The Nation Newspaper

Tag: chicken

  • Experts condemn importation of chicken, eggs

    Agriculture experts have condemned the importation of chicken and eggs into Nigeria, urging the government at all levels to integrate rural women and youths into the poultry business.

    One of them, Prof. Funso Sonaiya,  a lecturer in the Department of Animal Sciences, Obafemi Awolowo University, OAU, Ile-Ife, who spoke at the launch of African Chicken Genetic Gains (ACGG) in Nigeria, described the training and empowerment of rural dwellers as the best way of reducing poverty and improve food production.

    Delivering a paper on “Chicken Genetics Resources and Sustainable Rural Livelihoods in Nigeria, he said: “A few chickens can be a step towards food security and poverty eradication in the rural areas”.

    The Director, Biotech Centre, Federal University of Agriculture (FUNAAB), Abeokuta, Prof. Funmi Adebambo, explained that the project was aimed at the economic empowerment and improved health and nutrition of the rural dwellers.

    She said: “Over 70 per cent of Nigerians living in the rural area covered by this definition of rural poor and who in 2001 were found to have contributed over 0.8 million tonnes of meat and 1.1 million tonnes in 2004 from over 117.3 million indigenous chicken in 2001 and 144.2 million in 2004 are still being neglected, rendered voiceless and left to their fate in abject poverty.”

    She noted that the launching of ACGG programme would fashion the pathway for innovative and strategic integration of millions of Nigerians made up of women and youths into the poultry value chain.

     

  • ‘Chicken importation costs N660b’

    Nigeria spent N660 billion to import 1.2 million metric tonnes (MT) of frozen chicken, National President, Poultry Association of Nigeria Dr. Ayoola Oduntan has said.

    This, he said, was four times greater than local output and exceeded the industry capacity of 650,000 MT.

    Dr. Oduntan, who puts Nigeria’s poultry demand at 1.5 million MT yearly, admitted that the industry produced 300,000 MT in 2014.

    He spoke at a workshop in Abuja, tagged: “The Economic and Health implications of Smuggled Poultry Products”.

    Dr. Oduntan said: “As at 2014, locally-produced chicken production, estimated at 300, 000 metric tons, a capacity utilisation of 46 per cent in an industry that boasts of 650,000 MT.

    “Also, 1.2 million metric tons of frozen chicken (N660 billion, equivalent to $2.75 billion) was imported.

    “This was four times greater than what was produced locally and exceeding the industry capacity. A clear point here is that local poultry industry is far reaching its growth elastic limit.”

    The industry, he said, could create jobs if the activities of smugglers were regulated.

    He observed that reducing smuggling by 30 per cent would result in one million jobs in 12 months.

    Dr. Oduntan said: “Given necessary support, the industry will make significant contribution to the National Gross Domestic Product (GDP), creating jobs and stabilising the food and nutrition needs while also boosting rural economies.

    “At the primary production level, the poultry industry presently consumes two million MT of maize and 750 MT of soya beans, thus providing employment for thousands.

    “To fully utilise the balance of the industry’s capacity of additional 350,000 MT will translate to significant benefits through 350,000 new jobs in maize production; 100,000 in soya production, 75,000 in processing and 500,000 in ancillary raw materials, products and services.

    “Reducing smuggling by 30 per cent will result in the creation of one million jobs. So why not do away with smuggling and stop exporting jobs from Nigeria, by enriching other nations?

    “The future of the Nigerian poultry industry hinges delicately on firm decisions by policy makers to reverse the unwholesome trends that tend to tilt the balance in favour of smugglers while putting local producers in jeopardy.’’

