I have struggled to understand it. I guess it is too much for my 12-year-old brain to comprehend. But, what is clear to me is that there is something wrong with my family. My father, Diepriye, is a civil servant. My mother, Patience, is also a civil servant. Dad works at the Niger Delta University. Mum works at the Governors’ Office.
Until some months back, paying my fees at the private school I attend in Yenagoa was no problem to dad. I am their only child and got all the attention I craved. Some days back, I was sent away from school because Dad has been unable to pay my fees and mum cannot help either.
Both of them told me they have not received salaries – not to talk of allowances—for months. They say Governor Seriake Dickson claim there is no money to pay them, yet admits billions came to the state in one year. And here lies my dilemma.
It can make some sense to me in this era of dwindling oil fortune – as my teacher described it – when Ekiti or Osun claim not to have money to meet their obligations to workers. But Bayelsa? I can’t get it. We are a small state, the smallest in the country.
In terms of population, local government areas and number of workforce, we are small. But, in terms of what we get from the Federation Account, we are not small. We receive one of the largest allocations from the Federation Account every month because we are a leading oil-producing state. We even not long ago got some oil wells which used to belong to Rivers State. Edo State takes less cash from the Federation Account, has more workforce yet it has increased salaries. Cross River, which lost oil wells to Akwa Ibom following a Supreme Court judgment, paid May salary of workers on the first day on May Day.
My teacher once said we could afford to buy Ekiti and Osun. I can’t remember the figure he put to it but, to my little brain, being able to buy two states mean we should be rich. So, why are we suffering? Why am I at home when I should be in school? Why is poverty walking on all fours in our dear state? Does it have anything to do with the fact that ghost workers so far discovered in Bayelsa have proved to be the worst in the entire country since economic crunch compelled my governor to check for leakages in the treasury?
Is there any correlation between our sorry state and the fact that my governor prefers the late DSP Alamieyeseigha as a role model and true hero when we have the likes of Gabriel Okara of the “I hear the call of River Nun” fame?
I doubt if I will ever forget these words from dad: “We have not been paid for over five months. The local government workers have not been paid for about 13 months and the governor who is supposed to feel our pains and find solutions to our plight is the one still threatening us with no work no pay.”
In my quest for answers, I have been following the news of late. One day I came across a story titled “Dickson admits receiving N95bn from FAC in one year”. It had a sub-title: “Governor threatens journalists”. He spoke at a forum to give account of how our money has been sent.
My first reaction on seeing the headline was: So, why can’t he pay dad and mum so that I can return to school?
Then, I decided to read it. Governor Dickson said of the N95bn from the Federation Account (FAAC) in one year, N12bn went to the eight local government areas in the state. N83b went to the state government.
I chose to read further. The governor said N14.89b was used to service bond repayments taken by the Timipre Sylva administration. Salaries of workers, he said, consumed N32.38b.
Bank loans, according to His Excellency, gulped about N15b. Local debts, including inherited debts and overdraft, cost N24.6b, the governor said.
Overhead costs for running the three arms of government gulped N3.9b and N20.9b went to projects’ execution.
My governor did not forget to add that if not for his administration’s prudent management of resources, the state would have collapsed. He added that though Bayelsa is an oil-rich state, Nigeria has not been fair to the state. Yet for some six years, a son of the soil and ex-governor was President of the same Nigeria that my governor said has not been fair to our dear state.
His Excellency accused state correspondents of hiding under press freedom to work with criminal syndicates, thieves and cult leaders. He did not stop without telling them not to take his hospitality for granted.
My governor confirmed a report that the state has become a spy when he said his administration was monitoring text messages and telephone conversations between journalists and their paymasters. When I got to this stage while reading the report, my reaction was: His Excellency is wasting the money he should have paid my dad and mum on spy software?
His Excellency’s words: “So, when some young men are sent to the state, they call themselves different names operating in different guises with criminal syndicates, not working to advance the course of democracy and what is good for the country and even for their profession, they come here and connive with criminals, thieves, cult leaders.
“The press, they know the cult leaders. They come here not to advance the course of the state. They come here not to assist in developing democracy in our country. They hide under the guise of press freedom and work with criminal syndicates.
“Sometimes, we know the text messages, their conversations and those who give them money just to run down the state. You Bayelsans should know that there are people who don’t want a strong clear-headed leadership, a focused leadership from Bayelsa State.
“There are those who want Bayelsa to be a weeping child of the Niger Delta. For our friends who enjoy the hospitality of our state; in our government, no one kills anybody. No one attacks anybody.
“It doesn’t happen in their own state but they will come misrepresent Bayelsa, paint Bayelsa bad, government of Bayelsa bad when in their own states they don’t have leaders that will stand up to 10 per cent of what we represent.
“They know that you people delight in running down the government. So, this is a warning to all those who are here. You have the right to be here, enjoy our hospitality but don’t run down the state.
“Don’t instigate civil unrest because you only know how it starts but you don’t know how it will end up. In some of their states, their governments have not paid salaries for 15 months; those boys that are writing nonsense, in their own state. Yet they come here, instigate our people and misrepresent things.”
The governor’s rant did not provide the answers I want. Rather it made me weep for my state and myself. It generated more questions, such as: Are Dr Goodluck Jonathan and the late Alemieyeseigha among his predecessors he accused of accumulating humungous debts which has made him unable to pay some six months salaries? Are they part of those he claims he cannot see what they did with all the money they borrowed?
Governance, my teacher taught me, is about finding solutions to the problems facing the society and the people. It is not about giving excuses. It is not about threatening reporters and accusing them of crimes. What my small brain tells me is that if His Excellency has a case against these reporters, he should give the security agents the evidence he has against them and let them face the music.
I remain the weeping Bayelsa child. Your Excellency, it is time I returned to school.
The West Africa Women Association (WAWA), the United Nations Information Centre (UNIC) and the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) have warned the federal and state governments against neglecting the Nigerian child.
They made this admission at a programme organised by WAWA last Friday at the ECOWAS Commission office in Onikan, Lagos.
WAWA Focal Person in Nigeria Mrs Beatrice Ubeku called for more proactive steps to ensure that children’s issues were taken seriously.
She said: “If not well catered for, these children may engage in violence and other negative acts and this will double our already enormous challenges.
She advised parent, guardian, teacher, elder, religious group, NGOs, to look after the protect future of the kids.
Yeye Oge of Lagos Dr Opral Benson urged children to shun social vices in order not to jeopardise their future.
Mrs Benson said parents should spend more time with their children, get to know them better, talk and advise them and also bring them to programmes.
“We should help them, teach them, interact with them and praise them whenever they do something right,” she said.
She called on leaders to do all within their power to create an enabling environment that will give the Nigerian child, a sense of belonging.
Lagos State is spending N113.3billion of its N662billion budget on education this year, Deputy Governor Dr Idiat Adebule has said.
She said the education vote was a third of the Federal Government’s N369billion for the sector.
Speaking at the Children’s Day at the Police College Parade Ground in Ikeja on Friday, Mrs Adebule, said the budget reflected the priority his administration places on education.
She said the priority would also reflect on how people who abuse children would be treated, noting that the government is in the forefront of “Stopping violence against children”, which is the theme of this year’s Children’s Day celebration.
She said: “Recent findings from Violence Against Children (VAC) survey have disclosed that six out of every 10 (60 per cent) children under age 18 are being abused in the society, especially by the people they refer to as family members.
