Does God really exist? This question has engaged the intellect of many exploring the existence of God. Humans have expressed a belief in the existence of a supreme being responsible for creation from the beginning of time. Foremost religions like Judaism, Christianity, Islam, Hinduism, Buddhism, and African traditional religion, are informed of the existence of a supreme being and have a template for his worship. Theism, “the belief in a god or gods,” is in the history of ancient civilizations. God featured in the works of many English writers from Christopher Marlow to T.S Elliott. Shakespeare’s mature tragedies have vivid accounts of belief in a God that shapes destinies.
Atheism, defined as “Denial of or lack of belief in the existence of a god or gods,” became prominent during and after the Age of Enlightenment. Great thinkers and philosophers like Friedrich Nietzsche, Ludwig Feuerbach, Bertrand Russell, Jean-Paul Sartre, Tai Solarin etc were renowned atheists. When agnostics (those who believe it is impossible to know whether God exists or not and for this reason we should suspend belief) are included, atheists in the world are now about 500 million.
Atheists affirm that there is a lack of compelling evidence to prove the existence of God. They find it difficult to reconcile a most powerful and good God with the existence of gratuitous evil. Earthquakes, tsunamis, cyclones, hurricanes, diseases, pestilence, etc, have claimed the lives of many people. Consider children born with genetic diseases like cancer, sickle cell anaemia, autism and cerebral palsy. In my large family, we lost a lovely son to sickle cell anaemia at the age of fourteen. On his sick bed and in severe pain he assured us that Jesus would heal him. A few hours after these reassuring words he gave up the ghost. My family would live with this painful loss till the end of our lives. A few years ago in Benin – City, an eight-year-old girl on her way to Church for morning mass was overpowered by four men and raped to death.
Many would ask why a most caring and good God didn’t save her from this calamity. There is also the puzzle of the prosperity of the wicked which atheists find difficult to align with a God of justice.
The notion of a God responsible for creation has been seriously challenged by the evolution theory of Charles Darwin. In his book, ‘On the Origin of the Species by Means of Natural Selection,’ published in 1859 he explained how plant and animal species branch off to become entirely new species. The study of fossils and genes ignited interest in the evolution theory. Richard Dawkins, an evolution biologist, in his book, ‘The God Delusion,’ said living organisms; bacteria, plants, insects, and birds, share a common ancestor. He stated that the chimpanzee is most closely related to humans. In other words, we are all cousins to the chimpanzee and distant cousins to the antelope further down the evolution chain. The facts of the theory have been well articulated that they are convincing to many including renowned scientists. It is important to state that evolutionists have claimed ignorance of the origin of life. They admit that natural selection proceeds from the single cell whose origin they have been unable to account for. Claiming ignorance of the origin of the cell is without doubt a submission to the lordship of a superior intelligence.
As a Christian and a firm believer in God, I would advocate for a more pragmatic approach to the propagation of religion. Modern science has shattered into rubbles many of the foundations upon which our faith is erected. Many are now interrogating the basis of their faith. Cynical toleration of untenable dogmas is becoming a thing of the past. For instance, adherents of Abrahamic religions; Judaism, Christianity, and Islam, are required to believe in the existence of a devil who is God’s creation. They are required to believe that the devil visited the Garden of Eden in the form of a snake to tempt the first humans; Adam and his wife, Eve. They are taught that the devil lured Eve to eat the forbidden fruit and by this act, the whole of humanity was damned. They are required to believe that the savage butchery of people, sometimes of a whole community by the prophets was done by the express command of God. They killed many, including smiling infants. Sometimes ladies were spared and taken as booty of war. They are taught to believe in hellfire. They are told of the existence of angels, witches, and wizards. But these infinite verities need a piece of stronger evidence for their existence than the mere mention that they exist. A Pope encountered a master artist painting the interior of the dome of a Cathedral in Rome and noticed that angels were painted with shoes on their legs. The Pope barked at the artist, “Have you seen angels with shoes?” The artist responded with, “Your Holiness, have you seen angels without shoes?”
Children born in this modern high tech world can only believe by evidence and not by faith. They don’t believe in the supernatural. They are unlike me rooted in mysticism from my birth. In 1967, my mother took me to some prophets in Okoja quarters in Ikare, Ondo State, who downloaded my entire life history in less than thirty minutes. The predictions by a lady prophet had been confirmed in every detail. The stunning accuracy of the predictions is more confounding than the Internet and Artificial Intelligence.
The modern child would not believe that my grandmother, an Olokun (Water goddess) priestess in Benin – City, could with incantations alter the position of a child in the womb for safe delivery. I witnessed this many times during her lifetime. Therefore, it is easier for me to believe in an unseen God and witches.
The modern child will find it difficult to accept the inconsistencies and illogicalities in revealed religions as divine inspiration. They would not believe in the virgin birth. They would not believe in a moving sun like Prophet Joshua. They would not believe that Methuselah lived for 969 years. They would not believe that the earth is about 8,000 years old when there is proof that some rocks have existed for about 500 million years.
In teaching the scriptures it should be emphasized that the holy books like the Bible and the Quran were written by human beings. God might have inspired them but in doing that he allowed for their preferences, biases, predilections, idiosyncrasies, and fantasies. This would explain the observed inconsistencies and illogicalities recorded in the holy books.
There is no better way to prove the existence of God than the use of science. Albert Einstein said, “I don’t believe in a personal God; it is sufficient to stand in awe at the structures of the world, insofar as it allows our inadequate senses to appreciate it”. He further said, “Science without religion is lame, religion without science is blind.” Thomas Paine, an apostle of deism (belief in God but not in revealed religion) made sense when he said the word of God is the creation we behold. It cannot be forged or counterfeited. The French philosopher and deist, Voltaire, shared this view.
Astronomy has revealed the solar system with millions of galaxies arranged in astounding order that cannot come out from chaos. There must be an intelligent designer. There are about 200 billion stars of which the smallest is as big as the earth. Is that not bewildering? The human body consists of about 30 trillion cells and each cell has a life of its own. Is that not amazing? The human brain is made up of about 100 billion nerve cells (neurons). Does that not indicate that we are wonderfully made? Considering the mountain ranges, ebbing sea, and accuracy in the movements of bodies in the solar system, what else do we need to prove supreme intelligence? According to Prof. Fred Hoyle, “The chance that higher life forms might have emerged by chance is comparable to the chance that a tornado sweeping through a junkyard might assemble a Boeing 747 from the materials therein.”
There must be a creator with supreme intelligence whose origin is beyond the ken of mortals.
Osagie-Jacobs, an Economist and Chartered Accountant, wrote from Abuja.
On July 17, renowned scholar, teacher, author, columnist and editorialist, Professor Olatunji Dare will clock 80. His colleagues, friends, students and well-wishers will gather in Lagos that day to celebrate the prolific writer as he joins the Octogenarian Club. LAWAL OGIENAGBON writes.
Man of many parts
His reputation precedes him. Anywhere he goes, when Professor Olatunji Dare’s name is mentioned, heads turn, with people eager to catch a glimpse of him. His work in which he is diligent gave him his name. Dare wears many caps. Writer. Author. Scholar. Essayist. Teacher. Journalist. Academic. Columnist. Activist. Humorist. Satirist. He is all these and more rolled into one. Above all, he is a Humanist. Dare took the newspaper world by storm in 1988 when he joined The Guardian, which styled itself then as the flagship of the Nigerian press, as Editorial Board Chair and Editorial Page Editor. He left the University of Lagos (UNILAG) where he was a teacher in the Mass Communication Department for The Guardian. Dare’s hands were full; he coordinated the writing of editorial by board members who are among the best and brightest in different walks of life, as well as oversaw the OP-ED (opposite the editorial page).
It was a demanding job, but Dare was equal to the task. He discharged his duty well, combining it with writing his popular weekly column: Matters Arising, which later became the title of his first book. The book is a compilation of some of his published articles. If there are two titles under which Dare’s column resonates with his readers, they are likely to be Matters Arising and Matters Miscellaneous. Under these titles, he usually took a broad look at virtually all issues under the sun at any point in time in order not to miss out on any that is worth commenting on. It is time for both Matters Arising and Matters Miscellaneous as Dare, the prolific writer turns 80 on July 17. What other matter can be more important or ‘arising’ or ‘miscellaneous’ than Professor Olatunji Dare joining the Octogenarian Club?
