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Tag: people

Why security agents should respect peoples’ rights

Chairman, Nigerian Bar Association (NBA), Ikeja branch, Monday Ubani writes on rights abuses and the remedies available to victims.

The 1999 Constitution as Amended has elaborate provisions for the respect and enforcement of the fundamental human rights of the citizens. The right to movement, freedom of association, right to fair hearing and respect to human dignity are some of these rights elaborately provided for under the said constitution. Fellow citizens are advised to get a copy of the 1999 Constitution as amended and take a deep interest in Chapter IV of the said constitution, where elaborate provisions are made for the protection and enforcement of the fundamental human rights of the citizens. Agreed that those rights are not absolute rights, these rights as provided for under the constitution, can be derogated upon on two main grounds:

(1) Any law that is reasonably justifiable in a democratic society in the interest of defense, public safety, public order, public morality or public health or

(2) For the purpose of protecting the rights and freedom of other persons.

The Chief Justice of Nigeria is empowered by the same Constitution to roll out the Enforcement Procedure Rules that will enable the application and quick enforcement of these rights whenever and whereever they are infringed upon or threatened to be infringed upon by anybody or institution. The new Enforcement Rules of 2009 has made tremendous improvement on the previous ones. The issue of locus standi has finally been laid to rest under the New Rule. Under it, you will not be denied the right to enforce fundamental human rights on the ground that you have not established sufficient legal interest. The position as at today is that even if you are not directly involved, the moment it is established that a right of another person has been violated, then the law will be activated to protect that right even if the direct applicant is not affected by the violation of his or her right/s. The rule defines an applicant to include the person on whose behalf an application is brought. The law as it is with the enforcement of our fundamental human rights is that the anachronistic tendency to use locus standi to deny an Applicant the enforcement of his or her rights has been outlawed by the New Rule on Enforcement.

Mr Femi Falana (SAN) has done a thorough job on this issue in his new book titled: Fundamenal Human Rights Enforcement in Nigeria.

With these elaborate provisions of our rights, we however on a daily basis witness infringement of these rights by all the security apparatus, especially in the cities. The security agencies that infringe on citizens’ rights include the Nigerian Police Force, Federal Roads Safety Corps (FRSC), Vehicle Inspection Officers (VIO), Lagos State Transport Management Authority (LASTMA), Customs and sometimes and in some places the Nigerian Army. Road users are harassed, searched wrongly, being asked to provide many at times unnecessary documents and items when stopped and on several occasions, provocative questions are thrown at the helpless and bewildered citizen when stopped for a check.

Despite that the Nigerian Police Authority has outlawed checkpoints on our roads, our roads are still being blocked by some unscrupulous police officers whose main objective in erecting these illegal roadblocks is for the sake of extortion.

There is no doubt that we have security challenges in Nigeria, but the laws of the land must be obeyed in enforcing compliance of our laws. The Nigerian Police Act empowers police officers to arrest criminals and prevent crime; it is a responsibility that should be carried out in due compliance with all known extant laws. Enforcement should not be equated with breach of all known rights of the citizens. It is expected that a police officer or any security officer for that matter who is so empowered must exercise discretion in the due performance of his or her legal duty in combating crime.

It does not appear right to stop all vehicles for a search unless there is reasonable suspicion that the vehicle is stolen or is used for criminal activities or that the inmates of the vehicle are criminals or suspected criminals or that they are carrying articles of crime. It is on these grounds that vehicles are supposed to be stopped for questioning and possible search. When stopped, every courtesy ought to be extended to everyone inside the vehicle. Both our constitution and criminal laws presume every accused person to be innocent until proved guilty. On no account should any security agent beat, harass, intimidate, whip, flog, frog jump, handcuff a citizen whose offence has not been properly established, even when established, procedural rules of arrest and interrogation have to be complied with fully. Such acts of violation if properly established against any of the security agents amount to both criminal and civil violation of the citizens’ rights for which the citizen can seek a remedy. We are not ignorant of the fact that there are some of the citizens who are rude, cocky and manner less when asked to stop. We are also aware that some citizens do not know how to co-operate with security agents when stopped. This is where professionalism comes in handy. A well-trained security agent, who knows his or her onions, need not engage in a shouting match with a fellow citizen who is being interrogated. The professionalism displayed and the level of efficiency shown will humble a rather rude and foolish citizen who is trying to obstruct a police officer or any security agent from carrying out his lawful duty.

It is not every time that a citizen offends the law that arrests follows consequently. There are instances where simple admonition and correction will do and the offender may not want to disobey that law again for the rest of his or her life.

One is, indeed, happy at the admonition given to officers of LASTMA by the Governor of Lagos State, Mr Babatunde Raji Fashola (SAN) three days ago that where arresting a traffic offender would compound the traffic situation in any given environment, it is wise to let the offender go rather than attempt to arrest him or her. That was clear wisdom at work. How many of our security agents usually consider and ruminate on the central purpose why they are on the road. Is it to make the country a safe place to live in or to help their pockets? Their pockets seem to be the main reason why most of them join any of the security agencies. Several lives have been lost on the roads when these agents in the belief that they are arresting a suspect end up endangering lives and properties of the suspect and even that of innocent third parties. There have been reported cases of cruel murder of innocent citizens especially that of commercial drivers or conductors when they refused to ‘co-operate’ with these armed security agents. They are usually shot at, at close range which are usually fatalistic.

