Citizenship is at the heart of inclusiveness and a sense of being a stakeholder of a particular country. A sense of citizenship empowers an individual or a group with shared values to contribute and to protect those shared values. Citizenship comes with a sense of allegiance and commitment the absence of which presents the individual or group as renegades which could imply being prosecuted or outlawed.
Each country tries to protect its citizens as this forms the cardinal reason for governments. Each country progresses in relation to the kind of sense of citizenship it grants the people in its geographic space. It therefore means that the productivity of citizens beyond survival counts for the general good of everyone.
However, a country like Nigeria often shortchanges itself with the sense of citizenship its various groups experience due to the socio-political structure of the country. With the disintegration of the pre-independence regional economies, the sense of citizenship got a tad corrupted as the political system moved from the politicians to military and back to politicians with varied intrigues. The war equally redefined citizenship because of the unaddressed post-war hurts that some regions feel as a collective.
Sadly though, women as a group seem to suffer the greatest form of citizenship denial socially and politically even as they are the hands that rock the cradle. Marriage, a necessary social status often puts that woman in a dilemma as she often leaves her community, state or even country to another to join the husband. The Nigerian society seems to have been very unfair to women socially given the post -colonial patriarchal structure of leadership.
The woman is often in a dilemma as neither the ancestral home nor the marriage home gives her full citizenship of either in the political space. The men who incidentally make the laws often surreptitiously strip women of their assumed citizenship rights by denying them the rights to be equal participants in the political space by erroneously assuming that the women’s citizenship can be fluid and therefore not authentic enough to grant them full, unfettered political participation.
As Nigeria celebrates its diamond jubilee this year, The Roundtable Conversation chatted with a number of individuals in inter-ethnic marriages that have stood the test of time despite differences in language and culture to find whether there is a nexus between these differences and ability to build lasting and happy relationships over time. What are individuals such as these doing right in managing their relationships that the country as a whole cannot manage on the given the national differences on a political level?
Senator Grace Folashade Bent is the first female Senator from the North East geo-political zone, a political/gender activist, author and entrepreneur who represented Southern Adamawa Senatorial District between 2007-2011. She was born and raised in Kaduna state by parents from Osun state. She is married to a man from Adamawa state and was called upon by the people of her husband’s community to go represent them at the National Assembly at the time.
Senator Bent’s experiences in the field were a mixture of sadness and joy. Sadness because all she had known in her life at the time was that she was born and raised and attended most of her schooling in the Kaduna, she got married to a man from Adamawa, had children in Adamawa but yet faced great challenges trying to serve the same people she had lived and loved for the great part of her life. She was equally happy because she had the support of most men chief amongst whom was her husband of forty years who has been referred to as her ‘engine room’ given the support and encouragement he has consistently shown her in her political career.
As the first woman in the whole of the Northern region to be elected into the National Assembly even with her status as just linked to the state by marriage, she had seen what even women that are bona fide citizens of the state went through trying to get into leadership positions not out of incompetence but merely based on their gender. Today, she looks back with positive pride as a trail-blazer who made it possible for a Senator Binta Garba to contest and win election both in her ancestral state and her marital state. So marital affiliation should no longer be a disqualifying feature of any woman trying to contest election in the state and even the larger Nigeria is testimony to her doggedness in Nigerian politics.
To her, Adamawa is almost like a mini Nigeria with about eighty four ethnic groups. Her constituency alone had twenty four ethnic groups and when she adds her own Yoruba ethnic group, that would be twenty five. She craves a constitutional amendment that can bring clarity to Section 42 sub-section 1 of the constitution that says that no one should be discriminated against on the basis of sex, religion or status. She intends to seek full interpretation by the courts especially for women married outside their birth states. The hidden abstract intendment of the law as it stands today must be removed.
She believes that having been born and raised in Kaduna, she ought to be entitled to the same rights as any other Kaduna ‘indigene’ because even though her parents are originally from Osun state, Kaduna is all she has known. How does the Nigerian state and political elite define citizenship? Why should a woman that has been married to a man for more four decades still be referred to her state of ‘origin’ when she seeks to serve the people she has known for forty years and where she has had children too? What is citizenship definition at that level?
Senator Bent believes the panacea to the political exclusion of women based of flimsy social construct like birth and marriage is a constitutional amendment. She believes that women are often more committed in leadership than the men who conspire to exclude them for their own selfishness. Women like her with tripartite citizenship should be at freedom to choose where to offer their political leadership. It should not be a wave of the hand decree by some men who seek their persona gain in a democracy.
Senator Bent despite all she went through is happy that she broke the proverbial glass ceiling for Northern women in particular and Nigeria in general. She believes that women in politics cannot be content with just being added to the male figures. They must provide mentorship and support in other ways for other women. One of her joys in life is seeing that few of her political mentees; Hon. Kate Mamuno was elected to represent her Demsa local constituency in the Adamawa House of Assembly and Pwasto Amos was elected the Vice-Chairman of her local council too.
She believes that the legislative arm of government is a strong tool for women’s voice to be heard and laws beneficial to the whole country to be made. Her efforts at sponsoring the Climate change Commission bill was one of the high points of her legislative career, short as it was. As Chairman of the Committee on Environment , her efforts was so effectively functional that some other African parliamentarians were consulting her Committee for insights on how they managed to pull the bill through.
She credits her father, her hero even in death for the validation she got as a girl child raised as a ‘girl-boy’ meaning her that father raised her to believe that once she has breath in her, she can achieve whatever she set her mind on and put in her efforts. Her husband again has been her engine room and the traditional ruler of her community who forth off the conspiratorial few that tried to use her marriage against her political career. The high point of her significant achievements was receiving the National honour of the Commander of the Order of the Niger (CON) from the government for her pioneering efforts for Northern women at the highest level of legislative authority in the land – the Senate.
With her experience, she sponsored a bill to take care of women in inter-ethnic marriages that had passed the second reading but given the fact that she did not return to the Senate due to predictable political circumstances that had been against her audacity to represent her senatorial district for a second term, the bill got stalled. The bill was to support women married outside their locality not only in politics but in all sectors, judiciary, civil service, business etc. seeing what some women have faced just because they are women married to those they love. We have seen female judges in some states refused being made judges even when they are the most qualified just because the men throw up puerile reasons like their being married in other states even when they meet all other requisite criteria.
Women must be able to get to the peak of their careers no matter their marital status or choices. Bent feels that no woman with political, social or economic roles to play can claim success without pulling up other women. She feels women must be encouraged and supported by fellow women no matter the field they are in as far as they are able and competent. She loves that beyond politics she galvanized support for former rector of Yaba College of Technology, Kudi Ibiyeye the moment she found out she was super qualified for the job.
From the experiences from a Senator Grace Bent, it is apposite to urge Nigerians and those with the duty of law-making to take more seriously the idea of citizenship and the value it confers on all the people. A Lee Kuan Yew was a phenomenal success because he took the idea of citizenship very seriously. He found, from the history and success of Singapore that he took from a third world to a first that citizenship and the accruing benefits make for prosperity as each citizen own the country and does everything to contribute to the growth and development.
Lee Kuan Yew realized early the implication of getting even Caucasians or other citizens married to Singaporeans to have a sense of belonging as they ultimately have children who in turn become citizens. Each individual is propelled by the sense of value given by the citizenship privileges. Women in Nigeria must be constitutionally saved from the myopia of exclusion through tags and encumbrances imposed through the sociology of marriage. The best capital is human capital and every man and woman must be free to contribute to leadership for growth.
If we are to go by the story of the creation, God created man and seeing that he needed help, made the woman. It is therefore funny that the same man that the creator found a helpmate for often try to relegate the woman to the background and ultimately gets overwhelmed by duties that ought to be shared by the two genders.
Ironically, the same creative process runs through the multiplication of humans through procreation. Neither of the genders can bring about the birth of a regular human without the other. Technology and science can only go as far as we have seen. For now, a sperm and an egg are still needed for a fertilization to take place.
It is therefore a descent to the abnormal that in modern leadership tussle around the world, some ill-informed men still assume a sense of entitlement and try everything to exclude women. However, ironically, in countries that have adopted democracy, more women vote at elections and the same men with a flawed sense of entitlement still seek the votes of women to win at the polls. Women are the most consistent, active and loyal voting bloc in the world.
However, the idea of relegating women to the background in leadership is neither socially nor economically profitable for any nation. African women especially had always provided leadership in pristine times before the colonial masters came with the idea of ‘housewives’ because their wives where pretty much idle at home.
The legendary amazons of Dahomey and the various legendary queens in Africa all provided political and economic leadership to complement the men too. There were complimentary leadership styles for both genders and trouble started when the men decided to appropriate the political and economic spaces and to deal women some tokenism.
This trend is an obvious ill-wind that blows no one any good as the economies of the crassly patriarchal societies tend to show, more poverty and social ills hold down the economies of such nations and Nigeria is a good example.
The Roundtable Conversation had the Honorable Commissioner for Women Affairs and Poverty Alleviation in Lagos state, Cecelia Bolaji Dada, an astute administrator/politician. She was in the Lagos State Sports Commission and later became an executive secretary before being elected as the Vice Chairman for Apapa Local Government for two terms. As an award-winning Vice Chairman of a local government, she believes that women have nothing to fear when they are competent and ready to work to develop their communities and nation.
