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  • Engage new media, The Nation Online Editor urges students

    Engage new media, The Nation Online Editor urges students

    Mass Communication students have been urged to embrace the new media if they want to be relevant in the emerging trend of communication. The charge was given by the Managing Editor, Online and Special Publications of The Nation, Mr Lekan Otufodunrin, at a seminar marking the Mass Communication Students’ Association (MCSA) Week at Babcock University.

    The event with the theme: Preparing for a Mass Communication Career in a New Media Age, was held on the campus.

    Otufodunrin noted that the teaching of traditional journalism was changing with the advent of the new media, which he said youths are championing. The knowledge of new media, Otufodunrin said, would increase the chance of the youth to get job in the media.

    He said: “Media organisations and other employers of communication graduates now give preference to those who are skilled in new media not only for social interaction, which was the original purpose of the platform, but to those who know how to apply it professionally.”

    The Editor, however, said journalism training could not be substituted for skills in the use of new media, saying not many of the users of the new media possessed knowledge required to practise journalism.

    “Students must realise that they can only become professionals in mass communication if they acquire skills in the use of social media to complement their knowledge in traditional journalism. It would not be good enough if you know how to use the new media and you don’t have the required media knowledge in traditional journalism,” he said.

    The event also saw him engage the students and staff of the department with tangible ideas on how to start making earnest and intentional preparations towards a successful career in the field.

    Otufodunrin urged the students improve their activities on Facebook, Twitter and other social media platforms, but cautioned them against the wrong use of social media.

    The seminar also featured an interactive session, where the guest speaker engaged participants on how to use social media.

    Alaba Abodunrin, a 300-Level student, described the session as educative, noting that he Otufodunrin’s message was clear and straightforward on the need to engage the new media.

  • Hope for a nation in bondage

    SIR: By commission and omission, Nigerians brought this great nation on her knees. So, let us go soul searching before casting our treasured votes. The general elections should not be about filling posts as usual. It should be about redefining who we are, what we want, the challenges of a true federation and above all, how we want the world to perceive us as from the next republic.

    In 1960, a child of flawed constitution was born, deformed, hydra-headed and still stammering in adolescent and incoherent on her knees at over 50 years of age. Delivered in bad faith for  the sole purpose of a sustainable, exploitative, British prosperity and selfish-interest; born of questionable parenthood, kidnapped and nursed in the crib of commanding officers since age seven, nursed mostly by  army generals and inept leadership in politics.

    One of the last generals standing upright, reformed, and apologetic of the rot they left behind, bids a come back to straighten things up. That’s General Muhammadu Buhari (GMB)’s unfinished business in today’s politics.

    Let GMB come in and infuse sanity, discipline, dignity, not on his command but on the rule of law and justice in a nation yawning for true fiscal federalism.

    My choice of GMB is informed by the legendary traits of his leadership virtues  and discipline. The nation is bursting at the seams with brilliant minds, in all spheres of life but fatally wanting in leadership! Grossly under-utilised and wasting like our vast potentials of arable lands, bring in merit and a just social order, and you will harvest bountifully, human resources of immense proportions.

    That’s what we need to excel, as in the economic miracles of BRIC nations of Brazil, Russia India and China.

    Although, and most unfortunate but true, even the best amongst of us, when given the opportunity are often converted easily in a land thoroughly wired in corruption. Just take a cursory look at how the high and mighty in governments, politics, business, even our religious leaders; thriving on Alleluyah merchandise,  are not spared of this plague, as they often come cascading from the altar of grace to be refurbished on grass. Buhari’s legendary integrity, austere and disciplined life are values our nation’s bankrupt elite can profit from.

    Ours is a nation in bondage by our own doings. From rural Otueke, to cosmopolitan Kaduna, Jos, Enugu, Port Harcourt and mega city of Lagos, the prognosis is very bad. The pang of  birth, the pain of hunger, distress and pleasure are the same in all human beings. Let the truth be told, the same sun that shines its brilliance on the mansions and glittering-marbles in the  cosmopolitan cities, hides not its face from our rural dwellings, creeks and oil-spilled-rivers of the Niger Delta or such severally fouled-up-rivers, criss -crossing our entire lands, west, east, north and south. Our needs and wants, though varied, converge at a point of realities in our daily lives.

