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  • Inside the forgotten IDPs’ camp

    Inside the forgotten IDPs’ camp

    It hosts Displaced Persons fleeing from Boko Haram insurgents, but unlike other camps, Kuka Reta (IDPs) site is neglected, writes DUKU JOEL

     

    Driving past on Damaturu-Maiduguri Highway in Yobe State, the camp is unmistakable. The makeshift rounded shacks built with hardly more than discarded polythene sheets or straw hint that the occupants are far from having fun. In heat, they are in danger; in wet weather, comfort is unimaginable.

    The Kuka-Reta camp lies just 15km from Damaturu, the Yobe State capital. Its occupants fled from Boko Haram militants and pitched their tents there. Thousands of internally displaced people from Yobe and Borno states have been sheltering at Kuka-Reta in the most difficult of circumstances.

    The challenges of IDPs in other camps are well documented, but for those at Kuka-Reta, life seems a bit worse. They are on their own without any government presence.

    The Village Head of Kuka Reta, Alhaji Lawan Babagana said the camp was built by the IDPs themselves.

    He said, ”We decided to accept them here because they are our brothers. We speak the same language; we are from the same state. Borno and Yobe are the same so we are brothers. If we cannot accept them here, where would they run to?”

    Records indicate that over 127 villages from Borno and Yobe are taking refuge in this community with an explosive population of over 20,000 people including children.

    “Most of the people you are seeing here are from Kaga, Damboa, Benishiek, Gujba local government areas of Borno and Yobe State who ran out of their villages to settle in this place because of this Boko Haram wahala. There are over 127 villages that are in this place with a population of more than 5000 people in this village,” Lawan Babagana explained.

    A visit to the camp turns out to be more revealing and troubling as the people are crying for neglect from the two states governments of Borno and Yobe with the Federal Government not left out.

    One of the IDPs said, “The only governor that I know is the village head of Kuka-Reta who we always run to for help since we came into this village.“

    While their counterparts in Maiduguri and Damaturu are given at least some basic human needs like food and shelter, the story of Kuka-Reta is a complete opposite as the camp is devoid of any basic amenity.

    Like every other Boko Haram IDP, most of the displaced people at Kuka Reta scampered out of their communities without any contingency of food in place. Consequently getting a meal in the camp is hard for most families. Many of the families barely feed. A housewife at the camp told me that a small loaf of bread to them can save a lot of lives.

    Water is one major challenge faced by the displaced people. The only borehole that hitherto provides water to the original Kuka-Reta community is now being over-stretched just as it cannot satisfy the growing water need of the explosive population of humans and animals. The people have now resorted to drinking pond water hitherto meant for animals.

    There are also challenges in hygiene and access to health services, which is why the IDPs there, especially children, are frequently ill.

    Bad hygiene practices and lack of sanitation has made the IDPs vulnerable to cholera and other diseases. The absence of quality food, drugs and potable drinking water couple with hunger and  starvation is causing chronic and acute malnutrition to many of the children in the camp. Lack of modern toilet facilities at the camp is leading to an impending cholera outbreak as the people make use of shallow pit-latrines very close to where they sleep.

    After battling for some months through the rainy season and the strong wind and sand storms, the IDPs are now faced with the extreme heat with few vegetation to provide shade. With the strong hamattan wind about to set in there is a likehood of high deaths in the camps especially for children and the aged.

    Surviving at the Kuka-Reta IDP camp is more painful for some who were wealthy in their communities before they came to Kuka-Reta.

    A housewife who identified herself as Aisha from Kadauri Village in Gujba Local Government of Yobe State said that her husband now feeds the family of five from cutting firewood in the bush to sell.

    “We ate  the last food we had in the morning. My husband has gone to the bush to cut firewood to sell. It is after the sale of the firewood that he gets money to buy some food for us. We hardly get three square meal since we left our village. Look at my children (pointing at some three children who were crying apparently of hunger); apart from what they ate in the morning, they will have to wait till evening when their father returns from the firewood business,” Aisha explained.

    Investigations revealed that several deaths have occurred at the camp but unrecorded as the people just pray for their loved ones and bury them. One classical case that this reporter saw was the case of a twin that was abandoned by an unknown mother. Though one of the twins died apparently for lack of good medical care, the surviving one who is named Zainab is also facing serious health conditions as she looks visibly malnourished.