To Bolaji, competence has no gender and the readiness to serve is personal to everyone. She believes that very often, some women show defeatist attitude when it comes to political participation but she believes that mentorship by the few women who are already in politics must be taken more seriously. In her days as Vice Chairman of Apapa Local government, mentoring younger women was a passion for her and the dividends have been huge. It is important for women to first have confidence in themselves, be disciplined enough to earn respect of everyone and be ready to show the full female capacity in multi-tasking. Neither your work nor the home must be shortchanged if you are a focused human being.
Planning must be key for women not just in politics but in all spheres of life that they find themselves. Be able to speak up, be able to stand against the men. The fact of life is that most insecure men are intimidated by brilliant and confident women so they try to frustrate the women so that they will give up because the dictum that what a man can do a woman can do better is not a ruse. Women must be ready to show competence at all levels. There is no position that a determined woman cannot creditably handle.
The mentorship of young women must be a priority for all women and even men because a well-educated and empowered woman can move mountains. Politics is for everyone and it is ironic that while men lay claim to leadership, women are the real voters and if they are discerning enough to vote, they must be capable of leading too. Political positions should not be an exclusive of men and that is where kudos must go to the past and present governors of Lagos state she says.
Lagos state is very much ahead of other states when it comes to women inclusion in both elective and appointive positions in the state. The governor, Babajide, Sanwo-Olu recently won the ‘HE for SHE’ Ambassador Award from an NGO for making his government very inclusive as quite a number of women are in his cabinet and those in the civil service including the judiciary that deserve to be promoted to Permanent Secretaries or appointed as judges equally get their promotions unlike what happens in most other states that the governors tend to play to the gallery whipping up either religious of cultural sentiments that exclude women and deny them what is due them.
To the Commissioner, the number of women in elective and appointive positions in Lagos state even though there is still room for improvement stands as a morale booster for women to seize the moment and realize that they must step up and participate and not wait to be handed power just because they are women. The political terrain requires a great sense of duty and discipline. Women must stand up to the men with their dignity intact and not be intimidated by name-calling and all those mischievous tags some men use to intimidate women out of politics.
Leadership is about integrity and any man or woman that shows integrity would always have a seat at the table. Bolaji insist that women must desist from the pull-her-down syndrome that empower men. The idea of seeing women in politics as women of easy virtue empowers the men. In most cases, men are empowered to call female politicians names because most often the women who are not in politics yield to the male blackmail of women. When looked at critically, if a woman is accused of being of easy virtue just because she insists on meeting men at the barricades and defying their mischievous nocturnal meetings by attending same, who are her partners if not the same men?
She believes women must come together and support the women who are providing leadership either as elected or appointed public servants. To her, planning for women must be key. Neither the home nor the work should be neglected because women are nurturers. Politics should not affect the home or parenting skills because nature has endowed women with the capacity to multi-task brilliantly.
She believes that support from discerning men who know the capacity of their partners also helps and that is why she believes that women must marry or be in a relationship with men who would always support their interests progressively no matter the field. She observes that in her case for instance, it was even her husband that motivated her to be an active politician and that support has made all the difference in her administrative and political journey. In mentoring younger ladies, she points out that each woman must be in a relationship with a partner they can communicate effectively with because that is the foundation for trust and counts for a seamless relationship in future.
It takes a very confident man to allow his wife or partner to attend the ‘intentional’ nocturnal meetings without feeling insecure. It all boils down to a mutual sense of trust and loyalty for partners to trust each other. To her, the main issue to her is, the idea of blackmailing female politicians by the society is a cultural tool of oppression. She believes that no profession corrupts anyone. People decide their moral compass irrespective of their profession or political activities. People still accuse doctors, nurses, actors, bankers, traders, even full time housewives whose husbands are insecure would still complain.
Having been in government since the year 2000, she knows and has observed enough to realize that women are the ones holding themselves back. Being the only woman on the board of the Lagos State Sports Council, then Secretary to Apapa local government then to the vice Chairmanship position for two terms and other political experiences along up till now as a Commissioner in Lagos along other very strong and active women makes her conclude that if only women can dream it, they can achieve it because women are pillars for nation building.
Appointive posts do not make you a politician, starting from your communities and wards should be the initial steps to build your political growth on. Politics must be taken from the bottom up not the other way round. Most times some women assume they can just jump out and become a governor or president, no, the men will always beat you to it because they often are the ones going from their wards to the pinnacle which is the Presidency. Women must realize that participatory democracy is about numbers and not a sentimental gender issue.
The take away from this conversation is that men are not the political dinosaurs that most women often assume. The decision to be politically involved should be made for development by women who do not have to wait to be handed power on a platter. Mentorship is key for women. Most men in or out of politics would support any serious minded woman able and ready to serve. A partner’s support for a woman is an addition and that should often inform choices of a partner. Lagos state leads in women inclusiveness in governance.
What are other states up to? The dialogue continues…
If we are to go by the story of the creation, God created man and seeing that he needed help, made the woman. It is therefore funny that the same man that the creator found a helpmate for often try to relegate the woman to the background and ultimately gets overwhelmed by duties that ought to be shared by the two genders.
Ironically, the same creative process runs through the multiplication of humans through procreation. Neither of the genders can bring about the birth of a regular human without the other. Technology and science can only go as far as we have seen. For now, a sperm and an egg are still needed for a fertilization to take place.
It is therefore a descent to the abnormal that in modern leadership tussle around the world, some ill-informed men still assume a sense of entitlement and try everything to exclude women. However, ironically, in countries that have adopted democracy, more women vote at elections and the same men with a flawed sense of entitlement still seek the votes of women to win at the polls. Women are the most consistent, active and loyal voting bloc in the world.
However, the idea of relegating women to the background in leadership is neither socially nor economically profitable for any nation. African women especially had always provided leadership in pristine times before the colonial masters came with the idea of ‘housewives’ because their wives where pretty much idle at home.
The legendary amazons of Dahomey and the various legendary queens in Africa all provided political and economic leadership to complement the men too. There were complimentary leadership styles for both genders and trouble started when the men decided to appropriate the political and economic spaces and to deal women some tokenism.
This trend is an obvious ill-wind that blows no one any good as the economies of the crassly patriarchal societies tend to show, more poverty and social ills hold down the economies of such nations and Nigeria is a good example.
The Roundtable Conversation had the Honorable Commissioner for Women Affairs and Poverty Alleviation in Lagos state, Cecelia Bolaji Dada, an astute administrator/politician. She was in the Lagos State Sports Commission and later became an executive secretary before being elected as the Vice Chairman for Apapa Local Government for two terms. As an award-winning Vice Chairman of a local government, she believes that women have nothing to fear when they are competent and ready to work to develop their communities and nation.
To Bolaji, competence has no gender and the readiness to serve is personal to everyone. She believes that very often, some women show defeatist attitude when it comes to political participation but she believes that mentorship by the few women who are already in politics must be taken more seriously. In her days as Vice Chairman of Apapa Local government, mentoring younger women was a passion for her and the dividends have been huge. It is important for women to first have confidence in themselves, be disciplined enough to earn respect of everyone and be ready to show the full female capacity in multi-tasking. Neither your work nor the home must be shortchanged if you are a focused human being.
Planning must be key for women not just in politics but in all spheres of life that they find themselves. Be able to speak up, be able to stand against the men. The fact of life is that most insecure men are intimidated by brilliant and confident women so they try to frustrate the women so that they will give up because the dictum that what a man can do a woman can do better is not a ruse. Women must be ready to show competence at all levels. There is no position that a determined woman cannot creditably handle.
The mentorship of young women must be a priority for all women and even men because a well-educated and empowered woman can move mountains. Politics is for everyone and it is ironic that while men lay claim to leadership, women are the real voters and if they are discerning enough to vote, they must be capable of leading too. Political positions should not be an exclusive of men and that is where kudos must go to the past and present governors of Lagos state she says.
Lagos state is very much ahead of other states when it comes to women inclusion in both elective and appointive positions in the state. The governor, Babajide, Sanwo-Olu recently won the ‘HE for SHE’ Ambassador Award from an NGO for making his government very inclusive as quite a number of women are in his cabinet and those in the civil service including the judiciary that deserve to be promoted to Permanent Secretaries or appointed as judges equally get their promotions unlike what happens in most other states that the governors tend to play to the gallery whipping up either religious of cultural sentiments that exclude women and deny them what is due them.
To the Commissioner, the number of women in elective and appointive positions in Lagos state even though there is still room for improvement stands as a morale booster for women to seize the moment and realize that they must step up and participate and not wait to be handed power just because they are women. The political terrain requires a great sense of duty and discipline. Women must stand up to the men with their dignity intact and not be intimidated by name-calling and all those mischievous tags some men use to intimidate women out of politics.
Leadership is about integrity and any man or woman that shows integrity would always have a seat at the table. Bolaji insist that women must desist from the pull-her-down syndrome that empower men. The idea of seeing women in politics as women of easy virtue empowers the men. In most cases, men are empowered to call female politicians names because most often the women who are not in politics yield to the male blackmail of women. When looked at critically, if a woman is accused of being of easy virtue just because she insists on meeting men at the barricades and defying their mischievous nocturnal meetings by attending same, who are her partners if not the same men?
She believes women must come together and support the women who are providing leadership either as elected or appointed public servants. To her, planning for women must be key. Neither the home nor the work should be neglected because women are nurturers. Politics should not affect the home or parenting skills because nature has endowed women with the capacity to multi-task brilliantly.