Giant media intellectual
Raise up your glasses and let us toast to the well-being of the great story teller whose skill at using words is nonpareil. He deploys words like somebody taking pap with beef. When Dare turned 70 in 2014, some of his friends, colleagues and students celebrated his joining of the Septuagenarian Club with a festschrift (a collection of writings in honour of a scholar). In the acknowledgements to the book titled: Public Intellectuals, the Public Sphere and the Public Spirit: Essays in Honour of Olatunji Dare, Professor Wale Adebanwi, the editor, described Dare as “one of the brightest figures of the late 20th century and the early 21st century newspaper press in Nigeria”. Dare’s 70th birthday, Adebanwi said, was an opportunity “to re-examine the role of the media intellectual in the public sphere in Africa’s most populous country, Nigeria. This book is therefore both a celebration of the subject, Professor Olatunji Dare, as it is a token effort at recording the social history of an era”.
Ten years after, Dare remains a giant media intellectual who is still firing from all cylinders. As long as he has the gift of life, he is not likely to stop writing, which seems to come to him naturally. Dare’s articles are a delight to read. Readers who cannot afford the paper besiege the newsstands every Tuesday to read his column in The Nation for which he has been writing since 2010. This was also the case when he was writing for The Guardian (1988-1995). The high and low read him as there is something in his column for everybody. But his satirical writings come at a cost to him, at times. Many readers, among them the educated and highly mobile as well as seasoned priests, tend to misunderstand his satires. They turn the meaning of what he is saying upside down and descend on him for, in their own estimation, going for their jugular or for being a turncoat, as the case may be. For Dare, this is the prize to pay for his style of writing, which he himself acknowledges, “is in turn satirical and solemn”.
Onigegeewura
Dare is a man of principle and courage. Nothing exemplifies this more than his decision not to join the management of The Guardian on its trip to Abuja to apologise to the late General Sani Abacha, as demanded, so that the newspaper house which was then shut would be reopened. Dare subsequently resigned, explaining that a newspaper that had always insisted on the sanctity of the rule of law should not be seen doing anything contrary to that position. Things were made difficult for him following his resignation. He was ejected from his official quarters and his personal and other effects were thrown out. As he ran around for succour, going as far as taking the case to court, relief came from abroad. He relocated to the United States (US), where he has been with his family in the past 28 years, coming home once in a while to touch base with family, friends and colleagues.
Dare took up a faculty position at the Bradley University, Peoria, Illinois, in 1996. His sacrifice did not go unnoticed. For what he went through, he was awarded the Hammet/Hellman Grant for Courage in the face of Political Persecution by Human Rights Watch. Dare has since retired from the university. Upon his retirement in August 2015, he was named Professor of Journalism, Emeritus. Dare and Journalism are like Siamese twins. He talks, walks and chews journalism. Even when he is sleeping, he is breathing journalism! Look no further when in search of a writer who is in love with his art. Some are born writers; some discovered their writing talent; some learnt how to write. Dare is in the first category. Only a born-writer can have the elements so mixed in him. Little wonder that his peers, colleagues, friends and students have kind words to say about him and are ready to tell the world that this is Onigegeewura (the One-with-the-Golden-Pen), as Professor Niyi Osundare described him in The Journalist as Public Intellectual (Olatunji Dare as Splendid Exemplum) in the aforementioned 70th birthday festshcrift.
Master satirist
Under a subtitle: From the classroom to the newsroom/newsstand, Osundare said Dare remained an exemplar of a scholar who never abandoned their commitment to a life of the mind for filthy lucre. “For the past three decades, Dare has not only succeeded in establishing himself as one of Nigeria’s most engaging thinkers and writers; he has also shown the country how it is done by raising both the accent and tenor of journalism practice. In the true tradition of journalism as truth-seeker, information-disseminator, and shaper of public opinion, he has championed a school of journalism that places the highest premium on integrity and informed engagement. Believing that journalism is not just ‘history in a hurry’ as is often touted in common parlance, Dare conceives it as history in motion and remembrance in action…
“For Dare, journalism is not just a job; it is a vocation; not just a career but a calling. Journalism is a cause… In no part of journalism is the maxim of the writer-as-shaper-of-public-opinion truer than in opinion writing. And this is Olatunji Dare’s turf, his roost, and refuge – and in a manner of speaking – his crucible… Dare’s column is the meeting-point of many interests: up-to-date account of the news of the day; a masterfully executed analysis of it; a magisterial coda oftentimes with unforgettable moral gravitas… His column made The Guardian a compulsory read every Tuesday because of its depth of analysis, fearless argumentation, and impeccable expression… His stylistic and rhetorical features are what make Olatunji Dare one of Nigeria’s most effective satirists. When a matter is too gross, too ridiculous, or too bizzare for simple expository commentary (and Nigeria is a land of such incredible grotesqueries), the writer combs his rhetorical arsenal for the sharpest satirical weapon… Over these years, Olatunji Dare has laboured to humour Nigerian rulers out of their hubris and Nigerian citizens out of their civic folly. Dare’s satire is driven by touching patriotism and the need to eradicate the unending cycle of stupidity that lies at the root of Nigeria’s underdevelopment. Only Peter Pan in his politically astute days has jolted Nigeria with satiric barbs so sharp and so remorsefully focused”, Osundare said.
It is to Dare’s credit that his satirical writing has been the subject of two M.A. (Master’s of Arts) theses in some Nigerian universities, and of articles in several learned journals. It has also featured in courses on Stylistics in programmes in the English Departments of some universities. It is a reflection of his academic background that his writings found a home in universities. It is also not for nothing that he returned to the university from where he joined the media when he left The Guardian in unpleasant circumstance. This connection between his media and academic life makes him to stand out. Till today, he bestrides the two worlds in a manner that no other known professional has done. A much-travelled journalist, Dare has reported from more than a dozen countries on three continents and interviewed several statesmen of global stature. His works have appeared in West Africa, Newsday and The Seattle Times. In 1995, the Nieman Foundation awarded Dare the Louis M. Lyon’s Prize for Conscience and Integrity in Journalism, in recognition of his steadfast commitment to journalism’s best practices.
Amicus
His teaching job at Bradley did not stop him from writing. He wrote weekly columns for audiences in Nigeria and on the Internet. In summer 2000, Dare was an editorial adviser for The Seattle Times, based on a competitive fellowship awarded by the American Society of Newspaper Editors. Prior to that, he had conducted journalism workshops in Zimbabwe, Ghana and across Nigeria. It takes a man of linguistics style to do the kind of thing that Dare does week in, week out. No other person can attest to his style than his friend and colleague in their days at UNILAG, Prof Adidi Uyo. In his contribution to the festshcrift titled: Amicus: The element of the man’s style, Uyo said of Dare: “Conversing with Amicus or reading him always enriches you with three things, especially, if you have the intellectual bent. The three things are ideas, words, and humour. Words, of course, are the bearers of the other two things, and when the three are delicately combined, the result can be a great delight”.
According to Uyo, he and Dare have been calling themselves Amicus, the Latin word for friend, since the 1980s after the latter wrote a piece titled: Amicus Curiae (friend of court) in The Guardian. To Uyo, Dare is a COW! Do not take that in its literal sense, as Uyo explained what he meant by the acronym. “There goes my beloved COW, again! Only a person with the size of his vocabulary and the ability to pick and position words the way the man does can be called a Connoisseur of Words… Take it from me: Amicus is a COW, par excellence!” Uyo, himself a wordsmith, was not done yet. “As he always does, Amicus uses his prodigious erudition to enrich his readers. That, to me, is his mark of distinction: it is what distinguishes Amicus as a columnist. It is what I have dubbed, erudition for enrichment (EFE)”.
Martyrs Arising
Another accomplished scholar and essayist, Professor Adebayo Williams also commended Dare’s style in his own contribution to the festshcrift. Titled: ‘Martyrs Arising’, which is apparently a play on the words: Matters Arising, which Dare likes writing under, Williams said: “Ten years ago when Martyrs Arising was written, it was parody as a homage, an iconic tribute and a backhanded birthday compliment to an older friend who is one of the quiet heroes of Nigeria’s democratic emancipation. Olatunji (Ale)Dare, master satirist, stylistic exemplar and magisterial editorialist had just turned fifty… Whenever the political scene got overcrowded and unwieldy for a single column, the noted columnist would come up with a unique unifier: Matters Arising. So merciless and assiduous was Dare’s chronicle of the June 12 fiasco and the shenanigans of Nigeria’s political class that he had an omnibus diary to contain the magical realism in all its bizzare twists and murderous idiocies. Titled: Diary of a Debacle, it was a compelling read soaring with lacerating wit and roiling indignation. Such was the national following that when the diary ceased for a fortnight, I had to pay a surprise visit to Dare in his trenches at The Guardian to ask whether the Diary of a Debacle had become the debacle of a diary”.