For how long shall we endure the senseless killings of citizens on our roads on the ground that the citizens refused to bribe security agents. How long shall Nigerians be harassed on our roads when they are being asked to provide unnecessary documents that have no statutory back up?

Citizens are advised to always show courtesy to the security agents on the road, they are empowered by law to protect and secure our lives and properties. When asked to stop, you should endeavour to stop. However our Security Agents on the roads must understand the enormous responsibilities placed on their shoulders while policing the citizens on the roads. They must study and understand the laws empowering them to act; they must know what documents the law empowers them to demand from the citizens. For instance, it is absolutely wrong for a police officer to demand for custom papers while on a routine check and there is no reason to so demand. It will be wrong for VIOs to demand insurance papers while on a routine check, the law setting them up did not specify such duty on them, theirs is clearly restricted to road worthiness of vehicles plying the roads.

It is debatable whether it is right for the Customs to stop vehicles that have been properly registered and demand for the custom papers whereas these vehicles may have been smuggled with their connivance.

It becomes absurd if this vehicle has been bought by an innocent third party who may not be aware that it was smuggled, in the first place. Such practices need be tested in our law courts to determine whether it is right to impound a car which has been registered in Nigeria on the ground that it was smuggled into the country through one of our numerous porous borders. We hope that it will be done one of these days.

The purpose of this enlightenment is to ensure less friction between road users and the necessary security agents on our roads. Everyone needs to respect one another and ensure accident free, crime free and safe environment for the citizens and possible foreign investors. Rights of citizens and that of the Security Agents must be accorded equal priority by all concerned, that is the way to go.

December 3, 2013
Managing people for success

Managing people has always been a challenge everywhere. This is because people are difficult to manage and most managers too lack the skill of effective people management. This is why I want us to discuss this book titled: “The Art of Managing People” this week. It is co-written by Dr. Phillip Hunsaker and Dr. Anthony Alessandra, two brilliant management experts.

Hunsaker is a professor of Management and director of Management Programmes, School of Business Administration at the University of San Diego. He is a renowned consultant, speaker and author of many best-selling books on Management. As for Alessandra, he is a highly-respected sales, marketing and management consultant as well as an award-winning public speaker. He has written more than 100 articles.

According to Hunsaker and Alessandra, the art of managing people productively and effectively is ever-changing and evolving, and many of the managerial concepts proposed some years ago cannot work in today’s environment. These experts ascribe this to the fact that people, business environment, government and world have changed, while scarcity of resources has worsened, especially the valuable resource of skilled labour.

Hunsaker and Alessandra disclose that attracting, training, motivating and keeping employees have become much more difficult and expensive. They submit that this text has been written to overcome many of the traditional manager-employee relationship problems.

According to these authors, when a manager establishes a friendly yet productive working atmosphere, the benefits to the whole organisation are substantial. They educate that allowing your workers to express their own personalities and maximise their potential will reduce stress within the workforce, create a positive spirit throughout the company and increase the organisation’s productivity.

This text is segmented into three parts of 19 chapters. Part one has generic subject matter of building productive managerial relationships, and covers the first five chapters. Chapter one is entitled “Adjusting effectively to personal style differences”.

According to Hunsaker and Alessandra here, interactive management is a process of dealing with people as individuals in order to build trust in the manager-employee relationship, thereby improving productivity in the organisational set-up.

Chapter two is titled: “Learning how to learn”. These authors say here that successful managers in today’s rapidly-changing world are distinguished not so much by a set of technical skills as by their ability to learn and adapt to the fluctuating demands of their careers. They stress that continuing success requires the ability to explore new opportunities and learn from past successes and failures. Hunsaker and Alessandra say one purpose for studying the learning process is to understand how people go about generating concepts, rules and principles from their experiences as guides for their future behaviour.

In chapters three to five, these authors discuss concepts such as doing unto others; deciding how to decide; and analysing transactional styles.

Part two is summarily woven together as “Interactive communication skills” and contains eight chapters, that is, chapters six to 13. Chapter six is titled: “The art of questioning”. Here, Hunsaker and Alessandra educate that one of the most critical and valuable tools in the manager’s arsenal of communication skills, is the art of questioning.

They add that the ability of the manager to ask the right questions at the right time to help his or her employees best is an essential and integral part of interactive management. “Skilful questioning simplifies the manager’s job because it gets employees to ‘open up’. The employee feels free to reveal inner feelings, motives, needs, current situations, goals, and desires. With this knowledge, the manager is in a much better position to guide the employee to the ultimate achievement of personal, professional, and organisational goals,” assert Hunsaker and Alessandra.

In chapters seven to 13, they beam their analytical searchlight on concepts such as the power of listening; projecting the appropriate image; communicating through voice tones; using body language effectively; spatial arrangements saying things; how your use of time talks; and making sure with feedback.

