Category: Special Report

The prolonged scarcity of international passport booklets in the various immigration offices nationwide as well as foreign missions abroad has taken serious toll on Nigerians with huge implications for the economy. In this report, Ibrahim Apekhade Yusuf, Gbenga Omokhunu, Chris Oji, Precious Dikehowa and Ernest Nwokolo capture the agonising experiences of hapless citizens in their tireless wait for the elusive international documents.

LIKE the characters depicted in Samuel Beckett’s Waiting for Godot, both old and prospective travellers are not so sure how much longer they have to wait to get their international passport documents ready due to the acute scarcity of passport booklets at the various passport offices nationwide.

Independent checks by our correspondents at the various units and commands of the Nigerian Immigration Service (NIS) across the country was disturbingly revealing as most of the offices had not issued passport documents since December 2016.

From Lagos to Abeokuta in Ogun, Oyo in Ibadan, Asaba in Delta, Enugu, Port Harcourt, Kaduna, Kano, the Federal Capital Territory, Abuja, the story is the same as Nigerians recounted their ordeals in their quest to process their passport documents including fresh issue and renewal. This is just as some of the immigration officials overwhelmed with the enormity of the crisis at hand showed empathy as best they could while others decided to cut deals and take advantage of the terrible situation to fleece hapless Nigerians to no end.

Nigerian passports are issued to citizens to travel outside the shores.

Nigeria now offers only electronic passports for new passport applications. These electronic passports, known also as the e-passport, are classified as either Standard or Official e-passport, depending on intended use.

In applying for Nigerian passports one is required to either be at the physical location of the Nigeria Immigration Services, or by making submission through its website. Nigerians living in other countries are often advised to contact the nearest Nigerian embassy or consulate for guidelines about how to renew or obtain a passport.

As regards the standard e-passport guidelines, an applicant who wishes to obtain it is expected to come for an interview with a local government letter of identification, birth certificate, or age declaration, and a recent passport-sized colour photograph, which must show applicant’s full face down to the neck, without any discoloration.

The service also issues official passport which is primarily reserved for certain classes of government officials and Nigerian diplomats, it is also obtainable through the same processes.

Crux of the matter

Iris Smart Technology Nigeria Limited (ISTL), the company that supplies passports to the Nigerian government, had since last year demanded an upward review of the price citizens pay to obtain the document but the government has not approved the proposal.

ISTL, the sole supplier sent the review request to the NIS in early 2016, arguing that the cost of producing the Nigerian passport had gone up because of the poor exchange rate of the naira to the dollar.

The Immigration Service, it was learnt, made a recommendation to the government in March 2016 that the cost of issuing the passport be increased but the government has not acted on the request.

The supply company is said to have partially stopped supplying the 32-page passport since the middle of last year, causing acute shortage in issuance for the NIS.

On August 11, 2016, ISTL’s Malaysian parent company, Iris Corporation, filed in the country’s stock exchange, known as Bursa Malaysia, that it has signed a contract of $42.49 million with ISTL to supply 2.5 million units of 32-page Nigerian electronic passport booklets.

The three-year contract, according to Iris, will ensure that the company supplies an average of 100,000 passport booklets to Nigeria every month.

The parent company also listed risks in the passport supply contract to include avoidable delays arising from non-compliance, which would affect the profit margin of the company as time would be spent trying to resolve such arising issues.

Iris Corporation, however, expressed confidence that it would seek to limit the risks involved through prudent financial management and efficient operating procedures.

Two months after Iris Corporation announced the new contract to its shareholders in Malaysia, Nigeria began to witness the scarcity of its 32-page passport in all the passport issuance offices across the country and other foreign missions where the passport is issued to eligible citizens.

The delays that Iris Corporation anticipated had arisen immediately after signing the supply contract with its Nigerian partner as the expected increase in the cost of passport to Nigerians has not been approved by the federal government.

Competent presidency sources said that in reviewing the cost of the passports as requested by Iris, the federal government raised questions about why the documents were being produced abroad.

All the components of the e-passport are manufactured abroad as the production of booklet is done in South Africa by SAPPI, a pulp and paper firm, while the chip is provided by NXP, a Netherlands company that specialises in the manufacturing of secure connectivity solutions for embedded applications.

The printing and binding of the passport booklet, embedding of the chip as well as lamination for the data page is done in Malaysia before final delivery to Nigeria.

Our source said that the government has not taken any action on the upward review of the cost of passports because top officials of the Buhari administration are “not only worried about capital flight because of the huge amounts that it costs us in foreign exchange, they also worry that a security document such as the Nigerian passport is produced by foreign companies in foreign lands.”

Going by the contract figures given by Iris Corporation, the new agreement is to supply 2.5 million passports at $42.49 million, then it means that each booklet should cost $16.82 which amounts to N5,130 at the official exchange rate of N305.

The increase demanded by the company is therefore curious.

Findings by The Nation revealed that the Federal Executive Council approved the extension of the contract of Iris in May 2015 to supply the passport booklets over a period of four years.

The former minister of interior, Abba Moro who announced the new contract in May 13, 2015 said that the contract “for Iris Technology was renewed for a period of four years and for the production of 10 million e-passport booklets in their various categories of 32-page, 62-page, and their counterpart of diplomatic and official passports.”

The personal Assistant to the Minister of Interior, Osaigbovo Ehisienmen, told our reporter that it might be difficult for the government to cancel the supply contract with ISTL because it could have legal implications.

He added, however, that the Minister of Interior, Abdulrahman Dambazau, might also not have the unilateral power to approve the increment in the price of the passport as suggested by NIS without presidential approval.

Our reporter who visited the ISTL office in Maitama, Abuja was denied entry into the premises of the company. After filling the visitor’s form, he was told that the company’s Public Relations Officer (PRO), was away from Abuja.

The Nation however gathered that the company has supplied over six million e-passports to Nigeria and also claimed it generated over N5 billion as revenue for the federal government.

Tales of woes across the country

This is not the first time Nigerians are experiencing shortage of passport booklets. The case of one Miss Blessing Okonkwo, an intern in one of the media houses in Lagos readily comes to mind.

The young woman had won an all-expense paid trip to attend a one month capacity building course in Germany. But the only snag was that she had no international passport. Pronto, she went to the Passport office in Festac town but was told that the jacket was not available. After combing all the other Passports offices in Lagos without success, she was later advised to visit Ibadan, where she managed to get it but of course, she had to pay through her nose!