    While the school on wheel programme, an educational drive of the UNICEF in conjunction with the Presidential Initiative on North East(PINE) to mop up the growing population of out of school children at the IDPs’ camps in the three affected states, many of the school aged children at the Kuka Reta Camp have no such facility or the benefit to enroll in school.

    Investigation revealed that more than half of  the only primary school in the community is being taken over as an accommodation facility for the IDPs. Classes 1,2,3 & 4 now sit in one class room while the remaining 5 & 6 stay in the remaining class room.

    Security is one aspect of the camp that the people have taken it upon themselves. Checks revealed that the Village Head of Kuka Reta together with the Heads of Household at the camp have established a self-recognition security watch task force which has arrested more than 20 Boko Haram that have either tried to sneak into the camp or came in and were fished out by the people themselves.

    “With my vigilante members and the kind of system we have put in place, it is very difficult for any bad person to come here and cause problems for us. All the heads of household can identify and bad person among us and we have been successful so far. About 20 Boko Haram who try to come and stay here for any reason have been caught or reported to the soldier. But our greatest thanks is to Allah who has made our place peaceful since the Boko Haram attacks,” Lawan Babagana informed.

    One organisation that has alerted the world of the plight of the Kuka Reta IDPs is the Muslims Right Concern (MURIC).

    MURIC in a statement by its Executive Director Prof. Ishaq Akintola which was made available to newsmen blew the whistle that about 3,000 Internally Displaced Persons (IDPs) in Yobe State are currently in serious danger.

    “MURIC is constrained to raise the alarm on the frightening situation in Kuka Reta IDP camp in view of the dangers inherent in the exposure of IDPs to such inhuman conditions.

    “Apart from hunger, starvation, malnutrition and the likelihood of deaths, diseases such as cholera and diarrhea are likely to spread within the camp” read the statement.

    “MURIC is confounded by the enormity of the danger and hardship to which IDPs in Kuka Reta camp are exposed. We condemn this culpable negligence on the part of the authorities. We therefore call on the Yobe State Government, the state’s arm of the National Emergency Agency (NEMA) and all aids groups in the state to address the issue with military dispatch”, the statement said.

    Investigation gathered that few days after the MURIC alarm, the National Emergency Management Agency (NEMA) went to Kuka Reta to give succor to the displaced people where they presented food and non-food relief materials to the people.

    Items distributed to the IDPs include; Rice, Millet, Maize, Guinea corn, Matrasses, vegetable oil, Palm Oil, Blankets and Detergents among others.

    The NEMA coordinator in Yobe state Alhaji Bashir Garga said the food and the non-food materials cost the Agency the sum of Five million naira.

    The Yobe State NEMA boss promised at the camp  that his agency will continue to respond to their  immediate needs  by providing food, shelter, and hygienic needs of the displaced in line with the internationally best practices.

    He noted that disaster management requires multi-dimensional and multi sectoral approval while seeking for collaboration from other partners in alleviating the sufferings of the people.

    Rising to her defence, Yobe State Emergency Management Agency (SEMA) also disclosed that state has not left the IDPs at the Kuka Reta camp as being speculated.

     

  • When she truly sees him inside and out

    FOR the first six months, Teniola could not really fathom what was going wrong in her relationship. Of course she knew that something was wrong but just did not know what it was.  Now that it is all over, the whole episode flows smoothly and now she knows that it was not meant to be from the outset. Flashing back, she discovered that she only got caught up in a flirtation that led to an affair.

    Why not! Having those unsuccessful trials, just anything would do. Thirsty, it was sweet sipping from the affectionate stream. It wasn’t clean and didn’t taste right, yet it was better than nothing at all. Relaxed, she allowed herself to imagine that this was love and it was better to be blind to all the inadequacies.

    It felt so good at the time and it all happened so quickly. This lovebird felt attractive, sexy, and alive for maybe the first time in years. Teniola allowed herself to get lost and just did not stop to consider the consequences of what she was doing. Now that she is back to reality, this heart wished she never made it this way because her heart has been disorganised more than ever.

    For some people, moving in and out of relationships can be real fun. For those in this category, life is simply sweet. They know how to manuevre themselves, having an easy time creating the kind of connection desired. Some great heart here understands the emotional environment and knows how to turn and transform a few typical “dates” into the beginning of an amazing relationship.