“My beloved children, let me assure you all of our determination and commitment towards ensuring that anyone who engages in any form of abuse and violence against any child shall be appropriately dealt with under the law.”
The state, he said, would no longer tolerate child abuse, domestic violence, child trafficking or violation of any law on the development of children.
Anyone caught violating the Child Rights law either through child abuse, trafficking or domestic violence, he said, would be dealt with in accordance with the law.
She warned perpetrators of these acts to desist, lamenting that they are becoming the norm today rather than an aberration.
Mrs Adebule said the One –meal- a- day for pupils would soon begin, adding that the distribution of special tablets containing their academic curriculum is also receiving attention to enhance effective teaching/learning possible through the use of Information Communication Technology (ICT).
At a Children’s Day celebration organised by Lagos Television (LTV), Mrs Adebule called on parents to always be available for their children.
She said: “We need to know that our roles as parents does not end at just providing them books and uniforms but we should also be prepared to listen to them always. If we don’t make ourselves accessible to our children, they would not be able to talk with us.”
The deputy governor urged the children to be security conscious as child trafficking and abuse are on the rise.
Lagos State Commissioner for Women Affairs and Poverty Alleviation Mrs Lola Akande at another event, said violence against children comes in different forms, adding that the act causes physical and emotional harm to the growth of the child.
Mrs Akande enjoined parents to teach their children the virtues of honesty, dedication and love, saying no duty is more important to parents than to ensure that their children are cared for and protected.
The governor’s wife, Mrs Bolanle Ambode, represented by Prof Ibiyemi Bello, described children as priceless gifts from God and fountains of joy to parents.
She described Children’s Day as a day set aside to celebrate children and draw government’s attention to their challenges.
Speaking on behalf of the children, Lagos State Children Parliament Speaker Tobi Daniel thanked government and the Ministry of Women Affairs and Poverty Alleviation for hosting the children to a grand celebration to mark the 2016 Children’s Day.
At the Academic Conference for the Primary and Secondary School pupils organised by the Muslim Students’ Society of Nigeria, Odi-Olowo/Ojuwoye Area Council, Mushin, Lagos to commemorate the Children’s Day in Ilupeju, the President, Mallam AbdulJeleel Gbadamosi urged parents to monitor the television programmes their children watch.
“Parents are meant to play an essential role in the upbringing of the child’s in order to be useful to the society. Most of the children both in primary and secondary schools are being exposed to social media site such as Facebook, Whatsapp, Instagram and so on which most of their contents are non-educative. This, in turn corrupt the minds of these young folks and affect their academic performance,” he said.
Excerpts of a speech by the Serving Overseer, The Latter Rain Assembly, Lagos and the convener, Save Nigeria Group (SNG), Pastor ‘Tunde Bakare, on the missing Chibok girls.
Yoruba proverb says, “Omo mi ku san ju omo mi so nu lo”, which may be interpreted: “It is better to tell me that my child is dead than to tell me that my child is lost”. There are only three broad possibilities regarding the fate of our daughters: One, that they are all alive; two, that some are alive while some are no more; three, that they are all no more. But we believe they are still alive. Till date there is no evidence, not even satellite photography, suggesting that they are in a mass grave. So we believe that our daughters are alive, and that they can still be rescued alive.
We have heard varied suggestions as to the fate of our girls. We have heard that some have been married off, that some have been sold as slaves, and that some are being held captive as human shields. We have heard that some have been radicalised, and there have been suggestions that they are now being groomed and deployed as suicide bombers. It was Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, the creator of the fictional character, Sherlock Holmes, who once wrote: “…when you have eliminated the impossible, whatever remains, however improbable, must be the truth…” What we expect the government to do is systematically analyze the possibilities with a view to eliminating impossibilities.
We appreciate the government for the renewed military offensive and the gains recorded in the fight against Boko Haram. Yet, we had expected that this success would be translated into tracing the whereabouts of our girls or even finding some measure of closure for us, their parents.
If our daughters have been married off to whom are they married? Who saw them being married off? Where are their husbands? Could those husbands be located in any of the villages and towns that were once under Boko Haram control but have since been taken back by the military? Have investigations been conducted to ascertain or eliminate this possibility as the military reclaimed one territory after another? Could they have been married off beyond the Nigerian borders? Have cross-border investigations been conducted to prove or disprove this possibility? If none of these is the case, then have they been married off to the Boko Haram fighters? If this is the case, what has befallen their captor husbands and what befalls our daughters when their fighter husbands are killed in battle? If our daughters have been radicalized as some have said, have our military encountered them in combat? Have there been young female Boko Haram casualties in battles between the Nigerian army and the terrorists? If there have been, what was done to their remains? We have more questions than answers.
If they have been sold as slaves, to whom have they been sold? What are the locations of these slave buyers or dealers? Are they in the territories in which our girls had been held captive in the past? What attempts have been made to investigate or eliminate this possibility? Have they been sold beyond the Nigerian borders? What routes are there through which they could possibly have been taken? Have there been deliberate attempts to gather information from residents in the villages and towns along these routes within and beyond the Nigerian borders? If some of our girls have really thus been married or sold off, can they not be rescued from their captor husbands or slave owners? Why do we still have more questions than answers?
If none of these is the case, then could it mean that most of the girls have been taken along with the Boko Haram fighters as they move from territory to territory following their dislodgement by the Nigerian Army? Could it mean that they have been kept in forts embedded in Sambisa forest while their captors engage the Nigerian Army? If this is the case, we understand that rescue would require special tactical military operations, details of which cannot be publicly discussed. However, what stops the government from creating a confidential information channel that will keep anxious parents abreast of the basic facts and show that, at least, this country cares for our daughters, no matter what happens? Who knows, through that constant interaction with decision makers, we may have been able to offer basic information that could aid not only in the rescue of our girls but in the prosecution of this war. While the military continues its offensive against Boko Haram, we may have been able to persuade decision makers not to jettison the carrot aspect of the equation, if only for the sake of our daughters.
We are aware of the story of David and the wounded Egyptian, servant of an Amalekite, after the raid of Ziklag which shows how amnesty for the adversary can aid intelligence gathering towards defeating the enemy and rescuing captives (I Samuel 30:10-19). We may have been able to persuade the government to watch out for genuine windows of non-combative engagement with the captors of our daughters and to take advantage of such opportunities to facilitate the release of our girls. We do not say this to disregard the genuine efforts of the government to see our dreams come true. We appreciate the fact that efforts are being made; we have waited two years to see these efforts yield fruit. Some of us have died waiting, and still – still – we wait.
However, in our waiting, our hope has been struck against the wall by discouraging statements; statements suggesting that there is ‘no firm intelligence’ on the whereabouts or conditions of our daughters; statements suggesting that our daughters may never return; statements suggesting that we have been leaning on false hopes and that our optimism over the expected return of our girls is baseless. Nevertheless, two years from that dark night, in the midst of a seemingly endless dark tunnel, there are those of us who have never lost hope.
We are mothers who, in pain and despair, fulfill the sacred observation that a mother can never forget her suckling child – We have never lost hope! (Isaiah 49: 14 – 18).
We are fathers who demonstrate the stubborn hope of the father in the parable of the lost child who kept his sight on the road from which the child departed hoping to see that child return home someday – We have never lost hope! (Luke 15: 11 – 24).
