The Nation Newspaper

Tag: legacy

  • Legacy of Excellence: List of 100 most notable women in Africa 2024 emerges

    Legacy of Excellence: List of 100 most notable women in Africa 2024 emerges

    In commemorating the extensive and profound contributions of women throughout the African continent, a compilation of the “100 Most Notable Women in Africa” has emerged. It serve as a poignant testament to their enduring resilience, unparalleled innovation, and visionary leadership. 

    This esteemed collection endeavours to cast a spotlight on the remarkable women who have left an indelible imprint across diverse spheres, spanning from the realms of politics and scientific inquiry to the realms of arts and humanitarian endeavors.

    Thanks to the organisation spearheading these efforts to give women a pride of place in Africa, Peace Ambassador Agency Worldwide and its Project Director Africa, Amb Dr Kingsley Amafibe for according the due recognition to giants efforts being made by these Amazons to reposition the continent. 

    These women have been nominated in recognition of their extraordinary accomplishments, pioneering initiatives, and steadfast commitment to effecting positive change. Whether through tireless advocacy for gender parity, groundbreaking strides in scientific and technological advancements, or transformative stewardship within their respective fields, each nominee has etched a profound legacy, serving as a beacon of inspiration for future generations while challenging entrenched societal paradigms.

    The selection process places paramount importance on women who have exhibited exceptional leadership qualities, shattered barriers, and fervently championed causes that transcend geographical boundaries. Comprising individuals whose influence transcends local confines, the list encompasses trailblazers whose impact resonates on regional, continental, and, at times, global scales. 

    By showcasing a diverse tapestry of achievements, the list endeavors to celebrate the multifaceted talent and unyielding resilience epitomized by African women.

    The “100 Most Notable Women in Africa” endeavor seeks to duly acknowledge and amplify the voices of these extraordinary women, providing a platform to exalt their achievements and ignite a transformative era of inclusive and impactful leadership across the African continent.

    Annually, the celebration of the 100 Most Notable Women in Africa will establish a robust fellowship, inspiring and empowering women across diverse fields to excel. 

    Read Also: We will sustain legacy of Wigwe University, says Fubara

    This initiative serves as a catalyst for women’s progress, particularly in areas such as development, peace, creativity, science, arts, policy-making, politics, leadership, and other inclusive domains, fostering positive transformation throughout the African continent. Embrace the role of driving change and aspire to be recognized among the 100 Most Notable African Women.

    The 100 Most Notable Business Investment Summit 2024 will take place in July in Rwanda. 

    The event is in partnership with World Peace Ambassadors, American Management University USA, and Davdan Peace and Advocacy Foundation.

  • Lagos, refuse and legacy

    Just as well, Visionscape Sanitation Solutions (VSS) and Waste Collection Operators (WCOs), the old PSP operators, have reached some detente on the refuse war.

    The Lagos prisoners of war (POWs), victims of the resultant environmental blight, can  now heave a sigh of relief, hoping the refuse siege would lift soon.

    Yet, after all said and done, Lagos is clearly dirtier than three years ago exactly today, when otherwise high-flying Governor Akinwunmi Ambode took over.

    Indeed, many a harsh critic would gloat — and not without basis — that Lagos is dirtier today, than during Governor Bola Tinubu’s second term (2003-2007); and the eight-year stretch of Governor Babatunde Raji Fashola (2007-2015).

    That is, on the refuse cum environmental wellness front, hopping back 12 clear years!

    Quite a looming legacy — and it’s not pretty!

    Yet, it is a rather stiff blight, for the governor has performed superlatively on other fronts.

    But no matter how derisive or biting the refuse criticism becomes, it wouldn’t matter if it is fixed.  That is what the governor should focus on.  That is what would determine his legacy.

    On the surface — and this resonates in the street — Ambode met a working system, and for whatever reasons, crippled it.  Proof: refuse heaps, the ugly signposts of old Lagos, circa 2001, are back with a vengeance!

    But looked at more closely, that conclusion doesn’t tell the complete story.

    Yes, the PSP system had a good hang on refuse collection.  But how sustainable was that system for a mega-city state, with fresh garbage from a thumping population, swollen daily by economic migrants nationwide?

    That made imperative the Cleaner Lagos Initiative (CLI) — in any case, in the opinion of the Ambode government.

    The CLI high point was the prospect of fresh capitalization, in waste clearing hardware: 600 brand new compactors and 900, 000 electronically tracked refuse bins, secure in the streets, being less prone to theft.

    The advent of the enabling law, the Environmental Management and Protection law (now being reworked by the Lagos House of Assembly, because of the fierce opposition to CLI), was to signal a new dawn.

    But it all ended a still-birth — or nearly so.  The old PSP veterans, now dubbed WCOs, resisted their perceived elbow, by VSS, with alleged conspiracy by the Ambode government, out of the household waste segment.

    VSS itself, overwhelmed as much by the fierce resistance as by the late delivery of its hardware — mainly the 600 brand new compactors — which were to be the market game-changers, looked far less nimble under pressure.

    Then, uproar from shocked citizens.  Suspected sabotage, as refuse piled up — in Malthus-speak — in geometrical proportions, while the refuse breakdown was still elementary in scope. Of course, the PSP also launched a legal challenge to VSS market entry.

    The Lagos garbage war had broken out, with rare savagery — and Akinwunmi Ambode was the villain-in-chief!

    The refuse-assaulted citizens — sight, smell, hearing and touch — were captured POWs, even as car tyres squelched heaps of spilled garbage from road medians; and stretched out skeins of sickening and smelly mats, on the road!

    But even as affronted Lagos groaned under refuse, some new order was taking shape, though with barely anyone in the mood to notice.

    From its mandate, VSS is charged with infrastructure upgrade, even as it competes with the WCOs on the refuse clearance front.

    These core refuse chores include constructing more transfer loading stations, recycling facilities, biomass plants, leachate and waste treatment schemes, waste to energy plants, dumpsites and land-filled remediation.

    That innovation points to the future of waste management in Lagos — an integrative process, which goal is to turn Lagos waste into wealth, doing that by best global practices.

    With the present confusion and resentment, that might sound as arcane as they come.  But it is the future of any modern city-state, intent on turning wastes into recycled  assets, creating jobs along the way, in the best tradition of government-private sector partnership.

    Still, between that future waste management utopia and the present grim challenges, there appears a gulf.

    So, what should the Lagos government do, now that the rains are coming, to avert city-wide piles of uncleared refuse, becoming some push for water-borne epidemics?

    Simple: accelerated clearance of refuse and faster turn-around of compactors, doing the rounds — some sort of refuse clearance emergency.

    While city-wide feedbacks tend to suggest reduced piles, the situation is still far from what it was before the system broke down.

    But that is little surprise.  For starters, the WCOs are not as near-equipped, in sound compactors, as they should have been, which in the first instance, necessitated the CLI reforms.

    Then, VSS’ anticipated new compactors are arriving in bits.  Worse for capitalist morale: WCOs are infringing on VSS’ former household waste monopoly, in the spirit of the new waste entente.

    Still, it is a thing to cheer that the government would appear getting a hang, once again, on the refuse situation.  What to do now is fasten, by whatever means necessary, the turn-around time.

    But something must be done — and done urgently: get rid of illegal dumpsites, particularly on medians, roundabouts and road junctions.  These sites flared during  the VSS-WCO turf war.

    Now that there have been some operational agreements, the government should ensure they vanish, even if it means drafting security agencies, on a 24-hour surveillance, to arrest those responsible for these dumps.

    Still, a lasting lesson from the refuse crisis: never take anything for granted; for the best systems often collapse with the least but routine neglects.

    The strength of Lagos State, since 1999, has been its continuity — laudable and effective continuity, of winning policies, of which waste management was only a part.  But see what havoc CLI’s sudden shock has caused!

    Henceforth, Governor Ambode would do well to secure stakeholders’ consensus — or near so — before moving in to implement any policy, no matter how good on paper.  This refuse fiasco teaches that stiff lesson.

    As for political adversaries, hoping to cash in on Ambode’s refuse slip for negative electioneering pitch, all is fair in war!

    Still, the governor, like 2nd Republic Alhaji Lateef Jakande, and immediate predecessor, Babatunde Fashola, SAN, before him, would appear to have done enough to earn re-election.

    Even, after the first two years, Governor Bola Tinubu, who like the Biblical King David fought all the battles to establish the Lagos “kingdom”, was already showing enough fox-trot, to secure a second term. The refuse reforms, aside from massive infrastructure upgrade, topped in his golden score card.

    For Ambode, therefore, failure on the refuse front is a dire legacy stain.  It is absolutely no option!

  • Murtala Muhammed: 42 years after, legacy still counting

    Murtala Muhammed: 42 years after, legacy still counting

    The memory has refused to diminish 42 years after the revolutionary head of state, General Murtala Ramat Muhammed, was assassinated. It was on a Friday, February 13, 1976, a day the conspirators believed the leader could be felled by the bullets. Otherwise, Muhammed, according to them, was invincible. The failed coup was led by the late Lt. Col. Buka Suka Dimka of the Nigeria Army Physical Training Corps.

    He was ambushed few minutes after stepping out of Dodan Barracks, Obalende, on his way to the mosque. He died with his ADC Lt. Col. Akintunde Akinsehinwa and his driver. The death of the leader jolted the nation, given the landmark achievement the country recorded within the six months he took over leadership.

    When he took over after Gen. Yakubu Gowon was toppled, the late leader left no one in doubt about what he intended to achieve for the country. In one fell swoop, the military governors under Gowon were sacked. And only Brig. Mobolaji Johnson and the late Gen. Adeyinka Adebayo were absolved of corruption when the hammer fell.

    The civil service was not spared, as no fewer than 10,000 public servants were dismissed and charged to court for vices, ranging from fraud and falsification of documents. He did not stop there, as corrupt firms and agencies shortchanging the people were brought under scrutiny.

    Those indicted either had their licence revoked or were completely advised to leave Nigeria. The intensity of regime could be felt far and near. Foreign businessmen, whose intention was to make Nigeria a dumping ground, weighed the consequence of their action.

    He was described as  ‘no nonsense General’ and was respected by Nigerians and members of the international community. He was a leader who did not only depend for information through the official channels, but followed the unorthodox method. It was said the leaders sometimes rode on a bike to get the information required to shape public policy.

    This uncommon propensity to mix with the ordinary people on the street, kept most public servants on their watch, leading to high productivity and better services.

    So, when his death was announced, the country mourned and grieved.  The nature of the killing was almost misinterpreted.

    The wrong signals was almost sent out given that majority of those who took part in the coup were Christians from the Plateau region and it was by the grace of God that the country avoided what could have caused a civil war, when it was barely recovering from the previous fratricidal struggle known as Nigeria/Biafra War.