Today, however, the situation is worse off. The Nation can authoritatively report that there is acute scarcity of travelling passport documents at the various Passport offices nationwide.

At the Gwagwalada, Abuja passport issuance office of the Immigration Service, our reporter was shown a pile of files of 32-page applications.

An Immigration officer who wished to remain anonymous explained that the applicants had done the biometric capturing but there were no 32-page passports to issue them.

He said that applicants who urgently need the passport are advised to apply for the 64-page passport, which was available but costs more.

The 64-page passport was introduced in 2014 for frequent travellers who usually fill up the 32-page passport before its five-year expiration.

Though the official costs of 64-page and 32-page passports are N20,000 and N15,000 respectively, applicants in Gwagwalada office said they were asked by the immigration officers to pay N40,000 for the 64-page.

Same old story

The Service has not been able to totally come out of the confusion over the shortage of the 32-page passport booklets.

Findings revealed that the situation has gone from bad to worse as travellers find it more difficult to purchase and the Service is struggling to cope with demand as it did not have sufficient stock of passports booklet.

A highly placed source told The Nation that a possible review of the contract between the federal government and the company that produces travel document for Nigerians has led to a scarcity that has affected the issuance of passports by NIS and that up till now the situation has not been resolved.

At the NIS headquarters in Abuja and its office in Gwagwalada, our correspondent saw several 32-page applicants lamenting.

Some of them told The Nation that they had done the biometric capturing but there were no 32-page passports to issue them.

A prospective traveller who spoke to The Nation under anonymity said he was told by one of the officers at the passport office to seek help from higher authorities if he really wants to travel urgently due to the shortage of the passport booklet.

The development, he said has kept him confused due to the fact that he does not know anybody any senior official to lobby.

The NIS spokesman, Sunday James, while reacting to the development confirmed the shortage saying that it is only the 32 page passport booklet that is scarce.

He said the 62 page passport booklet is available for purchase adding that anyone who wants to travel urgently should go for it.

He assured that government is resolving the issue of the exchange rate and that the 32 page passport booklet will be available soon.

James said the Comptroller General of NIS, Mohammed Babandede is not relenting in his quest to ensure that the issues are resolved.

His words: “Immigration wishes to acknowledge that we had a challenge recently with the issue of passport because the passport booklets are produced outside the country because of the security features. And it is under a Private Public Partnership (PPP) project.

“The CG is very much concerned and he has said that our service is first citizens friendly and that the issue will be resolved soon.”

At the Federal Secretariat, Enugu, the Passport Office has become a kind of pilgrimage centre as every morning of the working days applicants throng there in search of the elusive travelling document.

This scenario has been on since December last year due to the shortage of passport booklets in the Enugu office of the NIS.

As at the time of filing in this report, scores of people who were living abroad and whose passports had expired while on visit home to Nigeria “are hardest hit,” according to an immigration official.

The official, who asked not to be named, said all applications for new passports as well as renewals hinted that all applications are put on hold as there were no booklets as at now.

Even those captured on their computer since January are still waiting to receive their passports.

The official, however, said there were exceptions particularly in emergency cases where it concerns applicants on health grounds and government officials travelling on official duties.

“These categories of people are taken into consideration on compassionate grounds. The problem of the shortage of passport booklets stemmed from the headquarters at Abuja. It is what they supply that we distribute.

“No passport booklets as at now. You can see several Diaspora Nigerians who came home and got stranded because their passports expired here and could not renew them as a result of the scarcity.

“We are putting all applications on hold currently until we receive enough supply of the booklets from Abuja,” explained the official.

At the Rivers State command, the same scenario played out as the officials lamented that the booklets have been out of stock for a long time now.

One of the applicants, Mr. Anthony Wuzor said for more three months now Nigerians have taken to the public with complaints about the difficulties they faced while trying to acquire a passport or make renewals.

Another applicant, who simply gave his name as Mr. Donald said the unavailability of e- passport at the Rivers command office is a serious issue.

He said the situation is precarious to those who are in need of medical attention, stressing that the passport ought to have being available at any giving time.

Donald said: “This is not the issue of scarcity, the passport is not available, I just called Abuja now, and I confirmed that the situation is the same.  Though, someone in Abuja has agreed to make it available for me with N25, 000. Of course, I have no option.

“Even when you see the passport, the   price is high but I believe that it is all about the economic tricks. What they want is to make the price high by creating this unnecessary pressure, but  let the world know that this is just document that should be made available at all time.”

An immigration officer who wished to remain anonymous explained that some applicants had applied but there were no passports to issue them.

In Ogun State, travellers and intending applicants seeking to obtain the document are going through a terrible nightmare.

The e-passport and the process of obtaining it was conceived to engender administrative efficiency and prompt delivery of passport to applicants as well as curb activities of touts at NIS offices.

While the menace of touts could be said to have been checked significantly since the launch of the system, but that can’t be said of quick delivery of passport.

A visit by The Nation to the headquarters of the Ogun State Command of NIS at Oke-Mosan, off Kobape-Siun Road, Abeokuta, revealed that the hitherto surge of numbers of intending travellers that troop to the place seeking e-passport had thinned out.

The Nation gathered from a source that no new passport has been issued in Ogun State since the beginning of 2017, save probably to applicants connected to highly placed individuals.

A woman, Mrs. Ola Makinde, resident in Abeokuta said she had applied to renew her e-passport which in NIS parlance means re-issue, but has not succeeded.

She said she had visited the place over seven times in the last two months and each time she was told by NIS officials that there was no booklet yet.

However, during the week the Comptroller of the NIS, Ogun State Command, Oluwatoba Bayeroju, said the scarcity of booklets was responsible for the delay in the issuance of passport to applicants.

He, however, revealed that more booklets have arrived at the Command,   assuring that the backlog of applications would be cleared in a few days.

He told journalists in Abeokuta that nobody in the Command was hoarding the booklets. According to him, despite the scarcity people who applied for the travel document on valid health grounds, got theirs without delay.

The Comptroller confirmed that the passport booklets are produced in Malaysia adding that the problem of foreign exchange also crept in to affect the business of getting the supply of the materials from the Malaysian producers.

Bayeroju denied extortion allegations on the part of NIS, Ogun Command, saying “most applicants patronize touts rather than going through the normal procedure.”