    Conversely, you also have those who are not as emotionally y gifted as the first set of hearts. Unfortunately, if you fall into this category, then you are likely to find it more difficult than you think it should be to find a great heart and go from the person just feeling “casual” about dating you to wanting and needing you on both a physical and emotional levels.

    Therefore, if you fall into the latter category, it is better to reorganise and restrategise to get better emotional results “to win the right man’s heart.” Interestingly those things that matter on the emotional roundtable are little details. They are the things that a lot of us do not talk about, but they are also the emotional ingredients that we just cannot do without. It is important to pay attention to these details because they can actually drive your partner wild when they recognise them and experience them in you.

    So, when you discover these details and put them to use in your love life, the right heart would melt for you and the person would always see you as that unique and special person that the heart just has to have and behold forever.

    Real men are mature and grounded on physical, mental, emotional, and spiritual levels. They might not have everything they want in their life. But they are on a great path and open to growing on a deeply personal level. If you are unlucky to fall into the hands of the opposite of a real man, then your heart would constantly be in a dilemma. Handing your heart over to a boy is the greatest disservice you can do to yourself. Unfortunately for those in this category, you may not discover the emotional tide that you are running against until it is too late.

    So, the next question that you are likely to ask yourself is how you know if what you have is a heart for a man or that of a boy. Well, the first thing you would notice is that a boy will become uncomfortable when he gets too close to his own emotions, or too close to a woman who truly sees him inside and out, for better and worse.

    The story, however, is different with a real man. This kind of heart certainly knows his emotional onions. It is a heart that knows who he is and will listen, learn, and communicate even when he sees or senses that the woman in his life is unhappy or disapproving of something about him or his actions.

    The things that will make a real man appreciate and admire a woman are often things that a “lesser” man would be annoyed, frustrated, or put off by.

    Understanding these issues means that we all need to appreciate people for their differences and relate with them appropriately. For a lot of women, you must know how to talk to a man about your feelings and needs.

    The easiest and most straightforward way for a man to engage in his emotions with you is by doing things with him that do not require talking, but allow you to be playful with him to dial up the emotional intensity to make him more attached to you.

    Not all men love sports or are great at them, and you might not like them either, but that’s not the point here. The point here is to play a sport with a man because it involves aspects of a “game”.

  • Inside Nigeria’s counterfeit market

    A huge industry has been built around the sales and marketing of inferior goods, especially fast moving consumer goods (FMCG), including everything from household appliances, electrical and electronics equipment, mobile phones, computer hardware and software and other related accessories. In this report, Ibrahim Apekhade Yusuf takes a look at concerted efforts by constituted authorities to address the menace 

    IN life, everything is a matter of choice. Whether you’re taking a decision of what to eat, drink, wear, or where to live, it all boils down to one thing: choice. Little wonder in most markets across the country, the price of any product depends largely on the disposable income of the prospective buyer. And the reason for this is not far to seek: inferior goods come cheap while superior goods come with a huge price tag.

    In the assertion of analysts, pricing is sadly the major economic consideration that has come to define the quality of products that can be readily available to whomever, wherever and whenever!

    Naturally, playing on the psyche of the rest of the society, especially those on the lower rung of the ladder, people have had to succumb to the nefarious activities of unscrupulous businessmen who deal on substandard products, all to the detriment of the unsuspecting consumers.

    A peep into Nigeria’s counterfeit market

    From Oluwole, Balogun, Ladipo, Jankara, Ikeja, Alaba International Market, Westminister in Apapa to Aba New Market, Ariara Market, Nnewi Market, Onitsha Main Market, Sabon Gari in Kano, to mention just a few, it is common knowledge that in those places you find genuine brand of any product side by side with their imitations. Here, you will find products of the original equipment manufacturers as well as those that have been cloned in such a way that their fakes are only visible to the trained eye.

    Why fake product persists

    In the view of some experts, the main reason for the proliferation of fake products is because of the complicity of some greedy Nigerian importers in saturating the markets with cheap, fake and substandard goods; and the ugly situation is exacerbated by some local manufacturers of products that fall short of international or national set standards.