The deep call the deep
Indeed, it takes the deep to call the deep. At 80, Dare has come a long way in life. From his community in Kogi State to the bustling city of Lagos and the alluring American state of Chicago, he remains true to the path he has cut for himself. He obtained the first-ever First Class (summa cum laude) degree in Mass Communication from UNILAG, where he later became senior lecturer in journalism. He holds a Master’s degree in Journalism from Columbia University in New York, where he won the prize for Editorial Writing, and a Ph.D from Indiana University. Bloomington, Indiana, with twin concentrations in International Commumication and Public Policy. Among his numerous prizes are the Nigeria Media Review Award for Informed Commentary, the Faculty Award in Teaching Excellence, Faculty Award for Excellence in Scholarship from the Slane College of Communication and Fine Arts, and the President’s Prize for Meritorious Service from the Bradley University, Peoria, Illinois. He was a full professor there until his retirement in August 2015. He was subsequently made Professor of Journalism, Emeritus. In 2018, he was presented a Lifetime Achievement Award by the Nigeria Media Review.
Although, he is now retired, Dare still writes his weekly column, At home abroad, for The Nation, where he has been working since 2010. He is the paper’s Editorial Adviser. Dare is also the author of Diary of a Debacle: Tracking Nigeria’s Failed Democratic Transition, 1986-1994. It is not out of place to say, happy birthday, Prof.
Professor Olatunji Dare is one of Nigeria’s best-known journalists, journalism educators, and public intellectuals. For nearly a decade, he served as Editorial Page Editor and chair of the Editorial Board of The Guardian, where his award-winning and wide-ranging weekly column, in turn satirical and serious, attracted a wide appreciative national audience. His weekly column for The Nation, now in its 14th year, is of the same vintage and has drawn high praise for its insights and felicity of style. A much-travelled journalist, Dare has reported from more than a dozen datelines on three continents and interviewed several statesmen of global stature. His professional journalism has appeared in West Africa, Newsday, and The Seattle Times. In this interview with OLAKUNLE ABIMBOLA, on the cusp of his 80th birthday, he takes a panoramic view of his life and times as a journalist and academic, talks about how the June 12 election annulment saga changed his life, and touches on a few professional regrets.
At 80, you are “home abroad”. What are your broad takes: about past life at home, present life in exile?
Life back home was ordered, more or less. You went to school with your peers, with whom you nurtured the same aspirations about getting on in life; aspirations fueled by so many inspiring examples around you.
I had brothers studying at Igbobi College and CMS Grammar School and Zaria and Keffi and Okene. When they came home on vacation, they seemed like a superior breed: well-groomed, well-mannered, and seemed destined for high achievement. The first two persons to go to the UK for advanced study were from my family.
Dad was also an inspiration. Largely self-taught and well-cultivated. Wrote and spoke impeccable English, and laid out his country home, Okemopo Villa, like that of a British baron, furnishings and all, and drove a Ford Mercury V8 limousine.
You were led to believe that the only obstacle standing between you and your goal was yourself, your drive, your motivation, and there was plenty of motivation, starting from home.
And everything fell into place, more or less, culminating in my earning a doctorate, my detour into media work, my return to the academy, and appointment as a university professor.
Up to the June 12 crisis, my life was fulfilling. Work at The Guardian was so fulfilling that I actually looked forward to going to work on Sundays, so much so that my wife often wondered whether there was not much more than editorial work involved in those Sunday outings.
The pay was middling, but the professional and emotional satisfaction was priceless.
And I had some of the finest colleagues one could wish for.
This lifestyle crashed when General Abacha shut down the paper. Harassed by the security people, and unable to fulfill my obligations to my family, I relocated to the United States via the NADECO route.
I had a sense of exile only during the two years before my family came to join me. Thereafter, we made the usual adjustments and lived as we had done back home. I see myself as an expatriate, not as a person in exile.
How has that – permanent – change in location affected your craft as journalist and columnist?
Abroad, you cannot carry out the kind of freewheeling discussions and interactions you had with colleagues back home. You cannot just breeze into your colleagues’ space without an invitation. They guard their private space against every form of intrusion.
The spontaneity of home is missing. The kinds of discussions and debates that can enrich perspective don’t happen, except with your fellow expatriate Nigerians.
Back home, I had well-informed sources in and out of government and could run my ideas and hunches by them, one-on-one. With the erratic telephony at that end, it is difficult to operate that way. And so, in the work I do from here, there is more often than not a gap in my knowledge of the facts and their nuances.
I see myself as an expatriate, not an exile. Even so, you feel somewhat detached, or rather not fully absorbed in the source of your consciousness and creativity.
Plus, finding satisfying full-time media work here is difficult, no matter the position you held previously. I was lucky to have won a competitive fellowship from the American Society of Newspaper Editors to serve with the Seattle Times as an editorial writer. It was to last through summer but they offered me a position, which I could not take up then. But without the agency of the ASNE, I would never have had that chance.
The Academe here and in America: strengths and drawbacks?
In Nigeria, the teacher is in charge. In matters academic, in teaching style,
In classroom experience, he enjoys almost full autonomy. They sometimes abuse this autonomy through sexual harassment and other unethical practices. But the game is theirs overall.
In America, the educational experience is student-centered. Most are well-behaved, courteous, and respectful. But there are those who are having a Black instructor – or even sitting in the same classroom with them – for the first time. That is not how things are supposed to be. There is nothing you can do to engage or impress them.
They take out their frustrations on you when they have to evaluate you and your course at the end of the semester. But they do it to fellow whites too.
Some white instructors have been known to resign or retire prematurely, following devastating student evaluations.
You try to fulfill your obligation to the best of your ability. And I think I came out well in the end, even winning an award for Teaching Excellence. The testimonies former students made by personal appearance and in audio, text and video at my retirement rank among the best compliments I have ever received in my life.
Only two weeks ago, a student I had in my Media Law and Ethics class some 14 years ago, now on the Health Sciences faculty of another university, sent me an email saying how I had inspired her and how she remembers many of the examples I provided in class, the phrasing of my class notes, and my challenging exams.
Could you trace your last days at The Guardian, and the circumstances that led to your exit – and exile?
We intuited that we could not carry on indefinitely with our outspokenness, our analyses, our depth reporting, and our investigative approach to issues, and that the authorities would have to wield the big stick at some point. The Government had no answer. The official media were simply no match
I used to warn my colleagues to leave no vital documents – passports, cheque books, ID cards, etc, in their offices.
But the end came when we least expected it. I had just returned from a trip to Germany, and the pouch containing my passport and other documents was in my desk, in expectation of another foreign trip, when security forces ordered everyone out around midnight and shut down the place indefinitely. My column titled “The Nigerian Ideology” was scheduled to appear Tuesday of the following week. It was run more than a year later, when the paper was allowed to resume publication.
The government thought that the appointment of our publisher Alex Ibru as Internal Affairs Minister and member of the ruling Supreme Military Council would blunt our critical edge. When it didn’t, despite Ibru’s attempt to teleguide the paper, they shut it down, sacked Ibru, and made an attempt on his life later.
Word reached Ibru that if he apologized for The Guardian’s misdeeds and promised that it would sin no more, the Government would consider unbanning the paper.
And so, Ibru led a team of his inner circle to Abuja for that purpose. Though a member of that inner circle, reporting directly only to the Publisher, I was not privy to that decision. They sent an airline ticket to the house, with a cover letter that said we were going for an audience with Abacha. The purpose was not indicated, but I had been tipped off by some colleagues and by a source in the Presidency in Abuja.
It was my 14-year-old son, awaiting his JAMB results, who took delivery of the letter. He opened and read it. As I settled down, he handed it to me, saying, “Dad, they say you are going to Abuja to meet Abacha.”
I have heard, I told him.
What’s the purpose? I told him.
As I was reading the letter, he looked me in the eye and said “You know you can’t go on that trip, Dad. If you go, you are sunk.”
“I will not go,” I assured him. Then, I asked, “Are you prepared to live with the implications of my not going?” We were living in official quarters, with no home of our own, and not much money in the bank.
“Yes,” he said, without hesitation. We shook hands. I hugged him. And that was it.