    PDP gave us no choice; we must embrace this great opportunity for change, even though we have no faith in our men of straw, called politicans. The privilege few that parades the corridors of power bestriding  the land like colossus; haunting down and diminishing our commonwealth with reckless abandon; veiled in legal instruments, concocted by unconscionable but various ingenuity. Amazing, but true. Fate must have ironically, unfairly destined GEJ of the shoeless fame to toy with the need of this famished nation in dire need of good governance. What an irony?

    Let facts speak, when millions lose their jobs, the economy wanes and commerce goes into comatose as we are witnessing now, the President should lose his job.  He should feel the pinch in his now severally acquired golden shoes.

     

    •  Goke Omisore,

    Lekki, Lagos.

  • ‘How to build a science-driven nation’

    Starting from schools in Onitsha, Anambra State’s commercial hub, a science competition will soon spread to other parts of the state. NWANOSIKE ONU captures the award to high-flying contestants as well as the facilitator’s vision for homegrown scientists

    The cleric’s vision is clear. Science is not transferred but developed from within, and what better way to stimulate interest in it than encouraging pupils to compete for top prizes. In Anambra State, beginning from its commercial nerve Onitsha, the vision is catching on. Its schools have come alive with the Archbishop Valerian Okeke Science Competition (AVOSCO).

    Winners in the contest are picking up good cash and other prizes. So are their teachers and even the schools.

    The Most Rev. Valerian Maduka Okeke initiated the competition to help secondary school students to excel, especially in science subjects with a view to building a nation grounded in science and technology.

    Now, only students in Onitsha metropolitan schools are competing but very soon, the contest will spread to every part of the state.

    The event which was held at Bishop Shanahan Hall in Onitsha brought together many students including their teachers. Various prizes were won by the students and the teachers.

    Twenty science students were rewarded with cash prices and gifts alongside their teachers.

    The overall best science student in the senior category, Ezeilo John Paul from All Hallows Seminary Onitsha, scored 80 per cent to beat others and win N50,000.

    Ekwo Cynthia from Mater Christi Secondary School, Awada, came first in the junior category with 87 per cent, going home with N40,000.

    Others who took home different prizes included Obikwelu Kyrian and Okeke Oluebube, coming second and third respectively in the junior category.

    Also in the senior category, Nnamaga Kenechukwu of St. Charles College, Onitsha came second while Okafor Chioma of Dominican Sisters College, Abatete, came third. Each of them won N40,000.

    The teachers were not left out. The best teacher, Charles C. Okonkwo, of All Hallows Seminary Onitsha went home with N50,000 in the senior category. Mr Okonkwo shone brightly at the event, not just because he worked and deservedly earned the top prize but also because he is physically challenged. Many saw him as a role model.

    A gteacher from Queen of the Rosary College (QRC) was judged the best teacher in the junior category while her counterparts from All Hallows Seminary Onitsha and Mater Christi Secondary School Awada came second and third, respectively.

    In the senior category, Dominican Secondary School, Abatete, won the first price with St. Charles College Onitsha and All Hallows Seminary, Onitsha, taking second and third positions.

    Consolation prices of N10,000 were given from the fourth to the tenth positions in both junior and senior categories.

    In addition to the awards to the students, teachers and their schools, there were other materials donated to the schools by the sponsors.

    These were giant interactive electronic boards valued at N200,000 for the schools to work harder which were for the first positioned schools, while photocopier machines were given to the second and third positions.

    Speaking with the Nation, the Catholic Archbishop of Onitsha Ecclesiastical Province, Most Rev Valerian Okeke said that the foundation is creating the opportunity for the young ones to discover their tomorrow.

    According to him, “today is not to bring out our mission and vision but to present awards; we are here to tell the young ones, you can be better”.

    The cleric commended the students for discovering their abilities and capabilities in science, while also hailing their parents for allowing their children to avail themselves of the opportunity offered to them.

    ”The teachers mould minds, form characters and help the students to discover their real selves,” he said.