Part three, the last part has a general subject matter of “Interactive problem-solving” and covers the last six chapters, that is, chapters 14 to 19. Chapter 14 is titled: Problem-solving together. Hunsaker and Alessandra educate that when managers are asked how they make decisions and solve problems, the typical response is usually something like “I don’t know. I just do what has to be done”.

In the words of these authors, “Although they may not be able to specify what steps they take or what rules they apply, all would probably agree that making ‘good’ decisions and effectively solving problems are the essence of good management.”

In chapters 15 to 19, Hunsaker and Alessandra discuss concepts such as defining the problem; developing action plans; implementing action; following through; and what to do with what you have learnt.

Conceptually, these authors have presented an inventory of very rich and brilliant ideas in this book. Stylistically, this text is a success. For instance, the language of the text is simple while the organisation of concepts is okay. The authors use graphics to further enhance understanding of readers. Also, the title is short and assertive.

However, grammatical errors are noticed in the text. One of these is, “Letting your workers express their own personalities and maximise their potentials…” (outside back cover), instead of “Letting your workers express their own personalities and maximise their potential…” Note that “Potential” is an uncountable noun and therefore does not structurally take an “S”).

Another error is that of structural redundancy, that is, “Much more difficult and much more expensive” (page xi) instead of the elliptical version “Much more difficult and expensive”.

In spite of these errors, this text still passes for a masterpiece. It is highly recommended to anybody that wants to become well educated in the art of management.

November 27, 2013
Migrants’ exploits in faraway land

200 years ago, while the thought of independence was still far away from many nations, the Yorubas predominately in the South West parts of Nigeria were already in Ghana. They were attracted to the former Gold Coast by the aroma of business opportunities and exploration. The pasture in Ghana was never greener but the migrants saw an opportunity to expand their burgeoning business ventures and acquire more territories.

Today, there are numerous Nigerian business concerns borne out of the migrant’s exploits. From Tamale to Takoradi, to Accra and even Cape Coast as well as other interiors of Ghana, many Nigerians are expanding the business potentials of the country with visible contributions. This is despite the many obstacles placed in their ways by the local communities and authorities as well as the challenges of migrations.

This is the thrust of this book by Joshua Olalere, a Nigerian based in Ghana for years. Olalere’s intention, from the outset, is clear: To praise the entrepreneurial spirit of the migrants and show how the conquered the daunting odds against their adventures. The author begins by expatiating on the origin of the Yoruba race. He also dwells on the important historical incidents and communal lifestyles to evoke further understanding of Yoruba people.

There is a section on issues like political culture, economic activities, mythologies, religion, cultural beliefs and value systems. All of these certainly deepen understanding of the people in question. The inclusion of relevant pictures lends more credence to his explanations. Then, he delves into the reasons for the migration of Yorubas to Ghanaian communities.

This, he writes, is driven “by the aroma of business opportunities that were accessible in Ghana at that time.” The exploration that started in the 20th century was fraught with many challenges. Movement of goods was a factor. So was the disdain with which the local indigenes treated them. There was also the challenge of accommodation and language barriers.

Despite all these odds, the migrant traders soldiered on. They transported their goods by walking for weeks, sometimes months from Ogbomoso where many of them hailed from. Others were to follow from Ilorin, Oyo, Saki, Igboho and other northern parts of Yoruba lands. They traded mostly in clothes, provisions, hard wares, motor cycle parts and small manufactured goods, completely dominating those industries.

They courted the locals, learnt their languages and assimilated their cultures in no time. Their daring strategies and business sense turned them to the largest traders in places like Tamale where they rented a third of the 700 stalls from the council and even built additional 200 to cater for their growing business ventures.

As they prospered, they built schools and houses in their communities. They even established mosques in places like Secondi, Suhum, Tarkwa, Kumasiand Koforidua, among others. Churches were also established in several parts, especially the Baptist congregations. They also founded and sponsored football clubs as well as participated in local politics, sometimes even winning elections.

Such was the pervading influence of the Yorubas in Ghana that they soon became targets of envy. Despite these initial challenges however, the Yorubas had conquered Ghana for other Nigerians to explore. To show the abundant tourist attractions in Nigeria, Olalere concludes the book with a section on each of the South West states. This section, complete with pictures, shows what Yorubas have for the world to look.

The book dedicated to Asiwaju Bola Tinubu is a brilliant attempt to capture the migration of traders from the race and their contributions to the socio-economic well being of Ghana. It certainly will deepen relations between Nigeria and Ghana. The author writes in simple to read English. He offers translations of Yoruba proverbs and names used in the book.

It is highly recommended to historians, researchers, diplomats, traders, students, business men and women as well as everyone who has anything to do with Ghana. It will show how to blend into the country and expand business opportunities. But there are a few typographical errors almost on each page of the book. The author will do well to do more thorough editorial clean-up for subsequent editions. Aside from this, readers will find the book engaging and exhilarating with much to learn and assimilate.

November 20, 2013
The role of government: to roll over the people?