They went, they begged, and were forgiven.
Two days later, I turned in my resignation. The Guardian had always insisted on the primacy of the rule of law, I stated in the letter. If we had broken any law, we should be made to answer before the courts. After the compromise we had made, we could never write in that vein again without sounding hypocritical and disingenuous.
I never went back. I dusted up my diplomas and took up a teaching job in the United States, through the help of one of my former professors at Indiana.
As a journalism teacher, you have taught and mentored many. How has it been over the years, with your different generations of students and mentees?
Seeing a good many of my former students in the commanding heights of Nigerian journalism has been a great source of joy and pride for me. I am sometimes embarrassed by the deference they show me, and by some of the things they say about me.
At my 70th birthday celebrations ten years ago – how time flies – there was this former student who brought his nine-year-old son along. He said he had talked about me so many times in their house about how I had influenced his life that the young man insisted on meeting me. I fought back a tear or two.
You were once a student yourself: teacher training, science-inclined and finally media studies. Which of your teachers shaped you and nudged you toward your present career as a celebrated journalist?
A tricky question. I have had so many good teachers that it would be invidious to mention some and leave out others. Still, at UNILAG, I must mention Frank Ugboajah, Marie Riley, Onuorah Nwuneli, and Jim Scotton who was journalism dean then.
I had entered UNILAG as a self-sponsored student. My money ran out at the end of my first year. I had applied for a Kwara State Scholarship without success, and I wasn’t about to re-apply. I thought of taking the year off to work to earn some money to pay for the rest of course.
I mentioned it to Dean Scotton. He said I would lose my momentum if I did that, and that I would never regain it. Was there any authority he could write to about me? I suggested the Kwara State Scholarships Board.
That was how I Was awarded a scholarship to cover my remaining two years at UNILAG. The financial security allowed me to focus on my studies and to pursue excellence. Jim Scoton died last year.
Outside Mass Comm, there was Alain Herbert in Modern European Languages (I had two years of French) and the Rev. Father Joseph Schuyler in Sociology.
At Columbia, Luther Jackson, Norman Isaacs, and Fred TC Yu come to mind. In Indiana, I must mention Ogan and Herb Altschul in journalism, William Gawthrop and Jack Hopkins in public policy; Ed Buehrig in International organization, and Owen Johnson in international communication.
All of them sharpened my intellect and by their personal examples, made me strive for excellence.
You wrote that a letter of support from Nobel Laureate Professor Wole Soyinka for your application for a professorship at Bradley University, Peoria, Illinois, USA — where by the way, you’re now Professor Emeritus of Communication — caused quite a stir. Could you share with us that experience?
Soyinka is a writer and intellectual of global stature. It is not often that one encounters a person of that calibre. Knowing such a person to the point that he enthusiastically endorses your application for a professorship virtually marks you out as a remarkable figure by extension. That was what happened.
I should mention an earlier, related example. I was caught in the U. S Visa trap on a visit to Nigeria. Embassy officials said I had to spend two years in Nigeria before I could return to the United States, unless the government of Nigeria sanctioned my return. In vain did I point out that I was not a government official. Only the President could give the necessary authorization.
When they learned of this development, my college dean visited my wife at work on a sympathy call and enquired how difficult it would be to get the authorization.
My wife replied that it should not be difficult since the President and I are friends.
Her visitor straightened up, swallowed his breath, and asked: “What president are we talking about, Mrs Dare?”
“President Obasanjo.” she replied calmly. “He and my husband are friends.”
Some two weeks later, the Note Verbale was delivered to the Embassy.
Several days thereafter, I was on my way back to the United States, a person of some consequence in his homeland.
Soyinka’s letter of support sealed my standing as a person who has friends in higher places.
You bossed, to high public acclaim, the delicate art of satire in your columns, during the troubled years of military rule. Why that choice, which could easily be misinterpreted?
I honestly can’t tell whether it is the case that I chose the medium of satire, or satire chose me. It came naturally to me, and I found it convenient and effective. The risk of being misunderstood, of its being taken literally, was always there. But you learned to live with it.
Perhaps the most notable example of that eventuality was a piece I did when it was reported that the fellow posing as President Muhammadu Buhari in Abuja was a double, from Sudan.
I tried to puncture that story by taking it to a much higher level, stating that those who planted the fake had demanded a hefty portion of Nigeria’s oil revenues for the next 25 years as a price for withdrawing, and that the British authorities were mediating.
A much-revered cleric took the story literally and relayed it to his global congregation. I was told that my piece and the cleric’s spin on it had caused a major security concern in Abuja, and that I should kindly declare that it was a satire. Which I did, for the first and only time I have been writing satires.
By and large, however, it has served me well, and a discriminating audience has grown used to it.
With fetching prose, you curate not only elegant style but also sound lexis and structure. How do you rate the Nigerian media today in the use of language?
Very high on the whole. In some cases, world-class. You still find, here and there, examples of language use and abuse that offends the reader’s sensibilities, examples of transliteration, solecisms, non-sequiturs, and what have you.
But in the mainstream media, especially in the editorial and opinion pages, language use ranks with the best you will find anywhere. Only the best are recruited to service those pages.
I wish I could say that this is true for all sections of the media, or for all departments of a given media outlet. News reporting is still governed by formula, with inordinate attention to the who rather than the what, with scant attention to process, and with and with no follow-ups.
Contrasted to the 1970s, literacy today is up but copy sales are down. What can the media do to use higher literacy to boost sales?
You need resources to train and recruit versatile staffers to raise the literary profile of news outlets. But with shrinking purchasing power, I doubt whether outstanding language use alone can boost sales.
The reader must know that there is valuable content for him or her. This calls for audience research, creativity, diversification, and excellent marketing so that even in a stagnant environment, you can attract a larger piece of the pie. You have to have readers and audiences. Do not take their loyalty or patronage for granted.
At 80, what do you count as your fulfillment, and what are your regrets – on the personal plane, and on Nigeria?
On the personal plane, I am thankful that I have lived a full decade beyond the proverbial three score and ten years, without appreciable loss in cognition or mental functioning. But the passage of time is all too evident in my gait and in my impaired mobility.
I am grateful that I have a loving wife and children who share my values and hold tenaciously to my values and principles. I am grateful that our caring and dutiful children have struck out on different paths and are finding fulfillment in their personal lives and their callings.
I am thankful for those friends who came to my help at critical times, and to colleagues who inspired me with their outstanding work. I count it a blessing that my professional attainments have been acknowledged at home and abroad.
On Nigeria: It is deeply to be regretted that a country so richly endowed is yet to find a secure footing in the community of nations; that a country that aspired at the end of the civil war five decades ago to become a land full of bright opportunities is today a land from which tens of thousands, young and old, are fleeing in search of better opportunities.
I have the hope that one day, Nigeria will finally make a rendezvous with its destiny- that its vaunted potential will finally be translated into actuality. I regret that this will not happen in my lifetime.
On the professional front:
I regret that I never had an opportunity to interview former military president Ibrahim Babangida, no holds barred.
Most of those who have had the chance, whether Nigerians or foreigners, were too star-struck, too beholden to him, or too timid to ask and ask insistently those tough questions about his failed, duplicitous leadership that landed Nigeria in the morass from which it is yet to emerge. Only Karl Maier (author of “Nigeria: This House Has Fallen”) came even close.
One last regret, and a matter of consuming shame.
On my 70th birthday, I solemnly declared that, on my retirement from the Bradley faculty the following year, I would devote myself to raising awareness about autism, building a constituency for the afflicted, and helping mobilize support for their care.
This declaration did not spring entirely from altruism. I have an autistic son well into his forties.
Much to my regret and shame, I accomplished next to nothing in that regard. The pathologies of ageing set in even before I retired and overwhelmed me thereafter, necessitating radiotherapy, two spinal surgeries and other radical interventions that impaired my capacity for independent travel, and then Covid Correspondence went unacknowledged, and phone calls went unanswered. It was difficult to ascertain who was who in the community of the concerned. The file containing my notes and working papers went missing with my luggage on the flight to Lagos. The luggage was never found. Things did not get to the point where I could confidently ask for public donations for the cause.
During the 2014 event, former Edo State Governor Adams Oshiomhole and former Governor Kayode Fayemi of Ekiti donated N2 million and one million Naira. respectively, for the project. That sum has more than doubled as a fixed bank deposit.
It remains to determine the bond fide legatees for the autistic in Nigeria and to hand over that sum, and my personal bequest in lieu of the initiative I could not execute.