    The education secretary of the Onitsha Diocese, Rev Basil Onwegbelu in his lecture titled, “Why science?” described science as the bedrock of education.

    He said that they would not allow any other country in the world to re-colonise Nigeria through science again; adding that denying the people the study of science is like another form of enslavement.

    For Rev. Dr. Patrick Omuta, it is good to dream dreams because without it, there would not be any reality, adding that the Archbishop has demonstrated his love for science.

    Omuta who was the chairman of the ceremony described the cleric as the beacon of hope for the children in the state.

    He said that 76 Catholic secondary schools competed in the Onitsha province which he said was the regional level, adding that the competition would soon go round the state.

    “We are here to celebrate the students who stunned the entire state and the people with their brilliance, life is about competition; the aim is to have competition among the students”

    “So many people have been under the scholarship of the Archbishop in all the cadres of education and he has been celebrating his birthday and Christmas with the prisoners in this state.

    Mr. Charles Okonkwo, the physically challenged Chemistry teacher at All Hallows Seminary, Onitsha who won the best teacher, said the exercise opened the eyes of the students and their teachers.

    He commended the Archbishop for creating such environment in the state and his vision in building the Holy Family Youth Village in Awka where students live.

    Cynthia Ekwo and Ezeilo John Paul, the two best students in both junior  and senior categories, told The Nation that the awards would spur them the more to put more efforts in their studies.

    The students thanked Archbishop Okeke for establishing such awards in the state.

     

  • A nation fit for heroes

    Today, we deconstruct our spurious psyches. Nigerianness, an ambitious dream – now turned enduring fantasy – lugged on to the global stage by our founding fathers in the twilight of 1960, meets its nemesis in the contemporary youth. It meets its waterloo in you and me. Today, we reduce the Nigerian dream to a myth; together, we smash its shiny core to smithereens, each splinter representing a creepy portrait of you and me, and several elements of our youth divide.

    The Nigerian youth is traumatized. We have lost our head; that is why we speak incoherently. That is why our sentences trail off in dissonance and confusion every time we open our mouths to protest an ill. That is why we fail to set our knives’ needlepoint where acuteness could enter astride the prick of pain; until the death…death of statesmanship, death of power, death of citizenship as we have learnt to breed it.

    We speak of falling apart, breaking up, cleansing our bloodied neighbourhoods, burying our dead and uprooting the roots of discord and devastation from our clans, often in one breath. But our actions prolong the tragedies we wish to flee. What our founding fathers struggled to salvage from the British colonialists, we as youth, return, bloodied and badly mutilated, to its savage origins.

    Our descent presages that unbounded degeneracy that heralds the fiery storm of our perdition.

    Murderous hate disintegrates our fatherland; humaneness and love depreciate by our lust for heartwarming riches. Honesty dies a gruesome death and diligence gives to the lure of gratifying deceit; and within the haze of such grotesqueness and vile, we seek a true hero, a Nigerian hero.

    How can we dream of having a hero without the crutch of a virtuous and enabling world? We do not need a hero but a nation fit for heroes; and having created such nation, we would be in no dire need of sacrificial idealists and pragmatists we love to call heroes. Let everybody be a hero. Falcons hunt for their young; crickets make their own music, and the untended herd determines the course of its own pasture; let you and I become our own heroes.

    Arrogance and contemptible naïveté makes our craven and insolent ruling class contend that we are incapable of such noble enterprise. Cowardliness and incurable servility goads us to uphold the ‘truth’ as they love to see it. Who would have thought that at this time and age, we would be caught in the tangled thickets of greed, self-centeredness, retrogression and deceit?

    Today’s youth like their forbears are given to bigotry…we perpetuate the worst kinds of ethnic chauvinism and idolatry you could ever think of. Driven by greed and inordinate lust for the good life, we seek the shortest possible bypass to riches. “Money talks, bullshit works,” becomes our hallowed creed; it leads us to revere criminals as our best of men even as it informs our tireless quest to circumvent the universe’s definite but slow, steady order.

    We are at war with ourselves and the future of our dreams thus in spite of our fervent and inexorable clamour for change and everlasting progress, our enthusiasm is borne of the perverse, and our advancements of exasperating duplicity; never had an entire generation being so treacherous and full of ill-will against itself as ours.