    Stanley Amaechi holds the view and very strongly too that the weakest spot is the fact that the purchase of fake or substandard products could be linked to the poor status of the purchasers, because poverty cannot be separated from environment management.

    One way to stem the problem of fake and adulterated products, Amaechi said, is that “the government must show a lot of will in assisting in the development of technology to manufacture most of the goods imported which are also vulnerable to adulteration and counterfeiting.”

    Expert mirrors Nigeria’s counterfeit market

    Mr. Anthony Offor, a freight forwarder in Apapa Tin Can Island Port, Lagos, in an interview with The Nation, gave a bird’s eye view of the products which are being faked and the modus operandi of counterfeiters.

    “The most commonly counterfeited electrical products in the country as at today are wires, bulbs, especially the newly introduced energy-saving bright but hotless brands and appliances such as heaters and switches. It is always difficult to identify them without the necessary gadgets for electrical standardisations,” he said.

    Continuing, he said: “In terms of volume or the likely quantity of substandard electrical products being dumped into the country for local consumption, I must say that the quantity is gradually decreasing, to be honest, due to awareness and the relentless fights by the relevant agencies here in Nigeria and those of the countries where the fake products emanated from. If I may estimate the likely volume, I will put it at 13.7% and most of it comes in through the land routes and border. On the likely cost estimation, one can tentatively put it at 4.6billion naira annually.”

    As to how to find out when electrical goods are being counterfeited, Offor said: “As I said earlier, most of these counterfeited electrical goods enter the country through the land borders, not the sea or air ports. Of course, the local business communities work like a cartel. They are distributed through the usual distributions and sold in the open shops from where they get to the end users.

    “The actual percentage varies and depends on the type of products, but I can rightly say that out of 100%, about 35% is being utilised locally, with less than 300 per cent re-exported: 65% is also re-exported to various countries.

    “Remember, the above electrical products are under the regulatory purview of the Standard Organisation of Nigeria, and they have the necessary equipment and gadgets to detect them. This is why some of us still want both SON and NAFDAC back at the ports because some of the importers of those substandard products play smart with the producers, especially from China.

    “The responsibilities are being shared by the Nigeria Customs Services, SON and NAFDAC in ridding the Nigerian markets of counterfeited and substandard products by conducting surveillance checks and also carrying out market survey to detect the influx of fake goods in the country.

    “The main actions taken by the authorities are raiding the markets where the counterfeited products are sold, seizures are made and the goods are confiscated or burnt. But all these come through enforcement exercise which rises through surveillance and intelligence report to pursue resolutely government’s zero-tolerance against product counterfeiters because they are committed to the war against product counterfeiting.”

    Besides, he said, “The main obstacles faced by law enforcement is lack of adequate facilities and at times the investigation is hampered by the so called corrupt officials because the suspects usually try to manoeuvre their way to get out of the loopholes when they get caught in the act. I believe there should be change in the modus operandi, and government should endeavour to reduce the quantum of sub-standard products into the country.”

    A victim’s sad tale

    Mr. Adekunle Mattew (not real name) is not usually happy to recount his not-so-pleasant experience at Computer Village. Located within the Ikeja axis, Computer Village houses thousands of technology companies and phone shops and is acclaimed as the largest IT market in sub-Saharan Africa.

    Still seething with rage, Matthew who spoke with The Nation over the weekend recalled that sometime in 2008, he had gone to purchase some mobile phones, desktop computers and other related accessories for his wife, who had just accessed a small loan from her company’s cooperative, in order to set up a business centre.

    “We committed over half a million into the transaction. But unknown to us, most of the products we bought were inferior. From the desktop to the software, all were adulterated products. Barely one week after we set up shop, the computers crashed and the Microsoft software we purchased was also not genuine,” he recalled.

    Expatiating, he said, “Apparently convinced that we had a warranty for most of the products, I visited the shops we made those purchases from, but to my greatest surprise they said I had to pay extra if I was desirous of getting new products. But I insisted on a refund and that was when the trouble started.  I instituted a criminal case against them but the law enforcement agencies compromised. And after two years of foot-dragging, I had to withdraw the case at the end. It’s a sad experience I don’t usually want to recall.”

    Naturally, when news filtered in three years ago that the Lagos State government was set to relocate the popular Computer Village in order to decongest Ikeja, and ensure urban renewal, Matthew was one of those who heaved a sigh of relief.