We are the indefatigable members of the Bring Back Our Girls campaign who, since the 30th of April, 2014, have continued to mount pressure on the government, made Unity Fountain our home away from home, marched the streets of Abuja, Maiduguri, Lagos and other cities in the country, hoping against hope and praying earnestly for the return of our girls – We have never lost hope!
And so, with hearts filled with love and minds filled with hope, let us lift up our eyes in faith towards God Almighty as we wait expectantly for the return of our dear Chibok girls.
In spite of the existence of the Child’s Rights Law and its status as Nigeria’s most cosmopolitan and most enlighten state, child and forced marriages still go on in several communities in Lagos unabated, reports BETTY ABAH
Amina Hassan spotted the signs with much trepidation. First, they came for her eldest sister, Zainab and two years later, they came for the second eldest, Maimuna. After another two years, when they came for her as soon she turned 16 like the other two before her, as usual with the gleeful wedding party in tow, Amina bolted with all the strength in her sprightly teenage legs. It was only a few months to her Senior Secondary Certificate Examination (SSCE).
“No, child marriage is not for me; my education first”, she blurted under her breath as she fled her home in the Ajegunle area of Lagos.
‘”I ran away from home to stay with a school friend of mine but my family and that of the groom waited patiently for me for those three days’, Miss Hassan recalled. “My father was no more so it was my uncle who was in charge. When I made a brief appearance at home to check if they had left, he got hold of me, beat me black and blue and said I was disgracing the family and shaming our tradition,” She said.
Amina Hassan; fought child marriage to get education, now promoting literacy in the Shuwa Arab community in Lagos
The next alternative was to seek refuge with the police. So, Amina again sneaked out and reported at the nearby Ajegunle-Boundary police station.
“But I received the shock of my life because some of my family members came and after some talk with the DPO, the story changed”, she said. The DPO took a long look at her and asked her to ‘cooperate’ with her family members as they had her best interest at heart.
“I looked him in the face and asked: ‘If I were your daughter, would you also say the same thing—that I should cooperate with them and get married at age 16?”
The obviously ruffled police officer, whom she remembered as having ‘bold, unforgettable tribal marks’, berated her for being a stubborn girl and promptly discharged her case from his station. The wedding party disappeared in great sorrow.
Thus, given up by both family and the police, Amina went on to finish her secondary school in that same year (1993), and university education at the famous Ahmadu Bello University (ABU), Zaria and went on to obtain a Masters Degree, the very first person and woman in her generation to accomplish that feat.
Though Amina set herself free by her determination and sheer guts, her two other sisters, Zainab and Maimuna who could not, have continued to live with the consequences of child marriage, decisions made entirely on their behalf by their elderly relatives.
Amina still recollects their ordeals with heavy heart. Fragile-framed Zainab had been tricked into a party ostensibly held in her uncle’s house in the Oregun area of Lagos not knowing it was her own traditional wedding. She was later taken to Asaba in Delta State where her elderly husband, a polygamist, was waiting for her. She later ran back home from her elderly husband, unable to cope.
But the most dramatic was that of her sister Maimuna. ‘We had all prepared for school that morning and were all in our school uniform,’’ Amina recalls. Our uncle addressed Maimuna and told her no school for her that day as her husband had come for her. She had no idea who the man was or what he looked like. “My uncle had made the choice on her behalf. We all started wailing. Our neighbours’ children also came and joined in the wailing, but it was too late as a station wagon was already parked outside ready for her. They took her away in her school uniform. She was in SS1 at Oregun High School and was one of the best in the entire school, always coming first or second’.
Maimuna was virtually bundled and taken to Chad from where, unable to cope with the domestic work (including cooking for her husband’s large extended family), she ran back to Lagos, selling her belongings along the long lengthy and traumatic way from Chad to Lagos heavy with pregnancy, giving birth and losing the child thereafter. Like her sister before her, Maimuna never went back to school.
“My sisters were very intelligent and were well known in school for their brilliance, but these people just ruined their lives’, said Amina, established the Shuwa Arab Development Initiative (SADI), a non-governmental organisation (NGO), after graduating from the university in 2009, to try and right the wrongs of the past and save other girls from the ordeal of girl marriage.
Through SADI, she has facilitated the education of more than 100 children, boys and girls among the Shuwa Arabs (an indigenous community with roots in North East Nigeria) in Lagos.
Thriving culture
The above occurred mostly in the early 1990’s and therefore it could be assumed that child or forced early marriage is a thing of the past in Metropolitan Lagos, Nigeria’s most developed and most urbane city.
Yet, Aisha Nasirudeen, 19, sitting, stroking her three children’s heads idly in the face-me-I-face-you compound of her rundown house on Odo Street in the Obalende area of Lagos, did not just portray the picture of urban poverty. She aptly personified the victim of an on-going and vibrant tradition of child marriage in settler communities across Lagos as relevant government agencies entrusted with the responsibility of acting against it, continue to look the other way or engage only in lame rhetoric.
“My ambition was to become a doctor, but now I know I can’t achieve that dream anymore. My son Yahaha will achieve it for me”, said Aisha who was married off four years ago when she was barely 16 and in Senior Secondary Two (SS2).
Aisha Nasirudeen and her three children
Quiet and tall Aisha, with features akin to that of a model is one of 28 children of a prominent alfa (Muslim cleric) who hails originally from Katsina. She is the last of three wives of Alhaji Mohammed Nasirudeen, who hails from the Upper Volta region of Ghana but converted to Islam and adopted Bornu as his state. He was formerly a disciple of Aisha’s cleric father.
In a tone oscillating between sarcasm and seriousness, Aisha’s husband, Nasirudeen, 44, who runs a thriving restaurant in Obalende, says marriage was the best option for his wife. “You know some of these girls that have a tendency to be stubborn,’ he said, smiling from ear to ear and revealing his beautiful golden tooth. “it is always better to marry them off as soon as possible. It is for their good”, he added with relish.
nlike Nasirudeen, Garba Abu, 55, who came to Lagos 25 years ago, is a repentant man. The Jigawa State-born man who, after over two decades as a security guard, now runs an almost empty kiosk at the College Road in Ogba area of Lagos, and doubles as a water vendor, had given out his three daughters Bintu, Saratu and Sadia as teenagers. Now, with the little earnings from his small businesses he and his wife ensure his younger children,Aminat, 13 and Muritala, 9 get a relatively good education. They are currently pupils in the nearby African Church Primary School, Ifako-Ijaiye.
“There is so much difference between a person that goes to school and the one that didn’t,” he said, casting a distant look at his shrinking wares. “It is easy for an educated girl to get a job because she understands English while the ones that doesn’t understand English loses job opportunities.’
A neighbour who has known the Garbas for several years recounted how one of the daughters, already in secondary school and doing very well, was ‘plucked’ off to her husband’s house. ”On the day of the ceremony, we asked her who her husband was but she told us that she hadn’t met him yet and that one of her sisters had gone to check his place where she would be moving to later in the evening, and that is when she would see him for the first time”.
Deadly consequences
Forced marriages such as the above have sometime led to tragic situations such as the one involving Wasilat Tasiu, a 14-year old bride who poisoned and killed her husband, Umar Sani, and four other guests in Kano a few days after she was married off, in December 2014. According to her, she committed the crime in order to realise her dream of acquiring an education. Another tragic incident involved Rahama Hussaini who killed her husband, Tijjani Nasiru, in March 2015 in protest over being forced to marry the man who was her cousin.