  • Chicken rebellion

    Chicken rebellion

    Should I thank God or accident that I am alive? My beak scratches my plumage into high gloss. Inside this cage, I cannot gloat. But I rejoice that I survived two major cups. The cup of Christmas and the cup of New Year.
    I join you humans to say, Happy New Year. But I say that with a survivor’s guilt. Some of my fellows tumbled from your greasy stews into your grateful stomachs. You are a rare breed of human vanity. Your rich know how to throw parties and your poor are past masters at acting rich. For Nigerians, vanity knows no class distinction.
    If you caught me, I might have digested by now, or become the gooey waste in the belly of your earth. But I don’t count on my survival, although I thought things looked a little bright for me when some bad news started to trickle in for you humans, especially the variety called Nigerians.
    We learned that your buying activities were looking bad. People were getting poorer, and that meant more of us would live. Earlier in the year when those who pray to another God celebrated their annual day of mirth called Sallah, I wept with foreboding. My hairy cousins started to disappear.
    Your money called Naira with which you do things was healthier then – sick as it was – just like the rams that disappeared. I knew I had to eat as much corn and other grains. As one of your prophets said, eat and drink, tomorrow we die. I knew it was a matter of time. I had to lay as many eggs as fertility permitted, and I did a lot in that department, believe me. Some of us died during that Sallah festivity. The poorer ones of your race came to buy us. I thought the holy book prescribed rams? I hate those poor folks. The rich went for the hairy cousins with huge palates for grasses. How they skidded out of sight, baaing away as their hooves limped behind their potential devourers.
    But when November threatened, I was afraid until I observed that fear gripped our predators more.
    If you noticed, quiet jubilation stirred cages all over the country. Well, most of you could not get it, except those who specialise in the psychology of chickens. You guys are too busy humanising our quirks to probe us. You call the coward chicken, you seek our blood for sacrifices, our feathers as ornaments, our flesh as feast, our eggs for pastries. You forget we have lives too. We love and hate, and mourn and play.
    We learned that our owners moaned two things. They kept talking about oil, but that made us sad. They said the price was falling, and we thought it was bad news. If the price of whatever oil fell, whether palm oil, or vegetable oil, we were doomed, or we were fried. It would save your buyers more money to buy us. Later they said it was black oil, and we were puzzled. Were they going to sell oil already cooked? Was that a new trade? Even that would be bad news because it would mean recycling our fluid of tragedy.
    But it became clear when they said it was crude oil and only the nation sold it. They said the price was falling, and that meant many of your buyers would have less money. That was the good news. That followed another: that the Naira was losing value. We always hate that piece of paper. Once it passes between the visitors and our owners, one or two of us disappear. So, it was doubly good news.
    One of us, the cock with reddish-black plumage, wondered if they had not saved enough? Humans saved for hard times, unlike animals. Except goats who chewed cuds. One hen cawed, “this set of humans called Nigerians love life too much. Their leaders said they had what was called sovereign wealth fund and invested lots of billions from excess crude account with foreigners and another tranche of money of about ten billion dollars that could buy all the chickens on earth were missing in their pocket.”
    All of us looked at the Witch Hen, and wondered how a fowl could know so much. She cawed all night breaking down the terms for our poultry minds.
    She said while all of us were busy cawing, crowing and pecking away, she listened to the visitors and owners and picked a thing or two. Witch Hen said it meant life would be bad in December and there was a chance many of us would survive. Nigerians had little money to waste on mortals like us.
    I asked, does that mean those who lead the humans are not better than us chickens. What we have we eat and go out as waste, and life is good. We think nothing of tomorrow. Why do humans have to worry about tomorrow?
    Witch Hen said because the humans make life difficult for themselves like paying rents, buying cars, paying people to treat them when they are sick, buying material to cover their head, body and feet, cooking and baking bread and building markets and making cages like the one we are in right now.
    I asked again, is it that the breed called Nigerians want to be like us fowls or animals now that they cannot save or make themselves make more money? How come in other places they do things well? Are these people going to lose control of us then?
    Witch Hen could not answer, but promised to listen more and get back with us with an answer.
    Unfortunately, I may never get the answer. Witch Hen was whisked away a day before Christmas. Maybe they thought she knew too much. Witches are not supposed to last anyway. I still wondered, if the humans were losing their money, it meant they could not buy us. We noticed that more of us survived this year when the carnage of New Year and Christmas came. Our owners complained in their murderous ways that it was a “bleak Christmas.” What is bleak about what makes us survive, although it was bleak for us because they reduced the quantity of grains in the cages? Better to starve and live than end in those cauldrons of delicacy they call stews.
    As New Year came, traffic eased in the market. We are happy we survived. We learned that one man who prides himself on leadership by feeding stomachs distributed a lot of us free. At least, he should have fed them well before they died. The fowls looked so frail and lean. This came from a man who once owned a controversial poultry operation and could have been one of us. It was foul profit for him.
    Now that everything looks bad this new year for the humans, it means we shall survive as chickens. They don’t have much money to buy us. The only thing I fear though, is that when everyone starts complaining of hunger, will the leaders not magically recover the billions that can buy all the chickens in the world? Then they will imitate the poultry governor and distribute all of us free. I doubt they will find the money. But in case they do so or take their habitual loans, I am going to rally all fowls for a chicken rebellion. If you humans don’t know your rights, we chickens do. After all, one of you who won a prize wrote a play called A Dance of The Forests where millions of ants mounted a rebellion against humans for encroaching on their bushes. With our beaks, preening, bird flus like avian and about 140 other afflictions, we shall fight for a chicken republic.

