The Nation Newspaper

Category: Olukorede Yishau

  • Let’s talk about Olatunji Ololade

    Let’s talk about Olatunji Ololade

    I missed the chance to write this when Olatunji Ololade clinched the 2021 prestigious Fetisov Journalism Awards (FJA) in the Outstanding Contribution to Peace category. His victory came with a unique silver statuette, meticulously handcrafted in Switzerland, and prize money exceeding $100,000.

    Ololade’s ‘The boys who swapped football for bullets’ outshone formidable contenders from Bosnia and Herzegovina, Sweden and Syria.

    He just added a new feather to his cap, a doctorate degree. For those who know Ololade, his intellectual depth isn’t in doubt. Every discussion of his drips with uncanny insights. What makes this feat remarkable is the fact that Ololade didn’t start his higher education with a varsity degree. He started with an Ordinary National Diploma from the then Ogun State Polytechnic. A Higher National Diploma, NIPR Diploma, postgraduate diploma and Master’s Degree later followed,  feats he achieved while in active journalism and writing fantastic reports.

    From our TELL days in the mid-2000s,  this prose stylist’s great promise was only unclear to the ‘undiscerning’. No wonder his years in The Nation have yielded laurels upon laurels that made him the newspaper’s most decorated and one of Nigeria’s best. At the last count, he has an astounding tally of about 40 journalism prizes.

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    Such consistent triumphs earned him the endearing moniker, “Serial Award Winner”—a title I proudly coined for him in 2014, the year he bagged the CNN/Multichoice African Journalist of the Year MSD Health and Medical Reporting Award for his poignant story, “This marriage will kill me – Tragedy of Nigeria’s child brides.”

    That same year, Ololade swept numerous other prestigious awards, including the Nigeria Media Merit Award (NMMA) prizes for Human Rights Reporting and Entertainment Reporting, and the Diamond Awards for Media Excellence (DAME) prize in Health Reporting. His investigative prowess also earned him finalist spots for the Kurt Schork Memorial Award in International Journalism in both 2014 and 2016.

    One of his most courageous undertakings was a groundbreaking five-part investigative series, a collaboration with Kunle Akinrinade, a First Class graduate. This exposé detailed the devastating environmental pollution caused by LafargeWAPCO Plc in its host communities.

    In 2023, Ololade revisited the Lafarge story, this time in a compelling three-part series that forced the government to take decisive action.

    Ololade is more than a journalist; he is an academic; he is a novelist. I have read his novel manuscript. He has also worked on biographies.

  • Between JD Vance and Dan Etete

    Between JD Vance and Dan Etete

    As I get older, I am beginning to get very interested in reading biographies of men who have impacted the world in significant ways. My interest in movies inspired by biographies has also increased.

    When Donald Trump picked JD Vance as his Vice President, I saw the movie adaptation of ‘Hillbilly Elegy’, his best-selling biography starring Amy Adams and Glenn Close and wrote about it on this column.

    Published when JD Vance was 33 years old, it tells the story of JD Vance’s rise from poverty in Middletown, Ohio in the heart of America’s Rust Belt to the Marine Corps (with stints in Iraq), the university of Ohio and then Yale, an Ivy League university.

    In the introduction, JD Vance writes that “the coolest thing I have done, at least on paper, is graduate from Yale Law school…I am not a senator, a governor or former cabinet secretary.”

    But what he didn’t realise and something his readers did not realise back then in 2016 was that he was practically speaking his future into existence because by 2023 he was already a senator representing Ohio and while his ambition seemed to have stopped at Cabinet secretary or minister as we say in Nigeria, he was picked by Donald Trump whom he had opposed in 2016, to be his Vice President as the 2024 elections got under way.

    Growing up in a poor and very dysfunctional family, he pulled himself up by the boot straps and made himself a success. The story reads in places like fiction because of the odds stacked against him all of which he overcame.

    At the beginning of the book, in order to raise money to enable him move to New Haven Connecticut, he worked in a tile warehouse. It was back breaking work, but with his eyes on the goal he persevered earning $13 an hour. The story and many others in the book speak of resilience, perseverance, focus and determination.

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    Being in the Marine Corps, he writes towards the end of the book, had imbued him with “the capacity to plan”. Today JD Vance is America’s Vice President at just 41 years of age, a long way up for someone “who failed out of high school, earning Ds and Fs in English 1.”

    Some days back, I came across the 80th birthday tributes to Dan Etete, former Petroleum Minister under General Sani Abacha, and I couldn’t resist comparing the lives of both men who qualify to be described as statesmen by the impact they have had in their respective countries.

    Dan Etete

    By 1984, when JD Vance was born, Dan Etete had worked in the Nigerian Customs Service, cut his teeth in business and become a Senator in the second republic.

    He would go on to become Petroleum minister and now at age 80, the world remembers him mostly for the controversial Malabu oil deal involving OPL 245 and some of the biggest oil companies in Europe from Shell to Eni.

    But surely, there must be more to the man and so I clicked and clicked on Google, trying to find out more about him and each try produced very slim pickings. A court case in France led to a guilty verdict in 2007 but the French government granted him a full pardon in March 7, 2014, via bulletin number 3 issued by the Ministry of Justice, Criminal, Cases and Pardon Division.

    But you have to scour the internet to discover the story of his pardon because what pops up as you search is mostly the story of his conviction.

    Dan Etete’s story is in many ways similar to the one told by JD Vance. Even though we cannot ascertain whether he came from a poor or dysfunctional family we can safely conclude that he did not come from a rich one seeing as it is that he started life in a school in Ajegunle.

    Ajegunle, a slum on the outskirts of Apapa, is not famous for producing ministers of Petroleum. Footballers, yes and musicians too but Ministers of Petroleum, not quite. But that was the soil on whichh the seed that produced Dan Etete was sown.

    He did not go to the Marine Corps like JD Vance or even NYSC but instead he joined the Nigerian Customs Service. He was, in that sense, as we say in Nigeria, a uniformed man and well qualified, if he was in a Danfo, to avoid paying his fare by shouting – Staff!