Child marriage, with its devastating consequences on the overall welfare of the girl child remains one of the sore points and clogs in the wheel of Nigeria’s progress. The country, according to UNICEF, has the highest rate of girl marriage in Africa with over 50% of women in the North married off before or by age 16.
According to a recent report by Ford Foundation, about 48% of girls in Nigeria, predominantly in rural areas, are married off before age 18. Cases of Vesicovaginal Fistula (VVF), maternal mortality, have been on the increase especially in rural areas. Also, according to a 2013/2014 UNESCO report, Nigeria has the highest number of out-of-school children in the world, numbering 11/5 million. This owes mostly to economic hardship and government’s indifference to children and the non-implementation of the Access to Universal Basic Education law in addition to the on-going anti-western education insurgency in the north.
Out of this figure, girls are in the majority. The gross lack of interest in girl education and welfare in many regions across Nigeria’s has given rise to child marriage as economically-hit families want to ‘do away’ quickly with their girl children so as to give priority attention to their boy counterparts.
Girls at Agbado and Agege railway area in Lagos; risk falling prey to child marriage
Child marriage not only deprives a girl of education and her childhood but exposes them to sexually transmitted disease such as HIV especially since they are unable to negotiate for safer sex.
A 2014 report by UNICEF titled ‘Ending Child Marriage, Progress and Prospects’ indicates that though child marriage in Nigeria has reduced by one per cent annually in the last 30 years, hundreds of girls are still at risk due to Nigeria’s peculiarly large population. It further revealed that of the world’s 1.1 billion under aged girls, 22 million are already married. The global body also expressed fears that if there is no reduction in child bride practices, up to 280 million girls will be married before age 18. That could even increase to 320 million by 2050 owing to population growth.
Besides, child marriage directly hurts the United Nations’ Sustainable Development Goal (SDG) Goal SGD 5 which focuses on gender equality and empowerment of all women and girls.
Forced marriages and the impunity thereof is exemplified by the globally known case of the more than 200 girls abducted from the Government Secondary School in Chibok Town, Bornu State, Northern Eastern Nigeria in April 2014 by Boko Haram insurgents. According to their leader in a recorded interview, the girls had been married off. Two years later, despite the worldwide #BringBackOurGirls campaign, not only have 219 of the girls captured from their hostel rooms had their educational dreams aborted, they are yet to be found.
‘Lagos State Government looking the other way’
However, while the reports and researches on girl marriage prevalence have focused on rural areas and especially the North fora long time, recent findings have revealed a steady culture of girl marriage in communities in urban areas such as Lagos. Girl marriage is prevalent, even if at a comparatively reduced rate, in settler communities and secluded populations of the Hausa-Fulani, Nupes, Shuwa Arabs and as well as minority populations from Benin Republic and Togo. The communities include Makoko, Kofiganmen sea side area of Badagry, Ojo, Agege, New Okoba, Ijora, Marine Beach among several others across Lagos.
Makoko, Lagos’ largest slum, a predominantly fishing community which hosts a pout-pouri of ethnicities drawn from across Nigeria, Togo and Benin Republic, is a classic case. According to a report by an NGO, Action Health Incorporated, Makoko has the highest number of teenage mothers. While many of the surveyed and the current are pre-marital pregnancies, hundreds of others are child brides.
On a recent evening as the sun set over Makoko and the impoverished community assumed its rambunctious train of routine evening commerce and camaderie, Juliana Idowu, 17, Rhoda Awahajinu, 16 and Sena Kobozina, 20 sat exhausted in a shop, after the day’s task, fielding questions impatiently from this reporter. They were warming up to go home so as to perform their usual wifely responsibilities of cooking, washing, feeding their children and pleasing their mostly young husbands in a variety of ways. The young mothers and wives have many things in common. Each had a child, each was married and each had her education cut short in order to take on marital roles and is currently learning vocational skills, mainly hairdressing or tailoring. Other than concentrating on their skills, owning their own shops ultimately and rearing healthy children, none had any more ambition. Like hundreds of other girls in the community, some of them became pregnant between ages 14 and 15.
The young wives and mothers of Makoko
Yet a rather more worrying trend in Makoko is that of some parents are not only forcing their teenage daughters into marriage once they become pregnant, but compelling their them to marry much older men in that condition, with the pregnancy.
In this category are Bose Nge, 14 who is pregnant, Elizabeth Avonzetin 18,mother of two, Jane Zanu, 18, also a mother of two and Olorunwa Humgbe Louis who lost her first baby and is pregnant with a second one. While Zannu’s twin brother is in a French school in Badagry, her sole ambition now learning tailoring and being a good mother and wife. All became mothers and wife as teenagers.
“Here, once a girl becomes pregnant, she is expected to identify the boy or young man that is responsible. The girl’s family thus organises a marriage ceremony and sends the girl off to live with the boy as his wife, and if he is still with the parents, she goes to live with them”, said Mariam Kusika, 24, mother of three and herself a victim of child marriage.
The only snag, she added, is when the boy denies and the baales (local chiefs) would wade in. “But most times the girl’s parents are not disposed to keeping her and would quickly ‘dispose’ of her ‘free of charge’ to any willing person alongside her pregnancy. We have seen so many of such cases here,”said Mrs. Kusika, who, after learning from her mistakes, is now hoping to go back to school later this year, and currently earning a variety of skills and running a girl empowerment club.
Paulina Vigan, a trader and mother of one of the pregnant and hastily married Makoko girls, corroborated Kusika’s claims. Her daughter is fourteen years old. And she has no regrets.
‘My daughter is very stubborn,’ she said, her forehead furrowed in a blend of anger and grief. ‘I thank God the parents of the boy who impregnated her accepted and took her in. Our traditions has no room for unwanted pregnancies and the boy who impregnated her is just about 17 years and in JSS Two. If they had refused, I would have sent her far away where nobody knows her until she gives birth or better still, give her and her unborn child to an old man, who might be willing to take her in as the third or fourth wife so as to reduce the stigma. Besides tradition, I couldn’t even have coped because I am just a poor trader and my business is not generating much profit and she has siblings I still have to fend for. I am so sad that she can’t go back to school again, if I had the money, I would have wanted her to become very educated, because I really liked her’.
‘’Child marriage has serious negative consequences for these girls,’ says Bimbo Oshobe, a community worker in Makoko. ‘Besides the health implications due to their unripe bodies, we have discovered that many of these child marriages don’t last because most times both the husbands and wives are too young and inexperienced and therefore unable to handle so many issues. Sometimes too, some of these men are even old enough to be their fathers’, she added. Oshobe advised the Lagos State Government, rather than being detached, to carry out sensitization program or partner with grassroots ngos that would reach the people with the relevant messages and orientation.
Adewale Akintimehin, 74, a retired police officer who has lived in Makoko since 1963, echoes Oshobe’s complaint. ‘The politicians come every four years with promises but we hardly see any of them fulfilled. And, when we demanded to know why, they would either say ‘Rome was not built in a day’, or that they were not the ones in the office in the previous term,’ he said, downcast. Akintimehin however hoped that ‘this Ambode regime would be better than the last one in terms of education’.
“We have seen girls of 14, 15, 16 years, some even 13 getting married here,” he said. Once they are physically developed, they want to identify with a man, or when they are asked to repeat a class,” he stressed. He also blamed the trend of negligence on the parts of some of the parents and peer pressure.