    “The whole place is rowdy and unorganised, especially the manner in which various activities go on in the place, as touts have a free reign in the market and sometimes harbour criminal s too. So, it’s best if the market is relocated,” he said.

    But it never came to pass.

    No longer at ease with Nigeria’s counterfeit market

    From available statistics made available to The Nation, the Standard Organisation of Nigeria, SON, has so far arrested more than 80% of individuals who have been involved in the illicit trade of counterfeiting.

    Standards Organisation of Nigeria (SON), Nigeria Customs Services, and other sister agencies have been at the forefront of campaign to stem the tide of inferior goods in the system.

    Interestingly, their concerted effort is beginning to yield some dividends. As part of this campaign, the SON in company of heavily armed policemen clamped down on suspected fake phone dealers at the Computer Village market recently.

    Justifying the need for the raid, SON’s Head of Intelligence and Compliance Directorate, Mr. Bede Obayi, who briefed journalists after the raid, said the exercise was diligently carried out, following the surveillance team’s reports which indicated the influx of substandard phones into the market. He added that a handset dealer at Otigba Road, in the Lagos computer village, called Trinity Technologies and Communication Limited, came to SON and registered a brand called ‘H-Mobile’ phone, only for SON to discover thereafter that the company had embarked on the importation of different brands of handset other than the H-Mobile it registered with SON.

    “The company also imported a large quantity of unbranded handsets into the country and kept itself busy labelling them with marks of popular brands in the market, thereby deceiving the unsuspecting innocent buyers.”

    The Managing Director of the company, who apparently got wind of SON’s presence at his shop, took to his heels. However, two members of his staff are now helping SON and the police in locating his warehouse, where it is believed that he has a stockpile of the fake handsets, being a big time distributor of the product.

    However, Obayi expressed shock at the unholy attitude of the market leaders who instigated their boys to assault SON officials and the police with dangerous weapons during which the agency’s vehicles were destroyed.

    He said: “Our operation in the market was very smooth as our target was only the Trinity Technologies and Communication Limited shop and we requested other traders who converged around us to go about their businesses. Nobody was molested or insulted by our men and policemen attached to us, as we consulted with the police in charge of the market and they provided us with a place to park our vehicles.

    “Even their market leaders were informed about our operation in the market as SON and market associations in major markets across the country have been collaborating to rid markets of fake and substandard goods.

    “So, if Lagos computer village market association leaders are now collaborating with dealers in fake and substandard goods in their market, that will be the next thing the SON management has to decide on how to handle,” he concluded.

    NCC raises voice over the din

    Apparently miffed by the incidence of adulterated IT products in the country, the Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC) has urged men of the Nigerian Customs Service (NCS) to tackle the influx of fake and substandard mobile phones into the country.

    Speaking in Lagos recently, its Executive Vice Chairman/Chief Executive Officer (CEO), Dr Eugene Juwah, said the duties of the regulator do not extend to monitoring the importation of mobile phones, but type-approving and placing the list of the type-approved mobile phones on its website and availing the NCS of a copy too.

    According to him, the issue of fake/substandard mobile phones is complex as the phones find their way into the country through the various entry points.

    Experts have argued that aside factors, such as base transmission station (BTS) and metropolitan optic fibre cable (OFC) vandalism, the quality of service (QoS) problem in the country has been associated with interference arising from low and substandard mobile phones.

    He said: “Well, on the issue of phones, it is very difficult. We don’t control the import of phones. All sorts of phones come into the country.

    “NCC has always been in talks, discussion and information-sharing with the Customs Service and it is really their duty (to stop unbridled importation of mobile phones). They have our list of approved phones but phones come through smuggling and other means. You have to bear that in mind. A lot of the cheaper phones come through smuggling. The bigger phones such as Apple phones come through specific distributors and they come to the customs too. The small phones can contribute to the issue of QoS because they are not approved, they are not well manufactured and they come from the grey markets into Nigeria.”

    A rebuttal from a Chinese firm

    Meanwhile, a Chinese telecom equipment vendor, Huawei Technologies Limited, has extricated his home country from allegations of product counterfeiting.

    Rather, he blamed the erratic power supply from the national grid for the poor telecoms services in the country.