At the Ikoyi, Festac, Ikeja offices of NIS, our correspondent gathered that there are backlogs of applicants still awaiting their passport documents months after applying for either a fresh issue or a re-issue as the case may be.

At the Ikoyi Passport office, a fellow who simply gave his name as Dapo, and who incidentally is a member of one of the trade unions in the country confided in our correspondent that he had been trying to renew his passport in the last four months without success and had to force his way to the Passport Control Officers’ office last Thursday to express his misgivings as his visa appointment was now late for a trip to attend the ILO conference in Geneva later this month.

Like Dapo, another applicant, who gave her name simply as Miss Toyosi, told our correspondent that she had been trying to renew her passport at the Ikeja office since January this year without success.

Toyosi, who claimed to have bought a ticket ahead of her planned vacation to the US in mid April, was already counting her losses as there was no hope she would be able to obtain her travelling document before her trip.

“This people seem to have run out of excuses as the only thing I have been hearing these past months is that there is shortage of booklets. I don’t know what to do,” she lamented.

Lawmakers intervene

Following several complaints from various quarters on the e-passport saga, the Senate ad hoc committee investigating alleged misuse, under remittance, and other fraudulent activities in the collection, remittance and expenditure of internally generated revenue by MDAs recently invited the Attorney General of the Federation, Mr. Abubakar Malami, Minister of Interior, General Abdulrahman Danbazzau (rtd) and  Accountant General of the Federation, Ahmed Idris over alleged shady deals in the production and sell of e-passport.

Also summoned by the committee to shed light on the multi-billion naira production of e-passport included four companies.

They are to appear before the Senator Solomon Adeola led committee to explain their roles on e-Passport production and other immigration related issues that the companies performed on behalf of the Service.

The firms were said to have entered into public private partnership (PPP) arrangement with the NIS over the years.

The invited companies included Contec Nigeria Ltd, Greater Washington Nigeria Ltd, Newwork Solution and Investment Ltd and Iris Smart Technologies which works on e-passport production, expatriate residence permits and alien card and related immigration.

However, as the scarcity of passport booklets persists, many citizens are waiting with bated breath.

The US president-elect, Mr Donald Trump threw the luvvies of the world a curveball with his comments to President Rodrigo Duterte of the Philippines that his controversial fight against drugs was being carried out “the right way”.  For the records, in the four months that Duterte has been president as many as 2500 people have been executed on the streets for allegedly being drug dealers or users.

Trump and Duterte represent the growing departure from the culture of spineless political correctness, which however carries its own risk of opening the door to abuse. For the Philippines president, it is a matter of placing the nation’s 103 million citizens above the interest of a dozen thousands drug dealers that are on their way to sink that country.

The outgoing US government has been critical of the crack down on drug dealers, citing right abuses and extra-judicial killings of course, without offering something concrete in the way of how to deal with the destructive drug problem. Trump, who had repeatedly expressed his disgust for political correctness, apparently understands that the larger population’s right must be considered even as the rights of criminals and terrorists are recognised.

As is usually the case, a growing spiral of silence driven by a robotic imbibing of political correctness has removed the capacity of those in the position to act to protect the larger population from the destructive mission of a few fanatics that hide under human rights to threaten the wellbeing of the other citizens. The full scale of this problem is better appreciated against the recent trend of judges that free persons that would have been summarily executed in other countries.

The most brazen of this development is Justice Gabriel Kolawole of a Federal High Court in Abuja who freed the leader of extremists group, Sheik Ibrahim El-Zakyzaky in spite of the known antecedents of the Islamic Movement in Nigeria (IMN), which he leads. The group, reportedly under the direction of El-Zakyzaky, had killed security personnel in the past. It does not believe in the right of other Nigerians in the course of holding its various treks and processions and to cap it all it does not recognise the secular nature of Nigeria even as it pursues ideologies that are not different from those held by Boko Haram terrorists.

It is worrisome that Justice Kolawole admitted IMN’s tendency and capacity to become ferocious like Boko Haram and still went ahead to not only unleash El-Zakyzaky on the nation. If that was not bad enough, the judge added salt to the injury by awarding N25 million to the IMN leader and another N25 million to his wife in damages, which is nothing short of forcing the government to finance a terror organisation under a judicial cover.

The judge has also created a new problem by moving El-Zakyzaky out of the place where he has been kept both as part of investigation into his crimes and for his own protection. Now that he is leaving protective custody has Justice Kolawole considered the implications if IMN members go ahead to eliminate their leader to precipitate crisis as they were earlier reported to have planned.

One would be safe to assume that the judge manifested a helpless enslavement to political correctness in arriving at such sickening verdict. The mull other possibilities is frightening since what comes to mind is that the IMN leader either bought the judgement or that Kolawole implemented the first phase of a gang up against the Department of State Services (DSS) since it first led an offensive against corrupt judges. It would be a disaster if the latter possibility turns out to be true because it would imply a few men that are willing to mortgage the country for their own interests.

How to walk back the damage done should be the concern of Nigerians at this point. One may want to revel in the fact that the judiciary, in the wake of the anti-corruption clamp down on its members, has given the presidency and the security agencies a black eye, we could in the usual fashion of being copycats claim that the excesses of military and security agencies have been curbed, or we could just flow with the dark joy at having another sensational news make the round; but ultimately we are all at risk.

We are at risk because of something called judicial precedence. There are Boko Haram fighters that would eventually be arrested, pipeline-bombing militants that would one day be apprehended, rampaging herdsmen that have killed hundreds of citizens would likely be caught one day and even the criminals that kidnap for ransom are being taken into custody. But Justice Kolawole has ensured that all those in this category would not get to stand trial because they would instead make the government pay them for being terrorists and criminals and even add buildings into the bargain for them.

Nigerian Dutertes must thus emerge in the judiciary to reverse this damage, not to order extra-judicial executions but to place the safety of 180 million Nigerians above the ‘rights’ of a few hundreds terrorists. We need those that will not compromise the safety of the rest of us because they want to appear politically correct and to be seen as aligning with international nuances that have not helped us in the least.

Bodies and officials with the responsibility must also take steps to prevent a repeat of this kind of disaster where the judiciary is seen as empowering terrorists against the state.  The National Judicial Council for instance would do well to interrogate how Kolawole arrived at this his magical ruling.