Education pays; Akintimehin and his daughter Ibukun at the airport in Finnland
A respected, outspoken community leader and founding member of the influential The Act of Apostle Church in the locality, Akintimehin said the church and community leaders were working towards reducing the rate of teenage pregnancy and child marriage by encouraging school enrolment.
‘We are now preparing for the annual ‘Makoko Day’ and one of the features of that day is the donations of free WAEC forms to both our boys and girls who are ready and who have passed through some tests to be administered’, he revealed, insisting that things would have been better had government been more attentive.
Amidst the challenges, Akintimehin is highly celebrated in Makoko as being an exemplar in promoting girl child education. By ensuring his first daughter, 44 year-old Ibukun Elizabeth delay marriage and obtain a university degree, he is happier and prouder for it. Ibukun now has a Master degree and lives happily with her husband and two children in Finland and invites her father for occasional holidays. Even in absentia, she remains a Makoko ‘girl hero’.
Abdullahi, a youthful leader of the bustling Hausa community in Agege Pen Cinema area and graduate of the Lagos State Polytechnic, spoke in the same vein. ‘They are so many children here, both boys and girls that are not in school. No government official has ever engaged us to know what is happening here or to try and enrol them in school’ he told this reporter in the office of the Seriki, local chief of the market. The Hausa population here, constituting itinerant traders, artisans and sometimes beggars has increased astronomically since the on-going insurgency particularly in the North East. By all calculation, with lack of education and government’s interest, many of the girls there who currently hawk fura da nunu (cow milk) around the railway side market risk being married off early.
A lot more sensitization, enforcement of law needed
Several attempts in the course of three weeks, to interview the Lagos State Commissioner for Women Affairs and Poverty Alleviation (WAPA), Mrs. Lola Akande , failed. However, a source at the Lagos State Ministry of Women Affairs and Poverty Alleviation (WAPA) who craves anonymity insisted that the government was trying its best in ‘responding to the cases as they happen.’ ‘The fact that armed robberies happen does not mean the police doesn’t exist’. He urged affected persons to report to the nearest police station as the stations are now armed with human rights and family units.
He further pointed at the Lagos Child Rights Law 2007 which made profuse provisions outlawing child marriage. Also, only in February, he added, the state launched a well-publicised campaign titled ‘Ending Violence Against Children in Nigeria: Priority Actions: Lagos State’, which is was a multi-sectoral response to the 2014 Nigeria Violence Against Children Survey. The launch campaign has the backing of UNICEF, USAID, US Centre for Diseases Control and Prevention and other agencies.
However, Princess Olufemi-Kayode, a child’s rights activist and anti-rape expert and Executive Director of Media Concern for Women and Children (MEDIACOM), argued that government needs to do a lot more if child marriage must become history in Lagos State. “Just like the rest of the states that have passed the 2003 Child Rights Act, the issue is about enforcement”, she said.
Olufemi-Kayode also blamed lack of communication between government and the masses, especially the uneducated. ‘How much of information about such laws do the general public have? Even the police that are supposed to enforce the law don’t even have the necessary information.’ She advised the government to embark on massive public awareness including exploring the use of local languages that are accessible to the masses in addition to utilising such medium of mass communication as the ubiquitous and effective radio. ‘Child marriage is rape by another name because these girls are minors. It disrupts their lives and we must do everything to stop it,’ she added.
According to Victoria Ibezim-Ohaeri, a human rights lawyer and Executive Director of Spaces for Change, an ngo, girl marriage anywhere in Nigeria is a pointed violation of the rights of children and of country’s constitution.
‘The Nigerian Constitution puts the statutory age of adults at 18. Anyone lower than that is a minor and cannot give consent, and marriage is a decision that requires consent and consent cannot be given by a minor,’ she said.
Victoria Ibezim-Ohaeri, Executive Director, Spaces for Change; ‘Child marriage is unconstitutional’.
For citizens below the age of 18, the Constitution imposes certain obligations on states to protect their interests and welfare. Section 17 (3)(f) of the 1999 Constitution requires states of the federation to direct their policies towards ensuring that children, young persons and the aged are protected against any exploitation whatsoever, and against moral and material neglect.
Keep in mind that the child rights legislations follow the tenor of the Constitution. Child Rights Act criminalizes having carnal knowledge of a child below the age of 18. This has been interpreted to mean that 18 years is the legal age of consensual sex in Nigeria. Child Rights Act applies in twenty-four (24) states of the federation (including Lagos) and the Federal Capital Territory.
‘The fact is that though Lagos is a rapidly urbanising and metropolitan society, we must know that Nigeria is basically a cultural society. The traditions and religious practices and dispositions have a great influence over people and so even when come to Lagos or other big cities, those cultures still guide and inform their private lives,’ she added.
Echoing Olufemi, Ibezim-Ohaeri maintained that the Lagos State needs to enforce the Child Rights Act it so vigorously passed to safeguard children within its territories.
‘Having a law is a good step but people being aware and the government enforcing the law is another thing. The enforcement mechanism of the state needs to develop to a stage where it can enforce all the provisions of the Child Rights Act. They have taken some steps like setting up family courts but a lot of gaps need to be filled. Public education can play a major role. The people need to be sensitised as to the risk they put their daughters through. They need to know they are putting their daughters’ life, health, education, and futures at risk, I believe they will consciously make the decision not to marry out their daughters. They get to need to get to that level of consciousness so they can make informed decisions about their daughters’ futures.’
Charles Oruru, father of the 14-year-old Ese, who was allegedly abducted and forcefully married by Kano-born Yunusa Dahiru (aka Yellow), has said he has no child outside wedlock.
Mr Oruru, who spoke in his Opolo home in Yenagoa, the Bayelsa State capital, told our reporter that his family would not terminate Ese’s pregnancy.
The police are prosecuting Yunusa at a Federal High Court in Yenagoa, on five counts of abduction, illicit sex and unlawful carnal knowledge, among others.
Oruru, who said the family was delighted that the case had gone to court, said Ese’s pregnancy was of primary concern to the family.
He said: “We are not going to tamper with her pregnancy because that is my grandchild. I have instructed my wife to take care of that pregnancy. Whatever child Ese is carrying will be a great child. The child will one day become the President of this country.”
Oruru blasted those doubting that his wife, Rose, is Ese’s biological mother.
He described them as mischief makers.
There were insinuations in some quarters that Ese was Oruru’s love child and that her biological mother lived in Delta State.
Others even claimed that Ese once nursed the idea of running away from home to live with her mother before she escaped with Yunusa to Kano.
But some of the Orurus’ neighbours debunked the insinuations, insisting that Ese is among Rose’s favourite daughters.
A neighbour, who spoke in confidence, said: “Ese was close to her mother. She was always the one helping her mother in her canteen; maybe that was what exposed her to the Hausa, including Yunusa, who came there to eat.
“I consider her the kind of child who believes her mother is suffering and does everything possible to help her. Before going to school, she would come to the canteen and return after school hours because that is where they always eat their food.”
Asked about the controversy on Ese’s mother, Oruru said Rose gave birth to all his children.
He said he never kept another woman outside wedlock, adding that Rose was pregnant with Ese when he married her traditionally.
Brandishing a picture of her expectant wife during their traditional marriage, he said: “Ese was born around 2002, after my traditional marriage to my wife on December 28, 2001. My wife was heavily pregnant during the traditional wedding.
“Ese was born at home because the labour started late at night – around 1am – and there was no means of transportation to take us to hospital. So, my wife asked me to hold her, that she would deliver inside our house.