    Speaking during a courtesy visit to the headquarters of Vintage Press Limited, publishers of The Nation newspaper titles and Sporting Life, in Lagos, recently, the Managing Director, Huawei Technologies Limited, Nigeria, Mr. Pang Jimin, said as telecoms equipment vendors with network optimisation agreements with all the operators in the country, the recurrent issue of poor quality of service (QoS) has nothing to do with its equipment but more of the challenges the nation is having with the power sector.

    Jimin dispelled the insinuation that Chinese firms were manufacturing substandard equipment and shipping them to Nigeria and other third world countries, adding that its products are universal in quality and in every ramification.

    He said: “I think one of the major issues that you cannot compare this country with China or Europe is power. In China, there is no power failure. Here, there is always power failure and you know when one base transmission station (BTS) goes off, service quality will go down.”

    According to him, its range of mobile phones and other products are manufactured with no region or continent in mind, insisting that Huawei, as a global brand, does not collude with unscrupulous elements to mass-produce substandard products and ship to the local market for gains.

    As standard regulatory bodies, SON, NAFDAC et al, take the battle to product counterfeiters in the country, we wait with bated breath to see if they succeed.

  • Inside Akin Ambode’s mind

    ALTHOUGH he served in the Lagos State public service for 27 years rising to the peak of the mega city’s public service as a Permanent Secretary and Accountant General of the state, it is only lately that Mr Akin Ambode has hit the public spot light as a leading contender for the gubernatorial candidacy of the All Progressives Congress (APC) in the 2015 election. Of course, Ambode is only one of several worthy and competent aspirants seeking to fly the APC’s flag in Lagos come 2015. I was one of the anonymous guests at the recent public presentation of his book titled ‘The Art of Selfless Service’, which is a biographical account of his epochal public service career. Let me confess that I was not persuaded by the open endorsement of Ambode by the respected Oba of Lagos, His Royal Majesty, Rilwan Akiolu 1. I thought that Ambode’s rich academic pedigree and public sector management dexterity should be able to speak for him.

    This is not to say that Oba Akiolu’s endorsement is not a plus for Ambode given the immense clout of the monarch especially among the influential indigenous Lagos elite.

    However, it was while going through the 118 pages of the slim but powerful book that I encountered and was enthralled by the richness of Ambode’s mind, the quality of his philosophy of life and the depth of his commitment to his fellow human beings irrespective of tribe, tongue or faith. For instance, his reflections on his decision to quit the Lagos state public service at the height of his professional attainment, something quite rare in this part of the world, are most instructive and give an insight into the thoughtful and selfless Ambode persona. In his words on page 90 of the book, “I think you need to know what the story of your life is all about; what roads you have walked down, what victories you have won, those you have lost and what lessons you have learnt from victories and losses. You need to know what your strengths and weaknesses are and how they have shaped your life. You need to assess how many lives you have improved in whatever ways and how many you have empowered to be the best version of themselves, but above all, you need to know that your true value, your true wealth is measured not by the abundance of the material things you have gathered, but by the depth and quality of your humanity”.

    These are amazing reflections on the worth and purpose of life particularly within the context of our overly materialistic orientation which is responsible for the massive corruption and visionless governance that has

    led an otherwise richly endowed country like Nigeria into her current state of anomie. Without vision, it is said, a people perish. For too long we have been impoverished morally, spiritually and materially by leadership without vision; a leadership so absorbed with selfish personal aggrandisement that gives no heed to the public good. The great Dr Nnamdi Azikwe was inspired by the vision of an independent Nigeria, free from colonial bondage. Chief Obafemi Awolowo was motivated by the ideals of welfarism crystalized in policies such as free education, free health care and full employment for all. Mallam Aminu Kano was dedicated to the liberation of the talakawa from the oppressive feudal order of the north. Ahmadu Bello was obsessed with uniting the diverse peoples of the north and empowering them to catch up with the south in terms of western education and socio-economic development.