In the interim, the DSS must seek detailed analysis of the ruling since it only ordered El-Zakyzaky’s release within 45 days and did not acquit him of the crimes that brought him into protective custody. The department should therefore proceed to arraign El-Zakyzaky for the terrorist crimes he committed. The Philippines is getting real with its drug problems and we should get serious with our terrorism problems too.

Okanga writes from Agila, Benue State.

ONE could literally touch his pulse as he spoke that Wednesday night. Renowned healing evangelist, Dr Uma Ukpai, was desperate to pass on his heartfelt passion to the thousands gathered at his ministry’s international headquarters in Uyo, capital of Akwa Ibom for the weekly fellowship.

Pacing up and down, he said: “Worship that does not involve helping the poor is a waste of time. When you give to the poor, your light begins to shine.” A pin-drop silence ensued as he continued: “Every poor person you see around is a gateway to financial blessings and relevance.”

Hours later when the fellowship drew to an end, Ukpai invited participants to drop something for “the poorest of the poor”. The response was as overwhelming as touching. The aged and visibly poor rushed to the podium for donation. They had caught the vision that helping others has nothing to do with financial strength.

FREE MEDICAL OUTREACH

This is the burden that the 71-year-old Ukpai has been bearing for decades. He doesn’t just preach helping the poor; he actually lives it. His evangelistic ministry renowned for holding crusades in the nooks and crannies of the nation has been about changing lives. Ukpai does not just fish for souls; he also feeds souls to be saved.

Heavily anointed for healing, Ukpai goes further to organise a free regular medical outreach for those whose faith could not secure supernatural healing. The outreach, which has been holding for over 30 years in the South East, offers free drugs worth over N50million every year.

HEALING BY ALL MEANS

As far as he is concerned, the most important thing is for the sick to be healed. It could be through healing prayers or provision of drugs. The outreach attracts medical personnel such as nurses, pharmacists and doctors from overseas courtesy without any cost to beneficiaries.

Despite the intervention, many sick patients still die before the periodic outreach gets to their communities. This spurred the popular preacher to establish the King of Kings Specialist Hospital in Asaga, Ohafia, Abia State. The 100-bed hospital, which started operations over 15 years ago, services communities in Abia, Akwa Ibom and Cross Rivers States with highly subsidised costs.

Many who go to the hospital do not even have enough to pay. Many of their bills end up picked by the ministry. “Those in villages are so hopelessly poor that no one can make money off them,” Ukpai said about the near-zero incomes of the facility.

There is also the Uma Ukpai Eye Centre, which tackles eyes defects in rural communities. The centre boasts of six full-time doctors dispensing services to those with eyes challenges. The evangelist is responsible for virtually funding the centre.

“I send make-up from here regularly to make the hospital run. They know when they run out of salaries they can run back to me for make-up. I have done this for 18 years,” he stated.

Ukpai invests so much resources and prayers into healing because of the belief that “the greatest enemy we have is sickness. Once one’s health collapses, everything around one collapses.”

SCHOLARSHIP SCHEME

But Ukpai is also a great believer in the power of education. This underlies an annual scheme for 102 students that cost the ministry N25million. Benefitting students of University of Uyo (UNIUYO) cut across courses and departments. It is a five-year revolving scheme conceived to cater for their tuition, reading materials and other academic needs.

The healing evangelist also has an informal scheme for his domestic helps interested in educational pursuits. Not less than 45 ex-domestic helps have gone on to universities and become professional through his benevolence. “Once they indicate interests in studying, they are sure they can be educated up to university level,” he confirmed.

There is also the Uma Ukpai College of Theology, Uyo for gospel ministers where half of the student population enjoy full scholarship. This enables many of them to concentrate on studying to show themselves as approved ministers of God. The Joseph Business College Uyo also enjoys the same assistance.

UMA UKPAI POLYETECHNIC

In the last three years, the highly respected minister has been building a polytechnic in his hometown, Asaga, Ohafia. The institution, which takes off in September, is already thinking of community services. It boasts of a 900 KVA generator expected to feed the institution and neigbhouring communities with free electricity supply.

He is also working on the College of Science and Technology in Abia State committed to making inventors out of every undergraduate. The institution will have a College of Agriculture strictly for females where they will be taught the rudiments of piggery and animal husbandry.

COMMUNITY IMPACTS

Ukpai singlehandedly tarred the roads leading to the Specialist Hospital and Eye Centre to aid easy accessibility. The roads leading to the Polytechnic have also been tarred by the ministry.

FEELING FOR THE POOR

For him, life is not about accumulation but donations. This is because he knew what it is to be helpless and poor. At 10, father died. His uncle then sent him packing when he dreamt of being a preacher as against choosing a high-paying career path. For over a year, he slept on mats and paid his way through school.

According to him, the passion to lift the poor is fallout of his poor background. “I know what it means to lose a father and be a father from that age. I know what it is to save money to pay school fees. So, I have feelings for the poor. I learnt early enough to know that the stone Satan throws at you can become stepping stones.”

Whether the ministry does, be it feeding the poor, holding crusades, running a polytechnic or even a business school, it is characterised by a strong passion for the less-privileged and raising the bar of humanity.

The sun still rises in Ekosodin, a tiny precinct detached from the Ugbowo campus of the University of Benin by a towering fence. But its brightness pales into insignificance for students who trudge the erosion-ridden community every academic session.  Unlike the sun, their pains are grim, dark and shrouded in obscurity.

Consider the case of Daniel Ike; a jovial, smart kid. His sense of humour remained unrivalled. At 23, the stage was set for him to graduate from the department of Chemical Engineering, University of Benin. But everything fizzled away before his very eyes. One evening, “Afrodan” – as Daniel was popularly called by fellow students – went to see his girlfriend who stays at Vincente Villa in Ekosodin. A gentleman, he bought a pack of food at Kadis, an eating outlet in the area, for his lover.  They hugged and chatted in tones characteristic of romantic encounters and agreed to see again in school the following day. But just as he stepped out of the hostel gate, two rounds of bullet hit him straight in the head. He managed an unsteady gait till he fell on his face. He passed on immediately. Till date, men of the Ugbowo Police Command are yet to uncover the masterminds of his death.

