whilst mourning and showing solidarity with the family of the deceased, we as a people should however take time to reflect on some issues on the life and death of this great woman. Let us start with her death. According to reports, Sheila Solarin died at the age of 88 years old in a Nigerian hospital at Ogun State where she lived. For our own sake, we need to contrast that mode of passing away with where and how many other notable Nigerians have being getting treatment and dying lately. Yes you are right, they are doing it abroad.

    Sheila Solarin, was a private citizen who could have thrown her personal funds into getting treatment abroad without having to respond to anyone; she was also by birth a British citizen and through her own commitment and will had served the country during the second world war and so fully entitled to the best health coverage in the UK and anywhere in the EU. Contrast that with some of our past and present rulers that shamelessly use the country’s fund entrusted with them, to go or send their friends and family abroad for often trivial and sometimes serious treatments in countries they have no ties to. We have seen many die abroad during these trips; when they don’t die there, they come back home and still do nothing tangible to improve the health sector they are paid to manage. No other way to put it, such inactions are clear signs that they lack dignity and sense of purpose, they are simply too petty compared to the office they have the privilege to hold.

    Anyone interested in education in Nigeria will be aware of the importance and uniqueness of her Mayflower school in Ikenne, Ogun State. If for any reason you don’t know about that school, please take time to find out. Read about it; speak to students from the school. The essence of Sheila Solarin’s

    life can be fully appreciated in that institution she cofounded and nurtured to greatness with her late husband. It is worth nothing here that her school was probably the first secular school in Nigeria and that it was founded in 1956, because she and her husband could not stand the politics and discrimination being practiced in the former school they were working in.

    Students and staff from Mayflower school will tell you of how Sheila Solarin, was able to give them an impressive mix of discipline, care and generosity. They will tell you of how hardworking she was and how committed to making sure things were done properly. Anywhere you go in the world, if you come across those that were taught and mentored by the late Sheila Solarin and her husband; you can tell they have been exposed to something great. Even when they laughed at the eccentricities of their mentors, they were always quick to recognise that there was something unique about their devotion to education and commitment to moral integrity and creativity of young people. We cannot overstate the importance of such elements for the building of a viable nation.

    In a country where national awards are giving to a throng of interesting characters, not one government considered giving a national honour to Sheila Solarin for her services to the nation. Rather, our institutions denied her request for a Nigerian passport for over thirty years. One after the other, Nigerian governments and their advisers were too busy honouring those that loot and wreck the nation. Luckily for the rest us, someone else noticed what Sheila Solarin was doing and in 2007 the Queen of England awarded her an MBE for her contribution to education.

    In her school, they all considered her a mother and teacher and fondly referred to her as “mama”, unsurprisingly her students even had a song for her. All these happened before the Babangida era, hence there was no first lady craze, if there was one, maybe she would have been called the first lady of Mayfair School.

    We need to contrast her life with that of the first ladies we have and had in Nigeria, all of them, from spouses of national to state office holders. Earlier this year, at a social gathering, I had to caution an overzealous party supporter for addressing the wife of a local chairman councillor as first lady of the area. Let us ignore their levels of education, professional experience, passion for excellence and dedication to humanity and ask what these first ladies did and are doing with their position as privileged spouses for the country?

    Culled from nigeriansinamerica.com

  • That Lagos State restriction on Okada

    Like most Lagosians, I have a love-hate relationship with okada riders, those daredevils on two wheels, most of who appear to have a death-wish as they flash in between vehicles with scant regard for the lives of those they carry. Their numbers have exploded in lock-step with the population of the city, which in turn exposed the massive gaps in the transportation system, poor road network, and a master plan long since discarded.

    The reasons why some would support a ban on okada in Lagos, or at least a restriction on their movements in the city, are understandable. The increased risk of fatalities in event of an accident is one. Many have been seriously injured and even killed in this manner as a result of the recklessness of the riders. The sheer number of them further congests already congested roads, and they have been linked to an increase in crime.

    Lagos is a highly populated place, characterised by human and automobile traffic. People because they want to make an appointment or get to work on time, resort to the fastest means of transportation- motor bikes, popularly called “Okada”.

    Most of the accidents within the Lagos metropolis are caused by okada riders. Transporting using okada comes as dangerous as it could be, this makes okada a menace to the society.

    Just last week on my way to work, I witnessed an accident and it was a very horrific scene. Okada riders are known to be very impatient, this factor led to this accident. There was heavy traffic on one side of the road, hence the okada rider took the unlawful alternative- one way. He faced oncoming vehicles on the other lane and the next thing that happened was a collision with a public transport bus. The accident scene was very horrible, the scenario cannot be put into printed words.

    That was the way the okada rider ended his life and the lives of two other passengers that were on board. If he had been patient and followed the normal traffic rules, this ghastly accident could have been avoided.

    The Lagos state government has put in place traffic laws and commissioned traffic enforcement agencies to see that these sorts of events are averted. The Lagos state government was particular about these okada rules. Some of these laws guiding okada in the Lagos metropolis are- Riders and passenger must always have on their heads a crash helmet; Riders must not carry more than one passenger; Riders must have a valid rider’s license; No rider is permitted to carry pregnant women or women with babies on their back; Riders must obey all traffic rules.

    If all these rules are adhered to and okada riders exercise more patience, okada accidents will be reduced to a very large extent.