    It was while serving in the Customs that he empowered himself by acquiring certifications that would stand him in good stead when he went into business.

    An Ijaw man from the Niger Delta, he must have taken an interest in oil and gas and even though we are not told what business he engaged in after he left the Customs like many others before and after him, he must have had some interest in oil gas and with enough insight for him to be made Chairman of the oil and gas committee in the Senate.

    Dan Etete must have made an impression in the 2nd republic and probably established long lasting political alliances because by the time Abacha got into office, he was well positioned to be appointed Minister and that is where his larger than life image grew nationally.

    And here we are?

    This reflection is my way of saying that Nigerian politicians, statesmen and high achievers owe us a duty to document their lives, to tell us the story of how they defied the odds to achieve prominence because in a country of 200 million people it takes some doing to gain prominence in whatever sphere from music to football or business to politics.

    Dan Etete is taciturn and not given to press interviews but how are we to know that in spite of the legal battles he keeps fighting he has set up a foundation that empowers people in his native Izon land? Or as a magazine article notes that he remains a key player in the Nigerian oil and gas sector as a sought-after adviser?

    My final take: Without ‘Hillbilly Elegy’, would JD Vance be Vice president today? No one can say for sure but what is clear is that sometimes it is a lot cheaper and a lot less controversial to blow your own trumpet.

  • This David Diop

    This David Diop

    He has two books accessible to English speakers and readers. Both are novels. Both are historical. Both are deep, very deep. They are thought-provoking. They are poetic-prose. There are many things superlative, including shedding light on overlooked historical periods.

    The first, which won the International Booker Prize some years back, is titled ‘At Night All Blood Is Black’, is slim but mighty. In a few pages, it confronts questions around World War II in a way different from other texts on this dark period in human history.

    In ‘At Night All Blood is Black’, originally written in French and later translated to English by Anna Moschovakis, we are introduced to Alfa Ndiaye and Mademba Diop. Though not blood relatives, their bond is so profound that they regard each other as more than brothers. This novel marks Diop’s second work, but it is the first to be translated and made available to a wider audience.

    Alfa’s mother, the last of his father’s wives, disappears one day, setting in motion a deepening connection between Alfa and Mademba. In fact, Alfa’s father gives his blessing for him to move in with Mademba’s family after his mother’s sudden disappearance. Despite their differences, including a rivalry over a girl, their bond endures, overcoming all the frailties of human nature.

    The two are drafted into a war they barely understand, fighting for a colonial authority that shows little regard for their humanity. France is engaged in a war with Germany, and the pair, hailing from the French colonies, are called upon to help defeat the German forces.

    When Mademba is mortally wounded, he implores Alfa to slit his throat and end his suffering. Alfa finds this task unbearable and will live with the regret of not granting his friend a swifter, less painful death.

    Following Mademba’s death, Alfa—who is also the story’s main narrator—transforms into a beast driven by vengeance. His ruthless actions soon alienate his fellow soldiers, who grow fearful of him. They even refuse to confront him when tasked with searching his belongings for evidence of his alleged madness, too frightened to challenge him.

    In the novel, Diop takes an unconventional approach, steering clear of the grand narratives typical of war stories. Instead, he examines the devastating impact of war on individuals who would have otherwise had no involvement in such conflicts. Through the lens of two childhood friends who view each other as more-than-brothers, he explores the futility of war, particularly wars fought for foreign interests and causes irrelevant to the combatants.

    Diop’s narrative is steeped in the oral storytelling tradition, punctuated by recurring phrases like “I know, I understand.” The divine is often called upon to bear witness to the powerful truths being unveiled. Through this raw and intimate lens, Diop delivers a tale that resonates deeply with the human cost of war and the bonds that endure even in its darkest moments.

    His most recent work available in English, ‘Beyond The Door of No Return’, isn’t huge in pagination but bigger than his first. This work, translated from French to English by famous translator and novelist Sam Taylor, introduces death to us right from its first line. The historical period it covers dates farther away from World War II: the 18th century.

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    In it, we meet Michel Adanson, a scientist who is at the point of death and taking some sort of stock of his life and wondering about the fate of his daughter, Aglae, whose point of view soon takes over the complex narration.

    The Michel Adanson who emerges from his daughter’s point of view is a man whose love for the plants he is studying outweighs the one for his daughter and wife, so much that he willingly lets go of his wife who soon finds a new lover and a new home in London.

    Aglae’s life also unfolds as she ruminates over her father’s. We read of her two marriages, the first at 17 to a military man who feels the best way to take her virginity is to attack her like a wild animal. We also read about her second marriage to a man who sees sex with his wife as only for procreation while reserving passionate love-making for mistresses.

    Many pages into the novel, we discover its epistolary side in the form of notes Michel Adanson bequathes to his daughter. They are notes that tell Algae things she would never have known about her father. It is, in fact, the heart and soul of the book. Without it, the tale would have just been a sketch.

    This section of the book reminds me of Maik Nwosu’s ‘Alpha Song’, which is about a dying man (like Michel) who bequeaths his memories to his daughter since he has no earthly riches. In this case, Michel Adanson, aside from his memories, also leaves botanical ‘nonsense’ for his daughter and saddles her with the task of completing his unfinished businesses.

    Diop’s story of this French botanist, who goes to Senegal in search of knowledge of plants, is like a treatise on colonialism, its evils, its holier-than-thou pontifications, its double standards, its rubbishing of what is different as inferior, and its passion for always demonising Africans and Africa in order to justify slavery and its other atrocities against the continent and its peoples.

    This quintessential David Diop doesn’t spare Africans, especially kings and their chiefs, who fed off slavery, who helped the White man steal Africa’s riches and whose legacies still drag the continent down.

    My final take: The themes in ‘Beyond The Door of No Return’ bring to mind many things we inherited from the white hustlers who invaded Africa and used many a thing, including religion, to steal from us. Incidentally, novelist Bisi Adjapon on the day John Mahama was sworn in as Ghana’s president complained about one such inheritance: the dress code for judges. Africa needs to do away with many things the thieves who invaded our land bequeathed to us. Many of these things aren’t adding any value to us. In fact, they make us look ridiculous and in some instances they make us appear not ready to be our own people.