    Goaded by platitudes and ideals that do very little to improve our circumstances and worth, we engage in a maddening march for the future of our dreams even as we become the cogs in our wheels of change; every time we get to the crossroads of change we could believe in, impotent will emasculates our zeal.

    There is something wrong with the Nigerian ideal; makes it difficult to chart our way out of the bedlam of the past, turmoil of the present and barrenness of the future. Let no man, as Schiller says, too querulously “measure by a scale of perfection the meagre product of reality” in this poor world of ours. Without doubt, Schiller envisioned the futility of such lofty expectations we have of ourselves even as we battle our inner demons. Any individual seeking such perfection shall in no way be deemed a wise man; he shall be deemed sickly, unrealistic and innately foolish.

    And yet, on the other hand, it is worth remembering that ideals do exist. Even the villainy perpetrated by our venal and dishonourable ruling class is perpetuated on the strength of ideals they hold very dear to their hearts. To every individual, his heartfelt ethic. There is no man without an ideal, however dormant or active it is, something drives an average man towards his choice of conduct as part of a human society.

    Truly, without the rampart of ideals, it would be impossible for our pioneer statesmen to fight for and attain the independence we so carelessly diminish today. Spurred by heartfelt ideals, officers of the Nigerian army staged the first military coup and subsequent ones. Incensed by ideals, the country plunged into a bloody civil war at the end of which over two million civilians and soldiers lay dead from starvation and “enemy” bullets.

    It was on the steep planes of ideals that the country was continually thrust through sporadic military and civilian experiments until 1993 when Nigeria’s last military head of state handed over to a civilian administration. And spurred by earnest ideals, the executive and legislative arms of government have led Nigeria from one sorry pass to another. Enter President Goodluck Jonathan, the man whom many amongst us deemed the “ideal” man for the job. Many thought because his name is “Goodluck,” he must have good luck which would automatically rub off on us immediately he attains power. Goodluck Jonathan is in power and what manner of good luck he brings has been felt by all.

    Like you and I, Mr. President is a man of ideals; thus it was from the moral ground of ideals that he budgeted about N1billion for presidential meals, removed fuel subsidy and allows a very “interesting” security situation on his watch. Being a man of ideals, Mr. President has surrounded himself with great men and women of ideals thus we have within his team, Reuben Abati, a very brilliant journalist who from a moral ground of ideals chose to smother reason and honesty to serve Mr. President, my bad, Nigeria; lest I forget Ngozi Okonjo Iweala, Allison-Madueke et al; men and women of presumed worth and intelligence who are currently ruling Nigeria because it is not yet idyllically expedient to serve Nigeria.

    And then we have you and me; human integers continually forced by the most expedient of ideals to endure such ruling class as we have now. It is on the strength of ideals that we evolve into what quality of youth we are now. Shall we begin to nurture such ideals that would trigger our oft hackneyed ‘revolution?’I speak of unimpeachable values and character that dwarfs our several cosmetic enterprises like our bungled “Occupy Nigeria” protest. There is little to cheer about such movement; the best we can do is to look back lustfully as shipwrecked mariners might at the disappearing shoreline while they are hurled and submerged beneath the fury of the surliest sea waves.

  • President Jonathan and the Yoruba nation

    SIR: Since the reported meeting of our President with some leaders of Yoruba nation including respected monarchs, I have done some hard thinking about our nation and especially the level of fidelity that is demonstrated by our political masters. The innocuous body parading itself or insinuating that it was speaking for the whole Yoruba nation is entitled to its views. But several things were involved or ought to have been considered before that meeting was summoned.

    The Nigeria political arrangements especially sharing of political positions, appointments to the Chiefs and Senior Management Staff of statutory corporations, commissions and boards deserve a second look if not a thorough analysis. Citing of capital projects in each zone or state of the federation needs to be known and analysed. The allocation of the superior or super ministries to each zone or a block of zones needs to be known. In short, the equitable distribution of resources available to the Nigerian nation state should also be on the table. Nigeria as a nation must survive. Although there are few immutables in politics, it is safe to argue that we will all benefit by the wholesomeness and unity of the country.