Where the light of evil pervades, the people suffer life in the deepest darkness.

My first intention was to write on economic theory and I hope to honor fully that intention – next week. I would be remiss if I failed to analyze the past week in American politics. Even though the past two articles have been about America, it may be instructive to again follow the unwinding strands in American politics. If perceptive, you will see clues that might help resolve some of inner mysteries impeding the just development of this political economy.

Two weeks ago, President Obama held trumpet in hand, blowing notes of political triumph. He had finessed hard-line Republicans over the federal government shutdown and the deficit ceiling. Fellow Democrats barely contained their glee; many gloated like a Cheshire cat happening upon a saucer of warm milk. They shouldn’t have grinned and cooed so much. Fate never remains loyal to those who take it for granted. Fate always repudiates those who believe they have so won its full favor. To believe you have mastered fate is to become its next victim. The surest way into a sticky predicament is loudly to boast you have resolved one.

The music of victory was sonorous to Obama and fellow Democrats. Yet, they erred by ceding to the temptation of listening to it. Their séance with fleeting victory deafened them to the footsteps of political calamity at their door. Even if they heard the stalking ogre, they could not have avoided its reproach for they had invited it themselves. They had given it birth. It bore their name: Obamacare.

The initiation of Obamacare has been disastrous. Inexplicably, yesterday’s technology was used to launch the website for the millions of citizens applying for insurance. This was like asking scores of people to walk simultaneously through a narrow portal barely suitable for the passage of one person. The result has been frustrated hugger-mugger. Making matters worse by eagerly snorting profit when more profit stands in poor taste, insurance companies have cancelled policies of tens of thousands, if not millions, of people. The costs of subsequent policies will rise.

Leaked, as well as officially published, government documents reveal the Administration knew these troubles would beset the public. Yet senior officials, including the President himself, publicly dissembled the new law would usher in a period of rainbows and tulips for the sick and uninsured in the land of the free and home of the brave.

Obama and his health officials have been place on the defensive. Their excuses for the law’s technological and substantive defects are limp and unconvincing. There is a sense of unease. It is as if someone everyone thought was an outstanding student failed to complete his homework, not because he forgot the assignment but because he proved incapable of it.

The Republicans have pounced like vultures on carrion. They complain the law went a stride too far; it is too grand a government intrusion into health care which they deem a private matter better left to marketplace. My grouse is the law does not travel far enough. The Republican notion of health care as an ordinary private commercial transaction is inapposite. A person can shop and compare prices among different sellers when purchasing a car, a coat, or leasing a residence. One can negotiate with the sellers. Still, the consumer gets the short end of the stick because the seller almost always has greater leverage.

A sick person does not even have this poor leverage. An ill person can’t venture from hospital to hospital, doctor to doctor comparing who will give appropriate attention at a more modest price. In other transactions, the buyer can threaten to walk from the deal or buy a reduced amount, say 2/3rds, of the goods in question. Yet, few sick people can defy a hospital or a doctor by protesting that costs are too high. Imagine a bleeding man bargaining that they should reduce costs because he has decided he only wants 2/3rds of the complete treatment or that he believes he is only 2/3s as injured as they say. Such a conversation would be nonsensical; it would go far toward convincing the physician that his recalcitrant patient may have a psychiatric ailment more severe than the physical one in question.

The best fix would have been a single-payer system akin to what exists in most other developed nations. Government simply should pay for a decent minimum level of health care for all. Sadly, the Administration tried to assuage vested interests more so than it tried to provide health care for the entire public. The byproduct is a bureaucratic web rich in complexity, lackluster in results. The thing is both fish and fowl yet it may never be able to swim or fly.

For the sake of ordinary Americans and of the president, I hope the plan recovers from this fretful start. If not, the already cumbersome American health care system will become an unintelligible heap. People will suffer. The president’s legacy will be brusquely escorted to the gallows. People will be relieved to return to the old way although that way is a burden unto them. Conservatives will be seen as rescuing the nation from reformer’s folly. The idea of government-led social reform in any context – poverty and economic justice, education, environment – will suffer caustic defeat that progressives will be forced to chew for decades as if trying to eat a plank of hardwood. The aftertaste will be even more acidic because the health care plan was not reform in the truest sense. The plan has many parts and is highly complex but none of the parts was intended to move the process very far. The plan is one of great lateral motion and minimal forward advantage. This is not major reform; it is an elaborate complexity resulting in piecemeal refinement. However, it was labeled reform and the label stuck. Now it is in danger of giving genuine reform an unwanted reputation.

The conservatives now stick hot pokers in this wound, trying to make President Obama wince without respite. They also take him to task on other issues with vengeful eagerness. They are keen to mount a frontal assault on his presidency the likes of which have never been seen. The theme of their attack is slick and vile-hearted attempt to cast a new perception of Obama based on historic racial stereotypes.