  • Mahama’s return

    Mahama’s return

    John Dramani Mahama has returned to office as Ghana’s President. He won the election in the twilight of last year and he did in a resounding way. Twice he had tried after his first ouster, but success didn’t smile on him. Now, not only is success smiling at him, it’s also abiding with him.

    Thinking of Mahama’s second coming reminds me of his first. I was in Accra when he was sworn in as the fourth elected President and Commander-in-Chief of the fourth Republic of Ghana before a massive crowd revelling in a moment of historical significance. His key message at the ceremony: the best is yet to come.

    Mahama had won the general elections of December 7, 2011, which he would not have contested in, but for the death of former President John Atta Mills.

    His swearing in ceremony was witnessed by an estimated fifty thousand attendees, including about fifteen Heads of Government, in Accra, the country’s capital. Millions more followed the event through coverage on television and the Internet.

    The event started with a national anthem at around 10 am, Ghana time. The two-hour-long ceremony was watched on widescreen televisions installed all over the country through live feeds from the state broadcaster, the Ghana Broadcasting Corporation (GBC).

    The GBC was the only media organisation allowed to provide a live feed of the ceremony to other television and radio stations. The inauguration took place at the beautifully decorated Black Star Square.

    President Mahama’s vice, Kwesi Bekoe Amissah-Arthur, also took his oath of office at the square, whose arch was draped in Ghana’s colours- red, gold and green.

    Cultural troupes, as well as armed and police bands entertained the guests, who started trooping to the venue as early as 7 am.

    When Mahama emerged from the presidential limousine in an all-white flowing robe for the inauguration, the energised crowd exploded with cheers. His vice chose the kente.

    Led by the Chief Justice Georgina Theodora Wood, the vice-president was the first to take the oaths of office and allegiance. He did so at 10.19am. Mahama took the podium at 10.27am. He first took the Oath of allegiance before a cheering crowd, members of the Parliament and dignitaries. A brief interruption followed before he took the Oath of office declaring: ‘…having been elected to the high office of President of the Republic of Ghana, I do in the name of the Almighty God swear, solemnly affirm that I will be faithful and true to the Republic of Ghana.

    ‘That I will at all times preserve, protect and defend the Constitution of the Republic of Ghana; and that I dedicate myself to the service and well-being of the people of the Republic of Ghana and to do right to all manner of persons.

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    ‘I further solemnly swear that should I at any time break this Oath of office, I shall submit myself to the laws of the Republic of Ghana and suffer the penalty for it. So help me, God.’

    At exactly 10.30am, he completed the ritual and officially became the President. He bore the golden ‘staff of office’, which he waved to the crowd. He signed the ascension of office documents before taking his seat as President, to the admiration of an expectant nation.

    The national anthem was played and immediately followed by a 21-gun salute recognising him as the Commander-in-Chief.

    In his twenty-minute inaugural address, Mahama promised better days ahead. He called on Ghanaians to support him to make the country better. As his voice echoed across the Square where all Ghana’s presidents in recent history had taken the oath of office, he left almost no one in doubt that he was aware of the challenges ahead, such as rising youth unemployment, a widening development gap between the oil-rich coast and the poor, arid north, where he hails from.

    He said Ghana’s past was filled with courage and a powerful legacy; the country’s success was, as it had always been, in the hands of her citizens. He acknowledged that although the country had made progress in the last fifty-five years, more work lay ahead. There was a need for more roads, more jobs, more schools and so on, to be put in place.

    The time had come, he said, to look beyond cosmetic approaches to solving problems. Permanent solutions had to be found.

    Mahama hammered on healthcare. All citizens, he said, must have access to excellent and affordable healthcare; he would do everything within his capacity to achieve this.

    In that speech, he shed an honest light on things when he cautioned that change did not happen overnight. He urged people to support him while the change process was on, promising not to let them down.

    The speech was not all butter and sweets. Mahama had harsh words for perpetual critics who always regarded things from the pessimistic angle. He urged people to see things from the positive side. Quoting Nelson Mandela, he said things always seemed impossible until they were achieved. The impossible could be done, he said, with God on the country’s side.

    A presidential speech is incomplete without paying homage to those who have gone before. Mahama knew this well and paid tribute to former presidents JJ Rawlings, John Kufour and the late John Atta Mills for developing the country. He then urged everyone to do their best to sustain Ghana’s status as a trailblazer. He, too, he said, would do his best.

    ‘The promises that I have made are the promises I intend to keep. I will not let you down,’ Mahama said.

    Touching on the country’s fragile peace, he promised to ensure that the country remains one, irrespective of religion, ethnicity or political differences.

    As he spoke, the then 54-year-old son of Emmanuel Adama Mahama, who was the first member of Parliament for the West Gonja Constituency and the first Regional Commissioner of the Northern Region during Ghana’s First Republic, intermittently looked out at the sea of admirers.

    By Ghana’s constitution, the President must be sworn in before the Parliament. So, after the inaugural speech, the Speaker, Mr Edward Doe Adjaho, took over. He thanked the President for the inaugural address.

    He invited the then Beninoir President Boni Yayi, also African Union President, to give a speech on behalf of visiting Heads of State. Yayi hailed Ghana for its strides in the economy and democracy; he then wished the country prosperity in the coming days.

    Other visiting African leaders, such as Nigeria’s Dr Goodluck Jonathan, Jacob Zuma from South Africa, Liberia’s Ellen Sirleaf, Togo’s Gyansingbe Eyadema, Macky Sall, Tanzania’s Jakaya Kikwete, Niger’s Mahamadou Issoufou and Alassane Ouattara from Cote d’Ivoire were invited one after the other to exchange pleasantries with Mahama.

    Former Presidents Jerry Rawlings, John Kufour and their wives also mounted the presidential podium to greet Mahama. Rawlings hugged Mahama. So did his wife, who contested the party’s ticket with Mahama before pulling out of the party in annoyance. The crowd roared as Rawlings, and his wife hugged Mahama.

    After the dignitaries, the spouses of the President and the vice-president mounted the podium to congratulate their husbands. Mahama’s wife, who was also dressed in a sparkling white blouse and skirt, held to her husband tightly.