    Some Nigerians have reacted positively or negatively to the meeting. I refer in particular to Prof. Dare’s comment at the back page of The Nation of December 2. Dare has not been known to flaunt false statistics nor has he been known to tell blatant untruth. However, his reference to Ekiti Obas as leading in numbers with their counterparts from the states of South-West zone is not exactly true. Indeed, more Obas attended from  a neighbouring state. In any case, there is virtually nothing wrong in leaders and Obas of our zone meeting the President of Nigeria.

    While I agree with Prof. Dare that the leaders and the Obas might have been tricked to attend a political forum, I reject in entirety the view that the Obas were indiscreet or they went for what some called stomach infrastructure. Throughout Nigeria, Ekiti Obas stand out in intellect, in commitment to their environment and proud of their thrones. Like many Yoruba, Ekitis don’t pick the crumbs from under the table. We either sit at the table or don’t come near  at all.

    I think what that forum would have told the President plainly is that there is so much imbalance in the distribution of wealth (via contracts), in the allocation of resources, in execution of capital projects and most importantly in the distribution of key political and administrative positions among the various group that constitute our federation. No Yoruba man holds any key Ministry except Akinwumi who vaunts his achievement in the distribution of mobile telephone to farmers but who has done very modestly in the core area of agriculture, notably some marginal increase in rice production and wiping out of middlemen who dominated the fertilizer business. Almost all the economics and the financial ministries, ministry of power, their subsidiaries, corporations, commissions, etc, are headed by people of the South-South and South-East of the geo-political zones. Some have vaguely put the arithmetic as follows: 70 per cent for South-South and South-East block; 25 percent for Northern block and 5 percent for South-West. It is not sufficient for the President to say that ‘he will take care of the West. The innuendo here is loaded and one does not need to interpret this. Some six decades ago, during the days of Azikiwe/Okpara, Sardauna/Balewa, Awolowo/Akintola, any attempt to knit a political arrangement between the then Eastern Region and Western Region was at  the very last moment aborted by our revered Azikiwe. This, he said quite reasonably of course, that Nigeria could not be ruled on the basis of North versus South or vice versa. Although Awolowo wanted close working relationship between the East and the West, he also courted the so-called minorities of the Middle Belt in the North and then Calabar, Ogoja, Rivers (COR) people of the East. Of course  Awolowo’s manoeuvres never materialized while Azikwe/Okpara always forged close relationship with the North, giving birth to uneasy coalition at the centre. This is the arrangement which Dare and others called the ‘mainstreaming’. Nigeria is so complex, the geographical space so large that political mainstreaming may not only be undemocratic, but stiffening if not suffocating.

    Finally, let us appeal to the Federal Government to treat all of us evenly and let the Secretary to the Federal Government in particular learn from our political progenitors.

    • ‘Deji Fasuan, JP, MON

    Ado-Ekiti

  • Nigeria, broken nation in need of therapy

    SIR: Nigeria suppurates from many wounds in the same way a man who has been in an accident does. Is Nigeria not ailing from diverse ailments that debilitate it? The many dysfunctions that characterize our country are proofs that Nigeria is malfunctioning. But at the root of Nigeria’s problem is incompetent, corrupt, myopic, and visionless leadership.

    Since our attainment of political freedom in 1960, Nigeria has not got it right, politically. Bad and inept political leadership has been our bane since then. More so, the military incursions into our politics further compounded our national woes. Thankfully, now, we have been enjoying democratic governance for 15 unbroken years. Against the background of our volatile past characterized by religious crises and a civil war, 15 years of uninterrupted democratic leadership is a milestone.

    But our leaders’ inability to entrench national unity and cohesion in the country impedes our national development. Who does not know that unity is a force for national growth in a country? Ethnic and religious fissures have polarized our country. In the past, the Maitatsine religious uprising claimed many human lives. And, one Akaluka was vilely killed and his head hoisted on a pole for allegedly desecrating the Koran. We experienced the riot caused by the miss world beauty contest scheduled to take place in Abuja in 2002.