  • The chicken before the egg

    Which came first, the chicken or the egg? The answer to this age old conundrum had baffled scientists and riddle lovers for centuries. The challenge has always come from the fact that a chicken can only come from an egg, but an egg, on the other hand, has to be laid by a chicken, and that chicken had to have come from an egg…you see what I mean? Well, sometime ago, a group of scientists cracked the ‘SHELL’ of this riddle by ‘FRYING, BOILING AND UNSCRAMBLING’ (pun intended) the mystery to give a fully ‘POACHED’ answer to one of the world’s oldest riddles. Their answer was… (drum roll)… the chicken came first before the egg! In a bid to find out more about how animals make eggshell, the scientists researched the process in microscopic detail by programming the ingredients that they thought chickens use to make egg shells. By the time the results came up, it revealed the presence of a particular protein in a chicken’s ovaries, unidentified by the researchers, which acts as the tireless builder on an eggshell. Without this protein, the eggs would not exist. This, in their opinion, meant the bird must have come first. Which came first questions, such as that of the chicken or the egg may not seem such an important one to ask or find a solution to. Especially in our society where the majority are living under such poverty that the only fact most Nigerians care to know about chickens and eggs is how to attain and eat them. But like most occurrences in life, almost everything happens as a consequence of something else and sometimes certain outcomes can only be guaranteed by the function of a certain criterion. Much like the fact discovered by the scientists that an eggshell cannot be created without a certain protein produced in a chicken; it is a fact that in order to conduct a free, fair and people representative election in Nigeria, certain measures must be put in place by INEC. Recently, the Independent National Electoral Commission, said it has detected and removed multiple registrants from the Ekiti and Osun States voters registers, ahead of the governorship elections in the states. If that is the case, although it may be late for the Ekiti and Osun elections coming up in June and August respectively, there may be an absolute need for INEC to conduct a credible nationwide voter’s registration exercise. Even with the statement of Professor Jega, that “the consolidation and de-duplication of the biometric register of voters have been completed and the voters register now has integrity that surpasses the register with which 2011 elections were conducted,” quite a few of us would beg to differ. By making this statement to say, “The voters register now has integrity that surpasses the register with which 2011 elections were conducted”, which gives a veiled admission that the voters register wasn’t credible, it would follow that using that same voter’s register to be used in the 2015 elections won’t be credible either. Fifteen years since the birth of our fourth republic, it is no secret that our democracy is but a shambles in Nigeria. And as we charge towards ‘Nigeria 2015’, the crucial questions we need to ask ourselves before any discussion of a credible election are, what is the worth of democracy to us and what framework do we hope to pursue in order to progress it? The answers to these are basic and will not take a team of scientists centuries to decipher, as with the chicken and egg conundrum. With a lifetime of military rule, repression and poverty, the worth of democracy to a Nigerian is priceless and the framework needed to progress it lies with the conduct of an election that allows every eligible voter in Nigeria to pass their sovereign verdict on each person that seeks public office. But can that truly be possible given this repetitive lack of preparation from INEC. The prospect of an authentic process, amidst the present arrangement looks very slim and unlikely. It is one thing to promise credible elections and another to conduct it. Any credible election must be predicated on several fundamentals, with the most important being an authentic voter’s register that will represent genuine voters. By Professor Jega’s own admission now, the current voter’s register is allegedly tainted. By law, the commission is obligated to compile, maintain and update, on a continuous basis, a National Register of Voters, which shall include names of all persons entitled to vote in all elections. With talk that the general election may hold early 2015 despite all these inadequacies and more, the prospect of a free and fair election is looking like a nonstarter. If, by law, the election has to be conducted at least 150 days before the May 29th handover date, then by all means we should strive to meet that deadline. But in the event we are unable to, then we have to consider amending the law so that the handover date can be moved to a time that will accommodate the preparations that are needed to conduct a credible process. If the commission is committed to an earlier election date, it would mean that there would only be three to four months to register eligible voters, prepare a credible Voters Register, print ballot papers, secure ballot boxes, disseminate the proper information so that the Nigerian public know the precise number of polling booths to be used and the number of voters registered in each ward and do every other thing that has to be done. And unless we are 199% committed to doing this, then it is unlikely that we will be ready for very early 2015 elections. The importance of a credible election has honestly got to outweigh a desire to meet up with some handover date deadline. It has become urban legend that a majority of those presently in political office did not fairly win their elections. If this is true then we must know that we cannot grow beyond the point that we are stuck now if we do not have the power to elect competent leaders to care for us, lead us and help us and sack them when they don’t. The type of subversion and violation of process we saw in past elections is most definitely unacceptable this time around. Nigerians cannot depend on the hoary and corrupt stencil of conducting elections that was used in the past and if it means that the May 29th date set for the swearing in has to be moved further ahead in order to ensure a credible process, then so it should be. But to advance moving the election closer to this end of time when we may not be ready somehow doesn’t seem right. It exhibits an apparent apathy to the formidable and apocalyptic issues facing the preparations for the elections. The 2015 election is incredibly valuable to the future of Nigeria; it may be the turning point we have been waiting for. Everything possible must be done to get it right. Eggshells are very strong yet very smooth and lightweight; I guess it’s due to the ingredients inside chickens that make eggs. Since it has been found that the egg is the result of the combination of specific ingredients in the chicken, this notion serves as another example of the importance for INEC to combine the compulsory prerequisites of an election if they are to be strong, smooth and credible. An election is like an egg; it can be fragile and can turn out to be a ‘GOOD-EGG OR BAD-EGG’ (pun intended), based only on the ingredients the chicken or INEC use to produce it. Never again will I underestimate a chicken, its ability to produce something as fascinating as an egg and the significance of the chicken and egg poser and neither should INEC. I hope that I am not ‘EGGSAGERATING’ or being offensive by ‘EGGSPLAINING’ about INEC in the same way I would a chicken, but I also hope that INEC does not ‘CHICKEN-OUT’ come 2015, but instead ‘EGGSERTS’ itself to hatch an ‘EGGSTREMELY’, ‘EGGSTRAORDINARILY’ and ‘EGGSCEPTIONALLY’ credible electoral ‘EGGSCERCISE’… If it was to happen, it would be an ‘EGGSCEEDINGLY EGGSCITING EGGSTRAVAGANZA’. (ALL PUNS INTENDED!)