    According to former President Olusegun Obasanjo: “The killing of a Muslim on a Friday by a gang thought to be Christians, particularly when we remembered the first coup which upturned the political situation, gave a signal.”

    Obasanjo, who succeeded Muhammed, was the then Chief of Staff at the Supreme Headquarters. He noted that the late leader worked for the peace and unity of the country.

    He could not even hide his emotion, when the fallen leader was given his last respect. He said Nigerians thought the bloody coup would end the nation called Nigeria.

    To some, Muhammed fell in the class of benevolent dictators, who never cared about how he achieved popular leadership. The masses woke to see a drastic review of the cost of living that had accelerated beyond their reach.

    He set up the price control board, ensuring that prices of essential commodities came down. Traders who refused to cooperate had their warehouses or shops forcefully opened and the items sold to the public at the control prices.

    Nigerian markets were flood with essential commodities like milk, frozen beef chicken, beverages, detergents which most people had in their homes. It was a period Nigerians would not forget in a hurry.

    That was why when news filtered in that dark Friday, that the revolutionary leader had been assassinated, the country was thrown into confusion. Lagos residents and most schools immediately closed for the day.

    Professor of History and member of the Governing Council, Osun State University, Siyan Oyeweso, said the late General would be remembered for his giant strides in governance.

    He said: “The death of Murtala Mouhammed on February 13, 1976, remained a reference point in Nigerian history. He played active role in the civil war which can be referred to as war of Nigerian unity. It is war among brothers; he was a key actor in that tragic war.

    “His greatest legacy today must be located within the context of good governance. Within six months of his reign, he was able to restore discipline to governance. He had zero tolerance for corruption and was able to put the right people in the right place.

    “He was a no nonsense general, within the civil service he made his mistake. He committed one error in term of mass retirement, the purge of the public service. But his intention, I am sure, was pure.

    “Today, you have the Murtala Muhammed airport named after him and a number of other edifices. But, he is little remembered in history because of the absence of history. We use the occasion of the anniversary to remind Nigerians of the active service of a general who died in service to his fatherland and his legacy lives on.”

    Member, PRONACO , Chief Linus Okoroji said the leader who meant well for the country, got it wrong when he purged the civil service. He corroborated what Oyeweso had pointed out.

     

     

     

    He added that the mass purge created way for mismanagement as new people who came into the service took advantage of the opening the discovered to entrench corruption.

    “He came and tried to see what he could do to make society better. He wanted to arrest poverty in Nigeria, he cut down the cost of living but unfortunately he did not live for long. He did very well. But his retirement of civil servant was a wrong step.

    “It created a big problem for the country. That made them to start stealing from the treasury. That is what brought the corruption we are talking about. The compulsory retirement of civil servant created problem for the country.”

    Ofenifere Publicity Secretary Yinka Odumakin said the short period Mohammed served the country was eventful, urging other leaders to show the same commitment to the growth of the country.

    “He governed for only a few months, but the period was very impactful. He tried to galvanise the country towards good governance. He quickly brought back what was missing from the leadership system.

    “He showed the country best way to fight corruption. He was always in the forefront and used himself as example in whatever he proposed. That is why he is being remembered and would continue to be remembered.”

    Publicity Secretary Lagos State All Progressives Congress (APC) Joe Igbokwe said he was a good leader who came like a spark. According to him, the late General would have got Nigeria far ahead if he had lived much longer.

    He said it was unfortunate good people don’t last, just like the fate that befell Chief M.K.O Abiola, the general’s legacy would remain ever green when good men are mentioned.

     

  • Consumer behaviour threatens legacy brand Seaman’s Schnapps

    Consumer behaviour threatens legacy brand Seaman’s Schnapps

    Some legacy brands, including Schnapps, are facing consumer apathy. Olufemi Babalogbon writes that unless their producers addressed the problem, their products may soon become extinct. 

    In 1985, when Chief Akin Odunsi created Seaman’s Aromatic Schnapps, the target was “the Nigerian yuppies, who seek to impress clansmen back in the village”, according to a 1987 report by New York Times’ James Brooke.

    In the early 1980s, when Nigeria and Ghana experienced foreign exchange pressure, and there was a need to produce a local schnapps to replace the imported one in West Africa, the imported brands, such as Blankenheym & Nolet and De Kuyper, were the favourites of elders in the village.

    At inception, Seaman’s adverts targeted youths. The TV advert in 1987 ended with ‘’Seaman’s aromatic schnapps -preferred by our elders for libations”.

    This tagline was in consonance with the consumer behaviour of the yuppies who prefer to take Schnapps as a gift to the elders, who would receive the drinks, pour some as libation, and offer some prayers.

    In contrast, Schnapps is a drink for the boys in the United States; so relevant that the late 2 Pack Shakur rapped about “Dripping peppermint Schnapps, with Jackie Wilson, and Sam Cooke” in his track titled: “Thugz Mansion”. Flavoured schnapps, he meant!

    The brand and the millenials

    Seaman’s Aromatic Schnapps is a legacy brand, just like Alabukun powder. Storied as the No 1 prayer drink, Seaman’s Schnapps thrives on festivals, the tradition of using drinks for libation, and of using drinks to pray during weddings, naming, coronations, and other forms of celebration. This proposition would be successful only as long as the culture it promotes thrives.

    This year, more than half of Nigerian population is under 30, and most brands focus on them for wallet share. These youths have interests in entertainment, social drinking and culture of night-clubbing, urban culture and charismatic religious practice. Also, the elders in the village do not fancy Schnapps as a gift, except if there is a celebration. At motor parks in Lagos, where people board buses to their villages, bread-sellers get repeat purchases as bread is the common gift for the elders. These emerging consumer behaviours and lifestyles may pose some threat to the legacy brand.

    Reviving the legacy brand

    In a market, which gives large wallet share to beer and wine, Schnapps competes in the spirits category, which has the likes of McDowell being merchandised by Guinness Nigeria PLC, a company with 54 per cent share of the Strong Spirits Category.

    Beyond the rivalry in the Spirits Category, Seaman’s Schnapps will struggle to be relevant and appeal to millennials who spend so much on spirits but are rather lovers of social brands, such as Hennessey and Johnny Walker.

    A visit to various night clubs across Lagos showed that Schnapps are not being sold at these hubs of night entertainment. Gold Oark Limited has introduced some innovations, including providing Seaman’s Schnapps in handy sachets. This is successful as it gives the drink some competitive advantage and makes the product available for social drinking.

    However, the use of social media to promote the brand, and the introduction of a mobile game – Seaman’s Ayo – are not sufficient to make the brand relevant to the evolving millennial culture. The Seaman’s Ayo game, which could be downloaded via google play store or played via Seaman’s Schnapps’ facebook page, is, however, a strategic consumer-engagement initiative.  But the game has rather made the cultural age-long game, Ayo Olopon, relevant to millenials who ordinarily use mobile apps. It fails to make Seaman Schnapps relevant to the youth.

    Against the waves of culture

    The #ShareABlessing campaign of Seaman’s Schnapps uses festivals, traditional figures, aboriginal practices and traditional leaders as icons of ad messages. A key component of strategy should be the evolving culture, and not a tradition that belongs to ages past. The millenials have embraced new religious ideologies. A tongue-speaking couple would not make use of a drink for prayer. They would use a bottle of anointing oil! In Ghana, a cleric, Apostle Kwamena Ahinful, urged former President Ata Mills in the latter’s aloofness to libation at public functions.

    Wrappa, a South African brand consultancy firm, warned that legacy brands die “because of rigid marketing strategies and redundant products that did not evolve”.

    The brand communications being churned out by the manufacturer of Seaman’s Schnapps do not resonate with Nigerians.

    During Seaman’s Centenary pack launch in 2014, executives of Grand Oak Limited reportedly said: “Consumers should embrace the centenary pack as a conveyor of their prayers for Nigeria at 100”. Those words rather reinforced ritual practice and keep the potential consumers detached from the brand, an analyst said.

    The way to go

    Poju Bakare, Head of Digital at Noah’s Ark, an advertising agency based in Lagos, said Seaman’s Schnapps is going to survive, if the product evolves.

    Poju, an alumnus of Orange Academy, added: “What if they change the shape of the bottle to something fanciful? What if they make a luxury brand of Seaman’s and packaged it in a wooden box? What if they make flavoured varieties of Seaman’s schnapps?”

    Brand Strategist and Chief Executive Officer (CEO), Beacon Media & Communications, Enyinnaya Iroadum-ba, advised that the campaign for the legacy brand should be refocused on millennial culture.

    He explained: “If Seaman’s Schnapps must remain relevant in years to come, the product must be changed from being a prayer drink to an everyday drink.”

    The book titled: “The King of Drinks: Schnapps Gin from Modernity to Tradition” by Dmtri Van Den Bersselaar, a social scientist, supported  both Poju and Enyinnaya. It discusses the failure of Dutch’s Schnapps Gin in West Africa between 1980 and 2000, citing that the gin was restricted to the ritual sphere.

    The book adds: “The Dutch gin distillers and importers failed to reposition gin as a modern drink that could be consumed in a wide range of circumstances.”

    Therefore, the way to go for Seaman’s Aromatic Schnapps is to reposition it for social drinking. Perhaps we can have Seaman’s Flavoured Schnapps!

  • Pa Abbas: A father’s legacy

    “And your Lord has decreed that you should worship none except Him and be kind to your parents (especially) when one or both of them attain old age. Do not ever bully on them or shun them. Address them with gentle voice and humility. And always pray Allah to be compassionate with both of them as they were compassionate with you at childhood”. Q. 17: 22.

    Man after demise
    “Man surely becomes a subject of talk after his demise. Whoever is privileged to be alive should therefore endeavour to become a pleasant talk for those coming behind”. -By an Arab poet.

     

    Preamble
    Inna Lillah, wa inna ilayhi raji’un. We are all from God and to God we shall all return. Those whose fathers are still alive should conscientiously abide by the above quoted verse of the Qur’an. I just lost my own father. It is after such demise that one realizes that a father in the life of his children is like a sun beaming its rays to a farm and photosynthesizing the crops therein for nourishment and fruitfulness. At a stage, the scorch of such rays may become unbearable for the crops. But without the rays, those crops may lack the energy for growth and nourishment. Until the sun sets, the crops may not know its value in their lives.

     

    The Book of life

    Human life is like a book of many chapters. Each chapter often opens to another in what may constitute a smooth reading for those who are left behind to read it. Every human being is, consciously or unconsciously, a writer of a book and the readers are free to analyze or interpret the chapters of the book according to their understanding.