    The ceremony ended at 11.47 am when the Parliament was adjourned. Mahama thereafter inspected a parade by the Navy and drove around the venue before making his way out at exactly midday.

    My final take: With Mahama taking office as the sixth elected President of Ghana, it should be an opportunity for him to right whatever he got wrong in his time as the fourth elected President. He should leave a legacy that not only Ghana or Africa will reference but one that the entire world will be forced to reckon with.

  • Let’s tell better stories in 2025

    Let’s tell better stories in 2025

    2025 is here. Believe it or not. Its predecessor hasn’t been very good to us as a nation and it hasn’t allowed millions of Nigerians to tell the kind of stories they would have loved to. President Bola Tinubu in his New Year message acknowledged the fact that we had little or no choice but to tell stories of lamentations. What else can one do when the centre refuses to hold? Tinubu promised that things would be different and that things were tight in 2024 because we couldn’t have a different result if we continued doing things the same way.

    It was the president’s way of saying our brains aren’t for decoration; they’re put there for us to use to change our circumstances, to change this world, and to resolve challenges.

    In Elif Shafak’s ‘The Forty Rules of Love’, a character, Shamz of Tabriz, tells another character, Aladdin, that God is the best storyteller. It is a loaded statement. Looking at our world, it is not difficult to see the stories God is telling using you and me as the characters. God is not dictatorial in the stories He tells with us. He allows our leaders to play critical roles in our unfolding stories and we can see the results of that.

    Some people, some nations, some companies and some continents have beautiful stories to share with the world. Other people, other nations, other companies and other continents have tales of shame to entertain the world with: tragedies and tragi-comedies are all they have got to offer.

    Our dear Nigeria does not lack gold, it does not lack oil and gas, it has tantalite in abundance, and some of the best waterfalls in the world are within its confines. Scenic beauties, such as the Mambilla Plateau and Farin Ruwa Falls, friendly soils and a people ready to give their best are other resources Nigeria is blessed with.

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    Do we need to talk about brilliant souls scattered all over the world and doing wonders in their adopted nations? Is there really any need to talk about a young population that understands the ins and outs of technology and can manipulate it to our advantage? Is there any need to point attention to the fact that when our average brains go abroad for education, they turn out in flying colours?

    But as blessed as we are with these brains, these beauties and these resources, we are also blessed with leaders who, at the sign of a headache, have taken the next available flight to London or New York for medical examination. We are also blessed with a political class that steals with their future generation in mind; we are fortunate enough to have men and women in positions of authority all because they want to decorate their garages and wardrobes with the best in automobiles and jewelleries; and we are blessed with leaders who will tell us to pray over a problem or challenge we elect them to resolve.

    Imagine if prayers can end a situation where one of three Nigerians live in poverty, which represents thirty-two per cent of the population. Imagine if prayers can stop thirty-seven per cent of children from suffering malnutrition. Imagine if prayer can make a thing of the past, half of the Nigerian population who use unsafe or unimproved sanitation. What if prayers can take Nigeria away from being 43rd on the sustainable development goal index? What about praying away the fact that poverty is concentrating in fast-growing countries like Nigeria and, by 2050, more than 40 per cent of Nigerians will still be under poverty’s jackboot? If only we can use prayers to get over our slot as the country with the second-highest number of deaths of children under the age of five? Alas, prayers cannot do all these!

    At a point, the United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF) says no fewer than 250,000 children in Nigeria die on their first day of life. The figure is the second highest in the world, according to the 2017 multi-indicator cluster survey. A child born in Nigeria today, no thanks to this situation, is likely to live till the year 2074, while a child born in Denmark is likely to live until the 22nd Century! The quality of life is a different kettle of fish. Most of these children regrettably die from preventable causes such as premature births, complications during delivery, infections like sepsis, malaria and pneumonia. Prayers cannot stop this, only policies and programmes can.

    Nigeria needs more investment to grow its economy at a higher rate to be able to lift 100 million people out of poverty. Prayer cannot do it. Nigeria is only growing at about two per cent and, if our country continues this way, there will be more people in poverty.

    The investment we need is almost double what we have now. Nigeria must connect with people who want to invest in it. Agriculture, manufacturing and infrastructure are areas where we need investment. We should remain open for business until we have reduced poverty to the barest minimum.

    We must have at the back of our mind that the global market for foreign direct investment is highly competitive and, to tap into it, we must position ourselves strategically. We must change the perceptions that we are all about oil. We must tell people that Nigeria is also about tech, agriculture, services and manufacturing.

    We must take advantage of the fact that we are critically important as Africa’s largest economy. We must use our longstanding relationships with countries, such as the UK, the U.S. and others, to pull in the needed help. We must correct the notion that our economy is difficult to operate in. To make investors have confidence in us, we must respect agreements. Contracts must be sacrosanct, a situation where change of governments lead to policy somersault must be ended.

    My final take: If we fail to do the necessary things in 2025 and continue to look up to God for miracles, we will wait till eternity. He has given us the brains to play a part in telling our stories despite being the best storyteller. Prayers can only help to make our work better. Praying without doing the required work is a bloody waste of time. By doing the required work, we are playing our best in the shape our story will take.

    May the little things we do bring us bountiful harvest in the new year.

  • Circuits tv and Nollywood

    Circuits tv and Nollywood

    I remember and I will always remember when Netflix and Amazon Prime turned their gaze on Nigeria, the giant of Africa. At that time, their visions sparkled with promises and it was laden with aspirations and capital. We had no reason to doubt that they were ready to tap into the country’s pulsating heartbeat of stories.

    Today, the retreat of these streaming titans signals a sobering confrontation with the complexities of Nigeria’s creative and economic landscape. Amazon Prime was the first to loosen its grip, quietly scaling back investments when expected riches failed to materialise. Netflix, too, has begun to tread more cautiously. Its recent soirée for filmmakers, actors, and industry players was a farewell to the era of lavish budgets.