“Moreover, my wife was a trained nurse and she worked in Lagos for so many years. So, Ese was delivered without even our neighbours knowing about it. It was not until they heard the cry of a baby in the morning they got to know about it. That was when we were staying at Yenezuegene-Epie. Our last born, a boy, was born in 2005.”
Oruru narrated how Rose gave birth to all his children.
He said: “My first daughter, Patricia, was born on October 14, 1991. The second daughter was born in Lagos in 1993; we later lost her. So, you see we normally gave a gap of two years among our children.
“We came back to Ughelli, Delta State, in 1996. On March 3, 1997, my wife gave birth to another baby girl; we named her Faith. Onome was born in 1999, that is two years later.
“I am not in women’s business; I don’t know how to do that. I have no child outside wedlock. People can say whatever they like.
“We gave our children the best of training. If my wife was maltreating Ese and she disappeared because of that, how would she be the same person crying and going all over the place to find her?”
Oruru warned that the abduction case should not drag for a long time, adding that many minors had disappeared the same way as his daughter.
He said: “My family is happy about everything. Right from Abuja, they pulled the hijab she wore. Ese was even telling my wife that she would tear it, but I told my wife to keep it as an evidence. We bought clothes for her. She is happy now.
“I am happy and grateful. I needed my daughter back and God brought her back. I am not the owner of the children; I am only a caretaker.
“If it was God that took her, it would have meant that God took her. But for this one – someone just came and took away my daughter in broad daylight – it shouldn’t have happened that way.”
Congratulations seem to be in order, superstar musician, songwriter, and performer; Ayodeji Ibrahim Balogun, stage name Wizkid, now has another child. Wiz as he is popularly called is no stranger to controversy. The single father of a five-year old boy is reported to have recently welcomed another son by another lady. The new baby mama who goes by the name Binta Diallo seems to be enjoying the fame, as she recently posted pictures of herself showing off her baby bump on Instagram. The father has, however, refused to comment, preferring to keep mum; neither denying nor confirming reports of a second child outside wedlock.
However, unconfirmed reports have it that Diallo, the mother of Wizkid’s purported second son, is a U.S.-based Guinean model and a close friend of popular reality star and vixen, Natalie Nunn.
Recall that the multi-talented Caro crooner fathered his first child, Boluwatife, at 21, with an undergraduate student named Oluwanishola Ogudugu. Although he did not accept Boluwatife’s paternity at the time, as he had, at various times, denied having a child until a DNA test put paid to the issue. The singer accepted paternity in 2013 when he uploaded photos of the then two-year-old Boluwatife on Instagram.
In the wake of the controversy surrounding the birth of the new born baby, Tania Omotayo, Wizkid’s long term girlfriend, is said to have ended the relationship. In a press release by List Entertainment, Wizkid’s management, it was confirmed that the former couple had ended their relationship.
They said: “News getting to us is that Tania broke up with Wiz a while ago, but both parties agreed to be friendly towards each other. Nonetheless, she kept her distance from him, and missed a lot of his events, and performances over the Christmas holidays. She went on vacation with her friends in Dubai during his industry night event. Wizkid was probably trying to win her back when he tweeted “T baby forever” sometime ago, perhaps he was trying to work things out”.
As to whether or not the new dad has accepted paternity, they said, “Wiz still hasn’t confirmed any news about him having another child…We know he’s single and he’ll be releasing his EP next month.”
The last has not been heard of the child abduction saga between the family of popular singer, David Adeleke, (aka Davido) and Dele Momodu, publisher of Ovation magazine, as the former, yesterday, released a pathology report showing that the mother of his child, Sophia Momodu, tested positive to cannabis.
The artiste uploaded a scanned copy of the purported medical report from Clina-Lancet Laboratories on Instagram, sparking fresh rounds of reactions from followers.
Last week, the news media was awash with tales of how the musician’s family had talked Sophia into releasing her breast-sucking child, Imade, for medical examinations, but later suspected she had been tricked, as plans to fly the child out of the country was aborted by immigration at the airport.
Sophia’s lawyer had filed a petition against the Adeleke family for alleged abduction of the child, accusing the singer of planning to travel to the United States with the baby without her mother’s consent. The petition was addressed to the Director General of the National Agency for the Prohibition of Trafficking in Persons (NAPTIP).
Perhaps to prove that his family’s intend was indeed for medical reasons, Davido came out with Sophia’s medical report. The medical report has a footnote which reads; “Sophia’s test that shows for cannabis aka Indian hemp or marijuana which she passed to the baby through breast milk or as second hand smoke.”
But some of the fans who reacted to the post felt that if there was any medical report of the baby with trace of the drug, that could have been more appropriate for the singer’s claim.
In the same vein, spokesperson of the Momodu family, Dele Momodu, is of the view that the medical report does not hold water. Speaking to The Nation, he said that since the case has been taken to court, he is constraint to say much.
“Sebi he sent you report. Do you know what the other people have? If you go to court for example, you will have your own documents; the other people will have their own document so there is no hurry. If they’ve invited both parties, when we get there, we will see the documents. When we get there, we will see whether they are false. I’m not allowed to speak on it. The lawyers are already involved,” he said.
On whether they will be pressing fresh charges, Momodu said: “I don’t know what the lawyers will decide. That is why I can’t comment on the issue. The Adelekes are free to do whatever they want. I think what they are trying to do is to justify what they did but once they were accosted at the airport, it was no longer within my control.”
Sophia Momodu’s lawyer, Gbolaga Ajayi, has also insinuated that the medical report circulating on the internet is a suspicious document.
Speaking with The Nation, Ajayi said; “we are seeing that report for the first time, therefore it is hard for us to verify its genuineness. In Nigeria, people fabricate documents from everywhere. So that document itself is suspicious to us because the lady involved, our client, has never been given that medical report before. Curiously, no competent medical laboratory will give your report to a third party without giving you at least a copy.”
Ajayi however said that if indeed the report is correct, the public circulation is a violation of his client’s privacy. “We know the meaning of that in the law. The legal implication is very grave. It is very grave both on the part of the party that did it and the party that solicited for it. Three, there is no place in that report that I’ve seen thus far where any issue of cannabis use by our client having effect on the baby was mentioned,” he added.
There are indications that, going by the incident of the purported medical report, Davido might face a separate suit bothering on the civil right of Sophia. “It is an abuse and rape of somebody’s right to privacy. It is a constitutional issue. Our reaction to it will be in line with what the civil law demands,” Ajayi stated.
There is no gainsaying that the issue of marriage between Davido and Sophia is not in the equation, but what many are concerned about his the attempt to forcefully separate mother and child in a controversial manner.
Davido has said that Sophia’s pregnancy came as an accident, as he was not ready to be a father yet.
According to him, “when the second trimester of Sophia’s pregnancy was closing, she announced that she was in the family way. My mind was bemused, and so was my soul confused. But I quickly realised that nothing more could be done to alter my status as a father-to-be. I knew that I was not ready to be a dad. Still, I adjusted myself to the realities of my new situation and the consequences of my past personal indiscretions. I made the determination that I was going to be a good dad. I also reasoned that my blunder is not enough pretext to make me a husband. I was just 21. And so I decided to be a responsible dad without being husband to the mother of my baby. I never was in love with Sophia neither was marriage ever in the offing,” he posted alongside the photograph.