She believes that support from discerning men who know the capacity of their partners also helps and that is why she believes that women must marry or be in a relationship with men who would always support their interests progressively no matter the field. She observes that in her case for instance, it was even her husband that motivated her to be an active politician and that support has made all the difference in her administrative and political journey. In mentoring younger ladies, she points out that each woman must be in a relationship with a partner they can communicate effectively with because that is the foundation for trust and counts for a seamless relationship in future.
It takes a very confident man to allow his wife or partner to attend the ‘intentional’ nocturnal meetings without feeling insecure. It all boils down to a mutual sense of trust and loyalty for partners to trust each other. To her, the main issue to her is, the idea of blackmailing female politicians by the society is a cultural tool of oppression. She believes that no profession corrupts anyone. People decide their moral compass irrespective of their profession or political activities. People still accuse doctors, nurses, actors, bankers, traders, even full time housewives whose husbands are insecure would still complain.
Having been in government since the year 2000, she knows and has observed enough to realize that women are the ones holding themselves back. Being the only woman on the board of the Lagos State Sports Council, then Secretary to Apapa local government then to the vice Chairmanship position for two terms and other political experiences along up till now as a Commissioner in Lagos along other very strong and active women makes her conclude that if only women can dream it, they can achieve it because women are pillars for nation building.
Appointive posts do not make you a politician, starting from your communities and wards should be the initial steps to build your political growth on. Politics must be taken from the bottom up not the other way round. Most times some women assume they can just jump out and become a governor or president, no, the men will always beat you to it because they often are the ones going from their wards to the pinnacle which is the Presidency. Women must realize that participatory democracy is about numbers and not a sentimental gender issue.
The take away from this conversation is that men are not the political dinosaurs that most women often assume. The decision to be politically involved should be made for development by women who do not have to wait to be handed power on a platter. Mentorship is key for women. Most men in or out of politics would support any serious minded woman able and ready to serve. A partner’s support for a woman is an addition and that should often inform choices of a partner. Lagos state leads in women inclusiveness in governance.
What are other states up to? The dialogue continues…
For the political philosophers that fashioned the democratic system of government, they believed that the system is best suited for the people of any geographic space as a government of the people by the people and for the people. It is planned for the people to, through electoral processes elect their leaders both for the executive and legislative positions. In this way, the people are viewed as the mandate givers.
However, the history of democracy in most of Africa seems flawed in most instances as the systemic neo-imperialism often sip into the political space. What we then have is a somewhat wobbly democracy that in most countries is controlled solely by either families or the political elite. In a country like Nigeria, the political elite is so entrenched that they almost own the electoral processes starting from the political party structures that ought to be the valid vehicle through which candidates emerge to contest for elective offices.
The result of the influence of some ‘powerful’ party members across party lines then often make elections less democratic. The influence of godfathers, party chieftains and party financiers has greatly affected the Nigerian political space very negatively and the whole country reels from the effects thereof.
The Roundtable Conversation this week involved an Professor of Structural Engineering at the University of Illinois, Chicago and a one-time Senatorial aspirant in Anambra state, Gene Nonso Mojekwu. Even though Nigeria seems not to practice full representative democracy in terms of allowing pace for women, youths and the minority tribes, he believes that the idea of political exclusion is not bought by every male in the society even though there is a seeming monopoly of the political space by the men. To him, the entire male segment of our population cannot be painted with the same brush even though certain actions of the male politicians seem to reinforce that feeling.
To him, there is no political Eldorado for women in any continent including the United States, however, the only difference with the United States is that there is enough space for political growth of both genders in a very inclusive way. The reason is that personal effort for inclusion according to Mojekwu is often rewarded with an opening for entrance. To him, the political success of an Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, a former waitress now the youngest woman elected to US Congress after defeating a ten-term Democratic Party Chair, the then 2018 incumbent, Joe Crowley is very remarkable. Her victory was possible because of the structure of party politics in the United States.
She won the election at the age of 29, is of Hispanic descent and a woman. She is the youngest woman ever to serve in the United States Congress. She did not have to be selected by the political party as a favour by ‘Party Chieftains’ as often is the case in Nigeria. Again, she was not nominated as a token for the women. She worked her way through to success but the door was open for her. Mojekwu believes that all the excluded parties in the Nigerian political space, women, youths and minorities can begin to re-strategize because their world view is different from the current political elite.
The political party operations in Nigeria in his view seem very undemocratic as there are the same old politicians recycling themselves and they are quite aged and almost out of tune with modern political economies across the globe. In his view, if the Nigerian youths are to step up and step into the political space, there would be more room for equity because the modern world takes cognizance of competences devoid of gender tags. He however believes that the younger people seem unprepared to step into the political space given the apathy they often show.
In a way, Mojekwu believes that given the situation in the country, a no experience for the youths seems better than having a bad experience under the old politicians. He believes the youths must begin to chart a course that can give them seats at the political table. Their inexperience notwithstanding, they cannot do worse than we already see with the old politicians. The rise of the youths would bring equity in the political space.
A major flaw in the structure of the Nigerian political space he says is the fact that instead of the people, the owners and beneficiaries of the democratic system, a few political leaders have and enjoy the monopoly of nominating candidates at party primaries and in such an instance, their anointing often goes to the highest bidder in an environment where election funds are neither monitored no barricades set.
Prof. Mojekwu believes that elections in functional democracies are the monopoly of the masses but in Nigeria, once the primaries are flawed, the whole process gets ruined. It is the structure of our brand of democracy that is not really open to new entrants and as such the tiny percentage of ‘political leaders and financiers’ often arrogate to themselves the selection process at primary elections and in doing so, disenfranchise even better and more prepared candidates.
In climes where the people and not a few people decide the wrong use of party machinery, the people have a wider choice and candidates sell themselves to the people and are elected on their personal merit and not on imposed or proxy qualifications. He believes that a Kamala Harris despite her qualifications is today a Vice-Presidential candidate because the democratic party is playing on her mass appeal and mass hunger for certain political trajectory. The Nigerian political parties need to listen to the people and give them what they demand for democracy to successfully thrive.
He believes the political party structure and electoral processes in Nigeria need to change to allow candidates access to the people and not a few party leaders who are often far from altruistic in their affairs. Let candidates get through and talk to the people rather than being carried to electoral victory by party leaderships. Raising the hands of candidates and handing them a party flag is not all there is to electoral processes. The people must be free to choose and party primaries must not be sold surreptitiously through party delegates and all other forms of manipulations.
Mojekwu believes the solution to the present situation would be a more open political party system that gives all aspirants unfettered room to reach out to the people and be accepted or rejected on their merit. The youths must step in on their own without an apprenticeship period with the old guards that might end up corrupting them, better learn on the job than learn from bad workmen. There must be a rise in individuals that are more accepting of the diversity of the nation and focused on the value of individual candidates devoid of regional tags. A non-violent revolution can ease out the dysfunctional system and open up the Nigerian political space for better and more competent leaders at all levels. But again, candidates must step up and work their way through the party machinery and be of admirable private and professional pedigree. Leadership demands those.
Maria Mbakwe, a business woman and the People’s Democratic Party Woman leader in Imo state believes that there are too many odds against inclusiveness in Nigerian political parties but she as a woman party leader has decided to adopt certain strategies to include more women in partisan politics. As a beneficiary of another mentorship by a woman who encouraged her to be more actively partisan, she started as a Counselor in her Ifakala ward.
However, from councillorship, she rose through the ranks to the state women leader and has been in the vanguard of pulling more interested women into the party executive and in her almost a decade as a woman leader, she has tried to come around the obstacles that prevent many women from party politics. She adopted the community advocacy style where she and her team across the state re-orientate women towards being more active politically and that has resulted in more women joining political parties and seeking more executive positions at the party congresses.
She still sees financial muscle as one of the oppressive tools men have against the less economically strong women and youth but she believes that with some plans she is not ready to release yet for strategic reasons, the male politicians might just be doing a rethink of their own strategies because the gender parity would be more productively viable for the people.
To her, it is time for women to rally around each other and meet male politicians at the barricade given the short end of the stick the men have for long handed the women in Nigeria. The use of violence at elections often rob women politicians of victory and in her words, she has introduced the PDP Babes – a group of young women across the state being groomed as an answer to the male youth thuggery. To her, women too can raise modern day amazons to protect their votes as the men have sworn to always use violence to instigate flawed electoral victories.
The idea of using financial might to edge out the women might just be a thing of the past because the women who form majority of the voters have decided to look inwards for competent women to give the men a run for their money. To her, when the voting processes at the primary and general elections are free and fair, more women would definitely win elections and have more voice and capacity to rescue the state and national economies because women actually wear the shoes and know where the shoe of bad governance pinches.
In all, both Mojekwu and Mbakwe are hinging the progress of our democracy on improved party structures that give the power to the people as a strong democratic principle.
Chinelo Iwenofu, the Head Communication Affairs of the African Union Agenda 2063 Ambassadorial Assembly, is one of the young Africans being brought on board the administration of African Union (AU) in the bid to launch a new path of growth for the continent. With her global mindset and a life abroad devoid of inhibitions, Iwenofu is trying to use her creative energy to form and lead an organisation that would tell the African story in a new way. In this interview with PAUL UKPABIO, she relives the Nigerian civil war and how she narrowly escaped death at a tender age to live abroad and returned only to find that “things were no longer at ease.”