  • Parable of chicken and eagle

    Parable of chicken and eagle

    A certain man went into a forest, seeking any bird of interest he might find. He caught a young eagle and took it home; he put it among his fowls, ducks and turkeys and gave it chickens’ food, even though it was an eagle.

    Five years later, a naturalist came to see the man, and after passing through his garden, the naturalist said: “That bird is an eagle, not a chicken.” “Yes,” the owner replied, adding: “I have trained it to be a chicken; it is no longer an eagle but a chicken even though it measures fifteen feet in height.”

    “No,” said the naturalist, “it is an eagle still; it has the heart of an eagle and I will make it soar high up to the heavens.” The owner said: “No, it is now a chicken and it will never fly.”

    They agreed to test whether the eagle could fly or not. The naturalist held the eagle on his palm and said: “Eagle, thou art an eagle, thou dost not belong to the sky and not to this earth; stretch forth thy wings and fly.”

    The eagle looked at him and turned the other way to see the chickens eating food. It jumped down from the naturalist palm.

    Chuckling, the owner said: “I told you it is a chicken.” The naturalist disagreed. “It is an eagle,” he maintained, saying he would give it another chance the next day. He took it to the top of a house the next day and said: “Eagle, thou art an eagle; stretch forth thy wings and fly.” Again, the eagle saw chickens eating and jumped down to eat with them. The owner reminded the naturalist that the eagle was a chicken.

    The next morning, the naturalist rose early and took the eagle outside the city to the top of a mountain. He picked up the eagle and said: “Eagle, thou art an eagle; thou dost belong to the sky and not to this earth; stretch forth thy wings and fly.”

    The eagle looked around and trembled, but it did not fly. The naturalist then made it look straight at the sun. Suddenly, it stretched out its wings and flew away. It never returned. It was an eagle, though it had been kept and tamed as a chicken.

    The legend was Dr Aggrey’s best known sermon. Whoever Dr Aggrey was, I do not know – perhaps a clergy. But when I came across the story, the underlying message struck me hard and I didn’t give it a second thought before I decided to write on it. Without beating about the bush, the message in the story is discovering one’s ability.

    Different people discover themselves in different ways and at different speed. For some, the family background or lineage discovers them even before they discover themselves; these people are usually the type that finds themselves in a family that is known for a particular profession or ability.