     

    Man’s Journey in life

    In the introduction to his autobiography, Nigeria’s first President, the late Dr. Nnamdi Azikiwe wrote thus about human life:

    “Man comes into the world and while he lives, he embarks upon a series of activities absorbing experience which enables him to formulate a philosophy of life and to chart his causes of action. But then, he dies. Nevertheless, his biography remains a guide for those of the living who may need guidance, either as a warning on the vanity of human wishes or as encouragement or both”.

     

    Pa Abbas’ resume

    At a time when birth records were hardly available, Alhaji Muhammadul Awwal Oyelola Makajuola Abbas Abioye was born in Iwo, Osun state in about 1913. He was the second of his parents’ eight children, all of whom except one were males. Pa Abbas was one year older than the country called Nigeria. He was not just a contemporary of Nigeria’s first indigenous rulers; he was actually a friend of some of them. Despite his limited literacy, he was particularly close to Obafemi Awolowo and Samuel Ladoke Akintola but more to the latter than the former. There was no official record for his birth but we (his children) were able to determine his age when he told us that his friend, Chief S.L. Akintola was older than him by one year. And since the latter was born in 1912, we concluded that our father, Pa Abbas was born in 1913, a year before the amalgamation of what became Nigeria. Though, born in Iwo, he settled down for a living with his parents in Afaake, Ejigbo local government of Osun State.

    Through his peregrination in life, Pa Abbas came across many useful instances and met many people of substances. At a time, he was an apprentice in carpentry which became his first calling in life. It was he along with some of his artisan colleagues who carried out the carpentry work of our family house in 1954. He also led some other carpenters into fixing the carpentry works of our elementary school, Tajudeen primary school, Ilawo of which he was a board member.

     

    His travels

    Besides his brothers who sojourned in Abidjan and other cities and towns of Cote d’Ivoire, no villager from Afaake can claim to be more travelled than Pa Abbas whose journeys through apprenticeship and political traverses took him across regions in Nigeria including the North, the South-West, the then Mid-West and South-East. By the local standard of the 1950s and 1960s, he was a traveler par excellence. He climaxed those journeys with a pilgrimage to Mecca in 1975, the year in which a onetime Head of State, Murtala Muhammed performed Hajj.

     

    His artisanship years

    Apart from his engagement with carpentry, Pa Abbas was also involved in produce buying of cocoa and palm kernel which encouraged him to establish a big farm of cocoa plantation in Ondo state. That was in the late 1950s and early 1960s.

    Some years later, Pa Abbas discovered that the farmers in the village including his own father were not prosperous in cocoa farming because they depended fully on wild cocoa plantation that yielded few profitable products. He therefore invited some agriculturists to introduce cocoa nursery to his village, Afaake. With this, he gathered all the farmers in the village for tutorial on how to plant and nurse modern cocoa trees. From there, a cooperative emerged which was named ‘Egbejoda’ (short form: Egbeda), meaning ‘cooperative farming’. It was also Pa Abbas who introduced tobacco farming to Afaake farmers.

     

    Impact

    This adjusted the focus of those farmers against the mono-product cash crops that cocoa represented in the late 1950s. Tobacco farming turned out to be so profitable that most farmers in the village almost forgot about cocoa. Yet, in the early 1960s, it was also Pa Abbas that introduced commercial pineapple farming to Afaake village in which both men and women were assiduously engaged. The pineapple farming reigned for quite some time as merchants came from Moore plantation and other relevant companies in Ibadan to purchase the products in bulk. All these activities opened the eyes of the village farmers to the value of agricultural commerce.

     

    Contribution to manpower development

    Pa Abbas’ inquisitiveness in life was not limited to agricultural endeavour alone; it extended to the building of human intellect and manpower. For instance, when adult education was introduced by the Action Group government in 1954, Pa Abbas was the one who invited the mobile teachers to Afaake village to teach the male and female farmers how to read and write in what was called adult literacy classes. Through that skill, some farmers in the village were able to read and write. Foremost among them was Pa Abbas himself. And when the same Action Group government introduced free primary education in 1955, it was the same Pa Abbas that championed the sighting of one of those schools in Ilawo to serve the three adjacent villages of Ilawo, Afaake and Inisha-Edoro. That was the beginning of civilization in the area. The school was named Tajudeen primary school, Ilawo. After the establishment of that school, Pa Abbas took it upon himself to ensure the enforcement of attending the school by every child in Afaake. And he did not stop there, he also wrote to those who settled in Cote d’Ivoire to send their children and wards home for enrolment in the school.

     

    Effect of education

    Many children who attended that school including yours sincerely have risen in life to become men and women of positive identities. Through those invaluable efforts, the family of Abbas Abioye has become a towering citadel of knowledge that no tempest can wipe off the scene. At least, there is no notable profession today in which the children of Abbas are not found. Among his children, his grandchildren and his great grandchildren and their spouses are professionals like Lawyers, Accountants, Doctors, Engineers, Lecturers, Civil servants, Farmers, Businessmen and women, as well as communicators like yours sincerely. If any human tree of value can be regarded as a reference point in both Western and Islamic education in Osun state today, Abbas family will be foremost courtesy of Pa Abbas’ effort, despite his half-literacy. This confirms the verse of the Qur’an which goes thus;

    “Have you not seen how your Lord has planted a seed of words like a gargantuan tree standing gorgeously with its roots firmly planted in the belly of the earth and its foliages sprouting gorgeously into the firmaments of the sky…?”  Q. 14: 24.

     

    His contribution to religious development

    It was the same Pa Abbas who initiated the idea of building a mosque in Afaake and led a team of other carpenters to package the carpentry apparel of the mosque. He also introduced madrasa system of education into the mosque and championed the hiring of a mu’allim (malim) to teach the village children who were attending Tajudeen primary school. Pa Abbas’ contribution to human and material development of the village was quite legendary and the evidence is still vivid today. He did not only encourage children to attend school for Western education, he also geared them towards acquisition of Islamic education through attendance of Madrasah. Thus, most of the children who attended Tajudeen primary school also attended Madrasah as Pa Abbas believed that acquisition of Western education was incomplete without Islamic education.

     

    His philosophy of life

    In his philosophy of life, Pa Abbas believed that no matter how much was realized from farm products, it could not be as valuable and as lasting as education. He does advised all other farmers in the village to invest in the education of their children, pointing to them that the future of those children would depend on the education they were given. He therefore invited the then headmaster of Tajudeen primary school, Mr. Bisi Akande, who later became the governor of Osun state to enlighten those farmers on the importance of education. And the latter did that dedicatedly in style.

    Although Pa Abbas was not quite literate, his exposure through travels made his philosophy of life a pattern of that of an American statesman and intellectual, Williams Webster who stated thus inter alia:

    “If we work marble, it will perish; if we work upon brass, time will efface it; if we rear temples, they will crumble into dust. But if we work upon immortal minds and instil in them just principles, we are then engraving that upon tablets which no time can efface but will brighten to all eternity”.

    Were it possible for the demised to look back and evaluate his contribution to human growth and development, Pa Abbas would have heaved a sigh of relief even while approaching the gates of paradise with confidence.

    “Who shares his life’s pure pleasure and walks the honest road; who trades with heaping measure and lifts his brother’s load; who turns the wrong down bluntly and lends the right a hand; he dwells in God’s own country and tills the Holy Land”. We are living witnesses.

    The old man (Pa Abbas) passed on quietly in his sleep at about 4 a.m. on Thursday, August 10, 2017 at the ripe age of 104 and he was interned at about 3 p.m. same day.

    God bless the souls of way-pavers. God bless the rightly-guided followers who handed over the baton to other rightly-guided men and women. God bless the soul of Pa Abbas and his likes.

     

     Conclusion

    That is the legacy of a father who had a vision not only for his own children but for the children of others as well as adults who aspired to make the world a pleasant place to live in. That vision was not just a dream, but also the realization of a dream. As a worthy son of this great father, if I did not write this article in commemoration of a man who left a footprint on the sands of time to show gratitude for good deed, who else should do it? If this is an ode to a gold mind who continues to live in glorious history, let those who value glory read it again and again. This legacy is indelible and we thank Allah for it.

     

     Appreciation

    The entire family of Abbas Abioye home and abroad seizes this opportunity to thank all relatives, friends and well-wishers who attended the Janazah or attempted to attend it despite the short notice. We also thank those who sent messages of condolence praying Allah to stand by them all in all circumstances of life. God bless you all.

  • July 4 and an odious legacy

    Celebration is a very important aspect of life. It offers a person or a group the opportunity to take a break from rigid official protocols, recreate a little and indulge the human faculties. People celebrate their birthdays, nations celebrate their independence anniversary and cooperate entities celebrate different dates to mark one event or another. October 1st stands out as a very important date in the historical annals of Nigeria, a day the country got her independence. June 12th stands out as a day democracy was viciously raped in Nigeria, rape being a social vice abhorred all over the world. Also May 29th is symbolic in our historical calendar, a day Nigeria returned to civil rule after many years of military rule. We also have workers day marked May 1  every year. There is also the children’s day observed on the 27th of May and then February 14th, a day set aside for those who in one way or another are victims of emotional misadventure. Also there abound different dates for religious festivities when people indulge in all kinds of celebrations. July 4th 2017 has made a case for itself in Nigeria’s political diary, therefore we must celebrate it.

    The events of that day in the putrid chambers of Nigeria’s senate will be studied by students of politics with dedicated commitment to the power fulcrums for many years to come. Like June 12 and May 29, July 4th has become sacrosanct among all other signifying elements that define political events in Nigeria. On that day our country was saved from total collapse when some distinguished senators attempted to subvert the will of the people and truncate the democracy we have committed blood and water to rehabilitate. Let us, in the spirit of patriotism wear our dancing shoes, bend down and wriggle our waists made thin through economic hardship unleashed on us by successive administrations and gyrate to the iconic beat of celebration drums.

    Surely Nigeria is a country submerged in extraordinary ironies especially within the political hierarchy. Or how else can one interpret the recent scenario where those elected to make laws almost subverted the same laws to enthrone anarchy through what many people have termed a coup. Coup? Yes, a word that sends hair-raising and blood chilling feeling among the populace raised its ugly head within the much desecrated chambers of the senate on July 4, 2017. Has anyone heard of a civilian coup? Yes, only in Nigeria, a country with nine lives. We must all come together and thank the Almighty that as we dangerously stood on a precipice, we didn’t tip over into the abyss of eternal pandemonium on that July 4. On that day, there was a failed coup organized by senators in all its dislocating and subverting possibilities.