It’s so painful how we fail to recognise the fact that we are the cause of our own miseries; even though we tend to blame some factors for working against us and as such causing problems in our lives. In spite of the outcryby human right bodies, we still find some heartless, callous and cruel people in our society who have no appreciation for the rights of others. These people are still found in the act of maltreating children, mostly maids or children of other people.
In this technologically advanced age, we still find people who are victims of the brutality and nasty tinge of the past. Maltreatment is an act of the past, and should remain so. Why on earth should we abuse the dignity and rights of others? What pleasure do we gain from making life worthless for others? It is hard to comprehend why some sadists are fond of this barbaric attitude.
A girl walked up to me in tears one morning; her eyes were swollen. I inquired to know what was wrong. At first I got no reply. The girl in question kept mumbling things I could not understand. “Calm down, talk to me what’s wrong” I pestered. She told me her madamplaced a heavy curse on her for nothing.She said she had done all she had to do – sweeping, and other chores as instructed, only for her to return from her journey to start cursing her over not taking proper care of her children. She wallowed in her tears while pointing at the children who looked smart in their suave wears, dinning happily. I wondered what sort of care she could have rendered differently from what I had seen. From her account, the madam had done pretty nastier things to her in the past but the poor girl was too emotional to hold the false claim that morning.
Obviously, her madame just wanted to display her ego because I did not seem to comprehend the reason why one would decide to frustrate a young girl who had stood the gap while her boss was away. I also had this type of people as neighbours while growing up. So their modus operandi is nothing new to me. A particular experience comes easily to mind. They had this hefty boy as houseboy. He would do virtually everything in the house; even tasks naturally designated to ladies. Whenever one sees this chap, he was always humping from one chore to the other. It was shocking to learn that he fled that home in frustration. Knowing how b ad his condition had been, I had no empathy for the family which bore the brunt of his absence. After all, who wants to live to be maltreated like a piece of rag?
Unfortunately, the dictionary meaning of maltreatment is even small compared to what some get as the share of what life throws at them. Why should this menace continue to grow in our society?We hurt ourselves thinking we are hurting others. Life is the best of judges; it pays everyone according to how they treat their fellow humans. It rewards every seed sown; good or bad.
A video footage went viral sometimes ago. A housemaid poured her venom on a little baby in her care. She stepped on the baby like someone marching on a carcass. Beyond the public outcry, one fact we could not deny was the cruelty of the human mind; its capacity for evil and destruction.
How can one be that heartless to hurt a baby who cannot speak for himself? Why the callousness? That I could not provide the answer. Was her action an offshoot of revenge? Perhaps to fight back her boss who must have sullied and insulted her humanity? If the lady was treated well would she take revenge for nothing?
At the end, my conclusions were simple. Parents who maltreat another people’s children are doing so at the detriment of their own children. If those who stay with us are treated badly, they sometimes have a way of repaying their maltreatment. The lady who took revenge on her boss’s child went too far, and of course there are better ways to resolve issues rather than take the law into one’s hand.
The act of maltreating others – especially disadvantaged kids from troubled homes – is one thing that should be fought to a standstill. It is a menace that should be given no breathing space in our society. We should provide reporting structures and platforms for victims. They must not be allowed to die away in their silence. The world must rise against this evil. The time is now.
They say count your blessings one by one and see what God has done for you. That seemed to be the song on the lips of Mr. Amaju Melvin Pinnick, President of Nigeria Football Federation(NFF), on a quiet evening as we sat for a rendezvous at the expansive lobby of Sheraton Miramar Hotel in Vina Del Mar, Chile. By the way, Sheraton Miramar is an architectural masterpiece that is reportedly built on an outcropping of bedrock and nestled on the beach. Its relaxing ambiance brings you face-to-face with the awesomeness of creation; and fresh air cascades through the space and what a perfect place for Pinnick to finally let down his guard in an exclusive interview with MORAKINYO ABODUNRIN.
Of course, I’m a destiny child,” said Pinnick, barely 24 hours before he raised aloft the FIFA Under-17 World Cup trophy after the Golden Eaglets wrought a record fifth title following a 2-0 win over Mali at the Estadio Sausalito on November 8.”A destiny child is a destiny child, and I’m a destiny child because of so many things that have happened to me.”
Born in 1971 into the large family of the late Chief Oritsetimeyin Japheth Pinnick, the immediate past chairman of Delta State Football Association is the fifteenth child in a family of nineteen children and the last child of his mother-Madam Rebecca Ayomike.
“I’m alive today by the special grace of God,” Pinnick said about his close-shave with death. “Years back, I was involved in a near-fatal domestic accident and I was also involved in a robbery attack with my vehicle bullet-ridden; but to the glory of God, I survived.
“Every day, I give glory to God for all what he has given to me; I have a wonderful family that has always been the focus of my attention.
“I have a wonderful wife; a beautiful woman that has been a pillar behind me and I have four adorable children. Not many know we recently added another one to make it four.
“Of course, you can also say I’m a destiny child because I was actually looking at the NFF as a long term project but here we are today, all due to the glory of God,” Pinnick stated as we rounded off a lively session which focused mostly on life as NFF President as well as the erroneous perception of his personality by some. Excerpts.
Challenges facing NFF
It has not been that easy because I came into office during a turbulent period in the history of Nigerian football. Even after we came into office, there were alleged issues and litigation regarding my election; and not until recently (about four months ago) that some of those issues were resolved. The Court of Arbitration for Sports (CAS) has affirmed my leadership. But by and large, we have been working and our mission is to put in place sustainable football culture which has long been missing in our set up. Part of the things we have done was the training and retraining of our referees; training of our technical people and some former players in the aspect of reading and analysing matches.
Generally, there has been improvement in the standard of the league all due to the huge investment we made in the training of our referees which we would hopefully do again at the end of the season. We are taking the issue of refereeing seriously and anyone that is not up to the standard we are looking for would be blacklisted. Apart from the league, Nigerian referees are now being sought after on the continent. I can’t remember the last time a Nigerian referee was at the African Cup of Nations as one of the officials; this is part of the gains from the training of the referees. It paid off because we now have our referees at all levels of CAF competitions and we even had some at the Beach Soccer World Cup. We have so many other things we are looking at; we have already done the match analysis training which would improve the standard of coaching. Our new approach and focus is to use technology as much as we can in harnessing the development of the game in the country.
Another practical step is securing sponsorship for our twin development programme; the Under-13 and 15, which will start very soon. This is a programme that would start across the states to each geo-political in order for us to pick and tap players from the grass roots. I believe the players to be chosen for the Under-15 would be the bedrock for the next national U-17 team.
Coach Emmanuel Amuneke will be retained as the U-17 coach and he will be a member of the technical study group (TSG) that would scout for these players. We will create competitions for these players so that they can become better as they progress from one level to the other. The ones who are also spotted but can’t make it to the national level will be encouraged to go to Nationwide League clubs as part of their growing process.
One year in office
We are just one year in office and under one year we are going to win everything. Can anyone tell me the last time England won any major championship despite the fact that they have the richest football culture in the world? Even some of other proud footballing countries like Holland… people should not put us undue pressure. Rather, they should appreciate the fact that we are creating a sustainable football culture that would in due course make Nigeria to be ranked at least the first 20 best ranked football countries in the world. We need to be given some credit for what we have been able to do under a short spell; we have been able to get top grade matches for the Super Eagles at every available FIFA free days and other national teams have well been taken care of despite our difficult situation. We are not going to be distracted from our set objectives as we are doing the best to build on the successes recorded by the previous regime because football administration is a continuous process. Success is not a one-day, one-year and not even four-year thing but a systematic planning for continuous success and this is one thing I had known since my days in Delta State.