    In the traditional Yoruba system, there are people who bear names that portray the vocation the family is known for. Such names include Ayanwole (drummers), Elegbede (singers) and Odeyemi (hunters) among others.

    Most people discover themselves in a society that has helped in taming their productivity. Using Nigeria as a case study, average youth finds it difficult to discover his talent. Most of young people make the mistake of following the trend and believe they have discovered themselves. Later, they get confused and frustrated about their chosen life.

    General, chickens are naturally weak and docile; they roam in restricted areas and eat what they are given. They easily surrender to be slaughtered. But we all know eagles are kings in their own world.

    Nigeria is like the owner in the above story; it does not encourage its youth to ‘fly’, it does not even believe in their creativity, passion and dreams. The reason why a youth who invented an Amphibian Jet during the regime of General Ibrahim Babangida is still waiting on the former Head of State’s promise till today.

    However, it is no news again that our society does not encourage the youths to discover their dream. But it does not mean we should automatically accept that fate. Like some people would say, Nigeria is bad but some people become successful.

    Yes, Nigeria has its problems, but people are achieving great things through their honest, God-inspired efforts.

    Most youth have been brainwashed to believe the only way they can make it in Nigeria is through fraud or robbery.

    Everyone has different potentials in them; everyone is created with something distinct to achieve great things.

     

    As an individual, we have our strength and our weaknesses.

    We have to discover ourselves.

    There is nothing impossible, even if the word itself says “I’m impossible”. One of the factors that kill people’s dreams is fear. From the story, the eagle finally realised where it was supposed to be – the sky. But it was afraid to try; it did and soared higher and higher. We are afraid to fail, but success can only be achieved if we try. Just like the eagle, there is only one thing we should aim: fly to the sky and discover our dream.

     

    Temitope, 300-Level English, UNILAG

     

     

  • Frozen foods: Tasty tongues, damaged organs

    Frozen foods: Tasty tongues, damaged organs

    That imported frozen foods, particularly chicken and turkey, are favourites of Nigerians is stating the obvious.

    To satisfy the growing demand of Nigerians whose menu are incomplete without these, many smart businessmen and women have tapped into this opportunity and are smiling to the bank in the process. But this has not come without a price.

    Some years ago, the Federal Government placed a ban on the importation of turkey and chicken, citing the unhygienic conditions under which they are brought into the country. However, this has not deterred many unscrupulous businessmen and women from smuggling in these products; they take advantage of the countless illegal routes along the border between Nigeria and neighbouring Benin Republic, where the products are brought in.

    Official statistics put the worth of imported frozen foods at about a whopping N40billion annually. Investigations however revealed that this figure is grossly understated.

    A Customs officer who works at the Seme border told The Nation under the condition of anonymity: “The figure (N40billion) is a rather conservative estimate. It’s much more than that if one takes into consideration the hundreds of trailers and trucks that bring in these products into Nigeria on a daily basis.”

    Shedding more light on the modus operandi of smugglers of these products, the Customs source said: “These products are bought in from some Asian and a few European countries and imported into Cotonou in Benin Republic. But because of the ban placed on them in Nigeria, these smugglers bring them in through the over one hundred illegal routes along the border.

    “From the trailers, these products are discharged into smaller vehicles. This process takes about a week or more, which is too a long a time for the foods to remain in good condition. Add this to the number of weeks it took to ship them from the source to Benin Republic and you realise the health danger Nigerians are facing.”

    He added: “Because of the delicate nature of these foods and to ensure that they don’t become rotten, all kinds of chemicals are mixed with it thus endangering the lives of people who consume it.”

    Unconfirmed reports have it that the chemical referred to by our source is formaldehyde popularly known as formalin, which is used to embalm corpses in morgues. This chemical, it was learnt, ensures the preservation and non-contamination of the foods.

    Interestingly, many Nigerians and small scale traders of these products are either ignorant of this development or are downright nonchalant about it.

    A trader, Mr. Gbolahan Animashaun, who runs Asekun Foods at Ogba area in Lagos, said he is unaware that any chemical is mixed with frozen chicken and turkey by the importers.

    He said: “I’m hearing this news for the first time. Believe me I’m not aware at all. I went into the business simply because it is lucrative.”

    Asked where he buys the product, Animashaun, who runs the business with his wife, said his major supplier operates a big showroom at Ketu in Lagos.

    He, however, was not sure if his supplier is an importer of the products or a distributor.