A surface scan at Jasper Igbinosa (not his real name) gives the 21-year old away as a happy-go-lucky student, unperturbed by life’s daily troubles. But a dig into the trenches of his soul mirrors the fears and frustrations of students living in off-campus hostels across Nigeria. For the fellow who resides atY2K Villa in Ekosodin, off-campus accommodation comes with more pains than gains. “Life in Ekosodin is a jungle. It is tougher if you are not a “strong man.” My second year was the most terrifying. Look at this place (pointing at an obvious scar at the back of his elbow); I was beaten by “boys” one night as if I were a thief. They could not believe I was not a cult member,” he narrated.

In the beginning

When Igbinosa gained admission into the university in 2011, his 46-years old single mother insisted he stayed on campus. As though nursing a premonition of the danger that lurked ahead, his mother practically forced him to settle for one of the school’s hostels.  “She just didn’t explain why she wanted me to stay on campus by all means.” he said. But after spending a year in an environment that seemed to have imprisoned his best impulses, the fascination for a wild and free life got the better of him. “I wanted freedom, school hostel was boring,” he said.

At 200-Level, when it seemed his mother’s supervision had waned, he joined a friend to rent a room self-contained apartment at Newton Villa in Ekosodin. What however started as a quest for freedom later turned out a narrative in self-torture. Igbinosa was returning from a class one fateful evening shortly after a downpour. As he jerked to a song from his MP4 Player, two young men accosted him and demanded to know his “identity.” The story ended badly. Igbinosa was beaten till he bled from the nose and got swollen eyes. His two mobile phones, necklace and wallet, containing proceeds generated by his departmental association, were also ‘seized.’

But it didn’t end there. “Three days later, I ran into one of them at a bar on Edo Street. I had gone to see a football match. He requested I pay for the drinks they had just taken.” Igbinosa, who seemed to be dumbfounded, ran his hands through his pockets only to squeeze out a pantry N170; a sum largely insufficient to offset the N760 bill his assailant had incurred. “He made me promise the owner of the bar that I would return to pay the balance. And the woman held my mobile phone as surety,” he narrated.

Subsequently, they threatened to “drop” Igbinosa, if he didn’t remit a portion of the monthly allowance he got from his Abuja-based parents. In campus parlance, “drop” means to kill somebody, a practice common in campus violence. Igbinosa found the threat seemingly unbearable and called his friend, an Eiye top gun. “When I told him what happened, he promised to talk to the boys. Later we learnt that the boys (his assailants) are members of a rival group (to Eiye). At a time, they said they were not interested in money again, that they would kill me. Some of my friends who were already members advised me to join; that way I would be protected.”

Around 7pm the following Thursday, Igbinosa received a call in school from his flatmate that a troika of fierce-looking boys had besieged their hostel looking for him. “I knew immediately that they were the same people. That day, I couldn’t return home. I went to pass the night in a friend’s place at Osasogie,” he said.

Years of unreported killings

In 2011, Steve Phiobodo Tejiri (nicknamed TJ) gained admission to study International Studies and Diplomacy at the University of Benin. As a chap who had been deeply involved in internet scam for the most part of his life, his admission seemed like a perfect way to better channel his youthful energy. But two years later, all that changed. He was invited to a birthday ceremony at Aso Rock Villa, a students’ hostel located in Ekosodin. Two unknown gun men stormed the lodge, headed for the venue of the bash and shot him in the head. The following Sunday, members of his campus fellowship, The Love Family, held a service in his honour amid tears. His friend who gave his name simply as Ogieva said Steve’s assailant had been on his trail since the previous year, following his involvement in a brawl with a member of a rival cult group.

Galaxy owns a barbing saloon inside the Ugbowo campus of the University of Benin. Ostensibly buoyed by the need for expansion, he opened a new shop in Ekosodin at the beginning of 2014. But by October of the same year, students woke up to behold the lifeless body of Galaxy, killed by unknown persons suspected to be cultists. Sources said he had had a disagreement with members of the Black Axe confraternity, the most dominant cult group in Ekosodin.

Further investigations revealed that Galaxy’s murder was sparked by the brutal massacre of a certain George, a top-ranking figure in Eiye. He was said to have been killed in the wee hours of the day in front of his mother at Uselu, Benin-City. Few days after the incident, the development ignited reprisal attacks in neighbouring communities, including the case of Gbenedion Ejiroghene, who until his gruesome murder was a 300-Level student of Chemistry at the institution.

In 2012, Ali, a 400-level student of Medicine and a native of Auchi in Etsako West Local Government Area of the state, was killed at the Senior Staff Quarters. The cause of his murder remains unknown till date. This however sparked-off other killings on off-campus hostels, a situation which sources say forced the management to constitute a three-man committee to meet with prominent cult leaders around the campus to broker peace.

Investigations reveal that cultists defy the university’s security apparatus to wreck untold havoc on students. In June 2013, cultists invaded the Ugbowo campus of the University of Benin, killing a 200-Level Mathematics student at the institution’s Sports Complex around 2pm, while the statutory biometric registration was on-going. The Chief Security Officer of the university, Mr. A. U. Otokiti, was said to have fled the scene as soon as the incident happened, a development which, according to a former Students’ Union Government member, angered the school’s management and led to the termination of his appointment.

Playing with the hyena

Following extensive interviews with former students’ leaders, it was discovered that university authorities are behind the prevalence of cultism on campus, as well as its associated insecurity on off-campus hostels. Checks revealed that when Chineloma Eleodioma – Nigeria’s first female SUG president – won the UNIBEN Students Union presidential polls in 2009, there were unrests at the institution in the evening. The protests were motivated by water scarcity that had hit the campus. But as the agitations began to mount, a group of men drove into the Hall 2 Car Park area in a Benz car and started beating the protesting students. “Management use these boys to maintain peace sometimes,” the source said.

He continued: “When you assume office as an SUG member, you are to link up with some cult boys who can work with you. You don’t have to join them, but this serves as protection from the oppression of SUG Parliament, who might want to suspend or punish you. If you don’t, be prepared to be exploited or harassed by cult groups because they’ll always come for you. “

A former SUG president at the Ambrose Alli University, Ekpoma, said: “My Chief Security Officer (a boy who acts as personal assistant to the president) is an ex-lord in Eiye. I have direct relationship with some high-ranking members of other cults around. If you don’t do that, you are either killed or continue to face all manners of harassment from every side.”