    Productions like ‘Anikulapo’ and ‘Jagunjagun’ had dazzled us, their Netflix-dollar-backed splendour showcasing the richness of Nigerian storytelling. Yet, as we awaited the adaptation of ‘The Secret Lives of Baba Segi’s Wives,’ optioned by Mo Abudu’s EbonyLife Studios, uncertainty crept in. Its fate, like so many dreams, remains shrouded.

    The experiences of these streaming behemoths illuminate the intricate dance required to thrive in Nigeria’s dynamic but often challenging terrain. Our nation is a land of endless possibilities and narratives, but it is fraught with hurdles that demand resilience and reinvention. For those who venture here, the journey promises not just riches but lessons etched in the rhythms of its vibrant, unpredictable soul.

    No doubt Nigeria has an enormous appetite for entertainment. However, several factors may have contributed to these platforms reassessing their strategies. First, Nigeria’s fluctuating economy, currency depreciation, and limited disposable income for many citizens may have affected subscription growth. Second, despite improvements, internet access and affordability remain significant barriers, especially for streaming high-quality video content. Third, they may have underestimated the need to align content offerings more closely with local tastes, traditions, and values.

    From what we have learnt, Netflix and Amazon Prime are not exiting Nigeria entirely, but rather recalibrating their approaches, which may include focusing more on partnerships, localised content, and hybrid models.

    Of recent, Netflix Originals such as Lateef Adedimeji’s ‘Lisabi’, Omoni Oboli’s series, ‘Last Year Single’, and Femi Adebayo’s series, ‘Seven Doors’, were restricted to only the Nigerian market.

    Nigerians in the diaspora, who are regular consumers of contents from home, were shut out. They took to social media asking for reasons why those contents were deemed unfit for the global audience. No explanations were given by the platform.

    Oboli, in an Instagram post, said she signed a global deal and was optimistic the series would go global soon, but time showed that her hope would not become reality.

    In Adebayo’s case, he announced that from December 20, Nigerians in the diaspora would have access to the series through Circuits, a new virtual cinema solely dedicated to bringing African movies and series to global audiences.

    When Circuits launched, it did with ‘Conversations in Transit’, ‘Seven Doors’, ‘Asiri Ade’, ‘Ruthless’, ‘Atiko’ and ‘Alagbede’.

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    Unlike Netflix and Amazon Prime, Circuits is not subscription-based. At least not yet. It is also not free like YouTube. To rent a movie, a viewer has to cough out about four dollars, a fraction of the cost of a movie ticket and they must finish watching it within 24 hours. For a series, it is a little over seven dollars and it must be seen within one week.

    Circuits, according to its promoters, aims to empower African creatives by providing a global platform for authentic African storytelling, bringing premium entertainment to homes worldwide.

    On the platform, you enjoy uninterrupted entertainment without advertisements. It is accessible worldwide, allowing users from various regions to enjoy African content on any device, anywhere, ensuring convenience for users. It also promises seamless streaming regardless of connection speed.

    Of the movies it launched with, ‘Conversations in Transit’, ‘Asiri Ade’,‘Ruthless’, and ‘Atiko’ are original to it. ‘Alagbede’ has initially been shown in cinemas across Nigeria.

    ‘Conversations in Transit’ features an ensemble cast including Richard Mofe-Damijo, Rahama Sadau, Osas Ighodaro, and Tope Tedela. Set primarily aboard the Lagos-to-Ibadan train, the movie highlights the scenic beauty and efficiency of the railway service while weaving together the lives of its diverse characters.

    The story unfolds as passengers board the train, each carrying their own emotional baggage. Richard Mofe-Damijo plays a professor determined to reconcile with his estranged young wife, who left him due to infidelity.

    We also meet a troubled Hausa couple bound by an arranged marriage meant to preserve family wealth. However, the woman harbors a secret—she is in love with her fiancé’s best friend and is pregnant with his child.

    Another subplot follows a wedding planner, played by Tana Adelana, whose faith in love is waning. She encounters a recently heartbroken man, portrayed by Tope Tedela, who makes it his mission to restore her belief in love.

    Blending romance, drama, and cultural themes, ‘Conversations in Transit’ offers a rich narrative about love, loss, and redemption, all set against the backdrop of a journey that mirrors the characters’ emotional voyages.

    The movie has many laugh-out-loud moments. The cinematography is topnotch. We see alluring images as the train moves from Lagos to Abeokuta and finally to Ibadan.

    Circuits’ launch has raised the issue of its capacity to fill the void created by Amazon Prime’s and Netflix’s new direction in Nollywood. On its launch date, I tried three international cards to purchase ‘Conversations in Transit’. The first two failed, but the third allowed me the pass to bask in the beautiful flick Peters made.

    I got an email from the Circuits team explaining the issue: “We recognise that some of you, particularly those outside Nigeria, are experiencing challenges making payments. Unfortunately, our global payment partner is experiencing an uncharacteristic downtime with their switch which will be resolved in a few minutes.

     “We apologise for any inconvenience and we assure you that you will be back to enjoying our films very shortly.”

    Its ownership hasn’t been made public, making it difficult to gauge the financial muscles of its backers and speculate on their ability to see through this onerous task of serving a market Amazon and Netflix are currently under-serving.

    Chioma Onyenwe, its Vice President of Content at Circuits, promised that the platform would offer a cutting-edge distribution framework for both scripted and unscripted African content, offering filmmakers a worldwide stage while enabling audiences to enjoy fresh, high-quality African titles.

    My final take: Nigeria needs more streaming platforms that have local taste but global reach. For this to work and work well, it must have the buy-in of Nigerians home and abroad and the way to get this support is to offer them quality they can’t resist.

  • 2024 in books

    2024 in books

    Millions of books have been published this year the world over. Some by traditional publishers. Others through self-publishing. Time and money conspired against me and I couldn’t read even zero point one percent of the published books.

    Lucky me, almost all the ones I read made good impressions on me.

    I began the year with ‘The Widow Who Died With Flowers in Her Mouth’, a collection of short stories by Chinua Achebe Prize for Literature winner Obinna Udenwe.

    The stories in this collection, a worthy literary achievement, aren’t explained for the audience outside the milleu that gave rise to them. The author is apparently telling them to use Google or research phrases and words in Nigerian languages which he refuses to translate.