    Since political power slipped away from the grip of northern politicians, the North-east has not known peace. It has become a river of blood owing to the activities of the dreaded and murderous Boko Haram group. Members of the group control large swathes of land that cover Yobe, Adamawa, and Borno states. Members of the group kill people by exploding bombs in churches, schools, mosques, and other places. The insurgency in the North has created a humanitarian problem. Can economic activities take place in an area that has become a hotbed of violence and theatre of bloodshed?

    In addition to our security challenges, our economy is not sitting pretty now. Our mono-based economy solely depends on oil revenue for its survival. Sadly, the crude oil prices have plummeted with its sad economic consequences.

    But even when the economy was healthy, the dividends of the oil boom never trickled down to the poor. The federal government couldn’t diversify the economy to create jobs for millions of unemployed youths. And, millions of Nigerians are under-employed, too. Yearly, our universities churn out graduates who are sent into the saturated labor market.

    Is there not a connection between the existence of criminal activities in the country and the issue of unemployment?

    Are our leaders not capable of providing solutions to the myriad problems that have held us down as a nation? They can solve of national problems if they are determined to solve those problems. But the tragedy of the Nigerian state is that our leaders are with the warped perception that one’s occupation of an exalted political office is an opportunity for one to corruptly enrich oneself. Sadly, and regrettably, too, Nigeria is the worst for it now. Consequently, our country has not realized its potential. It has remained the eternal potential giant of Africa.

    Nigerian politicians should rise above politicking for their selfish ends and band together to salvage Nigeria from the cesspool of corruption and the wood of underdevelopment.

     

    • Chiedu Uche Okoye

    Uruowulu–Obosi, Anambra State

  • Big economy, broke nation

    SIR: That Nigeria’s economy, by virtue of its recent rebased Gross Domestic Product, is the biggest in Africa yet governments across all levels have been finding it extremely difficult to meet their fiscal obligations due to cash crunch, remains one of the internal contradictions that characterise the country’s 100 years’ existence. In Nigeria, it is the more you look, the less you see!

    Except the Coordinating Minister of the Economy and Minister of Finance, Dr. Ngozi Okonjo Iweala and her team, every Nigerian knows that Nigeria is broke. The argument by Okonjo Iweala that “Nigeria, as country, has quite enough assets…” is only meant to distort empirical facts. To be broke, in its simplest term, means to be lacking in money. The concept of liquidation as applicable to banks if juxtaposed with the minister’s argument will expose her double standard. For example, banks are liquidated on account of bankruptcy not necessarily because they do not have enough assets but simply because they do not have enough cash to continue carrying on in their businesses. As a matter of fact, a liquidated banker’s assets are usually mobilised to set off its debts. So, it is inconsequential that the country has “enough assets” as the minister would insist. Until those assets (assuming they exist) are “mobilised”, the bleeding truth is that Nigeria is currently bankrupt, simplicita!

    Indices of a broke nation have continue to stare us in the face. The most evident is the continuous dwindling of the revenue allocation accruing to states and non disbursement of same to states as when due. As a result, most states have resulted to other excruciating means in order to augment the dwindling allocation. Today, many states owe their workers running into months. And where they could not endure any longer, they resulted to borrowing in the money market through bond’s instrumentality. Of course, the implication of this is that States are mortgaging the future of their citizens. Yet we have a “fat” economy which effects are yet to translate to meaningful impacts on the lives of Nigerian masses.

    How does the Finance Minister explain the recent disturbing revelation by the Niger State government of its inability to pay the debt of N294 million it owed the National Examination Council (NECO) was responsible for the non release of the 2013/2014 examination results of candidates from the state? The state government was unmistaken in its statement that this worrisome scenario was caused by the inadequate cash flow from the Federation Account. Also, in recent times, state commissioners for finance have had to storm out of meetings with the federal government in anger as a result of the inability of Federation Accounts Allocation Committee (FAAC) to release their monthly allocations.

    Even the federal government, recently, have had to go borrowing from foreign countries and bodies in order to carry out her fiscal responsibility. The most recent was the $1 billion external loan approval sought and received by the federal government from the parliament to procure arms to fight the Boko Haram. It is abundantly clear from the foregoing that Nigerians do not need soothsayers or economists to tell them that the country is not only broke but may also not have the so-called “enough assets” to revive its much taunted N80.22tn economy contrary to the Finance Minister’s claim.