A cleric, Pastor Isaiah Alade aka ‘Omo Woli’ has urged security agencies across the nation to beef up security around worship centres, public places, recreation centres and others.
Alade, who is the District Superintendent, Christ Apostolic Church, (CAC), Mountain of Mercy, District Headquarters, Ojoo, Ibadan, said though security agencies are trying they need to put more measures in place to curb crimes and criminality in the society.
Speaking with journalists in Ibadan, Alade said religious leaders must also be security conscious in their respective places of worship, saying all hands must be on deck on security as it cannot be left for government alone, calling on people to be more vigilant.
He said: “I want the Nigeria Police and other sister agencies to have a robust synergy towards ensuring security of lives of innocent citizens irrespective of where they are in the country and all will be much better for it”.
He urged parents and guardians to teach their children in ways of God, as they play major roles in their upbringing to build solid foundation for them.
“Quality parental roles on children will no doubt create right path for children to succeed and contribute meaningfully to the society and parents are to be responsible for the physical, moral, religious and mental development of their children for our society to enjoy absolute peace,” he stated.
He however appealed to criminally-minded people to repent and come closer to God who is capable of making them relevant and using them as vessels towards repositioning the society for better.
As part of efforts to tackle poverty and hunger in the land, the Pentecostal Fellowship of Nigeria (PFN), the apex body of all Pentecostal Churches in Nigeria has thrown its weight behind the “FOOD4ALL Initiative.”
The initiative is a pro-Nigeria food security and agri-food entrepreneurship intervention programme created to help solve Nigeria’s current problems of high food prices, acute hunger, youth and women unemployment, household poverty, economic hardship, high youth crime rates and national insecurity.
Bishop Francis Wale-Oke, National President of the Pentecostal Fellowship of Nigeria (PFN) who received and hosted the FOOD4ALL Advocacy Team led by Comrade Kennedy Iyere, at the Sword of The Spirit Ministries, his church in Ibadan, pledged his total support for the programme.
“I am Bishop Francis Wale-Oke, by the grace of God, the National President of the Pentecostal Fellowship of Nigeria (PFN), the Chancellor of Precious Cornerstone University and Founding President of the Sword of the Spirit Ministries. This programme, the FOOD4ALL Initiative, is a great intervention that is God-sent to take care of the ticking time bomb of food insecurity and acute hunger crisis, which if not speedily and squarely tackled will explode Nigeria into a chaotic and catastrophic mass protest by angry hungry people, who are overwhelmed with unbearable hunger and economic hardship.
“FOOD4ALL Initiative is also a critical intervention capable of neutralizing the atomic bomb of youth restiveness, which indeed is a huge threat to the country’s political stability, national security and economic productivity. Therefore, it is my pleasure and joy, to whole-heartedly endorse the FOOD4ALL Initiative, in my capacity, as the National President of the Pentecostal Fellowship of Nigeria (PFN), Chancellor of Precious Cornerstone University and Founder of the Sword Of The Spirit Ministries. I also call on all influential Nigerians and all well-meaning citizens to give their whole support and total commitment towards the success of this great intervention programme,” Bishop Wale-Oke said.
It is a widely known fact that Nigeria is presently confronted with an acute food crisis for which many families are unable to feed themselves, a worrisome ugly development that poses huge health hazards to millions of Nigerians, especially children and other most vulnerable citizens.
Apart from the health risks, Nigeria’s existing hunger crisis also poses a critical threat to its political stability, human productivity and national security. These negative factors are indeed too saliently dangerous to be ignored and it is for that same reason that the “FOOD4ALL Initiative” was jointly created by two mega Nigeria NGOs, namely FUND-YES Cooperative (a subsidiary social enterprise operated by Youths Off The Street Initiative) and the Multi-Life Savers For The Less Privileged People, respectively headed by Comrade Kennedy Iyere and Reverend Father Ejike Mbaka.
The FOOD4ALL Initiative is the most critical intervention Nigeria needs at this point in time, especially as the country’s hunger situation is now a ticking time bomb and a keg of gunpowder. If nothing is done to proactively avert a looming mass protest by hungry and angry Nigerians, the outcome of such a revolt by angry citizens will obviously not be pleasant.
This is why Comrade Kennedy Iyere, a frontline humanitarian activist, creator, and chief promoter of the FOOD4ALL Initiative, is calling on all influential Nigerians and other concerned global partners, to lend their voices and also give their money, in support of the FOOD4ALL Initiative towards its successful implementation.
FOOD4ALL Initiative was publicly unveiled in Transcorp Hilton Abuja on the 31st May 2024 by key prominent Nigerians and these include His Royal Highness, Alhaji (Dr) Yahaya Abubakar, CFR (Etsu Nupe), Reverend Father Ejike Mbaka, Prof Maurice Iwu, Senator Emmanuel Ebok-Essien (PANDEF Chairman), Dr Pogu Bitrus (Chairman, Middle Belt Forum), Comrade Kenneth Robinson (PANDEF Organizing Secretary), Dr Tanko Yunusa (NCF Spokesperson), Apostle Lawrence Achudume (VLBC Founder), Prof Charles Nwekeaku.
FOOD4ALL Initiative is also widely endorsed and partnered by several frontline and credible NGOs, youth organisations, women’s groups, community associations, cooperative societies, traditional institutions, religious bodies, and others.
The list includes the National Council of Traditional Rulers of Nigeria (NCTRN), Nigerian Supreme Council for Islamic Affairs (NSCIA), Pentecostal Fellowship of Nigeria (PFN), National Council For Women Societies (NCWS), Federation of Muslim Women Associations of Nigeria (FOMWAN), Smallholder Women Farmers Organisation of Nigeria (SWOFON), as well as other apex bodies for youths, market women, market traders (men and women) and others.
Iyere called on Nigerians both home and abroad to massively partner with the FOOD4ALL Initiative.
He affirmed that the Initiative will be driven and implemented through the “One-Family-One-Farmer Scheme”, which aims to recruit and build a national grassroots agricultural entrepreneurship and agri-food cooperative business network of six million smart farmers, especially youths and young women, in addition to older farmers in rural communities.
Iyere also added that the FOOD4ALL Initiative is designed to grow a national grassroots cooperative business network of six million food entrepreneurs.
Iyere has confirmed that the FOOD4ALL Fundraising Campaign will kick-start on Thursday 11th July, 2024. It is designed to raise and generate funds globally for the implementation of the One-Family-One-Farmer Scheme and the financing of youths and young women as “Smart Farmers.”
These efforts are targeted towards tackling hunger, high food prices, unemployment, economic hardship, and household poverty. Iyere also said that the Funds raised through the FOOD4ALL Initiative will also help to finance the “FEEFUND.”
For the residents of Oke-Arin Community, down-town Akinpelumi Street, Ikosi, Lagos, it’s a new dawn.
Courtesy of Lions International’s Leo District 404B2 Nigeria, the people now have access to potable water, suitable for washing, cooking and drinking; something they never had for well over a decade since they moved in there.
Oke-Arin Community is a little community further down Akinpelumi Street cut-off from the main Ikosi Community by a swampy area that also ensured that water accessed via wells were only good for certain level of washing.
As a result, they have had to travel hundreds of meters uphill via a plank bridge to the upper part of Akinpelumi Street to access water or to other nearby communities. The people told The Nation that it was always a hectic task, which they and their children had to go through to get their daily need of water to do simple washing, bathing and cooking.
According to one resident, Mrs Toyin Waheed, they still had to buy sachet ‘pure water’ water to drink, as they could not trust the water they were going through so much stress to access.
However, thanks to the youngsters of Leo Club, who as part of their youth activities, decided to meet their need by providing them with the borehole.
According to club president, Leo Olufolake Temitope Adegoke, the project was inspired by the desire to meet a need in line with the Lions Club mantra of ‘wherever there is a need, there is a Lion.’
“We learnt from someone that there is a community here in Akinpelumi Street, Ikosi, Lagos State, where they had no access to potable water. You will all agree with me, of course, that water is life; so we came over, indeed saw that they had this need and decided to take the lead by providing them with bore-hole water.
“This project is commissioned in memory of Late Leo Kolawole Iyanu-Oluwa aka Kola for All. He had a foundation and he is also a member of Leo District 404B2 Nigeria. Before his demise, he was the one who proposed this project; so after his demise, I took it upon myself that as District President, I would not allow his dream to fizzle away but live on. And that is what brought us here.