The wrongs Obama committed in trying to convince the public that his flawed health plan was nearly perfect have been no worse than the usual hyperbole employed by conventional politicians when promoting their wares. However, the Republican machine casts Obama’s statements as things vitally sinister. They expostulate that his statements demonstrate a singular incompetence or craven dishonesty on a grand scale. In this vein, they have revived their investigation into the Benghazi consulate tragedy. They hope to obtain testimony from mid-level intelligence operatives that the White House left the slain Embassy officials to their saturnine fate. Given that most mid-level operatives are of the highly conservative bent and disdain this president for what they believe his skin color represents, such testimony will likely be forthcoming. Add to this the Administration’s waffling over the revelations of the National Security Agency’s global eavesdropping.

The central theme of conservative attack is becoming pronounced and visible. It is a more subtle racism than that normally deployed but racism all the same.

They claim Obama is incompetent because he pleads ignorance over the details of many of the current policy controversies. They say his lack of knowledge reveals a lack of commitment to the actual gruel and tasks of governance. He lavishes the limelight and knows how to talk sweetly but shies from the pedestrian hard work essential to good governance. In other words, the conservatives paint Obama as a lazy executive with a gift of gab. Thus, he has used his verbal gifts to bamboozle the electorate into buying a fraudulent bill of goods called Obamacare. As such, he is nothing more than an elegant confidence man, a refined street hustler.

This portrait Republicans work at feverish pace to complete. They have the 2014 congressional electoral calendar in mind. In 2014, all House of Representative seats and 1/3 of the Senate are up for election. The Republican grand strategy is not so much to contest and highlight their differences with the Democratic candidates in each individual congressional race. Their plan will be to run against Obama, particularly given the troubles with Obamacare and other policies. However, they will not just run against Obama’s perceived misdeeds. They will cast his errors and omissions as so ominous as to define him as too incompetent to remain in office. The Black man is too lazy, dumb and unfit to finish his term. In all they do, Republicans cast the suggestion of impeachment. Rarely do their strategists meet without impeachment on the menu and in their minds. Increasingly, Republican officeholders publicly raise the prospect.

Removing Obama from office via impeachment is as unlikely an event as a tuxedoed aardvark directing traffic at busy urban intersection. However, reality and logic have little to do with this effort. This is about a mean element called political ambition teamed with an even darker emotion known as hatred. Republicans have a few short- and longer-term goals. They want to maintain control of the House. Incidentally, presidential impeachment proceedings are initiated by the House. The Republican rallying cry for the 2014 elections will be the need to vote for hardliners eager to tar Obama with the brush of impeachment. Impeachment cannot be achieved without the Senate where the Democrats hold a slim majority over the Republicans. A change in two-three seats can make the difference there.

Thus, the Republican political machine will now work overtime to highlight Obama’s personal deficits. They seek to paint him as so reckless and insouciant as to be criminally negligent and unfit for office. They care not that they lack provable legal grounds for the attempt. Racial hatred provides ample political staging for the turbid undertaking. Their objective is not to remove Obama from office. His removal is the pot at the end of the rainbow. If they don’t get the pot, the emotion and fantasy elicited by chasing the rainbow will suffice.

The Republicans want to maintain control of the house. By rousing the hard-line electoral base in this crusade against Obama, they believe they will spur a coalition of arch conservatives, Tea Partiers and fringe racists to the polls that Republicans will maintain their hold on the House. If they perform this task with sufficient aplomb, Republicans may steal one or two Senate slots, changing the partisan balance of power in the upper chamber to their favor. Also, Republicans want to permanently taint Obama as a failure. By embroiling his name in protracted discussion or even the formal initiation of impeachment proceedings, they believe they will forever scar him.

(They tried something similar against President Clinton who actually committed an arguably impeachable offense. The ploy worked in the short-term. Clinton was wounded and disgraced. He was only rehabilitated when the Bush presidency became a fiasco and people started longing for the halcyon decade of the 1990s. Moreover, Clinton is more of a natural politician than Obama and Clinton never had to face the racist undercurrent that stymies Obama’s walk.)

Mainstream media now joins the Republicans in attacking Obama. Several weeks ago, this column predicted the media would launch an increasing stream of opprobrium. Indeed, the lever has been turned. The canal of adverse commentary has opened. Obama-bashing will become the cardinal pastime of many journalists, just a few weeks removed, appeared friendly to his cause.

While the particular facts are unique to America, this situation offers lessons for all. Reform in miniature is always dangerous and rarely works. Lukewarm, minor reformers also are an endangered species as leaders. They get pilloried by those who think they have gone too far and lambasted by those who don’t believe they have ventured far enough. Those who support them do so from pragmatic, short-term self interests. However, such support is never deep or resolute. It wanes with the first sign of rain or strong wind. If problems with Obamacare persist, much of his support will evaporate because it was never fully committed to an overarching political cause or humanitarian effort. His health care constituency was the sloppy cobbling of numerous constituencies many of whose self-interests contradict the interests of other members of this improvised procession.

Obama and his team erred by yielding too much to short-term expedients without gauging the longer-term substantive effects of these steps. Serial compromises whittled down reform until it became a motley stew of stale bromides and not a cohesive plan. Next week, I will do the piece on economic theory as it relates to government fiscal policy. But will offer a bit of a primer now. Obamacare’s core flaw is the malady of the economic theory buttressing this unwieldy construct. Obama and team believed the federal government could become insolvent in dollars. This is no more plausible than belief in the Fountain of Youth. However, this belief is a fountain of folly from which significant ill-advised policies can spring.