    Largely responsible for the doldrums is corruption and mismanagement of resources. And until these maladies are checked, the country will continue to witness cash crunch that may eventually drive it to the state of perpetual bankruptcy, notwithstanding the so-called big economy status, and the sooner the minister and her employers come to the realisation of this notorious fact, the better for the country!

     

    •Barrister Okoro Gabriel,

    Ebonyi State.

  • The nation of our dream

    Nigeria is 54! Much has been said and little has been done. Much was expected but little has been achieved. So, that makes it easy for them to conclude in their little minds and broadcast with their wide mouths that “Nigeria is a failure”. And some crooned “Nigeria is a fool at 54. You might have heard or even said same. But there are many things they don’t know that they don’t know; you may call that tautology or repetition if you wish. But their ignorance is secondary.

    They said: “Nigeria is nothing to write home about,” yet, it’s still a home for you and I. Listen to what I’m about say. “This is Nigeria walking down the aisle to the altar.” “Here is Nigeria meandering her way to the peak.” We might have been very slow about this, but, thank the heavens that we aren’t soaring in a retrogressive manner.

    Let me start like this; they said Nigeria is not united. But they’ve soon forgotten that Nigeria is made up of over 200 ethnic groups with diversities in cultural, social and religious beliefs which, in some cases, are contradicting. Please, tell me, is there any country in Africa harbouring as much ethnic groups? I doubt if there is any with half of that. Yet, we’ve been together for good 54 years. But they still make international communities brand us as “disunited” through hyperbolic media stunts. Then what is Unity? For goodness sake can’t you see how Sudan divided just because of mere religious difference? If you don’t know let me tell you, that act has sentenced many Sudanese to death by hunger and their refugee base have sky-rocketed.

    Think about this: when the whole world watched us with folded arms to massacre ourselves in a bloody civil war just seven years after independence, we were yet tender and naïve. But we got peace restored even though a faction had to extend the olive branch. No wonder Chimamanda Adiche said in “Half of a Yellow Sun” that “the world was silent when we died”. Or didn’t we witness how some countries decimated almost half of their citizens in bloody wars that wouldn’t have ended save the intervention of international communities? Nigeria had to use her own forces and money to rescue Sierra-Leone and Liberia from an unending civil war and restore democracy to those nations.

    They said our democracy is a farce but we’ve sustained it for fifteen years and no election had led to the sort of skirmishes we’ve seen in Cote d’Ivoire some years back. Even Zimbabwe had to shamefully resort to power sharing formula which was unconstitutional to their system of government just to hold on to democracy. What gains has the so called North African revolution yielded? Nothing, except for its barrage of ousted governments. In fact some almost fell back into the cruel hands of khakistocracy. Here we are portraying good democracy in the midst of our African neighbors suffering to establish it. And we say Nigeria is a fool at 54?

    We might not have attained perfection as a country but the truth remains that we are doing better. I’d wondered why Nigerians always opt for the easy ride to condemn the country and point at our common loopholes but no one seems to have deemed it fit to praise our positives.

    They said we have a moribund educational sector and our tertiary institutions strike more frequently than thunderstorm. As a matter of fact, scores of our youths are trooping to neighboring countries to get the same degree that seems like rocket science to attain here. But what we don’t know is that most of those universities are nothing but a plot of land with two blocks of flat and ten lecturers. You might want to ask how I knew all these. But the facts are there for anyone who searches for them. The fact that our youths get admitted into these schools on a platter of gold unlike Nigeria raises serious concern about the credibility of their offerings. All we need is more institutions to contain this growing education-seeking populace.

    If some countries experience half the degree of corruption and looting of public funds Nigeria has to endure, they would have long ran into bankruptcy and a crumbled economy. So whether we like it or not, Nigeria has survived all these assaults for 54 years.