“We started from the beginning. We went to the community uphill to drill a borehole and to lay the pipe hundreds of meters down to this community. If you go up there, you’ll see where we dug the borehole. We also installed the taps as you can see.”
On how they as youngsters could finance such a huge project, Leo Adegoke said, “As you can see, it is an expensive project, don’t forget we are all students; so we put our little pennies together, then we reached out to our Lion leaders who supported us, and today we have it here. I can tell you with all my heart that I am fulfilled that this project is a success.”
Reacting to the unveiling of the project, the CDA chairman, Pastor Ilesanmi prayed for the youngsters for coming all the way from their respective homes to meet their most pressing and most important need. “For this, God will reward you abundantly and good things will always follow you and you will always record success in all your undertakings. Before now, our people used to trek uphill across the canal to fetch potable water. But thanks to you, we have overcome that challenge.”
Mrs Toyin Waheed corroborated the pastor’s declaration that they had to go far to access good water to even wash and cook.
“We had to go very far because water around here is not potable, not even the well water. This is because it’s a swampy area and as you can see, the swamp over there cuts us from the uphill where you can find clean water. Even the water we travel hundreds of meters to fetch, we cannot drink, and still have to buy sachet water to drink. We only use it to wash and cook.”
Thankfully, she revealed that they never experienced cholera or any outbreak of diseases despite their challenges.
Alhaji Badamosi Ismaila also thanked the Leo youths for the gesture and pledged to see to it that the facility is well maintained and protected from being vandalised by excited children who were already milling around the taps.
“We will appoint elderly people who would monitor it and ensure it is well maintained. We will ensure that the children are orderly so that they don’t spoil it.”
He also said prayed for the youngsters: “God will continue to protect and prosper them.”
•Sea food such as crabs, crayfish natural habitat for bacteria
With the recent confirmation of 25 new cases of cholera at the Kirikiri Correctional Centre, it seems the spread of the dreaded killer disease is not about to be abated or go away, despite all efforts. Gboyega Alaka in this piece explores the common habits that causes spread as well as simple measures that could help curtail it.
Just as the media was celebrating a lull in new discoveries of the ongoing Cholera outbreak across the country, out came the damning revelation that 25 new cases were discovered, weekend, at the Kirikiri Correctional Centre in Lagos.
According to the Lagos State Commissioner for Health, Prof. Akin Abayomi, Sunday, 25 cases of gastroenteritis were reported. Although he stated that measures had been put in place to curtail its spread, it nevertheless brought home the reality that it is not yet uhuru nor is it time to relax efforts towards arresting the disease’s spread.
Notably, the number of death as at Tuesday the 2nd of July (2024), the number of recorded deaths had risen to 63 out of 2,102 cases, a sharp rise from the 53 recorded deaths out of 1,528 suspected cases the previous week.
Lagos alone had recorded 500 cases and therefore remained the hotspot of the disease.
Figures are according to the Nigeria Centre for Disease Control and Prevention (NCDC), which also affirmed that the outbreak has affected 33 states.
However, when juxtaposed with 2023 outbreak, which as at August 2023 put total confirmed cases at over 3,000 (3,683 by December and 128 deaths), it may seems like there is a slight improvement in the management of the outbreak – although Dr Idris insisted that “we’ve seen more cases in more states than we did last year.”
One significant argument by observers, however, is that August is still a future and we don’t know how worse it’s going to get by then or by the end of the year.
But the big question is: must there always be a yearly outbreak? Isn’t it time the country got her acts together and bade the disease final farewell?
The Kirikiri Correctional Centre revelation confirmed fears that the number of suspected cases and death may keep increasing, undermining the awareness efforts as well as reactive and preventive efforts the NCDC, the Federal Ministry of Health and affiliate health ministries in all states have been putting in place. With 63 recorded fatalities, the disease this year has again made the number of fatalities during the Ebola incursion into the country look like child’s play. Yet it seems not many people, aside the government agencies and the communication media such as radio, Television and newspapers gives a hoot.
Old habits dying hard
People, it appears, are finding it hard adopting the simple hand-washing routine that they all keyed into during the Ebola and Covid 19 outbreaks.
A foray into slum or densely populated areas like Ajegunle, Makoko in Lagos, showed that people are still carrying on as if nothing was amiss- a far cry from the tension and compliance effort demonstrated by everyone during the Ebola outbreak or even the more recent Corona virus incursion into the country.
In Ajegunle Apapa for instance, this reporter was alarmed to see noodles vendors and other food vendors carrying on their activities without caution. A particular noodles seller was spotted cooking right by a stagnant and smelly drainage oozing thick odour and buzzing with thick green bottle flies. Before this reporter’s very eyes, a fly landed on a plate of noodles the vendor was already packing and she merely chased it away with a wave of the hand, covered it, bound it with a rubber band and sent her daughter to go deliver it to the customer. She cared less whether the fly was carrying the dreaded bacterium Vibrio cholera, which cause cholera or some other disease causing bacteria. As far as she was concerned, she had delivered, got her payment and that was all.
Further down on the same street, a group of women were preparing meals, apparently for some function. Various food items, especially fried meat and fish, were left exposed, even though houseflies were buzzing all over with excitement. A few meters away was a refuse filled gutter; while on the main road was muddy, stagnant water, occasion by the recurrent rain in recent days. At another end, some women were seen cutting lettuce and other vegetable in preparation for salad. The buzzing flies did not spare them. The women could also be seen intermittently throwing pieces of this and that into their mouth. Are they aware of the danger of what they were doing? Maybe yes, maybe not.
Beverage sellers carry on unabated
Despite news that the outbreak may have been caused by consumption of ill-prepared beverages such as tiger-nuts by unlicensed manufacturers and contaminated water supply, vendors of tiger-nut drink and zobo, kunu and other local drinks, as well as several sachet ‘pure’ water produced from unlicensed sources could still be seen carrying on and doing their businesses unhindered.
The Lagos Commissioner for Health had explained that samples taken from some popular street beverages purchased by undercover environmental officers from Environmental Protection Agency, and the Ministry of Health in the affected areas confirmed the presence of cholera causing bacteria.
Prof. Abayomi also stated that interventions were yielding results, as residents were adhering to public health information, while also stressing the need for early presentation to health facilities once symptoms are identified.
Shame of open defecation on Lagos-Ibadan Expressway
According to health experts, one of the major enhancers of cholera spread is open defecation, whether in the bush, in gutters or in moving water as many prefer.
Unfortunately this abominable habit has remained with us despite a pervading civilisation and the cosmopolitanism of our cities. While such habit in rural areas may be understandable, though not acceptable, it remains embarrassing that some undesirable elements still opt for the uncivilised habit in towns and city centres.
For instance, many have adopted the median between the newly rebuilt Lagos-Ibadan Expressway as their toilet. A drive by the expressway, especially as you approach or exit the Lagos axis, perpetually presents obscene spectacles of men, especially, baring their butts and defecating openly along the median. The perpetrators, it seem, have become so emboldened, probably because nobody apprehends them, that they do it even in broad daylight, presenting drivers and passengers of moving vehicles with nauseating views.
Rail tracks not spared
Unfortunately, this habit is not limited to motorways, as Mrs Adamu Blessing, who recently went on a tour to Ibadan with her friends, using the rejuvenated train system, said it was worse along the rail lines.
Adamu who told this reporter that she and her Federal Government Girls College Akure old schoolmates had opted for the rail to experience its much talked-about pleasure ride, said they were disappointed by the view that stared back at them as the big iron snake crawled along.
“What we say was appalling. Where the people were not seen doing the defecation, you saw their waste staring at you. It was so awful, that we all in the end had to limit our gazes to the inside of the train. Ordinarily, part of the experience should have been the lush green views of the vegetation and countryside life, but we learnt the hard way.
“For a country harping on developing tourism, let me just say we still have a lot to do amongst ourselves.”
Interestingly, Adamu, a businesswoman who is from a family of doctors, is not unaware of the health implication.
“Apart from the fact that flies could land on it and go visit people’s food, rain would eventually fall and wash off the mess into nearby streams and water bodies, which you won’t be surprised may be the only source of water for some of the remote communities along this rail routes. How then would we not have a cholera outbreak or should I call it resurgence?”
It is thus little wonder that the major hotspots for the outbreak have been Lagos and its neighbouring state, Ogun.
History of Cholera in Nigeria
According to the records, the first case of cholera in Nigeria was confirmed in 1972; and since then, it has become endemic, recurring on a regular basis to claim lives. The 1991 outbreak remains the most severe, as it affected a whopping 59,478 cases and claimed 7,654 lives – a fatality rate of 12.9%.