Because of this error, Obama and team never felt confident in making a case for serious reform such an expanding government-funded Medicare/Medicaid to all. Believing themselves handcuffed by fiscal constraints, they hamstrung themselves by believing that the current private insurance based system was inviolate. Thus, the alleged reform because a paean to the insurance industry by mandating that everyone purchase insurance instead of mandating that everyone is entitled to health care. These things seem synonymous but are not.

In the end, the Obama Administration constructed a system whereby the insurance companies get higher profits from a higher volume of coerced business. Government will spend comparably the same on health care as before. The public will be forced to spend more on insurance at a moment when the wages of the common man are stagnate and most Americans are worse off now than at the advent of the historic 2008 recession.

In effect, the health care reform is an indirect tax on the people by transferring more money to the insurance companies. The measure effectuates this transfer more so than it expands and improves public health care. In other words, Obamacare needs some critical surgery if it is to work well. That surgery is unlikely in the current environment because the president will be preoccupied with guarding his political flank from nasty Republican assaults. So busy keeping the wolves from his throat, he will not have time for much else in the foreseeable future. Most of this predicament can be distilled to an error in economic theory and how that theory shapes fiscal policy. Next week, we explore how better theory can lead to better policies helping those who really need it.

08060340825 (sms only)

November 3, 2013
Church woos converts with concert

Hundred of persons were last weekend converted to the Christian faith during the Reachout Nigeria musical concert organised by the Believers Love World popularly known as Christ Embassy in Benin City.

The event which held at the main bowl of the Dr. Samuel Ogbemudia Stadium in Benin City saw a large crowd confessing to the Christian faith after performance by renowned artistes.

Top gospel artists that performed at the event included Buchi, Sinach, Frank Edwards, Ada, T-sharp, Joe praise, Jahdiel, Chikancy, Eben, Angels, Excellent and Psalm, Atose Samuel amongst others.

Zonal Pastor of Christ Embassy, Pastor Mary Owase said the “Reach-out Nigeria campaign was part of the church ways to celebrate Nigeria independence which is geared towards raising men and women, youths who are committed to building a strong and better nation, communities and cities.

Pastor Mary said the event was birthed to revive the patriotic spirit of Nigerians, at a time when many were angry and displeased about the state of the nation”.

She charged Nigerian leaders both in public and private sector to invest in education, create opportunities for young people to excel as well as support justice and truth at all times.

The Zonal pastor observed that Nigeria was on a journey of greatness but that Nigerians must realigned their values to reflect the greater value of love, honesty, diligent and selflessness.

She disclosed that the church has empowered thousands of youths with various skills to enable them began their entrepreneurship journey.

According to him, “Many of you here are seeking for a change, you must first become that change. If the government has not created enough jobs, make one, create work for yourself. Anything you do that is good for God and good for men would be blessed.”

“Don’ join yourself to criminals, kidnappers, vandals and people of corrupt and reprobate minds. There is no wisdom in turning against our collective assets, preserve them and use them rightly.”

“We have not come merely to entertain you, but to deliver to you a clear and precise message that Nigeria is indeed a great nation, her people are her greatest resources and her possibilities are boundless”.

October 11, 2013
‘Why few people do bead painting’

How do you feel to be 70?

I feel honoured. I thank God for allowing me attain the age of 70. I’m full of praises to God almighty for sparing my life to see my 70th year on earth despite all the odds I have passed through. It is a long journey I thank God for getting to this level and I pray that I will get beyond this.

Many people would be wondering how you have managed to stay healthy, considering your busy schedule; what is the secret?

I try to rest anytime I had the opportunity to relax, this helps to regain my energy, though there are lots of pressures due to my position in the community. But I thank God that I’m able to serve people judiciously. It is a fact that if I don’t work sometimes, I feel more sick than when I’m working, so my source of energy is when I’m thinking or working. I cant sit down doing nothing, I either paint, be on computer or be doing one thing or the other. I just like to get things done.

You are IT savvy. I-phone, I-pad, android and other computer accessories are always with you, how did you manage to acquire this knowledge?

I think it is a gift and interest. When you have interest in something, you won’t find it difficult to learn and I remember maybe 1959 or something, my father had this big typewriter, when he could not pay for school fees, and my teacher went to him and appeal to him, that was how I was able to cope. Before then, I loved anything technical, anything that can task my brain. I remember again when computers were about to be springing up in Nigeria, I’ve been on computer since 1990, you know if you want to live in the US successfully you must be on computer, that is, you must know how to use computer. The people I’m working with, the students, they have to be computer literate, you must know how to use computer to function well and be able to communicate. I think I was one of the first group of people to have internet here in Osogbo. We started seeing the traces of computers here in Nigeria in 1990 or 92 and I’ve been on computers since then and since it is a day-to-day practice. I get to understand it better.

How often do you paint now?