    Again, it’s ridiculous how some Nigerians spend time making plans to travel overseas and enjoy life in developed countries simply because they think life is too difficult in Nigeria but they have no Idea how people in the o-called green pastures work from dawn to twilight, sunrise to sunset to earn their dollars and pounds. But somehow, they end up overseas, take up menial jobs they refused to do here in Nigeria. It is often said that people make places and places don’t make people. Where the hell are we running to? Let’s stand up, work hard and build the Nigeria we want to see.

    Foreigners are trooping into Nigeria to invest in our economy and here we are running away from our own Canaan. So the white man comes, exploits and under develops us to develop themselves.

    We can’t begin to compare Nigeria with her superiors. It’s non-sequito to compare Nigeria with United States or United Kingdom. They may be years ahead of us on the grounds of development but we are catching up faster than anyone would have us think.

    Didn’t they say crude oil exploration will drop below average if Niger Delta militancy continues? But as I pen this piece, amnesty had made militancy a story of the past. And crude oil exploration is still booming. They’ve even predicted that crude oil exploration may come to a halt in a matter of years but they don’t know that crude oil contribute only 14 per cent to our annual GDP- which is on a steady rise.

    Now they’ve predicted that Nigeria will disintegrate by 2015 if Boko Haram insurgency persists but who knows if these rebels might just sheathe their swords or probably get pinned by Nigerian armed forces before you know it. This is Nigeria and we have a glowing future.

    Recently, Nigeria curtailed the spread of the deadly Ebola virus while thousands are busy wasting away in Sierra-Leone and Liberia just because they lack the potential to contain it. We might not have attained the envious heights of our European counterparts, but we are setting a pace in Africa. We are the giant of Africa. We are Nigerians and we are good for something: drive, hope, and positive change.

     

    David, 300-Level Pharmacy, UNIBEN

  • The Nation’s man is NBA forum’s chair

    The Nigerian Bar Association (NBA) Lawyers in the Media (LIM), Forum has elected Mr John Austin Unachukwu as its chairman.

    The election took place during the NBA Annual General Conference in Owerri, Imo State capital.

    Unachukwu, The Nation’s Legal Editor, is the immediate past NBA Assistant Publicity Secretary.

    Other officers are Mrs Vera Chinwuba (Vice-chairman), Adam Adedimeji (Secretary), Wunmi Obabori (Assistant Secretary),  Jude Igbanoi (Treasurer), Adelannwa  Bamigboye (Financial Secretary),  Theodora Kio-Lawson (Welfare Officer) and Francis Famuroti (Publicity Secretary).

    Other Officers  are  Muritala Abdulrasheed and  the immediate past Chairman of the forum, Mr. Charles Odenigbo  who were elected  Ex-Officio members of the Forum.

    Unachukwu thanked members for the confidence reposed on him and his fellow  officers to serve the association at this critical time in its history.

    He praised Odenigbo and his team  for keeping the flag flying in spite of the challenges they faced in the last three years.

    Unachukwu promised to consolidate on the success recorded by his predecessors  in office and pledged to  co-operate with the leadership op the NBA to achieve the aims and objectives of LIM’s founding fathers of LIM for the over all interest, welfare and wellbeing of members.

  • Fayemi tasks corps members on nation building

    The Ekiti State Governor, Dr Kayode Fayemi, has charged corps members posted to the state to promote the objectives of the National Youth Service Corps (NYSC).

    Fayemi, represented by his deputy, Prof Modupe Abelabu, at the swearing-in ceremony at the NYSC permanent orientation camp in Ise-Orun Emure, urged the youths to shun ethnic sentiments and join hands with the government to achieve national integration.

    “Your call-up is a rare opportunity for you to brace up for the onerous challenges ahead of you. I urge you to eschew primordial sentiments and live by the noble objectives for which the NYSC is known,” he said.

    The state NYSC co-ordinator, Mr T.C. Ibeh, hailed the corps members for demonstrating “high level maturity” during the orientation course. He said: “The NYSC has been specifically designed to make the youth agents of development and unity.”

    Representative of the state Chief Judge, Justice Ayodeji Daramola, administered the oath on the corps members.

    Highlights of the ceremony included presentations by the cultural dance and entertainment by NYSC band. The event was also attended by traditional rulers and heads of government parastatals in the state.