CONGRATULATIONS on your appointment with the African Union. What exactly does your office entail?
I was unexpectedly appointed as Head of Communication Affairs by the African Union ECOSOCC Nigeria, under the Agenda 2063 official media platform of the Ambassadorial Assembly, which is a continental initiative. My office entails that I act as a contributor and editor on the Africa 63 Magazine, which offers objective information within the African Union scope that educates, entertains and promotes African values to birth a prosperous continent. I will also co-ordinate the writing and production of their up and coming book – The Africa We Want.
How relevant would you say the African Union has been in recent times?
To be frank, the African Union seems to me to have been rather silent of late. Understandably, they are also rather overwhelmed by the impact of the Covid-19 pandemic.
But I could sense as well that the AU has taken an observatory stance, through which they can, for now, record all the negative occurrences on the continent which will inevitably have to be addressed and acted on sooner or later.
Right now, the continent is under siege, and any voice that speaks too loudly and too prematurely may well be silenced. The relevance of the AU will be felt, once handled well and strategically.
Nigeria used to play the big brother role in Africa. But with the nation presently at the bottom of global poverty rating, do you see Nigeria continuing to play that role effectively?
I see Nigeria continuing to play the big brother role, whether they want to or not, primarily because of the teeming population both inside and outside Africa. We have left good and bad footprints everywhere.
Even if Nigeria was destroyed today, the millions of us living outside will still have an impact. We have stamped our dominance in entertainment, leadership roles outside the continent, even finance! Nigerian banks are fanning out all over Africa, to the extent that a prominent Kenyan described us as being like the Chinese, all over the place spreading our culture.
I am afraid that if Nigeria fails, it will have a domino effect on the rest of Africa, because our DNA is all over the black world. But that is not likely to happen. Nigeria looks now like it is on a downward spiral, and could very well crash to the bottom. But we won’t die. We will get up with a few broken bones and bad bruising in plaster and so on. But once healed, which is the part where we get rid of all the selfish, destructive and recycled elements smothering us from the top, a progressive, young offspring will emerge, as long as they are given the right awareness and creativity. No human being in their right mind will want to dwell forever in ignorance and decay. Mark my words, fresh blood will emerge and take over.
Is it not disturbing that no one is expecting the Covid-19 vaccine to come from Africa? The only African country that offered herbal remedy was undermined and is presently suffering bigger scourge of the virus? Is Africa ever going to find its feet in global development?
Why no one is expecting the Covid-19 vaccine from Africa baffles me. And must it be a vaccine anyway? When we saw Ebola off in 93 days, not much was said about it. In fact, I will not be surprised if the west and the big pharmaceutical companies were disappointed. The fear of Africa and what Africa can achieve is real. So even if we were sitting right on top of the perfect cure for Covid-19, it is likely to be suppressed.
Unfortunately, our age old inferiority complex will also interfere with our own belief in ourselves that we can’t produce such a vaccine. The hydrochloroquine saga comes to mind. This is a cheap anti-malaria drug that we have been using for decades. Most of us may even have it in our system! There are herbs that are rumoured to be effective too. We should have scientists in the lab working on what we have, not waiting like idiots for some foreign power to come and give us a vaccine. I think it’s really about time we formed our very own AHO (African Health Organisation). We will then have the capacity to guide our own medicinal and healing processes.
Africa already has demonstrated its ability in the global dispensation, mostly on an individual basis. And what happens to those Africans who have come out with brilliant developmental ideas? They were snapped up by America and Europe, given citizenship and blended into their respective societies. And guess who takes all the credit? Never the African or Africa! And quite frankly, it serves us right! But that’s another story.
You are a poet, a writer and a publisher. Which of the vocations came first and how were you able to groom each part over the years?
Actually, being a poet came first. Because when I was an 11-year-old, I came first in a national poetry competition in England and Wales. That was barely two years after I arrived in the UK. In between everything else, family, school, reading, and so on, I wrote short stories, newspaper articles. I was a magazine columnist, then editor.
When I got back to Nigeria after a disturbing stint of working with unpleasant employers, I branched out on my own and decided to start my own publishing company, with little or no capital. I still write, mostly ghost-writing for people who want to publish biographies and such.
I’ve barely had time to write for myself, because I would like to write a novel or my memoirs. I jot down poems every time I feel like it, and I should have clocked well over 100 poems, some of which I have carelessly misplaced. However, I have just completed a book of poems which I intend to bring out on my birthday this August.
What led you into the law profession?
Oh, that? I used to think it was a mistake until after a while I began to enjoy it. Practising law in England was a memorable experience. Anyway, I read Law at Southbank University in my desperation to go back to school after the end of a rather early and traumatic marriage.
I had initially applied to read Mass Communication and was told that there was a three year waiting list. My other choices were English, History and Law. When I was offered a place on those other subjects, I opted for Law because that seemed like the most practical in terms of career. I thought I would go back to writing later, but I found myself lingering in the legal profession for many years long after I graduated and qualified.
I worked in a few solicitors’ firms as well as her Majesty’s Treasury Solicitors, which was a source of pride on my CV then. I eventually went into partnership in the city of London before bowing out finally.
Which do you prefer, practising law abroad or in Nigeria?
Practising abroad, of course! I don’t understand what is going on in Nigeria. I’m not used to the system here. I never bothered to go to Law School here, because I had no intention of practising. I was put off by the low salaries of new lawyers.
What memories of your parents do you recall and which of them were you closer to?
My father left for London while we were still in Lagos. He went off to specialise in Ophthalmology. We got caught up in the progrom against the Igbo, which had spread from the north to Lagos. So, my little brother and I were evacuated to the East with my mother. We lived with her throughout our time in the war until we eventually left for the UK in September 1969. My father met us at Heathrow Airport, so most of my adolescent life was spent with him, even though I was put in a boarding school at some point. In which case I would say I was a little closer to my father, but reconciled with my mother in my adult years when I started visiting her in Lagos.
Did your parents play any role in the civil war?
My mother was a nurse at a military hospital in Aba and Nkwerre. Meanwhile in the UK, my father was a Biafran activist when he was not practising medicine.
Were you married to a Nigerian, and given the opportunity, will you go into marriage again?
No, I was not married to a Nigerian. In fact, he was from Grenada and we have two beautiful sons together. I have been given more than ‘an opportunity’ to go into marriage again, but I have not been willing to because the demands on my peace of mind was too high. I had vowed never to go into an abusive relationship or marriage ever again. However, I can never say never. If it is God’s will and a gentleman shows up and our spirits blend, then why not?
The embarrassing journey of African immigrants across the Mediterranean Sea to Europe continues. Why the silence by African governments about these suicidal journeys?
I told you already that most African governments, especially Nigeria, are selfish, destructive and, sorry to say, rotten. It is not in their mindset to help their citizens. They do not want to get their hands dirty, especially if most of the migrants are from another tribe. We need new governments, new leaders that will at least make an effort; at least encourage them to stay home. But they are not being given an incentive to remain in their countries. They are virtually refugees, whether war torn or economic.
You must have seen the Nigerian civil war or experienced a bit of it. What memory did it leave on you?
As a child from a privileged home, the impact was not as daunting as it was for many. But I do recall the constant fear and instability we faced, and I did witness some horrors now and then. Flying out of Biafra a few months before the war ended was also a terrifying experience. The indelible memory it left on me is that war is not the best solution. But sometimes it is absolutely necessary for self-defence.
Did you ever meet the main actor in the civil war, Chief Odumegwu Ojukwu in person? If yes, what impressions did he leave on you?
I like the way you say “main Actor”. But who told you he was the main actor? I could only say I actually met Ikemba Ojukwu in person before the war and after the war. During the actual war, despite the fact that we spent some time in his house in Onitsha before it fell into enemy hands, he was never there. We used to watch him on television inspecting soldiers on parade, while his toddler son, Emeka Junior would be exclaiming with delight in Igbo, ‘Look at my father! Look at my father!’
What are your fears about Nigeria and Africa generally?
My fears about Nigeria and Africa is that we could be recolonised. If we continue to allow our governments to greedily seek loans from outside, we might well be plunged back into neo-colonialism and financially enslaved.
Some people are suggesting that Africa needs a revolution. Do you share that belief?
We need a thought revolution, a reset of the mind and complete financial independence through hard work, and the harvesting of our own resources by ourselves. Also, we have to learn to stop fighting one another in the name of ethnicity and religion. These unnecessary conflicts have brought us right down and rendered us easy to manipulate.
It has always been time for a female president. But whether our self-absorbed misogynist males will allow it is another issue. I remember once a guy told me to my face, “If a woman ever rules Nigeria, I will rather commit suicide.” I have never forgotten that sad declaration.
We are the way we are because more than half of the population is not allowed to have a say in the running of our affairs. One or two countries are trying and they are developing faster than the rest. That, I guess, will be a conversation for another day.
On the occasion of his 60th birthday one year in office, Ogun State governor, Prince Dapo Abiodun speaks about the journey so far, explaining why many of the policies of his immediate predecessor, Senator Ibikunle Amosun are being reviewed. He also speaks about his plans for local government election and his relationship with Vice President Yemi Osinbajo, former President Olusegun Obasanjo and All Progressives Congress (APC) national leader, Asiwaju Bola Ahmed Tinubu, among other issues.