    January also saw me reading Ayo Deforge’s perceptive debut, ‘Tearless’. In this beautiful read, spiced with the right dose of suspense, we learn that “friends become family and family become strangers. It happens all the time. Family is important but you can’t always force it.”

    Another book that made the early part of the year worth the while was Yomi Adegoke’s “The List”. It brings to mind a proverb: “there’s no smoke without fire.” However, some aspects of this book also show that fire can sometimes arise out of contrived or alternative smoke. It is a perceptive look at the other side of the social media.

    I also read British-Ghanaian writer Caleb Azumah Nelson’s sophomore novel ‘Small Worlds’, which explores relationships: family, friendship, and more. It dissects the dynamics of father-son relationship, nephew-aunt relationship, mother-son relationship and brother-to-brother relationship.

    A few months after I read it, it won the £20,000 Swansea University Dylan Thomas Prize.

    During the year I also read Chigozie Obioma’s ‘The Road To The Country’, a book I thought could win the Booker Prize. The novel tells the story of two men battling guilt which leads them to take decisions with far-reaching consequences. While that may seem far from extraordinary, trust Obioma to add a second layer that takes away the ordinariness with his clever choice of letting the story of one character unfold through the other’s ‘mirror’ (opon Ifa), which at first appears blurry but eventually becomes clear and meaningful.

    Aside the divination touch, there is also something extraordinary about how the vision is presented. There is a sub-layer about the city of the dead, which gives the author a cosmic take on the war and the afterlife.

    My attention was also caught by Damilare Kuku’s debut novel, ‘Only Big Bumbum Matters Tomorrow’, one of those literary works that favour the less-used second-person narration. The 246-page work isn’t told entirely in the second person. Rather it uses three voices: first, second, and third.

    Told in standard English with a bit of Nigerian English, familial politics, drug use, COVID-19 and more are other thematic concerns Kuku touches.

    Humour is a tool that drives this novel. Funny lines such as “you are too young to be carrying slippers on your chest” enliven the pages.

    With this book, you’re likely to feel that Damilare Kuku has used a very topical and controversial issue like butt enlargement to deliver an easy read that is warm and devoid of sermonising.

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    I also encountered Bolaji Olatunde’s wild imaginations in ‘The Heptagon Revolt’. His imaginations were so wild that dogs can hear what human beings are saying; however, human beings can’t hear dogs, a development, which makes it easy for them to plan their revolution against the human race.

    Biyi Bandele’s posthumously-published retelling of Bishop Ajayi Crowther’s story, ‘Yoruba Boy Running’, also took my time and refreshed my memory about many a thing. I was surprised weeks later to find out that Bandele knew that was going to be his last book. His daughter and her mother revealed to The Guardian that he killed himself.The novel is the second of Bandele’s works to be posthumously released. The first was his Netflix adaptation of Wole Soyinka’s ‘Death and the King’s Horseman’, which was made in Yoruba and titled ‘Eleshin Oba’. He directed the movie for Mo Abudu’s Ebony Life Studios.

    ‘In Yoruba Boy Running’, we encounter men proclaiming God’s greatness even as they behead their fellow men. We see men playing God and others eager to sell their conscience to gain the whole world. We see sons of the soil betraying the land of their birth and others simply being men; flawed and fallible.

    ‘Yoruba Boy Running’ invites us to interrogate the culture and tradition of the Yoruba and their gods as we drink deep from the well of wisdom of these interesting and forward-looking people. It also shows us and reminds us of a part of the slave trade that is not often talked or written about. We have heard and read more about men who used Christianity to pillage Africa. Bandele’s Ajayi story raises the spectre of black men screaming “Allahu Akbar” while perpetuating evil.

    Reading Yasin Kakande’s ‘A Murder of Hate’ made me come to this conclusion: “Africa has its challenges, crazy and sometimes too bizarre to believe, but behind some of the problems afflicting the continent are unseen hands, the Big Brothers who enable bad leaders in the Third World in order to have unfettered access to their natural resources.”

    In the middle of the year, Abubakar Umar Sidi took me to Golgotha for Garba Dakaskus to crucify me with his crazy debut novel, ‘The Incredible Dreams of Garba Dakaskus’.

    The last quarter of the year saw me reading Umar Turaki’s ‘Every Drop of Blood Is Red’ and Nathaniel Bivan’s ‘Boys, Girls and Beasts’.

    Turaki’s sophomore work is a spine-tingling affair between virtue exploration and a multilayered story arc. It is also a homage to Jos, the author’s city. We see it from every angle possible even as we love and hate it for what its people have done to it.

    Bivan’s work has a futuristic setting which allows the author delve into the fantastical with remarkable freedom and the outcome can be likened to a meticulously constructed house, each brick laid with care, the cement perfectly mixed, the pillars solid, the furniture thoughtfully placed, resulting in a space that is not just functional but inviting and warm.

    The author’s generous dose of poetic prose and a seamless blend of simple, compound, and compound-complex sentence structures infuse the writing with a vibrant, sizzling energy that enhances the storytelling.

    Edify Yakusak’s ‘On A Day Like This’ made me ask her publisher, Masobe Books, to tell her I was in awe of her storytelling.

    I also read a number of non-fictional works. Very remarkable is Ike Anya’s memoir ‘Small by Small: Becoming A Doctor in 1990s Nigeria’, which takes us behind the scenes of what it takes to be a doctor in Nigeria. Because he was trained in the 1990s, the book relies on what was obtainable then, but the truth is that though decades have rolled by, so many things remain unchanged; in some cases, things have become worse.

    Kamala Harris’s life also fascinated me and Dan Morain’s ‘Kamala’s Way: An American Life’ filled me in. It tells us about her values, her priorities, her problem-solving capacity, her missteps, her risk-taking skills, and more.

    Niran Adedokun’s ‘Every Journalist Should Write A Book’ inspired in me the belief that a number of our colleagues would either dust up their abandoned manuscripts or start afresh.

    I equally had a good time with ‘Becoming Otondo: An Anthology of NYSC Travels Vol II’, an important project of ‘Fortunate Traveller’, funded by Goethe Institut.