Cholera is a disease, which, when contracted, the small intestines releases a toxin which causes the body to secrete enormous amount of water, leading to diarrhoea and a rapid loss of fluids and electrolytes. The more a patient delays at getting treatment when dehydration and shock have set in, the higher the risk of death.
Speaking on a television breakfast show, YourView on TVC, the DG NCDC, Dr. Jide Idris said once you start having the symptoms of vomiting, stooling and fever, “the most important thing is to seek medical attention… because the diarrhoea is profuse and you lose a lot of fluid, which is not good. But once you get to a health facility, they would rehydrate you and every other thing can then be taken care of.”
As a preventive measure, Idris advised to “try and boil your water before drinking or cook your food well.”
He also recommended ‘hand washing as basic’, adding that the “culture should be passed onto our children.”
He dismissed a certain notion that placing water in the sun could help purify water and limit the spread, stressing that “to sterilise water, you have to boil it. I know that the Lagos State government with the support the WHO are providing disinfecting tablets for people to use in their water, just to remove the bacteria there. We’ve even sent some out to the various state governments; these include oral rehydration therapy, chlorine tablets for disinfection of water, etc…”
Apart from the above, he unequivocally said open defecation should be discouraged. And as for areas where they have no access to potable water, the DG recommended that the “Ministries of Water Resources should make arrangement for temporary water supply, using tankers. They should also provide mobile toilets or build potable latrines that can be properly maintained. Defecation is a physiological reaction, but we need to discourage open defecation still. “
On whether the government could adopt the use of cholera vaccines to curtail the spread, Idris said the demand for vaccines nationally and globally is so high and therefore very limited. He revealed that most countries usually pre-order, adding that he was aware that the Minister of Health had already contacted Gavy and CGI to that effect.
Nevertheless, he emphasised that “Vaccines only give limited immunity, hence the reason we generally say: ‘Use vaccine with other control measures, but address the issue of water, address the issue of sanitation and personal hygiene.”
Sea foods are natural habitat for cholera bacteria
Speaking in another TV monitored interview, Dr. Eniola Erinosho, Director, Medical Services and Disease Control, Lagos State Primary Health Care Board, warned that sea foods such as crabs, crayfish and the likes are natural habitat for the cholera bacteria, hence the need that they be properly cooked before consumption.
Like Idris, he stated that cholera vaccine is not one of the measures the government is adopting to curtail the spread of the disease, reiterating that the government is concentrating on creating awareness and has activated the Emergency Operations Centres (EOCs).
At 3.5 percent, he again concurred with Dr. Idris that epidemic is highly contagious and need concentrated efforts.
He therefore advised that all hands must be on deck: aside activating the emergency operation centres (EOCs), he said surveillance around water sources, food vendors, beverage vendors and all other sources that could increase spread of the disease must be increased and maintained.
For schools
While acknowledging that there has not been any outbreak in schools, he nevertheless reeled out measures that can help prevent its occurrence.
“First, he said there should be availability of clean water such as pipe-borne water or boiled and filtered water.
He also said pupils, students and teachers must maintain good personal and environmental hygiene, ensure proper disposal of sewage and refuse, because flies can move the cholera bacteria and deposit them in our food or drinks. No open defecation within schools or outside school premises. The other is to cultivate the habit of regular hand washing with soap and clean water, especially after visiting the toilet; before and after eating. Those serving food should also wash their hands regularly before they start sharing food, and make use of hand gloves while serving food.
“Above all, ensure that all foods are properly cooked,” he said.
Victor Athe is, Partner, Tax Services, Stransact Chartered Accountants and Audit, an RSM correspondent firm in Nigeria. In this interview with Ibrahim Apekhade Yusuf, he speaks on the federal government’s new policy regime on withholding taxes vis-à-vis pros and cons. Excerpts:
Who is exempted from withholding tax?
The original idea behind the introduction of the WHT system in Nigeria, as early as 1977,was to widen the tax net by capturing details of entities that were then engaged in business transactions, without being formally registered for tax compliance. The implication of being unregistered for tax compliance purpose, is that these entities would continue to do business and earn income, but would never pay their fair share of income taxes to the government, whilst enjoying benefits from the resources contributed by the registered taxpayers.
However, with the Withholding Tax system in place, the invoices issued by an entity for goods or services sold would have to be subjected to tax deduction at a specified rate. A credit note is then issued in favour of the tax deduction suffered, such that the taxpayer can then apply the Withholding Tax credit note against the final income tax payable when filing its income tax returns for the relevant year. This is why Withholding Tax is referred to as an advance payment of income tax. It therefore follows that if an entity is not liable to pay income tax, perhaps due to some tax incentive that confers exemption on its income, its sales invoices should never be subject to Withholding Tax deductions. This is currently the case for Non-Resident Companies that have no income tax presence and are not rendering Technical, Management, Consultancy or Professional services to Nigerian customers, Small companies (i.e. those having gross turnover of N25 million or less), Companies that currently enjoy the Pioneer Status Incentive and other category of Nigerian companies that are outrightly exempted from income tax payment.
The Federal Ministry of Finance recently published the new “Deductions at Source (Withholding) Regulations 2024” which now replaces the previous Withholding Tax Regulations. The new Regulations now exempts small companies and unincorporated business entities (with the same turnover threshold as small companies) from the requirement to deduct tax at source provided the supplier is registered for tax and the transaction value is N2 million or less.
The debacle over the interpretation of the term “Sales in the ordinary Course of Business” has now also been effectively put to rest. The new Regulations now specifically exempts “Across -the-counter- transactions” (defined as transactions involving no established contractual relationship) from deductions at source.
Is withholding tax any different from VAT?
Withholding Tax is an advance income tax deduction. On the other hand, Value Added Tax is tax charged on the supply of goods and services. They are both governed by entirely different laws and regulations. Withholding Tax is principally governed by the Companies Income Tax Act (CITA), CITA Withholding Tax Regulations, Personal Income Tax Act (PITA) & PITA Withholding Tax Regulations, while VAT is governed by the VAT Act.
There are instances in which some entities like oil and gas companies, some Telcos (specifically MTN & Airtel) and Deposit Money Banks are statutorily required to withhold both Withholding Tax and VAT from invoices issued by suppliers before making net payments to them. In such situations, some suppliers would typically misunderstand and bemoan such multiple tax deductions. However, it should be noted that while the Withholding Tax deduction would eventually be credited against the final income tax payable by the supplier, the VAT charged on the supplier’s invoice would be remitted to a separate Federal Government VAT Account on behalf of the supplier.
Who really benefits from withholding taxes?
When an entity’s invoice suffers Withholding Tax deduction, credits would typically be issued to that entity which it would then apply against its eventual income tax payment when filing its Corporate Income Tax returns for the year. What this means, is that Withholding Tax, and should not constitute a different source of revenue for the government, knowing that it is merely part of an entity’s income tax that has been deducted in advance.
Withholding Tax deduction is typically applied directly on each of the supplier’s sales invoices, whilst the eventual income tax payable by the supplier is computed as 20-30% of its Taxable Profit for the year (i.e. Revenue less all expenses plus/minus all relevant tax adjustments, less capital allowances claimable). Now, where the total Withholding Tax deduction suffered on an entity’s sales invoices, all year round, is higher than its Income Tax payable for the year, it would give rise to an excess Withholding Tax credit situation. This would usually occur where the sales invoices are not properly structured to show the ‘profit component’ separate from the cost/reimbursement components, in which case, Withholding Tax would have to be applied on the entire invoice amount, rather than just the specific profit component. Since Withholding Tax is an advance payment of income tax, it should be applied on a base that constitutes the profit component of each of the sales invoices, and not the entire invoice amounts (which translate to the revenue reported for the year).
A lot of low-margin businesses are caught in this “Excess Withholding Tax Credits” web, which creates an unfavourable cash-flow situation for them. The plight of these businesses is further worsened by the consistently deteriorating value of the Naira, which means that the real value of the Withholding Tax credits when they are eventually utilised at a future date would even be further eroded. This constitutes a huge dis-benefit to these taxpayers.
In a case where an entity continues to have excess Withholding Tax credits, the whole essence of the Withholding Tax system would be defeated, since Withholding Tax is actually meant to be an advance payment of income tax rather than an excess payment above the income tax payable for the year. It is important to get professional help from well-experienced tax advisors, if this happens to be your peculiar situation at the moment.