    Passengers should do their part by ensuring the rider takes all necessary precautions and obey all traffic laws. Passengers should also make sure they themselves obey the okada traffic laws that concern them. For example, they should make sure that there are not more than one passenger at a time travelling on a bike.

    The law enforcement agencies have the biggest role to take. The law has authorised them to arrest all traffic offenders, hence they should try their best in doing this instead of loitering around.

    •Gbadegesin writes from Dept of Law, Lagos State University

  • Germany redefining West Africa policy

    Germany redefining West Africa policy

    Two senior German ministers have been visiting West Africa. Taken together with ministerial discussions about Mali in Berlin, some analysts perceive a new German strategy for West Africa in the making.

    Modern Germany has never had a policy on West Africa. That is the view of Professor Ulf Engel, African expert at the University of Leipzig. “There hasn’t ever been any coherent policy towards individual countries in the region,” he told DW. Separate German ministries or development aid organizations have been active in various West African countries, but, in some instances, they have even ended up in competition with one another, Engel added.

    “I see the emergence of a specific German foreign policy on West Africa as unlikely as one on East Africa,” the professor said.

    Yet on examining the flight routes taken by the German foreign and development ministers on their recent trips, one has the impression that West Africa is gaining in significance for the German government.

    Dirk Niebel minister for economic cooperation and development flew to Cameroon last Sunday and spent a whole week there in talks. During the same week Foreign Minister Guido Westerwelle headed off to Mali and then on to Senegal and Nigeria, where he met his Nigerian counterpart Olugbenga Ashiru. Westerwelle’s itinerary also included a visit to ECOWAS headquarters in Abuja, where the 15 member countries are preparing for their military mission to Mali.

    Mali may well be the reason for Germany’s heightened interest in West Africa. Since April 2012, Mali has been in turmoil. In the north of the country, militant Islamists are intent on setting up an Islamic state. They took advantage of a power vacuum in the wake of military coup in the south to seize power together with Tuareg separatist rebels. The Islamists then expelled the separatists from the bigger cities. Along with drugs and arms smugglers, the Islamists now control two thirds of Mali.

    After some delay, ECOWAS, the Malian government in Bamako and the UN Security Council are now calling for the deployment of military intervention force to liberate northern Mali.

    Mali’s neighbors are expected to have their plans for the force drawn up by mid-November. Their consultations were certainly on the agenda of Westerwelle’s Nigerian visit, according to Cornelius Vogt from the German Council on Foreign Relations. “The purpose of the visit is to gauge the mood among the various regional players and then put across Germany’s assessment of the situation,” he said in an interview with DW. “The German view is that military intervention will only work if one is really prepared to help the Malian government,” he added. The European Union is planning to give the Malian army logistical support and military training, but will not send in any troops to participate in the fighting.

    Terrorism, drugs and kidnapping

    As Mali’s former colonial power, France, which still has strong political and economic ties with West Africa, is placing great emphasis on the need for military intervention. “One cannot say, that there are no German interests involved here,” Vogt said. “The real danger is that a regime could become entrenched in northern Mali which provides sanctuary to terrorists from all over the world,” he added. It is not only terrorists who are a threat to Germany and the rest of Europe. Drug smugglers and kidnappers also pose a risk. West Africa is increasingly turning into a hub for the trade in illicit drugs from South America. Kidnappings in the Sahel are a tangible hazard for German development aid workers who are trying to combat hunger and drought.

    During his visit to Bamako, German Foreign Minister Guido Westerwelle announced that Germany could take on the role of mediator in the Mali conflict. So far Germany has been reluctant to get politically involved in the region, apart from individual initiatives in support of democratization in Togo, a former German colony.

    Kisma Gagou is an advisor to the Malian defense ministry. He believes Germany could play a bigger role in West Africa. “There is not the same old whiff of imperialism,” he told DW. Development aid for West Africa from Germany had so far not been linked to political pressure or tied to business interests.

    Focus on fragile states

    Professor Engel says that even if Germany lacks a unified policy strategy for West Africa, cooperation on Africa between the various German ministries was now functioning better than in the past.

    In 2011, the German government drew up a set of Africa-related proposals, the implementation of which the ministries would decide among themselves. Many of those proposals have yet to be put into practice. They include German government support for the more sustainable use of raw materials on the continent. There is little evidence of this happening Nigeria.

    In Berlin, the ministerial task force on Mali is made up of representatives from the foreign, defense and development ministries. It is chaired by the German government’s commissioner for Africa, Egon Kochanke, and is charged with drawing up a common strategy for all ministries involved.

    This is the first time the German government has put into practice its blueprint to help fragile states, such as Mali, which are unable to protect themselves from terrorism and organized crime.

    The ministries only approved the blueprint in September. “This document contains an interesting shift in emphasis,” said Julian Junk, expert on security policy at the University of Frankfurt. “The ministries will be referring to the “added value” acquired for Germany when they help fragile states.” Junk said he believed this signaled German government was intent on pursuing its interests in the foreign policy arena more vigorously than in the past.

    Yet in spite of the foreign minister’s West Africa trip, Junk fears that the German government’s interest in Mali could be short-lived. As in the case of the Arab Spring and independence for South Sudan, grand gestures are unlikely to be followed up by long-term strategy and support. “An extra million euros in aid for Bamako is just a gesture on the part of the foreign minister,” Junk says. “What is needed is a strategy for West Africa that is resolutely pursued over several years.

    Source: Deutsche Welle