    My final take: May 2025 bring Nigerians relief, the outgoing year has been one hell of a time for them. May they sing songs of joy in 2025 and may the sort of hassles the outgoing year brought to millions never be experienced again.

  • Truths we cling to

    Truths we cling to

    Millions of us, at various points in life, have acted on what we perceive as the truth. In the Gospel of John, specifically John 8:31-32, we are reminded: “Then Jesus said to the Jews who had believed him, ‘If you continue in my word, you are truly my disciples; and you will know the truth, and the truth will set you free.’”

    With this assurance, we often look forward to being set free by the truths we cling to. Yet, time and again, what we believe to be truth reveals itself as falsehood. Instead of liberating us, it ensnares us; it leaves us entangled, regretful, and yearning to turn back the hands of time.

    Quite a number of times, we find ourselves in this dilemma because of material things—money, landed properties, cars, ornaments and more. There are also instances where we get ensnared because of matters of the heart.

    We have also seen nations that have been destroyed because of lies seen as truths. A good case is Iraq. In the early 2000s, the U.S. government, led by George W. Bush, and the UK government, under Tony Blair, claimed that Iraq possessed chemical, biological, and potentially nuclear weapons. They argued that Saddam Hussein’s regime posed an imminent threat due to these weapons of mass destruction (WMDs) and alleged links to terrorist groups like Al-Qaeda.

    Much of the intelligence supporting these claims was later discredited, including testimony from questionable sources such as “Curveball,” who falsely reported mobile biological weapons laboratories, and reports that Iraq sought uranium from Niger, which were based on forged documents. Ambiguous intelligence was often presented as definitive.

    The Bush administration used the threat of WMDs as the primary justification for the 2003 invasion of Iraq, asserting it was necessary to prevent a catastrophic attack. Secretary of State Colin Powell’s presentation to the United Nations in February 2003 played a pivotal role. Using satellite imagery and intercepted communications, Powell sought to make the case for the existence of Iraqi WMDs. However, many of these claims were later proven false.

    Despite extensive searches conducted by the Iraq Survey Group, no stockpiles of WMDs were ever found. The 2004 Duelfer Report concluded that Iraq had ceased its WMD programmes in the 1990s and posed no active threat at the time of the invasion. These findings revealed systemic failures in intelligence gathering, analysis, and dissemination. The U.S. Senate Intelligence Committee’s report later criticised the heavy reliance on flawed intelligence.

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    The consequences of the war were profound. It resulted in significant loss of life, regional destabilisation, and long-term damage to U.S. credibility. Domestically and internationally, the failure to find WMDs eroded trust in governments and intelligence agencies, fueling criticism of the invasion. Many argued that the war was based on manipulated intelligence designed to justify predetermined goals.

    In some situations, opportunities for redemption and correction arise. However, in many instances, the damage is irreversible, and we are left to bear the weight of our choices, our truths. Sometimes, the consequences are so final that deaths occur. All too often, this happens because we mistake worthless metal for gold, holding tightly to illusions.

    I remember this scenario because of Umar Turaki’s second novel, ‘Every Drop of Blood Is Red’, which pays homage to Jos, a lovely city nearly brought to its knees by devastating decisions fueled by mostly unverified information sold as truths.   

    Through flawed characters like Murmula, Pamson, Rahila, Paul, Mary, Reverend Dogo and others, we become acquainted with what  Jos, the Plateau State capital, has suffered over the years because of its many crises. The suspicion between different religions and the attempts to restore the city to its old glory and all else in between are laid bare. No sugar coating. Just truth in its original, unardorned form.

    Essentially, it is about Murmula, a 25-year-old graduate in search of the man she believes is responsible for her father’s disappearance, and Pamson, a mechanic and repentant political thug, who all fingers of guilt point at.

    The day she arrives Pamson’s house she is led in by Paul, a relative of Rahila, Pamson’s wife. Murmula asks for a place as an apprentice in in Pamson’s workshop. With her degree, Pamson sees no sense in her request. He also believes his kind of craft is for men even as he is disturbed about her visit to his home at a time he is battling to get his pregnant wife to forgive him for his affair with Mary. He resolves to refuse her, but subtle pressures from Paul and Rahila eventually land her a slot as a receptionist at Pamson Motor Care, where she begins working to seek vengeance. Soon she sees the chance to take her pound of flesh, but things take a funny turn. There lies the artful deception Turaki pulled on us.

    Things take a scary turn from there onwards and the world Turaki plunges us into is no longer familiar. The things that occur are the sort that make us scream and wonder where we are being led. Though we still see Jos and its streets, churches and other landmarks, the goings on aren’t what we are accustomed to.

    Turaki also deftly takes the bizarre events beyond Jos to include other parts of Nigeria and the rest of the world. Using global news networks, we are made to see that the bizarre events aren’t localised; the whole world has gone gaga. We are provoked to think and ask questions, but in the long run, the answers we seek keep eluding us and we keep flipping the pages in search of where Turaki is taking us after his major detour in the second half.

    The mysterious and life-changing turning point provides an opportunity for the author to delve into the intersection between faith and otherness. This turning point also allows a deep interrogation of the past and its importance in dealing with the present and in the long run, we are forced to accept the fact that “what is past is prologue” as William Shakespeare’s play ‘The Tempest’ shows us.

    My major takeaway from this book is that we need to look before we leap. And not just a cursory look, but a clear one.

    My final take: Clinging to and taking decisive decisions based on information we aren’t sure of can be deadly. What Bush and Blair did to Iraq is a good example of why we need not act on information we are given until due diligence has confirmed them beyond all reasonable doubt.

  • Bivan’s terror alert

    Bivan’s terror alert

    Terrorists are fools who will act first and think later. They are controlled by stuff other than their brains. They exploit girls and use them as suicide bombers. They use them as vessels to carry and detonate bombs. They also use girls to satiate their sexual needs and bear their children. And all these evils, including the rape and forced marriage, are done in the name of their god, whose wish and will they are convinced they are doing for which they look forward to a bountiful harvest in the afterlife.