I have painted this morning. I even use computer to design. I call it computer graphic. Hardly I sleep early, that is why I wake up late, maybe I sleep sometimes, depending on the interest, depending on my mood, perhaps sometimes between 12 and 1a.m. and I wake up late. If I feel like working in the midnight, I will wake up and go to my studio to work. I’m self employed, I have no other job than what I’m doing, my studio is closer to my bedroom that is where I live.

Why do you prefer to work at night?

It is more silent, nobody, no visitor will come to you, so you are always on your own. One will be able to concentrate well than when you are expecting visitors or going for a meeting. I have nobody to visit me, the whole place is quiet and concentration is better.

Why is it that only few people are into bead painting?

I wouldn’t know why though it is an expensive hobby. Bead is an expensive hobby because the beads and the glue are expensive. Some people feel once they do a painting, they will want to sell it, once they cannot get it sold, you now use the resources of one bead painting to do five to 10 paintings in oil. So, people now prefer to do oil painting than bead painting because, bead painting will cost them a lot and they are not sure whether they are going to get it sold. I know of some people who gate crashed but could not sustain it.

Does that mean bead painting is meant for a class of people?

Yes, because it is supposed to be more expensive than ordinary oil, it is an applied art. Something you added to the board which is more than oil, it normally cost more. May be because again, it is my invention some people may not go into it because once other see it, they will say “O! this is Jimoh Buraimoh.” It has been my identity. That may scare some people not to go into it and try their own medium.

What is the future of bead painting in Nigeria, it seems it is more prominent abroad than here?

It is more prominent here too; people who know it buy it.

I’m not even talking about buyers; I’m talking about people doing it

There are people doing it here but you know, people like David Dale, he is one of my ‘apprentices’ whom I inspired and I have the authority to say, I started bead painting in Nigeria.

Again, what is the future?

The future is okay, some of my children are doing painting, they use bead but the only difference is that they use it in another dimension because they can not use the same feature like I use, it will not augur well to use the same system like what I’m using. It will be like they are copying what I do, they do something different from what I do.

Your advice for up and coming artists?

Even if they are not using beads, they should be able to create something on their own; they should have an identity. To copy will not augur well for any artist because people buy name and creativity they buy art through the creativity but if the creativity is being molested, it may not last.

September 11, 2013
One year after flood disaster:Victims remain poor, desperate

ASIUWHU PRINCEWILL is not called a General for nothing. In the heady days of militancy in the Niger Delta he had led his “boys” on a revolution against major oil companies whom he accused of impoverishing his people. Meeting the “General” for the first time is an anti-climax. He was of average build and had none of the fierceness often associated with the dreaded militants, he spoke softly barely above a whisper and only raised his voice when angry.

Now a repentant militant, he is on a new battle, a non-violent type to compel the government to rebuild and rehabilitate Patani Local Government Area of Delta State and the people who lost their livelihood in the 2012 flood that ravaged half of Nigeria.

In September 2012, massive flood devastated 22 states in Nigeria displacing about two million people, costing 300 others their lives and destroying 597,476 houses. By November last year, about seven million Nigerians have been affected directly and indirectly with properties- both public and private- worth several billions destroyed. President Goodluck Jonathan granted N17.6 billion to all the states to cushion the effects of the damage, corporate organisations and kind-spirited Nigerians made donations in cash and kind. A Presidential Committee on Flood Relief and Rehabilitation (PCFRR) co-chaired by businessman, Aliko Dangote, and human rights activist, Olisa Agbakoba (SAN), at a dinner in Abuja also raked in N11.35 billion in pledges. Those who were affected across the country began to dream of the beautiful life they would live afterwards, that dream has since remained nothing but a dream.

“We were promised a lot by the government but we received nothing. The people expected that by now their life would be better and if not, at least returned back to normal, but as you can see, many of them are still crawling,” General said.

Walking through the streets of Patani, a community which borders the River Niger, the evidence of tragedy is all too familiar. Bello Awele, a 78-year-old man sat under a tree in front of what remained of his house where he lives with his invalid wife, Poere. He was emaciated and looked tired, his house which overlooks the Niger, was the first to get flooded in Patani. “We tried to block the water with sandbags but the flood came in, our house was submerged and we had to run away to Ugheli,” Awele said.

When the couple returned, the flood had taken away all their life possessions. “The government has not done anything for us, they said they are coming, we are still expecting them, “Poere said.

Dreams are not the only thing destroyed in Patani, the infrastructure too. Roads caved in and houses were pulled down. The general hospital is in shambles, it is also devoid of patients. Nowadays, only the desperate would patronise it as drugs are scarce and doctors mostly unavailable. In the male ward, a lone adult patient-who had an accident- laid in a foetal position, groaning. A huge bandage occupied where his right hand and leg used to be. All around him, there were cobwebs hanging from the beds, a strange smell pervaded the room.

“How are you now? I believe the pain is going?” General asked but the man groaned the more. General then urged him to get well and get up. The words sounded flat, almost unkind, as the General made his way out leaving the invalid groaning.