    What exactly is the vision, the guiding philosophy of most of those either elected or appointed to public office in Nigeria today? If our contemporary leaders were motivated by lofty ideals and selfless commitment to humanity, would our country be so pathetically hobbled by such monumental corruption as massive fuel subsidy fraud, kerosene subsidy scams, pension fund robbery, over $20 million oil revenue unaccounted for or a public officer spending over N10 billion on chartered flights in her junkets across the globe? And this within the context of mass poverty, pervasive hunger, decayed infrastructure, derelict health services, alarming unemployment, a virtually collapsed education sector and frightening level of insecurity. Here again, those who seek leadership positions can benefit from the following words of wisdom from Ambode: “It is so easy to focus solely on the self, its advancement and achievements and lose sight of everyone else, yes, even our most beloved ones. That makes us become so selfcentred that we turn into an idol that others worship and build their lives around. In the end we have no freedom but are bound by other peoples’ expectations of us. One becomes enslaved by one’s own egotistic appetite. The main task of life is to start early to find your concentric point of happiness and live your life around your happy settings, always having other people’s wellbeing in mind and living with integrity; every other thing that is good will attract itself to you”.

    For those who seek to lead us; who claim to offer themselves in selfless service for our common good, we must closely interrogate their vision and philosophy of life. We must compare their words with their lives and see if indeed they have over time walked their talk.

    One good thing about the Ambode book is that it contains interviews with several persons – men and women, high and low – who have worked with him over the years and they testify to a life that derives its happiness and joy from selfless service to others. But what exactly does Akin Ambode mean by selfless service? The answer is found in the prologue to the book (page xv) “…If we seek recompense for everything we do for others, imagine what we owe those who have done so much for us? Who can repay God for his manifold mercies that we enjoy every day; the air we breathe, the clean water we drink, the cool breezes that blow, the sky above, the earth below? Who can repay one’s parents for coming into this world? Who can repay those who have fought for the freedoms we enjoy?”

    •Oluwatayo Odunlami is a public affairs analyst.

  • Mandela… Inside his one-room home

    Mandela… Inside his one-room home

    Since he died, mourners have been gathering in the opulent home of the late Nelson Mandela, but not far away is another home where he stayed in the heart of Alexandra, with no basic amenities, reports Washington Post

    Less than 10 miles from Nelson Mandela’s opulent home, where thousands are gathering every day to pay tribute, is another house once inhabited by the anti-apartheid icon. This one has only one room, no toilet, no running water, and is in the heart of one of the city’s poorest and most politically volatile enclaves, Alexandra.

    There are no mourners singing and dancing outside, no people of all colors waving South African flags. Trash is strewn out front, near a few bouquets of flowers left by neighbors. Drunks stagger around in the afternoon.

    But in this forgotten corner, there’s a sense of overwhelming pride. The house was Mandela’s first residence after he left his ancestral village of Qunu in South Africa’s Eastern Cape province in 1941 for Johannesburg, where he eventually launched his career as a lawyer — a journey that will come full circle next weekend when he is buried in Qunu. The house was the anchor of a crucial chapter of Mandela’s life, when he evolved from an heir of a tribal kingdom to revolutionary leader.

    By his own account, Mandela spent some of his happiest days in Alexandra. Yet the former township, over the years, has been largely overlooked as areas such as Soweto, Robben Island, Houghton, and Qunu became famous as epicenters of Mandela’s life, bringing waves of tourists and revenue.

    Nevertheless, residents of Alexandra have set aside, if briefly, their woes — lack of jobs, education, proper housing and basic services — to quietly remember a man who many here say forged his moral foundation and sense of duty in this sprawling enclave of tin shacks and crowded streets.

    Johannesburg, he started here. For him to one day live in his big house in Johannesburg, he started here.”

    Mandela arrived in Alexandra at the age of 23, in part to avoid an arranged tribal marriage. He initially stayed at a local Anglican church before renting the one-room residence in the back of the house owned by Xhoma’s great-grandfather, John Xhoma. In his autobiography “Long Walk to Freedom,” Mandela describes the residence as “no more than a shack, with a dirt floor, no heat, no electricity, no running water. But it was a place of my own and I was happy to have it.”

    Mandela worked as a clerk in a law firm, where he would eventually be introduced to the freedom struggle. But his meager salary barely covered his rent, transportation, food and university correspondence course. Alexandra was where Mandela discovered the hard truths about the lives of nonwhites in South Africa. He described the place as “a slum, living testimony to the neglect of authorities” where “roads were unpaved and dirty and filled with hungry, undernourished children scampering around half-naked.”

    “In that first year, I learned more about poverty than I did in all my childhood days in Qunu,” Mandela wrote.