    In every country of the world, those who plot a coup and fail pay the ultimate price for committing a crime against the state. Bukar Suka Dimka, Mamman Vatsa and Gideon Orka paid the ultimate price. If they had succeeded, they would have been ex-heads of state today and perhaps statesmen enjoying the plum provisions that come with that exalted status. They didn’t succeed; therefore they are forever consigned to Nigeria’s historical trashcan of ignominy. Perhaps because our senators are elected they are free today and discharging their duties in a crass manner of disingenuous foolery.

    For the records on July 4th 2017 at the plenary session of the senate, Enyinaya Abaribe moved a motion that the senate president Bukola Saraki should be sworn in as the acting president since the acting president Yemi Osinbajo was absent from his duty post. Osinbajo had gone to Addis Ababa in Ethiopia to attend an African Union functions. The motion was promptly supported by other senators including Ike Ekweremadu, a man who prides himself as a lawyer. It was a cold and calculated plot to usurp the office and powers of the presidency without minding its ominous consequences. The conspiracy and sabotage that underlined the plot will make Nigeria’s aging coup maestros turn green with envy. Interestingly, the constitution is clear under what circumstances the senate president can be sworn in as the acting president. Our law makers were aware of this but chose to follow the part of treachery by trying to hijack the presidency and apparently plunge the country into turmoil. The event of that day in the senate brings to mind former President Olusegun Obasanjo who in a rare moment of epiphany declared that rogues and armed robbers are in the State Houses of Assembly and the National Assembly. His submission was dismissed as the ranting of a frustrated ex-president who was bemoaning his failed attempt to perpetuate himself in power through the third term charade. Today, Obasanjo can gloat over his prophetic calling and perhaps put his oracular sensibilities to more use. .

    It is only the consistent mutilation of the country’s political structure that can explain how those who populate our senate chambers emerged as law makers in Nigeria. Perhaps that answers the question as to why they have become an appalling calamity with such damning disclaimers from the ever accommodating and tolerant Nigerians. Today, the senate has become a chamber where unethical things redolent of duplicity and notoriety take place but it also reveals the monumental shallowness that lies at the heart of those we entrust with the onerous responsibility of law making. The actions of our law makers in recent times regrettably recall the receding memories of military rule in all its sadistic potential.

    One begins to wonder the kind of genome that Nigerians have which made it possible for us to tolerate anything and everything. We can take insults and disgrace without raising a voice in protest. Does this inhere from our religious injunction which encourages us to turn the other cheek in docile stupidity for our inglorious assailant to register as many slaps as possible? By their actions, our lawmakers have insulted Nigerians and therefore should immediately tender an unreserved apology. The Nigerian state should extract an apology from our senators otherwise; it will set a dangerous precedent within the corridors of power. We refuse to be inundated with hackneyed platitudes such as ‘let bygones be bygones’.  July 4th shall indeed remain green in our memories.

    Odiele is the Department of English, University of Lagos, Akoka.

  • Ajimobi: A legacy of transformation

    Ajimobi: A legacy of transformation

    Oyo State Governor Abiola Ajimobi’s media aide Akin Oyedele highlights his principal’s achievements in the last six years and how he intends to sustain the tempo of performance.

    During the electioneering for the 2011 governorship election, nearly all the political parties and their candidates jostling for the coveted office in Oyo State employed the usual refrain to worm themselves into the hearts of the electorate. As they mounted the rostrum, all you hear then was ‘we will build roads; low-cost houses will be yours for the asking; it will be life in abundance for citizens and sojourners…’ In fact, some chose to revile past holders of the office or frontline opponents in the war of attrition. Like Jesus Christ, in one of his parables to the Pharisees in John, Chapter 10, some of these politicians, who could hardly win in their polling units, would say, “All who came before me were thieves and robbers…The thief comes only to steal and kill and destroy. I have come that they (you) may have life and have it in all its fullness.” Rather than malign his predecessors or adopt vainglory approach, Senator Abiola Ajimobi chose a different path. He would always tell his teeming supporters that “if I will not make a remarkable difference as governor, may God abort this ambition. But, if my becoming governor will turn around the fortunes of this state may God assist me to surmount every obstacle towards realizing my ambition.” He did not only win in 2011, but broke the second term jinx in 2015 with the support of the appreciative citizens of the state.

    In retrospect, it is on record that the Oyo State Ajimobi inherited in 2011 was an entity in complete tumult. Murder, brigandage, rape, arson and other forms of violence qualified Oyo then as a Hobbesian state where life was short and brutish. Motor Park czars and political jobbers, who have been canonised by incorrigible local overlords with connection in high places, had virtually made the state ungovernable. At the height of the impunity, one was described at a public event as a “dried fish that cannot be bent” by the very key figure the hapless citizens looked up to for their redemption.   As the stupefied audience exchanged glances, he assailed them with the clincher, ‘you have to live with his excesses.’

    No doubt, the job of government is to protect and promote the socio-economic wellbeing of the citizenry, through the provision of an enabling environment. It was with this in mind that Ajimobi premised his administration’s policy thrust on the restoration of peace and security, as well as the restoration of the fading glory of the pacesetter state in all spheres. It was not mere happenstance that on assumption of office, the governor introduced eight pyramids of development, among which safety, peace and security were pivotal.

    Ajimobi’s pyramid of development bears semblance to the theory of human needs espoused by the American psychologist, Abraham Maslow, in his 1954 book, Motivation and Personality. In hierarchical order, Maslow had rated safety and security needs highly, next to physiological needs (air, water, food, shelter, clothing and other basic physical requirements), which are the sine qua non of human existence.

    In six years, the governor’s scorecard in peace and security suggest that he did not only dream about his desire to make the people of the state sleep with their two eyes firmly shut, he walked his talk. First, he reined in the rapacious drivers’ unions before clamping down on other bands of brigands. Next, the governor inaugurated a joint security outfit codenamed ‘operation burst’ with six zonal commands to whip into line the errant scallywags disturbing the peace of the land. To give the outfit the needed bite, the governor procured armoured personnel carriers, a fleet of patrol vehicles and state-of-the-art communication equipment for its operation. To enlist the support of stakeholders and forestall encumbrances in its running, the governor went a step further by floating a security trust fund to raise funds for its operations. The result of these efforts is a drastic reduction in crime rate and civil unrest manifesting in no major crime or robbery in the last six years.

    Today, nightlife that was hitherto at zero level is now witnessing a new hustle and bustle, with night clubs and drinking joints dotting the landscape. Residents can now freely pass through the once dreaded Iwo Road interchange, formerly the den of armed robbers, drug addicts and rapists, who hid under the cover of darkness to bare their fangs.

    For the furtherance of his agenda on safety and security, the forward-looking governor had recently embraced the safe city project.    The project will proffer cutting edge solutions that will nip crime and criminality in the bud, especially in Ibadan, the state capital. To this end, Ajimobi recently declared that plans were afoot to install closed circuit television (CCTV) in black spots and business districts in the city to monitor the activities of criminals. Although, the recent onslaught of the self-styled one million boys in Ibadan would suggest that it is not yet Uhuru, the rapid force with which they were crushed confirms that law enforcement agencies are equal to the task of tackling and ultimately ridding Oyo State of undesirable elements. The incident, however, points to the fact that no society, not even the developed ones, is insulated from crime. Eternal vigilance among citizens and cooperation with law enforcement agencies by blowing whistles on criminals will, no doubt, complement the efforts of the government in this regard.

    Before the advent of the Ajimobi-led administration, Ibadan was touted as one of the dirtiest cities in the country because of the mountain of refuse indiscriminately dumped in open places. The city had no clear cut solid waste management policy, while it constantly suffered environmental hazard and degradation.  But, Ajimobi took up the gauntlet and cleaned up the city in a well thought out urban renewal and physical infrastructure development programmes. Similarly, residents of Ibadan can attest to the poor network of roads in existence before the governor mounted the saddle. Not that his predecessors did not construct roads, but the quality of these roads left much to be desired.

    That the pristine state capital had now become the next investors’ destination will not be an overstatement judging by the number of blue chip companies that have berthed in Ibadan since Ajimobi cleaned up the city. For starters, investors don’t take their money to an environment where the safety and security of their workers and investment would be jeopardised; where there is poor network of roads or where the environment is filthy and uncongenial for business

    At the last count, 36 new companies have been attracted to the state in the last six years, with close to 4000 direct employees, according to figures obtained from the Manufacturers Association of Nigeria. Further proof of this upsurge in industrialisation is the rating of Oyo as the fifth most investment friendly state by the National Bureau of Statistics, which also credited the governor as having attracted more than $61m (N22.4bn) foreign direct investment to the state so far.

    The governor recently opened a new vista of industrial development with the acquisition of large expanse of land on both sides of the Lagos-Ibadan expressway to accommodate the Polaris-Pacesetter Free Trade Zone and an Industrial Park. The free trade zone is one of the dividends of Ajimobi’s many shuttles to China, where Oyo State is now very popular, because of the governor’s relentlessness and spirited efforts to attract investors into the state.  Exuding confidence at a recent event, the governor enthused that seven of the more than 157 companies expected to populate the free trade zone would be inaugurated by the end of this year.

    Within the first six years of his administration, Ajimobi constructed the Mokola flyover, which was the first by any civilian governor in the state. Although it may sound exaggerated, some travellers coming into Ibadan through the Challenge/Orita axis for the first time in six years have been said to miss their ways due to the transformation brought to the area with the new network of six-lane roads. Apart from Challenge, the once decrepit Alesinloye, Dugbe-Magazine-Eleyele Roads have been expanded to six lanes, complete with modern furniture and built to last.

    The governor’s road revolution was extended to the other five major zones of the state. Thus, Oyo, Ogbomoso, Ibarapa, as well as Oke-Ogun I (Iseyin axis) and Oke-Ogun II (Saki axis) now boast of six-lane roads, for the first time in their histories. The administration also constructed 183 roads and seven bridges, totalling 590km. Similarly, to improve the condition of the road network across the state a total of 850km roads were rehabilitated and maintained in the last six years.

    In his determination to bequeath a lasting road legacy on the state, the governor had in the past few weeks flagged off the Eleyele-Ologuneru-Eruwa; Idi-Ape-Basorun-Akobo-Odogbo Barracks junction; Gate-Old Ife Road-Alakia, as well as Oke Adu-Iwo Roads for construction into standard and six-lane roads. In Ajimobi’s avowed determination to enlist Ibadan among the elite state capitals and mega cities, the governor had also revived the Ibadan Circular Road, which had remained a dream in the past 15 years under successive administrations. To the delight of citizens, the governor had during the flag off ceremony explained that the project was awarded to the ENL Consortium Limited at the cost of N70bn, under a build, operate and transfer arrangement.

    He emphasised that it would be entirely financed by the contractor through a facility sourced from the China Exim Bank. When completed, the road is poised to decongest the city and enhance its aesthetics, apart from its unquantifiable commercial value. To demonstrate the importance attached to these projects, the governor had told the contractors that they must be completed before he leaves office.