    Another trader, Mrs. Joyce Osuji, told The Nation that her decision to start the business in Magodo, an upper class residential area of Lagos, was purely for economic reasons. “I started the business to fill a void within this area and I have not had any regret so far.”

    Admitting that they are aware that the importation of frozen products are under ban, Animashaun and Osuji responded that the ban rather than curb the consumption of such foods by Nigerians has further increased it, thereby making it a goldmine for people engaged in the business.

    Animashaun said: “There was a time in this country that the government banned the importation of rice, but did that stop people from smuggling it into the country? Again, how many Nigerians eat locally produced rice?”

    For Osuji, the lax enforcement of the ban has encouraged more people to go into the business. She said: “Not once has the Customs or the police harassed me, so why should I bother my head?”

    The National President, Nigerian Institute of Food, Science and Technology (NISFT), Prof. Lateef Sanni, identified pathogens such as Escherichia, Coli, Clostridium bottling, Staphylococcus as the major health hazards associated with consumption of frozen foods.

    He said if the pathogens are deactivated but not killed, they could be activated again when the frozen foods thaw, leading to severe health implications. Sanni said: “Regulatory agencies must be supported to ensure proper handling and storage while consumers should properly cook frozen products before consumption.”

    He added that constant electricity would also help as well as good road networks to aid quicker distribution of the products.

  • Why is Salisu Buhari’s chicken always crossing the road?

    What shall we Nigerians do with a certain fellow called Salisu Buhari? Or to put it in a better perspective, what would the ruling Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), do without this chap, Salisu Buhari (SB)? For those who were too young in 1999 or who may have forgotten, SB was the golden–haired boy of Nigeria’s re-born democracy in 1999 when he shot into the political scene like a bold, bright meteor. Just in his 20s (but claimed to be older), suffused with astounding military contracts money and the right contacts in the hegemonic circles of the North, SB became a member of the House of Representatives in the new Republic.

    If only he had tempered his ambition and remained just an ordinary lawmaker of the Federal Republic, he probably would have risen to be a kingpin in the PDP firmament, perhaps in line to be president today or something higher if ever there was such. None of us would have been wiser for it after all we have been afflicted with worse afflictions (pardon me). But SB was a lion, osina nwata buru ogaranya, the tenderloin who made good real good, if you would allow me to put it that way. A military leg man and carpetbagger; he pitched for the top job.

    It was the era of innocence when democracy was defined in salubrious officers’ mess and even dingy mammy markets depending on the taste bud of your military brass. SB – small boy who swims in big waters, he dove for the big prize: he wanted to be the Honorable Speaker of the new born 3rd Republic of the Federal Republic of Nigeria. And pronto, SB was Speaker. But before you could say “Mr. Speaker Sir”, there was trouble in the House. You know the ancient saying that when a deity begins to give its people too much trouble, they simply ‘undeify’ it by revealing the tree with which they had carved it. Our Honorable Speaker, Salisu Buhari had hardly assumed his stool when it ‘came out’ that he was not the person he claimed he was, he did not go to the schools he forswore to have gone, he was not the age he filled out in forms and SB did not do some of the noble things he may have ascribed to his name. SB was a poseur. So was the party, one would argue but then he was caught out.

    Thus the concept and reality of a Hon. Speaker Salisu Buhari became chimerical. His classmates at King’s College, Lagos could not work out the alchemy of an age mate ‘acquiring’ more age ahead of them. They could understand SB acquiring more mansions and machines. It also turned out that he did not school at Toronto University, Canada which he claimed. He was convicted and he went in for it. He was the first casualty of a rambunctious new age.

    But just before you could say EX-CONVICT, SB was ‘slammed’ a presidential pardon by the then President Olusegun Obasanjo. Of course SB was party’s cash machine and no ill dares befall him. Obasanjo went ahead to make him chairman of an education parastatal and in spite of Nigerians shouting themselves hoarse, he never budged. The PDP government has thrown the Salisu Buhari mud at Nigerians once again. SB has just been made a member of the Governing Council of the University of Nigeria, Nsukka. What grim humour, what dark, mirthless offering? Why would SB’s chicken always want to cross the express road you ask?

    The Salisu Buhari affair is a metaphor for the manner PDP governs Nigeria – insensitive, unthinking and unconscionable. This is how our agencies are filled with nincompoops and scallywags. If SB must get board appointments why not in less opprobrious entities; and what, may we ask would PDP make SB next, a vice chancellor?