    The Xhomas often fed Mandela, although they were not wealthy. They would give him Sunday lunch, he wrote, adding that “those steaming plates of pork and vegetables were often my only hot meal of the week.” Mandela had a crush on one of their five daughters and thought of proposing to her. But he never did, he wrote.

    The story of Mandela’s time at the house was passed down from generation to generation, said Nomalizo Xhoma, whose mother, Gladys, told her the story when she was in high school. On Saturday, she sat in the dining room where Mandela used to have lunch.

    “That house used to be my uncle’s room. My great-grandfather moved my uncle to another room to accommodate Mandela,” Nomalizo said, adding that her great-grandfather, a deacon at the Anglican church, was asked by church officials to help Mandela find housing because “he knew no one and had no place to stay.”

    “He was always studying his books, and he used to help my mother with her homework,” said Nomalizo, whose mother was 9 years old at the time. “They never thought he would become so powerful.”

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    One of Mandela’s favorite meals, she said, was a dish called pig’s head with gravy, a recipe that was passed down by her great-grandmother Harriet Xhoma.

    Mandela left Alexandra in 1943 to study to become a lawyer, and he moved to Soweto. “Alexandra occupies a treasured place in my heart,” Mandela later wrote. “It was the first place I ever lived away from home. Even though I was later to live in Orlando, a small section of Soweto, for a far longer period than I did in Alexandra, I always regarded Alexandra Township as a home where I had no specific house, and Orlando as a place where I had a house but no home.”

    Under apartheid, the policy of racial segregation and discrimination installed by South Africa’s white rulers, Alexandra supplied much of the black workforce for the upscale white neighborhood of Sandton, just across the highway. By the 1970s, it had become a focal point for anti-apartheid protests. Today, Alexandra is bustling with hundreds of thousands of people, mostly black.

    After he was released from prison in 1990, “we all went crazy,” said Nomalizo. Mandela visited the house in 1993 and saw his old room. “He was asking for my uncles and my great-grandfather, but we told him they had all passed on,” she said. Mandela made several more visits to the house, the last one in 2009.

    “I saw Mandela come in the yard. It was a dream come true. Everybody was screaming,” recalled Nomsa Buthelezi, 30, a television actress who lives in the compound of 17 houses.

    “Madiba,” she said, referring to Mandela by his traditional clan name, “was an anchor for Alexandra people. He was the one who paved the way for us.”

    As a teenager, Buthelezi said, she used to brag that she lived in Mandela Yard. “It meant so much to me. It was a boost for me,” she recalled.

    When she learned that Mandela had died, Shaia Nape said, she felt a profound loss. At 82, she was his peer, and she had long been a loyal member of the ruling African National Congress. But most important, she felt proud because Mandela had lived just down the road from her.

    “He was our idol,” said Nape, who lives in a one-room house with her son. There is no running water, and she keeps a supply of candles ready for the sporadic electricity blackouts. She uses a communal toilet. But none of that has extinguished her pride.

    “I have fond memories of him on Seventh Avenue,” she said, referring to the street where Mandela lived, although she could not elaborate on those memories.

    Moments later, she searched through her cupboard and found two commemorative pins emblazoned with Mandela’s face. She also searched for a dress made in the colors of the ANC — black, green and gold. She plans to wear the dress and pins to a memorial service Sunday for Mandela at the Anglican church where he stayed before renting from the Xhomas.

    Today, a woman and two children live in the residence, Nomalizo said. Although local authorities have declared it a heritage site, little has been done to preserve it. Across the road from the house, a heritage center to showcase the area’s rich anti-apartheid history, started years ago, remains unfinished. For some residents, the neglected property symbolizes the lack of progress and the challenges facing South Africa.

    “We are still poor,” said Emily Mahlatji, a neighbor. “We still live in one-room houses. The museum is not finished. There’s a drinking house there. People do drugs over there. There’s 90 percent youth unemployment. There’s nothing finished in Alexandra.”

    Other residents say a better appreciation of Mandela’s time in Alexandra might alleviate their woes. Buthelezi said she would like to see a statue of Mandela in the compound, if only to motivate Alexandra’s lost generation of youth.

    “They need to see something that Mandela was here,” she said. “It would give them a sense of hope, a sense of belonging, that there was an icon that once walked among us.”