In Ekosodin, the miscreants are known as ‘Ekosodin Parliamentarians.’ They are sometimes deployed by troubled students’ leaders to disrupt sittings by members of the SUG Parliament. A former SUG leader recounted how the parliament plotted his “unjustifiable” removal. He told this reporter that he got a cash grant from a politician, whom he had been supporting. When the information got to other members of the union, they wanted a share of the money, which he subtly declined. His refusal meant SUG parliament would initiate his impeachment proceedings. “I called those ekosodin parliamentarians to disrupt the whole arrangement. We later settled the fight,” he said in comic rebuff.

Harassment, atrocities all over

Alimi Sunday was invited to a birthday by a supposed campus fellowship member. But on getting to the venue of the bash, he discovered that it was no different from a gathering of thugs. “The boys were drinking and smoking Indian hemp, and everyone clung to their babes. My two friends and I felt odd. We left the party almost immediately for a friend’s place at Capa Green Hostel. As we entered the street between Aso Rock Villa and Newton Hostel, we heard voices from behind, saying “four wise men, show!” While the other three went back in obedience, Alimi kept moving on as though he didn’t hear anything. But the voice added: “You dey prove stubborn abi? If you move there, I go shoot you.”

Alimi recounting the experience said, “I just stood still, not knowing which to choose between a bullet and going to meet them and parting with my phone. Deep in my fear, I decided not to yield to the threat. So I kept going, but the bullets weren’t fired at me after all. My friends came to join me later to narrate how the “boys” collected their phones and money. They also asked for my department and hostel, said they would come for me.”

Kester Uhunwango, 400-Level Law student of UNIBEN, has seen the rough edges of a community where terror reigns unchecked. His calm, unassuming mien contrasts sharply with the trepidation that greets his soul at the mention of Ekosodin. For the fellow who stays at Africana Hostel, Ekosodin is a nightmare many dwellers love to hate.

 “I was sleeping in my room one night, when the ladies living in the room opposite mine arrived at about 1.00am in the morning. They were party riders, who kept a tab on social events, but as I opened the door for them this fateful day, three boys showed up from nowhere. One of them held a gun while the others wielded dangerous weapons. They forced their way into the hostel and told all of us to lie down. Before my very eyes, they pounced on one of the girls, stripped her of her dress, pushed her to the wall and raped her in the darkness.”

For Beye Paul, a Geography and Regional Planning student, a minor disagreement with a flatmate suspected to be cultist, meant he had to present himself for a daily dosage of slap every morning. “You won’t believe it, but I had to present myself before those boys, to be slapped every morning,” he said.

If Ekosodin purrs with dark narratives, BDPA Quarter resonates the same tirades of terror for residents.  In broad daylight, Tony Abulime’s quest for a befitting rest turned out to be a date with the devil. “Around 1.45pm, I was sleeping in my room at Presidential Lodge, Third Street, BDPA, Ugbowo. Suddenly, I heard a bang on the entrance door. Initially, I thought it was the wind because it was raining. I returned to bed. Suddenly, the bang came again, this time, with a force. Before I could stand up, my door had already given way to two hefty guys. One carried a cutlass and the other held a battle axe. One of them gave me a blow on the head and as I fell, they immediately ordered me to bring out my money and laptop. I told them I had no laptop. They ransacked the room and made away with my Play Station 2, Blackberry and five thousand naira.”

He added: “They left my room and went to other rooms. But luck ran out on them when they got to the last room. The occupant, who was obviously aware of the attack, waylaid them behind the door. He vehemently smashed one of them with a rod. He fell and the other ran away through the back door, abandoning their spoils. Before we could all join him, the other thief ran away. We reported the case at the BDPA Police Station the next day.”

Gloria Momoh recently graduated from the Mass Communication Department of the University of Jos, Plateau State. But the excitement of her graduation few months ago did little to erase the trauma she endured, when student-robbers ripped her door open, and quietly hauled away her valuables. Juxtapose this with the helplessness of Asiegbu Chiamaka, who was trailed to her home by a group of student miscreants.

Hear her: “I just returned from a programme on campus that fateful evening. My room was stuffy since there was power outage, so I opened my door for fresh air. At about 7:00pm, two guys strolled into my room. I felt they were robbers, one of them held a gun. They ordered me to go naked. I refused. And I started praying. They became forceful and started fuddling my breast.  They tried hard to force my two laps open, but I kept struggling with them. Later I began to run out of energy, so I screamed. Immediately they perceived my neighbour unbolt a door, they zoomed off.”

For Onwukwe Zeal, a 300-Level Electrical/Electronic Engineering student, Federal University of Technology, Owerri (FUTO), there is neither any reason to trust the police nor the local vigilante group. They share a common denominator: non-unresponsiveness to attacks. “I was at home when three boys came to my lodge in broad day light. They took away my laptop, other gadgets and money. I reported at the vigilante office. They assured me they would work with the police for proper investigation since I knew some of the faces. Till date, nobody investigated anything. And I see those folks walk freely every day,” he lamented.

Two students beheaded in Abia penultimate Saturday

In a similar manner, two students of Abia State University, Nwigbo Chukwuebuka, a 300-level student of Estate Management, and Samuel Ethelbert, also a 300-level student, but of Political Science department were gruesomely beheaded by unknown boys suspected to be cultists. Chukwuebuka and Ethelbert were said to be members of Mafia cult and the attack was a reprisal one, meant to retaliate the killing of the leader of a rival group, Burkina Faso, by name Collins Agwu, a.k.a Biggy, who was killed the week before.

 The attack reportedly happened at the CHIDOO Hostel, a private hostel about 4km from the university gate, prompting the university management to advise parents to pay attention to where their wards are staying.

Dogon-Dutse, an off-campus community around UNIJOS, Plateau State, is another den of violent goons, waiting to unleash deep horror on unsuspecting students. “Most of these attacks are carried out by student-robbers. They rape girls, steal and sometimes inflict harm on their victims,” said a post-graduate student who requested not to be named. He narrated how a cultist, who laid ambush on another student, was killed at the institution’s permanent site. The cultists had allegedly killed the wrong student, a victim of mistaken identity, when students at the scene of the incident chased them and apprehended one in the process.