ON assuming office as Ogun State governor, you set up some committees to look into some policies and actions of your predecessor. But one year in the saddle, people are still expecting White Papers on the findings of these committees. Why the delay?
When we came in, we found that many of the issues we met on ground required further explanations, because the hand-over notes we got were rather hazy and we needed to hit the ground running. Yet we have so many uncompleted projects from the previous administration, so we needed to take stock and be sure we prevent future occurrences of such.
For instance, about a week after I came into office, I paid a visit to the state-owned tertiary healthcare facility at Sagamu—the Olabisi Onabanjo University Teaching Hospital— based on information received at an earlier meeting with the hospital’s management.
I was shocked at the level of rot in the hospital. The Teaching Hospital used to be one of the best medical facilities in the country, but it had become a shadow of itself.
Most of the medical equipment were obsolete and others dysfunctional. The mortuary and the entire vicinity was filled with bad odour due to lack of maintenance and non-availability of needed equipment to make it functional.
I had to set up a nine-man committee headed by the Chief Medical Director of Reddington Hospital, Dr. Yemi Onabowale.
The committee’s specific terms of reference include: To assess the current operations of the hospital in line with expectations as a teaching/tertiary institution; determine the state of facilities of the various units and departments and make recommendations to the state on the steps necessary to ensure sustainable operations in the institution.
The committee was also to determine quick wins and palliative actions to stem further degeneration of the institution and facilities and review all third party arrangements in the institution, including the Private-Public Partnership (PPP) and other services provisioning arrangement and determine their level of compliance at the time of their engagement and with the efficacy.
We had an administrative panel on the Moshood Abiola Polytechnic and the Moshood Abiola University of Science and Technology. Moshood Abiola Polytechnic (MAPOLY) which the ex-governor purportedly converted to Moshood Abiola University of Science and Technology (MAUTECH) without the wherewithal to nurture the new institution.
It is instructive to note that while the institution was being converted on paper from MAPOLY to MAUTECH, the staff of Tai Solarin College of Education were being owed 24 months’ salaries.
When you consider the fact that MAPOLY had produced many leading lights in this country and was probably the most flourishing institution, being able to substantially generate and pay its staff’s salaries as and when due, the disruption caused should give any right-thinking administrator some concern. It was most galling misadventure. These institutions were not functioning.
What about the committee you set up on the review of appointments and promotions in the state civil service and enterprises?
The committee was meant to give us an informed assessment of employments and promotions between February 1 and May 29, 2019. Yet, another one was set up to review the appointments, installations and promotions of 75 traditional rulers in the state in the twilight of the previous administration.
Of course, we set up one to investigate the propriety of the last minutes contracts and projects. None of these was set up to witch-hunt.
They were set up to provide the right type of leadership to enable the state to perform optimally. All the people brought in have the requisite training, exposure, experience and integrity to drive the sectors where we called them to serve.
To review the appointment of 75 coronet Obas, we had a paramount ruler, the Olu of Ilaro, Oba Kehinde Olugbenle and other traditional rulers and others drawn from that institution. To head the projects, we brought in the President of the Nigerian Society of Engineers, Engr Adekunle Mokunolu as Chairman.
You’ll see that in ensuring that we provide focused and qualitative governance, we didn’t politicise these important assignments. Luckily, the state is renowned for its professionalism, commitment and dedication, and I’m happy to report that all these committees delivered.
They were thorough and we have started implementing their reports. They were set up to bolster participatory democracy, to promote or highlight the features of a solution, product, or service.
OOUTH is gradually returning to its pride of place. You can see what they have been doing in the fight against COVID-19.
Dapo Abiodun
That is where the first state-funded molecular laboratory is located. MAPOLY is running seamlessly. TASCE now has a Governing Council; it held its first graduation ceremony in 11 years as a result of the panel’s activities. We didn’t set up any frivolous committee.
These panels tried to perform the dual role of presenting firm government policies while at the same time inviting opinions upon them. These are the essence of white paper in government as first used in Britain under Winston Churchill in 1922.
We have also been able to mainstream almost 2000 workers into the workforce and none of the 18 Permanent Secretaries lost their jobs, even when we spotted grey areas in the manners of their promotions and appointments.
Of course, we set aside the appointment and promotion of Obas because they didn’t conform to laid-down statutes. So, we have started implementing the reports and that should put to rest any fears and establish that we set these committees up to be seen as an ethical, fair and firm administration.
The immediate past governor said that his administration had paid all the contractors handling road and other infrastructural projects in full, yet, several uncompleted roads and projects litter the state. What is your take on this?
The Kunle Mokunolu committee is peopled by professionals – structural engineers, architect, quantity surveyors, civil engineers, and lawyers, etc, to give us a balanced idea in ascertaining if or not there was budgetary provision for the projects in the budget estimates for the year.
They were also to identify all outstanding significant construction/projects in the state, ascertain the process of award of contracts in line with the established procedures and necessary regulations; determine the level of execution and quality of output of the projects; assess the disbursement pattern in line with the established process and procedure, and to recommend any viable pathways for the completion of project, or in alternative, determine other actions, including but not limited to reversal or cancellation of the contract that best align with the intent of the state government.
I am sorry to say that most of these projects fall short of the demands of international best practices. But we are determined to ensure that projects met on ground are completed since taxpayers’ money is involved and the welfare of the people is our priority.
Yes, most of them were fully paid for before these projects were executed and most without certificates, but now contractors are still asking for variations. We had to intervene before the Judicial Complex could become functional.
We have moved into the supposed 250-bed specialist hospital now and we shall ensure that no project is turned into the people’s nightmare, no matter the nature of its conceptualization. You have seen that some hitherto White Elephant projects have been tweaked to become relevant today.
For example, the Tech Hub on Kobape Road on the outskirts of Abeokuta was one of the supposed model schools that was moribund for 8 years. Ditto for the one in Ikenne. We have turned that into a 128-bed Isolation and Treatment Centre for COVID-19. No project will be allowed to waste. We will creatively put all of them into purpose-driven ventures.
The process for the preparation of Year 2020 budget started with a sensitisation programme on the vision and mission of government. It was followed with town hall meetings in the three senatorial districts. We discovered the centrality of roads and so we started rehabilitating roads by bringing the Ogun State Public Works Agency.
Cognisance has been taken to eliminate white elephant projects or any such projects that would boost the public perception of any political actor in the state. We have realised the futility of channelling efforts towards the routine patterns for the use of public resources for those in power.
We therefore devised a system of strategic allocation of resources, which ensure politics is secondary and that projects and programmes of the government in the first full budget have impact on the people who are the real essence of government.
Apart from venturing into rehabilitation of public primary schools across the 236 wards of the state, what other steps have you taken to revamp the state’s education sector?
I have no illusion as to the position of education and the enormous challenges in the sector. As an Omo Teacher, I know education is the best legacy that can be given to the leaders of tomorrow.
At my inauguration as Governor, I declared a state of emergency on the sector with a firm pledge of ensuring that the pride we used to have in education will be completely restored.
So far, we have walked our talks by increasing budgetary allocation to 20% this year, and we will continue to do that on yearly basis till the United Nation Educational Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) benchmark is achieved.
We are implementing the Universal Basic Education Act, as well as ensuring free education for all children in Primary and Junior Secondary Schools. The welfare of teachers is being given utmost priority in order to ensure that best brains are attracted and retrained in the system.
Our government approved and implemented career elongation of degree holders in Public Primary Schools for teachers who had been stagnated on Grade level 14 for years.
We promoted 10,000 teachers whose elevation had been delayed since 2016, employed 1,500 basic school teachers, and the Teaching Service Commission has also advertised to recruit about a thousand others.
We facilitated the release of 2014-2017 UBE Matching grant to the tune of N10 billion, which translates into 952 education projects. These projects have two special features including Yellow roof and terrazzo floor in our public primary and secondary schools.
We donated free teaching aids. We keep expanding the capacity of our teachers. We sponsored ANCOPSS representatives to leadership training in Dubai to enhance their performance and service delivery on the job.
We also reinstated Oluwole Olusanjo Majekodunmi, the Deputy Director in the Ministry of Education, Science and Technology who was sacked by the previous administration.
The former Chairman of the Nigeria Union of Teachers, NUT, Ogun State Chapter, Dare Ilekoya, who was compulsorily retired was also re-instated. This special act was displayed to show the government’s resolve in addressing all sorts of injustice.
Procurement and Installation of Education Management Information System (EMIS) equipment and gadgets is meant to aid data collection, collation and analysis in the headquarters and all the 20 LGEAs in line with the technology-driven education mantra of the present administration, and to fast track processing and management of data and other educational information. We have hosted Ogun SUBEB Website www.ogunsubeb.com.
Of course, the introduction of virtual learning via the Ogundigiclass, a Digital Classroom for Primary and Secondary Schools learners on OGBC, OGTV, DSTV 260 or GoTV 100 holding on Mondays to Fridays between 9:00am and 2:00pm has achieved tremendous success, which attests to our innovativeness in the face of the coronavirus pandemic which has paralysed formal classroom learning and teaching. All teaching videos can be viewed on www.ogundigiclass.ng.
In education, we are simply unstoppable and we have awards by our students and teachers to show for our investment in that sector.
Having signed a timely memorandum of understanding with the organised labour on the implementation of new minimum wage, reports indicate that your administration had yet to commence payment of the minimum wage. Why the delay?