    Again, in order to restore sanity to the state, the governor recently inaugurated the first of its kind master plan for Ibadan, the state capital, in conjunction with the World Bank, while he also established the Bureau of Physical Planning and Development control. All these are tailored towards ending the regime of indiscriminate and haphazard constructions in Ibadan.  But for the Ajimobi-inspired World Bank-assisted Ibadan Urban Flood Management initiative, the perennial flooding that had consumed lives and property in Ibadan prior to his regime would have again wreaked havoc this year. In the last six years, extensive dredging and channelization efforts had taken place in the Ogunpa and other rivers in Ibadan, while drainages are being desilted for free flow of water.

    As the Yoruba will say, ‘Oro po ninu iwe kobo’ (there are far too many words to encounter in a penny-worth newspaper!). There is so much to reel out about the Ajimobi success story…it will amount to a disservice to the governor, popularly called the game changer, to attempt to lump all his achievements in this single piece. Thus Ajimobi’s indelible footprints in education, agriculture, health, housing, social infrastructure, transportation, governance and service matters will have to be told another day soon. What is for sure and unarguable is that Ajimobi has already etched his name in the sands of time and would most certainly be remembered as the builder of the modern Oyo State by generations to come. Undoubtedly, Ajimobi’s regime was ordained by God.

    • Oyedele is Senior Special Assistant (Media) to the governor.
  • ‘I’ ll build on my predecessor’s legacy’

    ‘I’ ll build on my predecessor’s legacy’

    Amuwo Odofin Local Government Area All Progressives Congress (APC) chairmanship candidate, Valentine Braimoh has said he will run a corrupt-free administration if voted into office.

    He added that salaries and remunerations of members of staff of the council are promptly paid to stem the tide of corruption, noting that monies saved would be used for development of the area.

    Braimoh, who spoke to Southwest Report, said he would follow the path of the former council chairman Ayodele Adewale, who brought lots of development to the council.

    He said: “I have been privileged to serve under Comrade Adewale to serve under him as Head of Operation during his administration, Supervisor for Works during which the council witnessed monumental development.

    “We were able to renovate and build schools both in the upland and riverside areas. The riverside is more of indigenous area; we build about four schools there, two in Igbo Ologun and two in the other areas. The last time schools were built in those areas was during the Chief Obafemi Awolowo time; definitely the riverside areas need new schools.

    “We are also going to provide them with boreholes to ease their water problems. The boreholes will be sunk at strategic areas and power generating sets provided to pump the water. This is because the people have not been connected with the national grid, so they lack power supply.”

    Braimoh said efforts would be made to reconcile all aggrieved members of the APC in view of the party’s council primaries.

    “It is very natural that if more than one person contests for one elective position, only one will emerge winner. We will ensure that members are reconciled. There is a mechanism for conflict resolution which we will avail ourselves of.

    “And if truly they have the intention to develop our council and serve our people, I believe it is a collective thing. We must reconcile ourselves with the realities. We will expect others to support us with their ideas.

    “We should be able to come together and look at the way forward. I want to urge my co-contestants to meet and settle the differences. We must discuss the way forward, especially the welfare of the people.”

    On corruption, he explained that the council would provide the necessary incentives that would discourage workers from being fraudulent.

    “We will make sure leakages are plugged and intensify efforts in letting the people know why we have to be focused. Again, the staff welfare will be looked into to ensure that they are provided with the necessary incentives.

    “This will go a long way in ensuring that the people are corrupt-free. The welfare of members of staff is very paramount to inculcating discipline in workers. I believe if that is done, workers will naturally want to be upright. I don’t see why they have to cut corners in what they do.

    “We are also going to bring in some private initiatives, in the area of revenue generation and prevention of leakages. I will ensure more funds are generated,” he said.

    He stressed that that APC would beat any opposition party that contested with it in the area, adding that what happened during President Goodluck Jonathan administration would be curtailed.

    “Former President Jonathan came to Lagos with money, coupled with the fact that a Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) stalwart resided in Amuwo-Odofin, they were able to wreak havoc on the political space.

    I must say that Governor Akinwunmi Ambode has opened door for our people. What the governor has been doing is pointer to the fact that people can enjoy dividends of democracy.

    “So, what the PDP enjoyed then is no longer there for them to enjoy. I can assure Lagosians that during the forthcoming local government election, APC will take all the local government chairmanship positions; including the councillors,” he said.

  • The legacy of NA7

    Adebayo The Commander-in-Chief and myself agreed…..

    Ojukwu No: we have not appointed anyone Commander-in-Chief.

    Adebayo Can we not appoint a Commander-in-Chief now?

    Ojukwu We will see about that later……….

    These were the brief exchange between Colonel Robert Adeyinka Adebayo, (March 9 1928- March 8 2017), Military Governor of Western Region and Lt. Col. Udumegwu Ojukwu(1933-2011), Military Governor of Eastern Region during the peace meeting held by Senior Military officers in Aburi, Ghana between January 4 and 5, 1967 to resolve Nigerian crisis.

    At the time he was appointed Military Governor of Western Region on August 4 1966 by Lt. Colonel Dan Yuma Yakubu Gowon (82), to succeed Lt. Colonel Francis Adekunle Fajuyi(1926-1966) ,Colonel Adebayo was the most Senior Military Officer in the country. At that time, his six other superiors were either assassinated or in exile including Major General Johnson Thomas Umunnakwe Aguiyi Ironsi(1924-1966), Brigadier General Samuel Adesujo Ademulegun, Brigadier General Zakariya Maimalari, Brigadier Babafemi Olatunde Ogundipe(1924-1971) and Colonel Raph Sodeinde.

    Throughout his tenure as Military Governor which ended in April 1971 he conducted himself in power not with ruthlessness but as a pacifier. He loved people, he loved life and he had a large heart. The five controversial issues that he faced during his tenure and the way he handled those issues no doubt portrayed him as a man of peace.

    These are the Agbekoya Parapo crisis (1968-1969) during which the farmers revolted, the appointment of Iku Babayeye, Igbakeji Orisa, Oba Olayiwola Atanda Lamidi Adeyemi III(78) ,CFR.as the Alaafin of Oyo in November 1970 when he succeeded Alafin Gbadegesin Ladigbolu, the Occupation of ‘Northern’ soldiers in Western Region, the ever constant looming image and shadow of Chief Obafemi Awolowo who was at that time the most powerful Politician in the country and the Post War reconstruction in Western Region.

    At the time he took over as Governor, the percentage of Yorubas in the Nigerian Army including in the Senior Military cadre, was less than 5% and it became worse that time that no Military Yoruba Officer was posted to that region to serve. This issue is best understood if you read a book”ARCHITECTURING A DESTINY” by Major General James Jayeola Oluleye(1930-2009). Governor Adebayo referred to it in a speech which he delivered in Ibadan on May 3 1967 when he declared”The training depot for the Army, promised in April has now been commissioned and the monthly intake of Yorubas into the Nigerian Army has now been raised to 200 with the likelihood of further increase in the monthly intake of trainees.

    I know that this will go some way towards meeting the genuine fears of the people of this region as it will afford us the facility for improving the strength of Yoruba personnel within the Nigerian Army and make for harmonious relationship between us and our fellow Nigerians in other regions. The No. 2 command of the Nigeria Army has now been established at Ibadan on the basis of equality of status with similar formations in other parts of the country.

    Plans are in hand to fill the yawning gap in the personnel of the Nigerian Police contingent within Western Nigeria. To this end efforts will be made to provide additional physical facilities”. By August 1966 the two major contemporaries of Chief Obafemi Jeremiah Oyeniyi Awolowo(1909-1987) have been assassinated( Sir Ahmadu Bello (1909-1966) and Sir Abubakar Tafawa Balewa(1912- 1966) while Dr. Benjamin Nnamdi Azikiwe(1994-1996) was in exile.

    That gave Chief Awolowo the opportunity to transverse the Political field almost all alone in an extremely Military era. On August 3, Lt. Col. Gowon released Chief Obafemi Awolowo from Calabar prison and throughout the tenure of Governor Adebayo he governed under the shadows of Chief Obafemi Awolowo. He even presided in the unprecedented selection of Chief Awolowo as the leader of the Yorubas on August 12 1966 in Ibadan.

    In his address to the joint conference of obas and leaders of western Nigeria on October 12 1966, he declared” You will, I am sure, be interested to know that my crusade for internal UNITY among the Yorubas as a prelude to national unity has gone on apace. One significant development in this connection the endorsement of the Oba, Chiefs, and representatives of the people of Lagos, of Chief Obafemi Awolowo as Leader of the Yorubas. Nevertheless, we must not relax or slacken our determination to remain united as one people with a common language, common ancestry, common culture, and common destiny.

    The presence here today of an observer-delegation from Lagos is an eloquent testimony to the spirit of oneness between the people of Lagos and their Yorubas kith and kins in Western Nigeria. The Advisory Committee has put finishing touches to the draft of the Charter of Yoruba Unity which we hope to print shortly for general circulations”. He then matched his words with action by releasing all political prisoners previously held in detention and this created an atmosphere of peace in the region at that time. General Adebayo was a team player and he delegated authorities and responsibilities as governor.

    He inherited a competent bureaucracy trained by the British and skillfully engineered by the pioneer Chief Scribe to the region Chief Simeon Olaosebikan Adebo(1913-1994) who later handed over to Chief Peter Odumosu, a highly talented civil servant. The Bureaucrats included top permanent Secretaries like Mrs Folayegbe Akintunde Ighodalo, Chie Olubunmi Thomas, Chief Benjamin Adefolurin Oduntan,Chief Alonge,Chief Samuel Oyewole Asabia, Dr Festus Adebisi Ajayi, Chief Oladipo Augustus Adebayo, Chief A.K. Degun, Chief A.M.A. Johnson, Chief Emmanuel Dapo Shoyege, Mr Isreal Ogunseye,Chief J.K. Akingbade, Chief Festus Oladipo Shadare, Chief Timothy Taiwo, Chief Jonathan Mayomi Akinola, who was my permanent Secretary in the Ministry of Works and transport in 1970 while I was serving as a Senior Technical Assistant, Chief I.O. Dina, Prince Adewole Adesida, Chief V.O. Oduntan and others. He had an outstanding cabinet including Chief Victor Omololu Olunloyo, Chief Gabriel Akindeko, Chief S.K. Babalola, Chief Bola Ige, Chief Victor Olabisi Onabanjo,Chief Michael Adedapo Omishade Chief Joel Ehinafe Babatola, Chief Gab Fagbure and Chief Ayo Akintoba. They kept the flag flying at that time before, during and after the civil war.