    Nathaniel Bivan’s debut novel set in 2068 and beyond in the United Nations of West Africa, ‘Boys, Girls and Beasts’, is forcing me to look at terrorists who seem themselves as warriors, fighters and many other abnormal names with eyes beyond the ordinary.

    In this novel, where most people speak Wa Creole, a blend of all the pidgin English in the nation, Bivan, ex-Arts editor at Daily Trust, introduces us to a father, a mother, a son named Jaka, and a daughter named Asabe.

    At the time he introduces them to us, trouble fouls the air and before we know it, we can’t see father, mother and daughter anymore. We see only Jaka in the midst of boys his age, men far older than him and turban-wearing warriors and we are in no doubt that  Jaka will never be innocent again.

    Parts of this country are familiar to us, but the bulk of it is strange and scary. It is simply a crazy world, one where sense and sensibilities are rare commodities, where aliens from realms unknown call the tunes in a country whose most-developed part boasts of electric trams, high speed expressways, and suspension bridges.

    From the opening chapters, we are left in no doubt  about the hell ahead. They are thick with blood, dust, and sweat, evoking all the violent imagery these elements often conjure. They suggest a dark, complex narrative, one whose conclusion may be fraught with complications. Pain and death are hinted at, drawing the reader in with an irresistible pull to uncover more.

    Bivan’s action-packed debut examines power struggle in a unique way. It is set in this fictitious West African nation created without bloodshed; however, fifty years later, things fall apart, largely because of its prosperity, a prosperity tied to a super grain that is milled for flour, compressed for oils, used to heal many ailments, and condensed into several types of fuel.

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    On the journey with Jaka (alias Tiger) and the other boys and men, all now struggling to remember their past, we see defeated UNWA soldiers and a people left to defend themselves. We see radicalised boys who prioritise instincts over reason and act first then think later.

    Girls are also involved in the war, but not in the same way as boys. Unlike boys who are warriors taking over one district after the other, girls are bearers of bombs and those of reproductive ages are vessels to birth the next generation of warriors, the special breeds who will ensure the earth belongs to their god.

    This patriarchal arrangement seems to suggest that the oppression of the female folk will be with us in 2068 and beyond.

    Significantly, not all boys and girls are considered useful. The useless ones are wasted, and killed in the most brutal of ways.

    A very germane angle to this amazing book is the one that situates the cause of the war in UNWA as something beyond the ordinary, something orchestrated by extraterrestrial forces because they need to take over the earth and claim it for themselves on behalf of their god, Zohrar.

    This approach is bound to make a reader view this novel from a prism other than the one in the first three chapters. This Zohrar angle takes the plot off the bus and throws it on a super jet and the effect is a speed that leaves the reader gasping as he or she races through the rest of the pages in search of answers to the twists and turns; it is an angle that takes away the ordinariness of how the country came about, how it became so prosperous and how things were run before the war. It is an angle that raises posers: Is man a spiritual being? Is the earth controlled by forces ordinary eyes can’t see? Are forces beyond the ordinary at meetings where important decisions about nations are taken? Are there spirits in human flesh in our world? Should spirits in human flesh die? And, is this world a case of the more we look the less we see?

    The futuristic setting of the book allows the author the latitude to delve into the fantastical with remarkable freedom and the outcome can be likened to a meticulously constructed house, each brick laid with care, the cement perfectly mixed, the pillars solid, the furniture thoughtfully placed, resulting in a space that is not just functional but inviting and warm.

    The author’s generous dose of poetic prose and a seamless blend of simple, compound, and compound-complex sentence structures infuse the writing with a vibrant, sizzling energy that enhances the storytelling.

    Dystopuan literary works like this are like warnings to those in authority not to rest on their oars, especially when dealing with people who have no respect for the sanctity of human lives.

    My final take: Terrorists have gained a foothold in our nation, exploiting the breakdown of cooperation within the subregion. Like cockroaches, they adapt and spread, leaving destruction in their wake. Urgent, unified efforts are essential to prevent them from becoming an uncontrollable force in the years to come. 

  • Netflix’s big blow

    Netflix’s big blow

    They rushed here. Yes, they rushed to Nigeria, the giant of Africa and they were expectant. But, just a few years later, Amazon Prime and Netflix have dashed out. With full force.

    Amazon was the first to run. It closed shop because it was not getting the big money it was expecting.

    Some weeks back, Netflix joined. Its pattern of exit reminded me of how Olusegun Obasanjo as president of Nigeria visited Audu Ogbeh as Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) chairman, had a sumptuous meal with him only to hand him a resignation letter to sign.

    Netflix held a party for movie makers, actors and other industry players, a last feast, where it dawned on all that the days of it releasing big money for film production in Nigeria was over. Now, film makers have to restrategise. The likes of Kunle Afolayan, who have concentrated on making contents for the streaming platform, have to either return to the cinema, or strengthen their YouTube channel like Omoni Oboli is doing. The likes of Ruth Kadiri, who have mastered the YouTube, seem insulated. For now. Who knows what policy will come that will also impact the dollar rain from that axis.

    Netflix-dollar-backed productions like Anikulapo 2, Jagunjagun 2 and others that have been shot will still air on the platform, but others that are yet to be shot have been cancelled. The fate of ‘The Secret Lives of Baba Segi’s Wives’ optioned by Mo Abudu’s EbonyLife Studios for a Netflix Original series isn’t clear. If it hasn’t been shot, then it is impacted by this sad development.

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    While it lasted, the Amazon Prime and Netflix deals were good for the likes of Mo Abudu, Kunle Afolayan, Femi Adebayo, Lateef Adedimeji, Genevieve Nnaji and many more. But now, these guys have to work out new distribution means or return to the existing ones.

    It is a sad moment for Nollywood, a crushing blow to the beneficiaries and a laughing moment for those who were shut out of the delicious cakes that Amazon and Netflix originals represented.

    May YouTube not introduce a policy that will leave film makers at the mercy of the marketers of old.

    In the end, we need to find a local solution to our challenges. The West and its investors are out for profits and when they can’t get it, they leave and will only look back if they see another sign of return on investment.