Let me say that I am committed to a “social contract” with the workers of Ogun State. We have always paid promptly since I came into office and never owed any worker.
Our administration provides a ‘people-centred’ governance that identifies with their yearnings and, not the one that glorifies the welfare of cronies and family members. Our administration will continue to take the welfare of the civil servants as priority to guarantee industrial harmony.
We shall continue prompt payment of salaries, leave bonuses and other allowances. That is why the agreement of Wednesday, February 5, 2020 on the payment of the new minimum wage, with effect from January 1, 2020 remains.
We have considered its affordability and sustainability. I can only appeal to the Joint Negotiating Council (JNC), Nigeria Labour Congress (NLC) and the Trade Union Congress (TUC), that they should trust us to pay.
If in spite of the economic challenges on COVID-19, we are still paying regularly and not owing, we’ll not only pay the promised minimum wage, which in our case is higher than the national minimum wage, we will pay the Consequential Adjustment of 27 per cent for Grade Levels 07 and 08 (20%), Grade Level 09 (19%), Grade Levels 10 to 14 (15%) and Grade Levels 15 to 17 (14%) as well. We shall not renege. We are adjusting the budget to accommodate these.
What are you doing to clear the backlog of arrears, deductions and gratuities?
Like the minimum wage and consequential adjustment, no person will be owed. The conditions of the workers are germane for good governance. Even the organised labour has applauded us for attaching much importance to the welfare of the workers of the state.
So, their deductions and arrears, they trust that we will not take this goodwill for granted. Check offs deducted are being remitted and of course, it is a moral obligation to pay our senior citizens who spend their youths to develop the rest of us.
Your administration has made some huge investments in the area of security. At a time, you set up Security Trust Fund and procured patrol vans, motorbikes and communication gadgets for police and other security agencies which are quite commendable. Would you say these have had the desired impact on security situation of the state?
On assumption of office on May 29 this year, as the Chief Security Officer of the state, I decided to take some immediate steps, the first of which was to call a meeting of all our security chiefs and I was amazed to find out that a security meeting of that nature had not been held three years before that day, which was May 30th.
And at that meeting, a lot things unfolded. It was a meeting held to establish the needs of security agencies and also carry out a security assessment of the state.
Subsequent to that, the security reports were submitted to me by all our security chiefs, and the report enumerated all that was required to keep our state secure, including how we can look after our investors and also those that have chosen our state to be their home.
We realised the fact that our law enforcement agencies did not have a communication system or equipment in place in Ogun State, meaning that the commissioner of police could not speak with his counterpart in the military or in the Department of State Service, DSS, or even worst still, he could not speak with his Area Commanders or the DPO in any of the police stations across the state.
There was hardly any functional vehicle. There were no tracking devices. There was hardly enough finance to look after the welfare of the personnel and obviously, there was hardly anything available to maintain those vehicles.
So, we decided that we would do everything possible to give the needed support to the security agencies. As you will no doubt agree, we cannot do it alone.
And in line with our vision, which is to provide focused and qualitative governance while creating an enabling environment for a Public Private Sector Partnership, which we believe is fundamental to the economic growth of the state and the individual prosperity of our people, we decided to look towards the private sector for the needed partnership.
We appreciate that to do that, it will be important for us to instill in the private sector, the level of confidence that will allow it to partner with us. So, we said what do we have in place? On assumption, we had the Security Trust Fund.
Why hasn’t it worked? We looked at it, we reviewed it, and we ensured that it had all the necessary ingredients to make it function, particularly corporate governance. We sent it back to the House of Assembly and it has since been passed into law.
Following that, I consulted with my brother, the chairman of the STF in Lagos and consulted also with the captain of the bankers as I call him and we all agreed we should head hunt Mr. Bolaji Balogun to be the chairman of the STF.
Mr. Bolaji Balogun graciously accepted and after we found him, we now began to talk to our other colleagues in other banks. Let me on this note state that the board position is not closed. Because I am sure that other bankers will be wondering how come I am not on that board? So let me state that the door is very much open.
We have Mr. Balogun; we have Mr. Opeyemi Agbaje who has a lot of institutional experience, coming from almost eight years of working on the same fund in Lagos State. And we have EDs from different banks, and a former AIG.
Having done that, we now said, what is the next thing? While we were doing that, our resolve was tested. We had a couple of cases of kidnapping in the state and I realised the fact that this underscores some basic things like emergency response.
I immediately reached out to the President, because the kidnapping incident happened while we were having a retreat in Abuja.
And I said to Mr. President, my state is perhaps one of the most important states in this country, and if people cannot travel between Lagos and Ogun and the rest of the country without fear of being kidnapped along the Lagos- Ibadan Expressway, the entire economy of Ogun State and the rest of this country is actually under threat.
And Mr. President asked me what do I need and I said I will need to have a helicopter so that we can respond swiftly in this kind of cases.
I want to appreciate Mr. President again because that afternoon, a helicopter was dispatched to the Ogun State Police Command and has been with us since that time.
Through the helicopter, we were able to immediately track the kidnappers; we were able to liberate the victims, and we were also able to send a clear signal and message to all those that intended to make criminality their occupation in Ogun State that we have zero tolerance for crime and criminality.
We went further and decided to support the STF initiative by showing commitment. We purchased 100 vehicles and 200 motorcycles and we got the Inspector General of Police to launch the equipment, further demonstrating our resolve to fight crime and zero tolerance to criminality. Since then, we have had an unusually low incident of criminality in the state.
Also, the five southwest states have agreed to set up a joint patrol team that will be called “AMOTEKUN.” Each of the states is required to donate at least 20 patrol vehicles, communication equipment and personnel to that joint patrol task force. It will consist of men from the police, army, vigilantes and hunters.
As we speak, we still need quite a lot more. We need communication equipment, we need monitoring and tracking devices to monitor and track criminals.
The vehicles need to be maintained, the officers need to be look after and in this regard, we have appealed to the private sector for assistance so that we can ensure that we only have the funding, but that it is sustained.
Local government areas in your state are manned by transition or caretaker committees, which have been described in some quarters as unconstitutional. When is your administration planning to conduct elections into these local governments?
The tenure of the elected chairmen of the councils ended in October last year, necessitating the need to set up the transition committees to temporarily run the councils’ affairs. Like the name implies, what we have now is a stop-gap arrangement.
We recently sought permission of the House to extend the tenure for three more months, ostensibly because of the pandemic that has distorted everything in the world. But we are committed to hold free, fair and credible election into all our local councils as soon as peace returns to the world.
You have always attributed your emergence as governor to God. But notwithstanding, many people believe certain political bigwigs, including Vice President Yemi Osinbajo, Asiwaju Bola Tinubu, Chief Olusegun Osoba and Otunba Gbenga Daniel, among others, helped your ascension to power. Do you still have cordial relationship with these personalities?
Very cordial. They have been the pillars behind our emergence and have been supportive all the way.
Last weekend, residents of Kano State were thrown into panic with the death of many prominent indigenes of the state. The deaths, estimated at more than 300, cut across the different walks of life from the corporate world to academics and science and technology.
Even the media was not spared the agony with the death of the Editor of Triumph Newspaper, Alhaji Musa Tijanni.
Other notable sons of Kano who lost their lives in the mysterious deaths between Saturday and Sunday last week included Prof.Ibrahim Ayagi, Dr. Musa Gwarzo, Dahiru Rabiu, Adamu Dal, Salisu Lado, Shamsiyya Mustapha, Nene Umma, Garba Fagge, Nasiru Bichi, Aliyu Dikko, Prof. Balarabe Maikaba and the former Commissioner for Education, Alhaji Aminu Yahaya.
The mystery deaths continued into the early part of the week with the deaths of Dr. Uba Adamu, father of the Vice Chancellor of the National Open University, Prof.Abdullahi Adamu; Spiritual Leader of the Murtala Mohammed Central Mosque in Kano, Sheikh Tijjani Yola; former chairperson of the Federation of Muslim Women Association of Nigeria, Kano State chapter, Hajiya Halima Shittu; a lecturer at the Department of Architecture, Kano State University of Science and Technology (KUST), Wudil, Dr. Ghali Kabiru Umar; among others.
As it would be expected, residents of the city have continued to live in fear over the unusual deaths and the circumstances in which they occurred. Not a few residents of the state believe that the deaths might have to do with the deadly COVID-19 pandemic.
Elder statesman, Alhaji Tanko Yakasai, who expressed dismay over the deaths, however,largely attributed it to the severe heat in the city.
He said: “The information I received indicates that the majority of the deaths are UIrelated to excessive heat that Kano is experiencing at this time. And there are so many reasons for that. The first reason is the climatic condition, which is always hot from April to July.
“From the reports I received, there are three symptoms related to some of the deaths reported.
“The symptoms are high fever and severe headache. From my experience, right from the time when I was 10 to 15 years old, this period of heat usually comes with these types of symptoms and the resultant effect is the emergence of meningitis in a period like this.”
Chief Ojemba Mathins, a non-native, said his people from the eastern part of the country were worried by the news of mysterious deaths in Kano as well as the rising number of COVID-19 carriers in the ancient commercial city.
His wife and children, who left Kano in the wake of the quit notice purportedly issued by Arewa youths a few years ago, have been on his neck to return home.
He said: “No single resident of Kano would say that he or she is not worried by the development. I have not been sleeping well because of the havoc being wreaked by this strange ailment and the menace of COVID-19.