    His childhood friend, Bishop Joseph Abiodun Adetiloye(1929-2012) whose village in Odo-owa in Ekiti state is not far from Iyin-Ekiti, the home town of General Adebayo, told him while preaching during his eightieth birthday at Archbishop Vining Memorial Church in Ikeja that General Adebayo was a “lucky man” whom God has been kind to.

    Only a lucky man could have passed through what General Adebayo passed through in life until his lifeless body was brought to Lister Hospital in Ikeja,owned by Dr. Amole, without being sick on the morning of March 8 2107. Just as he accepted to serve under Lt. Colonel Yakubu Gowon such was his life that he accepted all that came to him in life with enthusiasm and with peace of mind. Dr. Henry Alfred Kissinger (93) wrote in April 2012 that “Conflict is a choice not, by necessity”. General Adebayo was a man of peace.

    In the words of General Douglas Mac Arthur in his address to the American Congress on April 19 1951”Old soldiers never die, they just fade away”. And like an old soldier, Major General Adeyinka Adebayo has faded away. An old soldier who tried so much to do his duty as God gave him the light to do that duty . Farewell General.

    •Eric Teniola, a former director at the presidency, stays in Lagos.

  • A legacy in ruins

    A legacy in ruins

    But for the conspicuous signpost erected at the fringe of the settlement, it is unlikely that frequent travellers on the Ilorin-Omu Aran Highway in Kwara State are aware of a crumbling hospital and a cluster of poverty-ridden colonies of abandoned leprosy victims located at the Okegbala axis of the expressway. Established about 75 years ago by a Canadian doctor and evangelist for the advancement of missionary activities, the hospital is virtually in ruins five decades after the legacy project was bequeathed to the Evangelical Church Winning All (ECWA). WALE AJETUNMOBI reports the deplorable state of the hospital and the pathetic story of Okegbala inmates who wallow hopelessly in hunger, diseases and severe living conditions.

    IT took Madam Felicia Adeoti, an amputee, about five minutes to crawl from her dingy room to the corridor of the mud house she has lived in for 58 years. She was pressed around the dim-lit corridor by the urge to answer the call of nature at the nearby bush; but her crutches were not in sight to facilitate easy movement to the bush.

    She rambled through the passage filled with grubby objects and utensils. Her speed was dictated by the pressure from her bowel. She mustered all the energy she could to crawl faster, so she could prevent an embarrassing situation.

    About 12 minutes after, Madam Adeoti got to the bush to pass out the waste, feeling relieved afterwards. At her own pace, she crept back to the decrepit mud building she has lived in since she was 30 years old.

    With the aid of her crutches, the 88-year-old woman retired into her room to sleep. About three hours later, she bolted out of her isolated building and limped towards the expressway to look for her daily bread. She fends for herself through street begging.

    Hours later, she returned, clutching a black polythene bag in which she wrapped a meal of amala and ewedu soup, a local delicacy given to her by a Good Samaritan. She retired into her room to savour the delicacy and then waited for the break of another day for the daily routine.

    Madam Adeoti’s routine aptly depicts life at Okegbala, a secluded settlement in Kwara State bequeathed by European missionaries to the Evangelical Church Winning All (ECWA) formerly known as Evangelical Church of West Africa.

    Located between two ancient towns of Oro and Omu Aran in Irepodun Local Government Area, Okegbala is the site of ECWA Leprosarium, a hospital established 75 years ago by missionaries who were recruited for evangelism activities in Africa by Soudan Interior Mission (SIM), a gospel body founded in 1893. The hospital is circled by three depleting colonies of leprosy victims.

    As its name connotes, Okegbala (Mount of Redemption) used to be a famed healing hamlet for people infected by mycrobaterium leprae otherwise known as leprosy. The community became famous at the time the infectious disease was rampant in rural communities. Beyond administration of effective therapeutic drugs and efficient surgical operations to heal victims, the hospital’s founders also believed in the efficacy of prayers as a cure for the leprosy victims taken to the leprosarium.

    Alas, all these clinical triumphs have become past glory about eight decades after the leprosarium was established in the remote community. Okegbala has become a classic narrative for misplaced priority, forgotten evangelism, government’s insensitivity and failure of humanity.

    It is a story of disappointment and neglect; a grim and discomforting picture of the appalling condition that can become the lot of any human being neglected by the society. Okegbala is a seething cauldron of acute hunger, endless starvation, apparent malnutrition and life-threatening diseases.

    For the inmates, poverty is not a choice or an accident but a way of life. In the settlement, penury is an integral part of life. While none of the inmates was born to be lazy, they lost their productive instincts the day they contracted leprosy, a non-tropical disease that causes inflammation of nodules beneath the skin and mutilation of finger digits.

    Capture1

    A settlement of necessity

    In the pre-independence period, the prevalence rate of leprosy in Nigeria was put at over 20 per cent, according to a 2013 Leprosy Review journal co-authored by Sunday Udo, Joseph Chukwu and Joshua Obasanya. The journal, titled, Leprosy Situation in Nigeria, was published by Lepra, a United Kingdom (UK)-based organisation.

    The figure was staggering for a populous country with significant population of women and young people.

    Before the infusion of orthodox therapy in Africa’s traditional medicine, Africans had little understanding of the causes of leprosy. Among the Yoruba, a prominent ethnic group in Sub-Saharan Africa, it used to be a popular belief that leprosy could only be a spiritual affliction from the deities.

    As a result of this belief, leprosy victims were not allowed to live among the populace. This became the practice until a global action was initiated to combat the infectious disease. In line with global response at the time, leprosy settlements were set up across Nigeria to safeguard public health and provide relief to victims.

    This ostensibly necessitated the establishment of the ECWA Leprosarium in Okegbala. The site used to be a thick forest far removed from the town. The community is located about six kilometres away from Omu-Aran town.

    The leprosarium was founded in 1942 by Dr. H. Herbold, a Canadian physician who came with his wife, a nurse, for SIM evangelism. In the course of their missionary activities in the Kabba Province of the evangelical group, Herbold established a makeshift leprosarium in response to the widespread cases of leprosy in communities around the old Kwara State.

    The leprosarium took off in Kabba, a town in present Kogi State, with about 50 patients from communities in Ekiti, Oyo, Kogi and Kwara states.

    Since it was regarded a taboo for leprosy-infected persons to live in the town, the late Herbold moved the patients to a withdrawn location between Omu-Aran and Ilofa. The unfettered access which the leprosy patients had to the community water necessitated the expulsion of the Canadian missionary by the Ilofa people, who did not want the spread of the disease in their town.

    The expulsion from Ilofa prompted Herbold and his wife to approach the then traditional ruler of Omu- Aran, a nearby town, to get a permanent location to build the leprosarium. The Omu-Aran traditional council, it was gathered, granted the missionary’s request after the traditional ruler was convinced the leprosarium would not be built close to the town. The entire perimeter of the Okegbala settlement, The Nation learnt, used to be covered by a thick forest and it was far removed from the town at the time the leprosarium was built.

    In 1943, the leprosarium started operation with 36 leprosy patients. The Nation gathered that the hospital was conceived as a healing home where leprosy-infected persons would get free treatment. Herbold deployed personal resources to treat leprosy patients without collecting a dime from the victims’ family members.

    The late Herbold’s wife, it was learnt, established a clinic and maternity home within the leprosarium to extend medical services being freely rendered by the SIM missionaries.

    Since Okegbala was a withdrawn location, Herbold and his wife were based in Omu Aran town. But they visited the leprosarium twice daily to attend to the medical needs of the patients. For giving free treatment, the hospital became popular and this led to the influx of leprosy-infected persons from far and near.

    In response to increased population of leprosy victims, Herbold, it was gathered, permanently relocated to Okegbala to fully engage in the mission of healing people of leprosy and other life-threatening diseases.

    After healing, Herbold engaged some of the victims to work in the hospital. Some joined him in missionary activities. With the increased population in the settlement, the missionary body built houses in Okegbala to accommodate health workers being engaged by Herbold in leprosy work and evangelism.

    Once patients were cured of leprosy, they would be discharged and reunited with their family members. Some of the patients who suffered digit mutilation and deformities because of late access to treatment were rejected by their families.

    Due to stigmatisation and rejection, the deformed patients returned to Okegbala to start a new life. These rehabilitated patients created three colonies – Alabe, Aiyekale and Oloruntele – around the leprosarium, which they later saw as their new homes. Each colony had an average of 150 inmates and the population of lepers in the three colonies was shooting up before Herbold and his wife permanently returned to Canada in 1965.

    In 1956, SIM founded ECWA and set up the church to continue its missionary projects in Nigeria. As the SIM missionaries returned to their respective countries, it was gathered that Herbold handed over the operations and management of the leprosarium to ECWA. The leprosarium became the sole referral centre for leprosy cases in Kwara State. As a result of this, it was learnt that some missionaries volunteered to come back to treat leprosy patients on part-time basis.

    Herbold was billed to visit the hospital on inspection before he died childless in 2007.

     

    Failure of partnership

    ECWA naturally became the beneficiary of the SIM legacy projects, because the church was founded by the missionary body to propagate and expand its activities in communities where populations of Christians were few. Findings showed that leprosy treatment was incorporated into the SIM’s activities because of the prevalence of the disease in the rural areas where its evangelism was targeted.

    Since SIM was the parent body of ECWA, it was plausible for the missionaries to will their legacy projects to the church when they were returning to their countries. Herbold transferred the proprietorship of the leprosarium to the church before he left Nigeria in 1965. The leprosarium was renamed ECWA Hospital after the church was registered.

    But the deplorable state of the hospital, The Nation gathered, shocked the SIM representatives who recently visited Nigeria to inspect some of the legacy projects left in the care of ECWA. It was learnt that the SIM emissaries were traumatised to see the condition of the hospital. They were said to have expressed disappointment over the church’s inability to maintain the hospital.

    Since the management of the missionary projects and properties had been willed to ECWA, it was learnt that the missionary body could not do anything to optimise the hospital.

    A member of the church in Omu-Aran, who wants to be identified as Elder Ogundele, told our correspondent that ECWA seems overwhelmed by the management of missionary projects left in care of the church.

    Ogundele said: “The church is biting more than it can chew. ECWA has numerous clinics scattered across the country. Some of these facilities were bequeathed to the church by SIM. The facilities are too much for the church to properly manage.”

    It was also learnt that the politics of leadership in the church and policy summersault are part of the impediments inhibiting the church from properly managing the legacy projects bequeathed to it by the missionary body. Ogundele said top-level members of the church’s leadership don’t have interest in the management of the legacy projects inherited by the church.