Football administration is not about magic but it is only in Nigeria that people expect magic and want you to perform miracle to achieve success. How many people have sat down to look at how the NFF is being funded? We have 11 national teams and all of them need immediate attention but how many care about how to support us so that we can be successful on all fronts? What we need from Nigerians is encouragement and their goodwill all the time.
Football and economy
Nigeria is one of the biggest brands in the world and we must make it work, though the economy is relatively low now. This invariably impacts on football since most companies that would have assisted us do not have good balance sheet. We have a target; the board and my two vice-presidents have been very supportive in this regard and they believe in my leadership. That is the more reason you can see that there is a bond between us since we see ourselves as family members; and I’m really excited about that.
Super Eagles and sponsorships
We write to keep things under wrap until we are ready to come out with sponsorship announcement. For instance, there is a package in the Nike contract that would give us some financial cushion when any of our teams wins a major tournament. In the last four or five years or so, Nigeria is one of the most successful teams in Africa, yet Adidas walked away. In fact, Adidas people didn’t want to even see me and I wonder what the problem was really. Puma told me point blank that ‘they were ready to sell their jerseys and equipment to us at discounted rate; of which I told the chairman of Puma that was an insult. We eventually got Nike and they were really excited with the performance of the Golden Eaglets at the FIFA U-17 World Cup in Chile. As you know, there is a rivalry between all these big brands and Nike was happy that the Golden Eaglets made them the number one brand at the U-17 World Cup.
Between Nigeria’s national teams and Arsenal
How will you say something like that…that most people feel I’m much more passionate about Arsenal than Nigeria’s national teams? Morakinyo, I’m not sure people are saying something like this. I can’t tell you that I don’t support Arsenal; in fact, I support them proudly but it doesn’t disturb my passion for Nigerian football. My take in all of this is that I cherish people who support football in the best way they can irrespective of where the football is. When Alhaji Aliko Dangote said he wanted to buy Arsenal, how many Nigerians said he should go and buy Kano Pillars or Rangers of Enugu?
Before I became the NFF President, I have been a season ticket holder at Arsenal for the past six years and everybody close to me knows my passionate love for Arsenal. My love for Arsenal has been very long and long before the arrival of Nwankwo Kanu at the club since the days of late David Rocastle, Iain Wight, David O’Leary. Kanu’s arrival at the club in the 1990s was an icing on the cake for me. At some point, people were calling them ‘boring Arsenal’, but Coach Arsene Wenger changed all of that when he arrived at the club. You enjoy watching football by watching Arsenal. It is always a pleasure watching them and that is one of the reasons I’m so in love with Arsenal. But I can never relegate any of our national teams for the sake of Arsenal. Recently, when Arsenal was involved in a crucial game, I was in Ibadan to watch a Nigerian Premier League match between Shooting Stars and Rangers. I know what it takes to be the president of Nigeria Football Federation and I’m not going to negotiate that with Arsenal. Being NFF president doesn’t stop me from supporting Arsenal but I will, and I can, never relegate any of our national teams. It is not everything you do, you must explain.
My adorable family
I have a beautiful wife and four children that need my attention all the time but they also know that I’m here on service. I have a thriving business and I’m into the marine business. My presence could have added more to the business but being out here would affect the business no matter how little, because every thriving business needs the input of the owner. This is the kind of sacrifices so many of us are making in the service for football because of the love I have for Nigeria. Everybody knows how passionate I’m about Nigeria; and I’m one person who has a passion to succeed in whatever I’m doing. People should just encourage us and give us a pat on the back and criticise us objectively when it is needed. But some criticisms are in bad light and it makes me think if I really needed the job. Yes, I know being the NFF President is a hot seat but then some criticisms are just off the course. We haven’t said we don’t want to be criticised, but criticisms should be objective and instructive but not destructive. Criticisms should be advisory and not alienate …do they know the kind of damage they inflict when they say ‘the NFF is corrupt?’ Certainly, God has blessed me beyond my imaginations right from my humble beginning and everyone knows I’m not here because of the money I want to make. But the moment you say an institution is corrupt, no responsible company wants to do business with such an establishment. So how do we want to be funded; waiting for government?
Government has other competitive challenges and we can get much support from companies but the companies can hardly do anything if the story they keep reading or hearing is that of a corrupt institution. Rather than spoiling the collateral value of the institution, people should come forward and engage us in productive discussion in order to move Nigerian football forward. It is as a result of this that we brought Pricewater House which is very strong in terms of probity and integrity to come and work with us at the NFF. Everything we are doing is a gradual process and step by step, we shall get to the Promised Land
How I made money
I understand that people wrote a petition and all they wanted to know is how I made money. Right from my undergraduate days at the University of Benin, I used to organise the best and the biggest shows on the campus. The first musician I brought to UNIBEN was Sir Shina Peters and that was 25 years ago in 1990; and we spent N25,000 and after the show, we made N96,000. Shina Peters gave me N5,000 and I still have a copy of that cheque till tomorrow…I saved the money. We also brought Fela and others. I don’t want to go into all these. I have a tough beginning though I didn’t come from a poor background with due respect. My dad was appreciably okay though he passed on when I was 12; my mum took over the leadership of the house and by the grace of God we are okay today. The truth is that, it’s not everybody that must like you but we have tried not to be distracted; and remain focus at placing Nigeria on the pedestal it’s supposed to be.
Arrogance! What arrogance?
I’m not an arrogant person but it is unfortunate when people who don’t even know me think that way. But that is a wrong perception about me. Take for instance, you have seen how the DGS, Dr. Emmanuel Ikpeme, and I have been relating here because we even address ourselves on first name basis, but I’ve known Dr. Ikpeme for a very long time and we both have mutual respect for one another. I respect people; I’m a very simple person because I was brought up with the fear of God. My countenance does not depict the kind of person I’m inside. You can ask members of my board and they will tell you I’m a radically different person from the erroneous perception of people who are not close to me. I’m down to earth; I play with people and keep my traditional friends; make new friends because no man is an island unto himself. I’m confident about myself and maybe that is what some people call arrogance. But I’m appreciative of Nigerians and I have received commendations from a lot of people. I went to a gas station in Lagos and I was shocked when a man walked to me and said “I really like your leadership style and please let me pay for your fuel.” That was in Falomo in Lagos…so being a Pinnick as President of the NFF is something but I still relate with people.
My style
Everybody close to me knows I like good things; and love to look simple and good as well. This life is brief and you must enjoy it as much as you can, but bring Godliness to bear at every point in time. I just look for what is trendy and go for it. I love Tom Ford, if that is the kind of thing you are talking about. I like made-to-order suits and it takes about three months to make suits for me. I have other local designers too, but, basically, I just love looking good all the time.
Last word on Emmanuel Amuneke
I think there is no single word to describe Amuneke based on the kind of work and the manner he went about it with the Golden Eaglets. He is somebody who is cool, calm and calculative; he is focused and he knows exactly what he wants. I believe he still has so much to offer Nigeria especially at the cadet level. Look at what he has been able to do within a short while which is very remarkable because he did it with no noise. His demeanour is calm which was attested to by everybody, even the people in FIFA. I don’t have a particular name to call him, rather I think he’s somebody Nigeria needs at this point in time.