“My wife and children call me every hour of the day to be assured that I am still healthy and alive. They are of the candid opinion that I start returning home. But because of the lockdown, there is no way I can travel down to the East.”
Even outside Kano, individuals and groups have continued to express concern over the alarming rate of the mysterious deaths ravaging Kano. Residents, both high and low, are understandably apprehensive.
A few days ago, moved by the recurrent deaths, former Kano State governor, Senator Rabiu Musa Kwankwaso, in a letter addressed to President Muhammadu Buhari, tasked the Federal Government to take urgent steps to addressing the situation, just as he accused his successor, Dr. Abdullahi Umar Ganduje, of displaying laxity in his handling of the matter.
Also on Tuesday, the House of Representatives, during a special session, unanimously adopted a motion moved by the Leader of the House, Hon. Alhassan Ado Doguwa, charging the Federal Government to consider Kano “a special case” and assist with immediate financial, material and human resources to enable it surmount the health challenges facing the state.
Happily, the state government appears to have risen up to the challenge. The leadership of the House of Representatives on Tuesday commended Governor Ganduje for the commitment and resilience he has shown in the fight against the spread of COVID-19 in the state.
The Reps also showed solidarity with Ganduje on the efforts he has so far made to unravel the mystery behind the unusual deaths being recorded in about eight local government areas within the Kano metropolis.
The Leader of the House, Hon. Alhassan Ado Doguwa, who led a high-powered delegation inaugurated by the Speaker of the House on a solidarity visit to Kano State also hinted that earlier on Tuesday, the House of Representatives passed a motion demanding that the Federal Government immediately provide financial, technical and material support to tackle the health challenges facing Kano.
According to him, during a special session on Tuesday, the House of Representatives deliberated seriously on the Kano issue and every member believed that “Kano’s problem is Nigeria’s problem.”
Doguwa further stated that on Monday, three senators and 24 House of Representatives members from Kano jointly wrote a letter to President Muhammadu Buhari, demanding that the Federal Government should take urgent steps to support Kano in this critical time.
He further stated: “With me is a high-powered delegation under the leadership of Speaker Femi Gbajabiamila, as a result of a resolution made in the House. The delegation is home-bound because it is made up of members from Kano State.
“We were sent by the leadership of the House to convey our solidarity to Governor Ganduje, the Kano State Government and the good people of Kano State.
“We are here to convey to you our concern over what is happening in Kano. We are here on behalf of the Speaker to register our solidarity to Your Excellency.
“Apart from COVID-19, we are also aware of another killer disease that has been killing our people, particularly in eight local government areas within the metropolis.”
Doguwa further stated that “today (Tuesday), the House during a special session deliberated on the Kano issue. All the members in the House believe that Kano’s problem is Nigeria’s problem.
“We took a motion to urge the Federal Government to provide financial, technical and material support for Kano.
“On Monday, three senators and 24 House of Representatives members from Kano jointly wrote a letter to President Muhammadu Buhari on Kano issue. We appealed to him for the Federal Government to collaborate with the Kano State Government to bring an end to
this problem of COVID-19 and other health issues facing the state.
“We are proud of the commitment and resilience Governor Ganduje has shown to tackle the COVID-19 pandemic.”
Responding, Ganduje thanked members of the National Assembly, particularly the House of Representatives, for their concern and support for the Kano State Government and the people of Kano State.
He added: “We are grateful to the Kano State caucus of the National Assembly for writing President Buhari to give Kano special attention.
“Also, we thank them to have convinced the House of Representatives to pass a resolution urging the Federal Government to give Kano special attention. I thank them and I believe something positive will come out of it.”
Ganduje orders investigation
Meanwhile, the Kano State Government has acknowledged the numerous deaths, assuring that it was on top of the situation.
Already, Governor Ganduje has directed the state’s Ministry of Health to conduct a thorough investigation into the immediate and remote causes of the deaths.
The state Commissioner of Information, Malam Muhammad Garba, who revealed this, said although investigation into the cause of the deaths was still ongoing, preliminary reports from the state Ministry of Health indicated that the deaths were not connected to the COVID-19 pandemic.
He added that reports from the state Ministry of Health showed that most of the deaths were caused by complications arising from hypertension, diabetes, meningitis and acute malaria. He added that Governor Ganduje was earnestly awaiting the final report from the state Ministry of Health so as to take the necessary action.
According to him, Governor Ganduje had from the outset demonstrated the zeal and political will to curb the spread of COVID-19 in the state.
He said: “The Governor Ganduje administration has been commended from within and outside the state over the proactive measures it took towards curbing the COVID-19 pandemic.
“This explains why Kano, apart from being the most populated state, did not record a case of the pandemic until lately.
“Although we agree that the situation on hand currently is serious, we are not resting on our oars in taking appropriate measures to ensure that the good people of Kano State and, indeed, residents in the state protect themselves from the novel COVID-19 pandemic.”
He further noted that part of the measures taken by the state government to stop the spread of the virus include the ongoing lockdown, closing of borders, aggressive campaign for social distancing, washing and sanitising of hands as well as strict adherence to and practice of the principles of personal hygiene.
Moved by the high rate of deaths, Ganduje directed the state Ministry of Health to immediately carry out verbal autopsy concerning those who lost their lives to strange ailments over the weekend.
The state’s Commissioner for Information, Malam Muhammad Garba, who announced this in a statement in Kano, said a combined team from the state Ministry of Health and the National Centre for Disease Control (NCDC) had been drafted to eight local government areas within the Kano Emirate Council to perform the autopsy exercise.
Garba said: “I am pleased to inform the good people of Kano State that verbal autopsy to determine the real cause of the deaths of our citizens who lost their lives over the weekend has begun in earnest.
“Following the directive of the governor, Dr. Abdullahi Umar Ganduje, health experts from the state Ministry of Health and the NCDC have been drafted to visit the families and relatives of the dead so as to trace their medical history, with a view to ascertaining what really led to their deaths.”
According to him, the state Ministry of Health is also working round the clock to ensure adequate availability of drugs for common ailments such as malaria, typhoid fever and meningitis, among others.
He added: “Our primary healthcare system has also been re-activated across the 44 local government areas to guarantee easy access to healthcare delivery, even as we continue to battle the dreaded COVID-19 pandemic.”
People with good conscience around the world were alarmed last week with a message a Lebanese named Wael Jerro posted on his Facebook wall, offering a Nigerian girl for sale. The worth of the Nigerian girl, who Jerro described as “very active and clean”, was put at a paltry $1,000.
“Domestic worker from Nigeria for sale with new legal documents. She’s 30 years old; she’s very active and very clean. Price: 1000$,” Jerro had posted.
Concerned Nigerians wasted no time in drawing the attention of the Nigerian embassy in Lebanon as well as Mrs Abike Dabiri-Erewa-led Nigerians in the Diaspora Commission (NIDCOM) to the plight of the young woman identified as Peace Ufuoma Busari.
The resultant pressure on the Lebanese government led to the arrest of Jerro who had gone underground after the furore generated by his post. The Lebanese authorities also vowed to prosecute Jerro for criminal sale of a human being.
•Wael Jerro •Peace Ufuoma Busari
A statement issued by NIDCOM said: “The passport, which the victim acquired in May 2018, indicated that she hails from Ibadan, Oyo State. An all-out search for the young Nigerian woman is ongoing in Lebanon.
“On Wednesday, April 22, 2020, the Lebanese Ministry of Labour issued a circular condemning the action of Mr Wael Jerro as being completely unethical and in contravention of Lebanese laws and against the principles of human rights.
“The circular further stated that legal action would be instituted against him for human trafficking before a competent judicial authority by the ministry, in line with its statutory responsibility.
“The Nigerian Mission in Lebanon has also demanded an immediate handover of the victim to the mission unconditionally and in good health.”
The question on the lips of many Nigerians is why it is easy for unscrupulous agents to ferry Nigerians to Lebanon and other countries where such obnoxious practices are thriving.
Giving an insight into how foreign agents from Lebanon and other countries ferry Nigerian girls out of the country into servitude overseas, the President of the National Association of Tour Operators (NATOP), Hajia Bilkisu Abdul, said: “You know that this is not the first time that this kind of thing is happening. Both in my capacity as NATOP President and NATOP as a body, we have been able to get to the roots of this illegal and inhuman business.
“We tried to trace how these trips are packaged for the girls, how they get their tickets and so on. My personal investigations show that most times, these dubious foreign agents who enslave our girls in places like Lebanon and Dubai (United Arab Emirates) have agents here in Nigeria.
“These agents are not bona fide tour operators. They approach their agents in Nigeria to get them girls for domestic jobs in these countries.
“The agents would sweet talk some naïve, unexposed girls into trips abroad to work and make money.
“Once they get girls who are willing, they will send their names to their foreign partners after collecting money from the girls.
“The agents in those countries are the ones who prepare their visa and pay for their tickets.
“These girls would embark on the trip without knowing what they would be facing until they get there.
“On getting there, their passports would be seized and they would be forced to work under inhuman conditions and treated as slaves.
“These agents are not real tour operators and are not registered with us.
“Nigerians should be very careful about such trips.
“Parents also should be wary of allowing their children to go on such trips. It is very dangerous and could lead to death.”