    Ogundele said: “Each time ECWA holds election to choose its national leaders, the people don’t talk about how the church can maintain and manage the projects inherited. All they care about is the church administration. The fact is that no national leader of the church has visited the ECWA Hospital to ascertain the state of the hospital’s facilities.

    “When new leaders are elected, they discontinue existing projects and embark on new ones. This is why the state of the ECWA Hospital and other legacy projects deteriorate. It would surprise you to know that there is no subvention for the leprosarium in the budget of the church. If the hospital must be improved, the church needs to make funds available for its running. But, is ECWA leadership ready to do this?”

     

    Kwara government’s ‘opportunistic’ alliance

    In response to the global effort to combat leprosy, the Federal Government in 1979 directed the federating states to open referral centres where victims would be treated and rehabilitated.

    In 1989, the then military government of Gen. Ibrahim Babangida established the National Tuberculosis and Leprosy Control Programme (NTBLCP) to implement policies and strategies initiated by the World Health Organisation (WHO) aimed at eliminating the disease in member states.

    Between 1991 and 2012, finding showed that a total of 111,788 leprosy victims were successfully treated with Multi-Drug Therapy (MDT). In the 11-year period, Nigeria achieved the WHO elimination target of less than one case per 10,000 population. In practice, however, the disease remained highly endemic in rural communities in the northern part of the country where leprosy prevalence was said to be greater than one in 10,000 population.

    Rather than setting up a stand-alone Leprosy Referral Centre as directed by the Federal Government, the Kwara State Government collaborated with the privately-run ECWA Hospital to treat and rehabilitate leprosy victims.

    Following investigation, The Nation gathered that the Kwara government’s opportunistic partnership with the ECWA leprosarium was initiated at a time the hospital was grossly under-funded by its owner.

    The hospital’s operation at the time was run through Internally-Generated Revenue (IGR). The hospital was in distress for many months because it was struggling to maintain the cost of operations. ECWA, the owner, did not make funds available to rescue the dying leprosarium.

    The state government made the ECWA Hospital its sole referral centre for leprosy and tuberculosis.

    Findings made by our correspondent revealed that this partnership was not supported by any statutory agreement. In maintaining this informal partnership with the ECWA Hospital, the government offered to be giving a monthly subvention to the hospital to augment the cost of running its operations.

    The subvention, The Nation gathered, started from N20,000 when the partnership agreement was sealed. The monthly subvention was increased over the years to N100,000, which is presently paid by the government.

    While the government’s monthly subvention has achieved little in the day-to-day running of the hospital, the fund, The Nation gathered, is not regularly paid by the state Ministry of Health which has the duty to sustain the partnership with the hospital.

    The hospital’s Administrative Officer, Mr Samuel Abiodun, told our correspondent that the monthly subvention from the government was hardly enough to augment the cost of running the hospital. He said the bulk of the operational cost came from the hospital’s income through services it rendered to out-patients referred from outside its area of operation.

    Abiodun said: “The hospital’s income is shored up by the medical services rendered to out-patients. The management expanded the hospital’s wards to accommodate as many patients as possible. We had periods when the hospital wards were fully occupied by out-patients. The money we collect from these patients is used to run the hospital. The monthly subvention paid by the Kwara government is not enough. It falls short of what should be remitted to a state’s referral centre for leprosy.”

    The management of the hospital said the subvention does not come regularly. Abiodun said the money is given out only when the Kwara State Ministry of Health officials deem fit.

    “Except the government willingly makes the money available to us, we cannot force them to give us the money because the government considers the hospital not to be part of the state’s liabilities,” Abiodun said.

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    An NGO’s rescue mission

    The inadequacies of government’s partnership with the ECWA Hospital led to the intervention by The Leprosy Mission of Nigeria (TLMN), a non-governmental organisation (NGO), in 1980. The NGO’s partnership with ECWA was meant to provide operation funds and equipment support for the hospital in keeping with its leprosy treatment mission.

    TLMN also partnered with Kwara State government to facilitate treatment of new leprosy cases and management of old ones. The partnership, which lasted for 29 years, restored the leprosarium’s lost glory as the sole referral centre in the state for leprosy.

    The leprosarium was in a deplorable condition before TLMN made the move to support it with funds, equipment and manpower.

    Before TLMN came in, the hospital was said to be an “abattoir” where people died daily. The hospital could only boast of three employees. The TLMN’s partnership brought life back to the hospital.

    Our findings revealed that TLMN brought in doctors, nurses, drivers, cleaners, gardeners and other staff to revive the hospital. Before the hospital’s partnership with the NGO was sealed, there was no electricity in Okegbala. Activities in the hospital were at the lowest ebb until TLMN provided a big generator to light up the community. The NGO also brought poles and electric cables that connected the community to the national grid.

    A former employee of the hospital, Dr. Ajayi Olawale, said the church’s “unpredictable politics” and “unsympathetic leadership” have been the factors slowing down its progress. Describing the hospital as a “glorified mortuary”, he said the story changed when the TLMN moved in with massive support.

    He said: “Before TLMN partnered with the hospital in 1980, there was no presence of government in the hospital. Yet it was a referral centre for leprosy and tuberculosis cases in the state. The money invested in the operation of the hospital was generated by the hospital itself.

    “TLMN moved in because the NGO felt ECWA Hospital was the best place to achieve its aims of funding leprosy treatment in the state. Kwara government officials were happy when they learnt that the NGO came with funds, equipment and manpower. Government saw the TLMN’s intervention as opportunity for it to reduce and stop supporting the leprosarium. We should not heap blame on the government because there is an original owner, which is ECWA.”

    If the hospital must be effectively run, Dr. Olawale said, ECWA must hand the running of the leprosarium to the government. But he said the government may not run it effectively because of dwindling resources.

    Dr. Olawale added: “The point is that ECWA does not have the capacity to take the hospital to any level. The church doesn’t even have the means. The only thing that can take the hospital out of its deplorable state is when ECWA decides to render other services in that place apart from leprosy treatment.

    “The church can establish Community Health School in that place. The leprosy treatment is no longer lucrative because of the minimal cases we have in the country now.”

    The Nation gathered that between 2001 and 2005, facilities in the hospital were upgraded by TLMN. The hospital’s Ophthalmology Department was supplied with modern tools and gadgets to treat eye diseases. Also, the surgical theatre where amputation is conducted was fitted with state-of-the-art gadgets to make it functional.

    In this period, the medical services rendered by the ECWA Hospital were of premium quality, it was learnt. But all these happened as a result of the support by TLMN, which committed funds and equipment to running the hospital.

    The intervention by TLMN led to improved earnings for the hospital, which resulted in the raising of the number of employees to 40. It was gathered that TLMN took up the responsibility of paying the professionals working in the hospital, which included doctors, nurses and other health workers.

    The NGO, it was learnt, also paid the cleaners and drivers to ensure the hospital did not place unnecessary burdens on its income.

    In 2009, TLMN, however, stopped funding the hospital because of the global economic meltdown. The foreign donor could not provide adequate funds to support the hospital in rendering premium service. This made TLMN to drastically reduce its funding of the leprosarium.

    Despite the hospital’s appalling condition, it remains the only hospital treating leprosy in Kwara State. It is also the only hospital offering internship on leprosy and tuberculosis therapy and management for nursing and medical students studying in the state.

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    Equipment shortfall, traumatic amputations

    Findings made by our correspondent showed that more than 1,000 amputations had been carried out since the establishment of the leprosarium about 75 years ago. But these medical procedures were done without the use of basic clinical instruments to make the surgeries painless.

    The hospital’s surgical theatre falls short of standards. The expansive room is visibly empty and lacks basic instruments. The only gadgets seen in the theatre are an outmoded motorised lighting stand and a rickety stretcher on which amputations are carried out.

    There is no anaesthetic machine that can be used to deliver anesthesia to patients as they undergo a medical procedure. For any medical operation to be embarked on, standard practice requires that a patient be placed on anaesthetic machine to ensure a steady flow of gases such as oxygen and nitrous oxide. The machine delivers the anaesthetic gases to the patient at a safe pressure and flow, which makes the procedure pleasant.

    The hospital does not have an X-Ray machine to scan and assess acute bone damage. It also lacks modern devices to disinfect sterile surgical instruments used by a surgeon during an amputation operation. The sterile surgical tools are wrapped in pieces of cloths and kept in an outmoded vacuum machine for purification.

    As obligatory for a standard surgical practice, the hospital lacks post-operative recovery section where amputees can be further examined to prevent complications and to hasten recovery process. No bone files and haemostatic plug used for proper shaping of bone and to prevent continuous bleeding after limb amputation.

    Without these basic gadgets and tools, patients are subjected to traumatic amputation process, which may bring about unplanned complications or lead to untimely death. This has been the practice in the hospital for a long time.

    To stop unprofessional medical practice in the hospital, some instruments were procured and donated to the hospital last year under a one-year supporting project initiated by TLMN. The Nation gathered that the aim of the project was to renovate key hospitals in Kwara State, supply them with drugs and equipment.

    The ECWA Hospital was picked as one of the three hospitals selected as beneficiaries. Some modern instruments were donated to the hospital’s Ophthalmology Department.

    Abiodun lamented lack of modern X-Ray machine for scanning. He said the mobile X-Ray machine brought by the missionaries could not be used again because of its excessive rays, which, he said, could constitute hazard to patients.

    He said: “We decided to abandon the X-Ray machine a long time ago. We cannot continue to be compromising people’s health and putting their lives in danger by exposing them to hazardous radiation because we want to make money for the hospital. This is why we decided to stop using the X-Ray machine that we have. Apparently, we don’t have X-Ray machine at present; we have not been able to procure another one.

    “It is the X-Ray machine that will be used to assess the level of damage done to the bone if any patient is battling ulcer. Without this machine, early detection of damaging effects of ulcers is difficult and patients may suffer digit mutilations and loss of limbs as a result of this.

    “We also don’t have physiotherapy instruments and iteming machine. These are important medical tools that should naturally be in the hospital. An infection that has gone beyond the knee cannot be managed. We will need to do an amputation for such patient. We would need to refer the patient to our sister hospital in Egbe, Kogi State.

    “But if the infection is below the knee, the amputation is done in our theatre with a lot of stress, because there is no modern equipment to properly carry out amputation. If we have the equipment, our medical personnel can successfully carry out the amputation.”

     

    ‘Hospital’ll naturally collapse’

    Dr. Olawale said except the government and its owner inject funds to revive the hospital, he saw no hope of survival for the leprosarium. In a few years, he said, the ECWA Hospital would collapse because of the successes recorded by action against leprosy in Africa.