Based on hindsight, what’s the projected revenue the country stands to get from the receipt of withholding taxes?
Improved compliance with Withholding Tax should actually bring about an increase in the number of taxpayers in the tax net. While increased Withholding Tax payment should not actually translate into increased revenue for the government, it can potentially improve collection of major taxes like income tax- corporate, personal and VAT.
Part of the amendments introduced by the New Withholding Regulations is that where a non-registered entity issues a sales invoice, the Withholding Tax rate to be applied should be double the rate ordinarily applicable. This would potentially drive a lot of businesses currently operating outside the tax net to get registered quickly for tax compliance purposes, since they would not want to suffer the attendant cash-flow implications.
The new Regulations now also requires that where an entity makes tax deductions from the invoice of a supplier and remits to the relevant tax authority, it should issue the supplier a receipt containing all relevant information of the supplier (name, address, Tax Identification Number, National Identification Number in the case of an individual or RC number in the case of a company, nature of transactions, gross amount payable, amount deducted and month of the transaction). The supplier can use this receipt to claim the income tax credit from its relevant tax authority (whether the entity that made the tax deduction has remitted the amount deducted, or not). The relevant tax authority will impose applicable penalty and interest charges where the tax amounts deducted are not remitted timely.
Would this not add to multiple taxation, which has rendered almost most businesses prostate?
The New Withholding Regulations have directly listed a number of laudable exemptions from deductions at source, which include: Interest and fees paid to a Nigerian bank by way of direct debit of the funds domiciled with the bank, Supply of goods/materials by the manufacturer, Imported goods by non-resident supplier without Income tax presence in Nigeria, Insurance Premium, Payment relating to income/profit that is tax-exempt, Reimbursable expenses, Supply of Liquefied Petroleum Gas (LPG), Compressed Natural Gas (CNG), Premium Motor Spirits (PMS), Automotive Gas Oil (AGO), Low Pour Fuel Oil (LPFO), Dual Purpose Kerosene (DPK) and JET-A1, etc.
The direct exemption of these transactions from deductions at source would further strengthen the cash-flows of the affected businesses (that are mostly characterised by low-margins). However, this should not be misinterpreted as exemption from income tax obligations. The reduction of the withholding rates for other low-margin businesses like retail and construction are also commendable.
Furthermore, the new Regulations also specifically states that the reduced Withholding Tax rates, as contained in a Double Tax Treaty between Nigerian and any other country, shall apply to an eligible recipient to the extent that such reduced rates are contained in the relevant Treaty or Protocol duly ratified by the National Assembly. This means the reduced Withholding Tax rates would now be automatically enjoyed by eligible non-residents without them having to write formally to the Federal Inland Revenue Service as previously required.
Under the new regime of withholding taxes, what’s the possibility of compliance given the penchant by unscrupulous businessmen to cut corners and commit tax avoidance?
The new Withholding Regulations contain some punitive provisions that aim to directly tackle non-compliance. For instance, The Regulations provide that where an entity that is not registered for tax issues an invoice for supply of goods or services, the rate of deduction that should be applied should be twice the normal applicable rate.
The new Regulations also require that an entity that makes tax deductions should issue a receipt to the supplier. The supplier would then be able to claim the tax credit from the relevant tax authority (whether the entity that made the deduction has remitted, or not). In this instance, the Tax Authority would be required to hold accountable the entity that has deducted and failed to remit the deductions. The tax authority will also impose additional penalty and interest charges.
The new Regulations further state where an entity fails to make deductions at source from a supplier’s invoice, the entity shall only be liable to payment of just an administrative penalty and one-off annual interest charge (not including the Principal Withholding Tax amount not deducted). This is understandable, since it is expected that the supplier from whom tax deductions were not made, would eventually declare its entire income and file its income tax returns for the relevant year. Therefore, seeking to collect the principal Withholding amount from the entity that failed to deduct at source, would only be tantamount to double taxation. However, where an entity has made the Withholding Tax deduction, and failed to remit, the new regulations require payment of the principal amount deducted, in addition to the administrative penalty and interest charges.
The Regulations also specifically states that Withholding Tax deductions should not constitute a separate tax or an extra cost. What this means is that, where an entity has paid the full invoice amount to a supplier without deducting Withholding Tax, and then decides to bear the Withholding Tax burden from its own cash-flows, that extra Withholding Tax payment paid, will not be admissible as valid business expenses for income tax purposes. The less onerous approach for an affected taxpayer in this situation would be to either “seek to make the omitted Withholding Tax deductions from future payments to the supplier” or “just make provisions for payment of penalty and interest resulting from the non-deduction.”
Can digital products fall under withholding taxes too?
The application of Withholding Tax deductions on digital supplies will depend on the nature of the transaction (whether B2B or B2C). Typically, Business-to-customer (B2C) type of digital supplies would usually not require detailed contracting between both parties before they are made, while most Business-to-Business (B2B) type digital supplies would require detailed contracting that would be tailored to the specific needs of the service recipient.
Following the definition of “Across-the-counter transactions” in the new Withholding Regulations, it then means that B2C type digital supplies would enjoy exemption from Withholding Tax deductions while B2B supplies involving contracts between both parties will be subject to Withholding Tax deductions. Where the B2B supplies are from a non-resident entity, the Withholding Tax deducted shall be the final tax, except where the non-resident is involved in other transactions that trigger income tax presence in Nigeria.
Renowned gospel music minister, Evangelist Ojo Ade, has affirmed that only God can save Nigeria from famine and its current economic crisis.
He made this assertion while preaching at the ongoing 5-day power packed vigil tagged: “Power Of Your Dream” in his church, Christ Gift Revival Ministries, Dalemo-Alakuko, Lagos State.
He called on Christians and other Nigerians to return to God, saying only him can save Nigeria from its current state.
He said that everyone needs to let go of his or her sinful deeds from the leaders to the followers.
He said: “I waxed a record in 1986, which says if we believe in soldiers, we are lying, if we believe in government, we are deceiving ourselves, until we return to God, before we receive deliverance.
“If we as a nation want to overcome this struggle we are facing, we all have to return to God, not about church or mosque, because we love religion alot in Nigeria, we should forsake our sins and i believe God will save us.
“Power of your dream is an annual programme that has been held over 15 years and is still waxing strong as God is proving his mightiness through miracles and redemption of souls.
“We have been having Power of Your Dream program in this church for over 15years now, and God has been proving himself mighty through miracles, signs and wonders, yesterday we recorded a deaf and dumb man receive his healing, and so many more miracles, God has been good to us.”
The five day vigil which started on the July 1st continues till Friday July 5th, before closing the revival service at the church thanksgiving service on Sunday, 7th July at the church auditorium.
The Diocese of Ibadan South, Church of Nigeria, Anglican Communion is set to mark the 25th anniversary celebration of the inauguration of the Diocese.
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The 25th anniversary celebration with the theme: “The Good treasure of the Lord God” holds from Monday July 1- 14, 2024.
Speaking in Ibadan at a briefing at The Cathedral Church of St. David, Kudeti, the Diocesan Bishop, Rt. Rev. Akintunde Popoola described the celebration as a historic land mark.
According to him, activities for the week- long event Include revival and exchange of pulpit, youth varieties day, visitation to special needs school, motherless babies home, business summit, fair and product exhibition.
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Others are: medical outreach, football match, mega rally and praise fiesta, early morning Holy Communion in Parishes, award and Gala day and thanksgiving among others.
He said the Diocese, despite been the youngest of the three Anglican Diocese, it’s Cathedral was the first Christian Church in Ibadan with history of over 170 years right back to when the first European Evangelist, Rev. David Hinderer accompanied by five other Christians arrived Ibadan and were granted permission to settle in the vicinity.
He noted that the arrival of the Europeans in Ibadan inspired and led mission to save souls, educate minds and healed the sick so much that Christians in Oyo, Osun, Ondo, Ekiti and Kwara State traced their origin to evangelism efforts spearheaded by the missionaries who settled in Kudeti, Ibadan.
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The cleric said the church has contributed immensely to humanity in many areas including educating the people, welfare for members and non members, medical mission and encouraging people to join politics.
“We look forward to doing great exploits for God and our communities as we focus on the mission of our forebears to bring Christ to as many as don’t know Him so that lives would become better on earth and in heaven.
“We will also redouble our efforts in area of education, health and care for the special children of God that many called physically or mentally challenged,” he said.