As the world grapples with the COVID-19 pandemic, with Nigeria’s confirmed cases rising steadily in the face of the federal and state governments’ concerted efforts to contain the implacable virus, the Presiding Bishop of Holy Ghost Mission, a.k.a. Happy Family Centre, Bishop Charles Ighele, in this interview with ADEOLA OGUNLADE, speaks about the role of the church and how government can best stop further spread of the virus. Excerpts:
WHAT is your general overview of COVID-19?
As a man of God, looking at it from the history of the world, the first disaster that affected the world was the flood. That flood was caused by God Himself. It wiped out all the people of the race except Noah and his family who were found to be righteous. We have had a lot of plagues that had taken place on the planet earth.
I know that there was the Justian Plague, which came from Egypt, and half of the world population was wiped out. There was another plague I read about eight years ago in a book given to me by the renowned journalist, Dimgba Igwe, before he died.
The book was written by two great scholars –Darin Acemoglu, an MIT professor, and James Robinson, a Harvard University professor. I saw a plague in that book. The plague came from China in 1336. It was called the Bubonic plague.
In 1336, the plague reached England and Italy and any country it went into, about half of the population of the people died. It was called the Black Death. The plague travelled through the black sea from China to Europe. It came through travellers and sailors.
It was that period the word ‘quarantine’ came into existence. Plagues have already been there in human history. Since 1940, cholera and smallpox plague killed about 10 million people in Mexico.
So far, this is one of them. I see it historically and as I look at it, this is just one of them and by God’s grace, it will be contained.
Do you share the view in some quarters that it is one of the signs of the end time or do you think it’s just a reflection of the unhygienic ways people are living their lives?
You see in the end time, a lot of disasters will happen. Secondly, when men turn their back against God, anything can happen. Generally, the one caused by God Himself was because the people concerned turned their back against God.
The imaginations of their hearts were evil continually and it repented God that He made man. A lot of plagues that had invaded the earth were results of man saying I know too much or the unhygienic ways of men. In the bible; even in the old testament, God commanded that excreta should be buried.
God is a God who loves neatness. On the planet earth, men live their lives anyhow. People eat what they should not eat, and they are dirty all over the world. The more man turns his back against God, the more man is open to plagues.
For us as believers at this time, what should be our attitude?
I thought that many of the governors in Nigeria are either Christians or Muslims and I want to commend the Lagos State government where l stay, the governor has done an excellent job in sensitizing the people. There is not much one can do like he has done.
All the state governors have done tremendously well. Death is everywhere and imminent and we don’t know where we can run to and we don’t have the facility. What I want to say is that the government has tried. I want the government and citizens to sit up and come corporately closer to God.
I think when there is problem, man will come closer to God. Naturally and in this very instance, I hear that all mosques and churches closed down. I am saying if I were the governor, I will not close down a church or place of worship. In 1336-1338, when there was plague in England, the King of England, Edward The 3rd, called on the churches to pray.
He asked the Bishop of Canterbury to organise the churches to pray and bishops started praying. The plague came, and the people started praying and it drew many closer to God. Americans are washing their hands but they are still dying.
In London, a plague took place in 1665, and as they were dying, those who survived put the sign of the cross on their doors and with inscription on their doors saying, ‘Jesus have mercy upon us’. So, I think what the Nigerian authorities to do, if we are really a religious country, is to call for prayers.
Closing down churches is not okay with me. Instead, I will say families of the pastors, bishops and nearby families can go to church and worship and should, of course maintain the normal social distancing and other precautions.
If we are 12 at home, for example, do we keep social distances in the same house? The pastors and their families can go to church and keep social distances from one another. I know that a lot of pastors have misbehaved; some people who are called men of God are not truthful; some are highly immoral and some are running after money and many Nigerians generally are fed up with churches because they feel that many church pastors are after money and some are like satanic temples.
In Israel at a time, things were so bad that people badslided in the time of Ahab and Jezebel and Elijah thought he was the only one that was righteous but God told him that there were still 7, 000 faithful prophets that were not following Baal. I want Nigerians to know that there are still holy and honourable men of God.
Just allow pastors go to church and ensure that there should be social distances. I hear some pastors saying God is in your heart; this is not so, if you know how God operates. God wants people to know Him individually and corporately.
There is the spiritual energy that is released when people meet to pray. Let’s fight the virus spiritually because all of us will one day face death.
The president of Brazil last Thursday decreed that places of worship are essential services like supermarket, pharmacy; he said religious services of any kind should be listed among essential service providers but for us, such should be in accordance with health ministry’s guidelines.
Many churches were harassed and some pastors arrested for failure to comply with the lockdown directive, what is your own experience?
In our ministry, we have nearly 80 churches in this country. The police went to two of our churches. In one of them, they were satisfied with what they saw but in the other church, there were 20 in the service and members were still told to leave the church.
They were 20, which was in line with government’s regulation. They sat separately and they said that the church should close and go home. For me, that was not okay at all. If the government should say 20 should be in one place, as far as I am concerned, I obeyed.
Some of the medical doctors in one of our churches called me and said children cannot do social distancing, what do we do? And I said for now, the children’s church should be closed and let them sit with their parents in the adult church.
So, they sit by families in accordance with the law of the state. If they should say so and you go out and say, I will not comply …I think we should not disobey constituted authorities, the rule can be negotiated. There have to be law and order in any society
Are you calling on the Christians Association of Nigeria (CAN) and the Pentecostal Fellowship of Nigeria (PFN) to go back to the negotiating table with the government over the closure of churches?
That is what they should do. To me, I know that the governors are either Christians and Muslims and they will be assured that the church will adhere to safety guidelines but let prayers be made continually to God over COVID-19. Let there be prayers.
The God aspect of faith has not be brought into it. I don’t see how Christian leaders would be silenced, we can’t be silenced at this time. I want to plead with the men of God; no governor should be attacked or insulted. There is fear and they want to protect their citizens.
It is just a matter of negotiating with them. For example, if 20 people can be in the supermarket and shopping malls or even in the open markets, or other essential services such as hospitals, then, let them take the church, men of God and their ministry staff as essential services.
People are calling us, people are dying, they are committing suicide, they run to us. The real church is not a joke, especially those people going through emotional trauma. Nowhere to go to. If NEPA is an essential service, then, let men of God and their ministry staff be included as essential service providers.
Let them be there to minister to the needs of the people. In times like this, pastors don’t run away from the battle front. Likewise, medical doctors and nurses don’t run away from the battle front. All of us should be at the front of this battle. There are those who believe in prayers.
There are those who believe in the word of God and they are just happy. Fear has destroyed more people than Coronavirus. So, as they hear the word of God and the fear goes away, they are now going to be happy. So, let CAN and PFN and other leaders who have influence step into this thing and negotiate with the different governments so that there can be what we call skeletal essential services provided by the church.
Do you believe that Coronavirus will end soon?
When I look at the history of plagues, if God should cause a plague like the one that was caused by God which was restricted to Israel, people were dying and King David prayed and offered sacrifice and the plague stopped immediately.
So, if this plague is caused by God, as we cry out, it can end immediately but if it is plague caused by the misbehaviour of man, when man eats what he should not eat and do what he is not supposed to do, all we long for is that our families to be protected and God should bring the medical solution that can take care of it.
COVID-19 is affecting the world’s economy, human and personal relationships; it will also affect scientific inventions. In fact, COVID-19 will affect a lot of things. Some plagues in the past have brought about revolution. The poverty level has been very high.
What will be the effect of the lockdown on the people? Right now, my advice to government is, what is going to happen to the poor people? What will be the effect of the lockdown on them? On that basis, we need to bring about programmes that will help to mass-lift the people into productivity.
How can we as government lift the stark illiterates into productivity? How can we as a government have a census and help Nigerians to read and write? How can we help and position students in secondary schools into productivity? How can we raise people who though went to university but cannot spell their names? How can we make them productive in accordance with their reading capacity? After each great revolution, when we look at the French revolution of 1959.
I want to tell you that social protest will arise, serious war after this, and it will be more serious than the plague. So, countries of the world should be begin to get grains ready on how we can prevent it.
LAGOS socialite and top accountant, Bashorun J. K. Randle, is to be honoured by the Lagos State University.
According to the official information from Lagos State University (LASU), Bashoru Randle, who is a former Pro- Chancellor and chairman Governing Council of the university, will have Road E, Ojo Campus, named in his honour.
Last week Bashorun Randle received the letter intimating him with the planned honour. Part of the letter reads: “Sir, in line with the university’s policy of naming buildings and other facilities in recognition of the past services and/or significant contributions of individuals to the university, the Lagos State University Management has approved the immortalisation of your name, as part of the proceedings for the 24th convocation ceremonies of the university.
“This is in profound appreciation of your service and contribution to our university, particularly your excellent leadership and genuine empathy for fairness and justice while you were the Pro-Chancellor and Chairman, Governing Council of the Lagos State University from 1994 to 1997.”
The convocation ceremonies, initially slated for March 20 to 27, 2020, have, however, been postponed indefinitely over the ravaging Coronavirus in the land.
Meanwhile, encomiums have already started to pour in, in honour of the renowned accountant from his numerous friends and associates based at home and abroad.
Bashorun Randle, who is also a prolific writer with many published articles and books, is a former President of the Institute of Chartered Accountants of Nigeria (ICAN) and ex-Chairman of KPMG Nigeria and Africa Region. He is currently the Chairman, J.K. Randle Professional Services.