    He said: “Let me tell you that ECWA Hospital will die a natural death in a few months. This is because the leprosy work is almost going into extinction. Unlike HIV/AIDS, there are no doctors working on the field again, since there are no complicated medical issues that would require doctor’s attention. The focus of donors is on the socio-economic burden of leprosy to victims and their communities.”

    If the hospital must remain active, the former employee suggested, that the government needs to take over the hospital and turn it into a full-blown community health centre. But Dr. Olawale believes that ECWA lacks the financial capacity to rescue the hospital from the edge.

    He added: “ECWA must accept the reality of the fact it does not have the wherewithal to keep the hospital functioning. The church needs to approach the government for help in rescuing the hospital from the brink of collapse. Except there is a miracle, I don’t see the hospital surviving another decade.”

     

    A hell on earth

    While Nigeria records an average of 3,000 fresh cases of leprosy annually, according to statistics released on World Leprosy Day by the Minister of Health, Prof Isaac Adewole, the virulent disease does not pose any significant health risk to the country again. This is as a result of the breakthrough achieved with the successful application of MDT.

    What poses a menace is the management of the old cases. The socio-economic burdens which the virulent disease wreaked in rural communities are immeasurable. Victims have had their lives inadvertently re-organised or disorganised. Many of them have accepted their fate, abiding by the interminable consequences which the disease brought to their lives. Some others who could not live with the harsh fate breathed their last on a note of regret.

    Okegbala is a poignant paradox. Life in this place is brutish and unbearable, yet the inmates cannot leave because they have no other place to go. There is famine in the community and inmates literally live in hell. Their daily survival depends on how much they can realise from street begging and handouts from kind-hearted individuals.

    In the last 10 years, street begging has been the source of survival for Mrs Abigail Olaiya, 65, and her senior, Mrs Olufunke Olaiya, 80. Married to the late Pa Jeremiah Olaiya, both widows have been living in the lepers’ colony in the last 30 years after they were cured of leprosy.

    Olufunke, who suffered digit mutilation after she was cured of leprosy, became sightless some 15 years ago after she contracted glaucoma. She permanently stays in a hut and depends on the food brought home by her junior wife, Mrs Abigail, an amputee. For the widows, hunger is part of everyday living. Their continued survival depends on how much they get from street begging.

    Pa Samuel Asaolu cannot afford to miss the first bus to Omu-Aran town for alms begging, else there would be no food for that day. The 90-year-old amputee from Erin Mope village in Moba Local Government area of Ekiti State described life in the colony as tormenting. He burst into tears as he relived the suffering of inmates in Okegbala to our correspondent.

    Asaolu said: “I cannot recall the exact year I was brought to Okegbala for leprosy treatment, but I am sure I had been living in this community before Independence. I was about 30 years old when I contracted the disease. My wife and members of the family brought me to this place.

    “When I was cured of the disease, I returned home, but I was sent back here because my leg was amputated. They felt I would infect them with the disease. Since I got here, I never set my eyes on any family member. They abandoned me here and never came back to check on me. Even, the wife I married before I contracted leprosy did not come again.

    “I used to be a farmer in my village, but I could not engage in farming when I got to this place due to the amputation. I cannot engage in any trade and this is making life tormenting for me. If I fail to join the first bus to Omu-Aran to beg for alms, I will not eat. This is how many of us have been living in the past 50 years. We depend on begging and handouts some kind-hearted people send to us through the ECWA Hospital.”

     

    Finding love in hopeless times

    Beyond bearing the endless pain of limb amputations and digit mutilations, the Okegbala inmates also carry scars of emotional injuries in their hearts. To the leprosy victims, the disease re-designed their destinies and turned around their life dreams.

    Having been abandoned to their fates by spouses and family members, the inmates believe life must go on. Many of them resigned to fate and started a new life. Courtship became a necessity in the three colonies as the number of abandoned leprosy victims increased.

    Awawu Fulani, an 85-year-old Oro indigene, said she was married with three children before she became a victim of leprosy 50 years ago. She had digit mutilation, which led to the amputation of her legs. She said the deformity made her first husband and children to abandon her in the community.

    Though hurt by the stigmatisation, Awawu’s rejection did not deter her from getting married again. Some 40 years ago, she got married to Pa Amodu, a 90-year-old amputee, who was equally rejected by family members.

    Explaining the reason for the match-making, Pa Julius Fabunmi, who makes leather covers and crutches for the inmates, said the marriage became necessary because some of the victims were relatively young when they contracted the disease which made their families to abandon them.

    Fabunmi said: “All the old people you see here were brought to the leprosarium when they were younger. I can remember that there are some of them who were brought here with infants. This tells you that they were sexually active at the time many of them started living in the colony. This is why it did not come as a surprise to us when they started courtship and marrying themselves.

    “We have some of them who were never married but got married in the colony and became parents. Some had been married but had to remarry because of the stigmatisation they suffered from family members back home. They all started new life here, because they could not afford to allow the disease to deprive them of procreation.”

    For some of them, however, it is goodbye to marriage. Such is the case with Mrs Nafisatu Aminu, a 72-year-old Ilorin indigene, who has been living in the colony for 35 years. According to the mother of two, she was a successful fish trader in Idi-Ape Market in Ilorin before she was struck by the disease.

    Mrs Aminu, who suffers digit mutilation, said she had no reason to fall in love again, since she was abandoned by her husband and children.

    She said: “I used to be one of the successful fish traders in Idi-Ape Market. I cannot vividly remember the year but I know I traded in the market during the regime of President Shehu Shagari. My husband and two children used to look up to me because I provided my children whatever they needed on the home front.

    “But everything changed when I suffered leprosy. My fish business crumbled and I lost my means of livelihood. I was brought to this place by my husband. After he left, I never set my eyes on him again. He abandoned me here until his family members came here some seven years after to tell me he was dead. I never felt any sense of loss after they broke the news of his death to me, because the man never loved me.

    “He took my children away and abandoned me in this place. For this reason, I decided not to remarry. It is hard for me to fall in love again with anyone. I have accepted the fate brought to me by the disease. If I ever have the opportunity to live again, I would be wiser to choose a life that will be different from this. This is not the kind of life I prayed for.”

     

    Famished inmates battle malnutrition, hypertension, terminal diseases

    While leprosy has wreaked irreparable socio-economic havocs in the lives of the inmates in Okegabla community, the victims’ harrowing existence is daily compounded by the unhealthy conditions in the community.

    Apart from the growing cases of malnutrition resulting from persistent hunger and lack of balanced diet, lack of sanitation in the colonies is posing a great danger to the survival of the inmates who live their lives every day in an extremely unhygienic environment.

    The deplorable conditions in the community are exposing the famished inmates to terminal health challenges. Glaucoma is spreading among inmates in the colonies, leaving many of them with impaired vision.

    According to patients’ records obtained by The Nation, 80 per cent of the inmates battle hypertension, diabetes and asthma. The cause of growing cases of hypertension and diabetes, according to Dr. Kayode Ajayi, the hospital’s Tuberculosis and Leprosy Supervisor, is as a result of lack of dietary supplements.

    Dr. Ajayi said: “Since the inmates don’t have means of survival, there are growing cases of hypertension and diabetes among them. The colonies were established because of high stigmatisation in the cities. Some of the inmates had businesses before they contracted leprosy. The loss of economic opportunities has got some of them thinking, thereby raising their blood pressure, which leads to hypertension.

    “The inability of the inmates to take in balanced diet is the reason for the growing diabetes among them. The inmates eat whatever foodstuffs are given to them, which are mostly starch. Some of them who have high tendency to have diabetes become vulnerable easily. We regularly treat and manage these conditions in the colonies.

    “There are other conditions, which we manage regularly. These include asthma and glaucoma. We have many of the inmates develop visual impairment as a result of untreated glaucoma. But this is less frequent compared to asthma and hypertension, which are affecting majority of the inmates.”

     

    Allegations baseless, says commissioner

    Dr. Alege, the Kwara State Commissioner for Health, however, denied the allegations of neglect levelled against the government, saying there was no time the inmates were neglected. Through an MoU signed with the National Tuberculosis and Bilirubin Programme, Alege said, the government regularly supports the inmates.

    He said: “The government also gives monthly subvention to run the leprosarium. As I speak to you now, we have paid the subvention up to date. The ministry recently made passionate appeal to Governor (Abdulfatah) Ahmed to increase the subvention in the state’s 2017 budget from N100,000. I can assure you that by the time the budget is ratified, the monthly subvention would increase. But you can rest assured that there has been no day the government neglected the leprosy patients.”

    The commissioner disclosed that there had been efforts to increase humanitarian aids to the Okegbala settlement, revealing that he recently had “extensive discussions” with the national coordinator for National Leprosy Control Programme on the need to improve support for the hospital and members of the community. Alege said the government also partnered with philanthropists, religious groups and organisations to regularly donate materials to members of the community.

    He said: “We have a little problem. After treatment, some of the leprosy patients don’t return to their homes because they are always rejected by their families and communities. Some of them, after the government has taken care of them by giving them free drugs, their families would still send them back to Okegbala. This is why we signed the MoU with National Leprosy Control Programme to complement the state government’s effort to support these rejected victims.

    “When the government learnt that the discharged patients were being stigmatised, we embarked on public advocacy across the local councils to stop stigmatisation so that these treated patients could return home. It seems difficult for people to live among the victims after they have been healed. That is why some of them remain in the community.”

    On the allegation that the monthly subvention was stopped, Alege said: “There was a period in 2015 when we could not pay the money due to dwindling revenue of the state. Civil servants were equally affected.

    “But since March 2016, we have not failed to remit the subvention to the hospital. It is not only ECWA Leprosarium that gets the government’s subventions, other centres such as tuberculosis centre, also get.”

    On whether the monthly subvention is meant for feeding the inmates or to run the hospital, the commissioner said: “We normally give the subvention to the hospital management, which uses its discretion to disburse the funds according to its needs and liabilities. For now, the government does not give stipend to the inmates. We have been taking care of the victims through our partnership with the National Tuberculosis-Leprosy Centre.

    The commissioner said the government had been in talks with the Federal Government to take over the leprosarium and make it a national centre for leprosy in the North Central zone.

    “We are working on the modalities to achieve this aim. If we seal the agreement with the Federal Government, we will then approach ECWA for the formal handing over of the leprosarium to the government to run,” he said.

    On government’s failure to initiate socio-economic programme and employment opportunities for the inmates’ children, Alege said: “They have not made any representation to the government in that regard. When they come forward with their socio-economic challenges and employment request for their educated children, I believe Governor Ahmed will listen to them and make move to relieve them of their burdens. The government has been making social impact in every area. We would be willing to help them when they come forward with their requests.”

    Efforts by our reporter to get the comments of ECWA Trustees in charge of the hospital did not succeed as the leadership did not respond to our enquiries as promised.