However, when placed on a scale, the horror of Ujemen community around Ambrose Alli University in Ekpoma, Edo State, dwarfs that of Dogon-Dutse in astronomical proportion. Of great peculiarity is the fact that attacks here are mostly motivated by desperate cultists, who pounce on innocent residents to solve their survival puzzle.  “Most of these cult boys are hungry students, and sometimes locals. They survive by harassing innocent people. They steal and intimidate fellow students, especially those who live off-campus. Politicians also use them during elections. Thereafter, they are left on their own to cause trouble everywhere,” said a source at the Anti-Cult Campaign Organisation of Nigeria (ACCON).

Where are the police?

Like Igbinosa, many of the victims in Ekosodin bear their cross alone. On March 4 this year, a gang of robbers attacked a hostel on Ehico Street around 4a.m. Of the 14 rooms in the lodge, 13 were raided. One of the occupants allegedly placed a distress call to nearby Ekosodin Police Station, but when it appeared help was not forth-coming; they resorted to calling the local vigilante men. But the robbers left just before the vigilante men arrived.

Residents insist that the station at Ekosodin has failed to live up to expectation. “Nobody here can beat their chest that when trouble comes, Ekosodin police would rescue them. Most times, they would have to call the Ugbowo Police Station for help which is farther. The question therefore is, why are they here if they can’t defend us?

“Most times, the robbers would have wrecked havoc on residents before the police show up. It appears deliberate. Of what essence is the security outfit then?” She queried.

Speaking to this reporter at the Ugbowo Police Station at BDPA Quarters, the Divisional Police Officer who gave his name as S. O. Ugbowo, said the division had been responsive to attacks. “We don’t stay back whenever we receive a distress call. Our men have been hard working. Those who say we don’t respond on time are not sincere,” he said.

But when this reporter visited the Ekosodin Police Station in March, nothing suggested it was a security outfit, except for a worn-out Nigeria Police flag that waved feebly. A middle-aged man who spoke to this reporter on condition of anonymity said: “This is not a police station. It is an out-post. We are six personnel here altogether. But only two officers are armed. When emergency arises, it’s only those two officers that can go. “

Asked why there was no single officer in sight at 6:23pm when this reporter visited, he said: “We have closed for the day. I would have gone home by now too. I stayed back on personal grounds.”

Vigilante to the rescue 

In most of the communities this reporter visited, there exists a local but loose security system managed by indigenes. Most times, the groups are formed by locals driven by their love of community. Around the Federal University of Technology, Owerri (FUTO) and adjoining communities, a youth vigilante group shoulders the security responsibilities.

For example, the Vice-Chairman of Umuchima Youths Association, Imo State, Mr. Boniface Akagha said the group formed the vigilante network in the community to offer free security services to residents. “We are concerned at the level of insecurity in our community. Our parents lack the strength to secure the community. The youths can do that because of their energy. People call us when there are attacks. And we respond immediately,” Boniface said.

While the likes of Boniface defy the horror of the night to secure fellow residents, his counterparts in Ekosodin are driven by financial rewards. A former leader of the Ekosodin Youth Association, who preferred to be addressed as Chairman, said the lure of material things had stoked divisions within the security ranks, culminating in the proliferation of factions. A faction led by Efosa Obaze currently staggers at the cruxes of a scuffle. Obaze is allegedly to have dipped hands into the finances of the group, misappropriating about N600,000 from where he is said to have procured a Gulf car. Investigations showed that insecurity has increased in the community since the fight began.

At Ujeme around Ambrose Alli University, Ekpoma, the vigilante group, it was alleged has been infiltrated by cultists, who sometimes turn around to harass the same residents they are expected to defend.

The story is the same in Ekosodin, where some landlords have had to part with as much as N70,000 annually to maintain steady security cover in the event of an attack. Though, of all the hostels visited randomly by this reporter, only a handful of landlords confessed to complying with the payment regime, citing extortion.

The real terrorists

Our investigations revealed that a larger percentage of attacks on Nigerian universities’ off-campus hostels are the handiwork of part-time students. This category of students, it is believed, have sufficient time at their disposal to socialise and foment trouble.

A former leader of the UNIBEN SUG said most of the culprits behind off-campus violence are students who have been expelled and those who were not admitted after undergoing the UNIBEN Diploma programme. “A good number of them are also students who got extra years in school. That’s why management decided sometimes ago that no student should be allowed to spill twice,” he said. Such category of students, he noted, were to be given a pass just so they could move on with their lives.

Facing the monsters for good

In 2012, Chairman of the Academic Staff Union of Universities (ASUU) at the University of Jos (UNIJOS), Dr. David Yakubu, said the level of insecurity on Nigeria’s campuses was intolerable, calling the governments to action.  In 2014, Executive Secretary of the National Universities Commission (NUC), Dr. Julius Okogie decried the “alarming violence” in Nigeria’s universities.

Consequently, on the 3rd of October 2014, the Federal Government, through the Special Assistant to President Goodluck Jonathan on Youths and Students Matters, Comrade Jude Imagwe, ordered military protection for campuses. But almost a year after the declaration, campuses remain vulnerable to attacks. Of serious concern is the fate of students who stay off-campus – who are often left to their own devices.

Senior officers of the various universities who spoke to our correspondent said the institutions cannot be liable to what befalls students staying off-campus. Supporting the opinion of the image maker of the Ambrose Alli University, Mr. Chris Adamaigbo, Public Relations Officer of the University of Benin, Mr. Michael Osasuyi, said the security of off-campus hostels was clearly outside the ambit of the institution, saying “the current administration, led by Prof Osasere Orunmwense, has initiated moves to cushion effects of the situation. We have embarked on a scheme to assemble the database of students staying in BDPA, Osasogie and Ekosodin. And we are working with corporate organisations to build more hostels for the swarming students,” he said.

But until these intentions are matched with action, the spate of insecurity around the hostels will continue to be disturbing.

In a report by World Education News and Reviews (WENR) and corroborated by Dr. Jamila Shu’ara in his paper presented at the UNESCO Institute of Statistics Workshop on education statistics in Anglophone countries, the number of applicants into Nigerian universities grew from 916,371 in 2005/2006 to 1,670,833 in 2013/2014. And 520,000 students were admitted into Nigerian universities in 2013 compared to 76, 984 in 2005, indicating a 31.1 per cent admission rate as against 8.4 percent in 2005. Despite this sharp increase in university enrolment, the number of available hostels remains unchanged; a situation which forces many to seek accommodation in the unsafe off-campus hostels every year.

Welfare Secretary of the Academic Staff Union of Universities (ASUU), Dr. (Mrs.) Ngozi Iloh, said new hostels should be erected to absorb the growing student population. “It’s a question of population explosion. And one way we can solve this riddle is by increasing the number of hostels.  But unfortunately, many of the private hostels built around the campuses are rather too expensive. School authorities would do well to explore private sector participation,” she said.

In an interview with our correspondent, a lecturer in the Department of Psychology at the University of Lagos, Dr. Alex Igundunase, said the prevalence of cultism on Nigerian campuses could be traced to dysfunctional family up-bringing and the need to “belong” to a group to boost one’s ego. He called on relevant security outfits to step up their intelligence in ensuring safer campus. “There is nothing a society benefits from (the activities of) cult groups. Often times, the original personality of the person is distorted, awkward and weird. Soon or later, the person becomes a problem to the society.

“Organisations or institutions of learning could work out modalities of getting people who can infiltrate these groups with the aim of understanding why they do what they do. We can’t solve the problem if we don’t know why they do what they do,” he said.

In a joint study published by Haastrup T. Ekundayo et al in the Kamla-raj Journal of Social Sciences titled: Menace of Cultism in Nigerian Tertiary Institutions: The Way Out, the authors argued that “The existence of these groups on campuses has made life unsafe and meaningless to both staff and students,” and called on “stakeholders in the university education, including the churches, the mosques, parents, school administrators and the society at large, to fuse effort to eradicate the menace before it destroys the whole educational system.”  Stakeholders are of the opinion that the spate of insecurity on off-campus hostels can be reduced if the government is more aggressive in her quest to eradicate cultism in the tertiary institutions by enacting and implementing relevant laws.

But like the sun, the likes of Igbinosa (off-campus dwellers) still wake up to their quotidian torment. While their mates retire quietly to their beds in school hostels, they slog home in faint optimism, looking up to the sky for protection.

• This story is supported with funds by the International Centre for Investigative Reporting and Ford Foundation

As human beings, we almost always like to wait for a perfect time to take necessary action about our plans. Is there any time called “Perfect”? I need your answer, please. Some years ago, a friend of mine bought a car and got a man to drive it and also teach him driving because he could not drive. As expected, whenever the man wanted to teach my friend, the learner sign “L” would be hung on the number plate with the driver sitting beside him and guiding him. Surprisingly, after one year of learning, my friend was still using the “L” sign and totally dependent on the driver to guide him while driving. I was compelled to ask why he was still using the “L” sign and could not drive unguided. He said he wanted to PERFECT his driving skills even when the driver had been encouraging him to be driving alone.

Different experience

I had a different experience while learning driving. Within one month of learning, the man teaching me just alighted from the car one particular evening as if he wanted to buy something. Then he bent down, opened his mouth and let loose an intercontinental ballistic missile into my ears, which almost deafened me. I thought the world had come to an end! What did he say, you may want to know? He said he just remembered he had one important appointment to keep with one rich man he had just met for business assistance. Reluctantly, I nodded in agreement but the ocean of confusion had engulfed me from within. Would I say he should not go to see the man that wanted to assist him? That would be selfish of me.

Flashing thoughts

Some thoughts flashed across my mind. One of them was to get a towing van to tow the car from there. Another was to look for just anybody that could help me drive it home, but that could be very risky. My dilemma became heightened because the man had never encouraged me to use the “L” sign that could have given me some protection from other road-users. After about five minutes of total confusion, I decided to start the engine of the car, then engaged the gear, accelerating little by little and gaining confidence gradually as I was driving along.

I finally got home and became very happy that I prematurely achieved a feat that I had thought could only be possible in three or four months from then.

The second day, the man came and commended me for driving home alone without hitting another vehicle. Then, he confessed that he did not have any appointment the previous day but just wanted me to master driving early as I was learning fast. In one month of learning driving, I started driving to other states unlike my friend. So whatever plan you have to execute, do not wait for any perfect time. Perfect time is a figment of imagination. If you believe there is a perfect time, then NOW is the “perfect” time to act.

Contradiction and flexibility

We like to blow hot and cold every time. We are quick to admit in one situation that nobody is perfect but God when it comes to doing some things. So we always resign our fate to attaining excellence not perfection. But it is ironical that when it comes to implementing our plans, we quickly hide under the pretext of seeking a perfect time to board the flight of perpetual procrastination.

Even our perfect God is not rigid about perfection. Genesis 1:31 says, “And God saw everything that he had made, and, behold, it was VERY GOOD….” “Very good” is used not “Perfect”. According to Psalm 8:1, “O Lord our Lord, how EXCELLENT is thy name in all the earth….” “Excellent” is used not “Perfect”.

It is human nature to always look for perfection before taking action. When God told Moses that He wanted to use him to deliver the Israelites from Egypt, Moses gave excuses thus in Exodus 4: 10, “O my Lord, I am not eloquent… I am slow of speech, and of a slow tongue.” But he should have known that God was aware of his shortcoming. God then replied him, “…Now therefore go, and I will be with thy mouth, and teach thee what thou shalt say.”

Average lifespan and interpretation

We need to take action fast because Psalm 90:10 says, “The days of our years are threescore years and ten….”  The noun phrase “Threescore years and ten” means 70 years in modern English. The implication of this is that we have a short lifespan, especially when considering the fact that Methuselah lived for 969 years and Enoch 365 years.

By daily interpretation, 70 years is about 25,568 days, including extra days of leap years involved. By the time one is 20 years, one must have spent above 7,300 days; at 30 years, one must have spent above 10,950 days; at 40 years, more than 14,600 days must have gone, leaving one with about 11,000 days. At 60 years, one must have spent 21,900 days, remaining about 3,650 days out of 70 years. This interpretation is not meant to instil fear in you but to motivate you so that you can discard your long-awaited vehicle of perfect time. We will continue with this discourse next week.

PS: For those making inquiries about our Public Speaking, Business Presentation and Professional Writing Skills programme, please visit the website indicated on this page for details.

GOKE ILESANMI, Managing Consultant/CEO of Gokmar Communication Consulting, is an International Platinum Columnist, Professional Public Speaker/MC, Communication Specialist, Motivational Speaker and Career Management Coach. He is also a Book Reviewer, Biographer and Editorial Consultant.

Tel: 08055068773; 08187499425

Email: gokeiles2010@gmail.com

Website: www.gokeilesanmi.com