Chief Emmanuel Poubeni was one of the lucky ones in Patani, though his house was flooded and his belongings destroyed, through the help of his children he has been able to get back on his feet.

But the General himself suffers. Since the flood submerged his house, destroying his properties, he has since tried to get his large family back on its feet. He has met with little success and while his family also suffers, he tries to engage the government to provide basic amenities that the community can benefit from.

“We are all in the same boat, we are all victims but the government must move fast and cushion the effects of the flood so that the people can feel the impact of government,” General said.

It was 7:00am in Adankolo layout, Lokoja Kogi State. Bashir Dan Musa came out of his makeshift one-room plank hut which he shares with his family. On his back, he strapped his last child named Precious who was born at the Adankolo Primary School camp for flood victims. Unable to find enough space for his properties inside the hut, most of his belongings are packed outside at the mercy of the elements. On sighting his visitor, he released the baby to his wife who immediately put her inside a basin which served as the bath tub.

Musa and his family had known a prosperous past, before the flood which affected two-third of Kogi population; he had lived in a four-bedroom apartment by the banks of River Niger. He was a youth leader and community mobiliser and the youths in Adankolo looked to him for inspiration. Then the floods came and his house was its first port of call.

“We ran helter-skelter, the flood did not submerge our house, it destroyed it. We were the first to be affected by the flood. When the water overran our house, we had to be moved into the camp at Adankolo,” Musa said.

Every living day is a torture for the Musa family. When The Nation first visited the family, Musa’s wife was making dinner over a firewood stove. A child stubbornly held on to a small black pot as she battled to remove the burnt layer of spaghetti inside it, once she succeeded in her task, she transported her trophy to her mouth with a look of contentment.

Musa was the Adankolo camp leader. He fought for the victims and attended to their needs, the government officials feared him for his painstaking and often demanding nature. When President Jonathan visited the camp, Musa was on hand to receive him and delivered a speech on behalf of the victims.

“Because of what I did at the camp and how I managed the affairs of the victims at the camp, many people said I had made a lot of money. It is hard for them to believe that I live in this hut and I am this poor. After meeting with all the government officials and even President Jonathan, I don’t blame them if they think I am living in a mansion,” Musa said.

But his realities are far from what his status as the camp leader conferred on him. Currently unemployed, he had begged the Kogi State government for employment and has been given plenty of promises but no action. “We live from hand to mouth, all these things that you see are donations, including the clothes we are wearing,” he said.

Musa’s main earthly possession is a motorcycle which he acquired nine years ago, but age and persistent use are not friends to the engine and it took about five minutes to get it started only for it to break down after a few meters journey.

Musa’s life is a reflection of the others who also lost their homes by the bank of the Niger. Many of them have been unable to move forward. A former neighbour of Musa now lives at the Adankolo market, sleeping out in the open under the starry stars. She was not alone, The Nation learnt about 10 families currently make the market their home while waiting for government’s intervention.

Adankolo, one of the deeply affected communities in Lokoja, is struggling back on its wobbly feet. Though the water receded, those whose houses are still standing have moved back and the schools have re-opened. Life is crawling back to the devastated community as the people picked up where the flood ended their lives.

But underneath the façade of happiness outwardly exhibited in Adankolo lay a deep anger and mistrust towards the government. The anger of the people manifested itself in Sawa Umar: “The government said we should not come back but where are we to go? They shared N3,000 to each building, is that what we need? Is that what has sustained us since November when we came back?” he vomited his words in anger and venom.

Musa has a legion of queries against the Kogi State government. He alleged that all the promises of government to Adankolo have not been fulfilled. He blamed the government for providing little comfort for the people, while favouring other local governments.

“They brought a shelter bus and claimed it has been distributed. I think if that claim is true, I should be one of the first to get one so that my family will not live in this terrible condition. But if you go to Shintaku which did not suffer half of what we suffered, there are shelter buses everywhere,” Musa said.

“We are not happy, government used us to get what they want. Aliko Dangote gave us relief materials and loan for the women but they now say the money is not for the victims again,” he lamented.

The people of Adankolo do not believe the government would fulfill its promises. Most of them lamented that the 250 unit housing estate under construction at the old polytechnic quarters would be shared by “government people.”

There is disquiet about the money given to the victims. According to Musa, the government did not carry the victims along in determining what to give to them. “ We held a meeting with the deputy governor and agreed that the representatives of the people must be notified but the reverse is the case. I learnt they gave Ward A N4million. This is the largest ward and some people got N1, 000. I personally got N5,000 because my house was destroyed,” he said.

In Ganaja, another heavily impacted community, Jerry Adejo, the manager of Ganaja Motel, didn’t want to talk about the flood. His motel-a thriving business before the flood- is now deserted, for two months it was shut down completely and when it opened, four buildings could not be used any longer.

“Discussing this issue increases my pain, there is nothing to discuss about, this government has not been responsive. Imagine they gave us only N8,000 since the flood and that was all we received. What have they done to prevent a reoccurrence?”

Victims resort to self-help

The long and narrow Omiringi road which led to Otuoke, in Ogbia Local Government Area of Bayelsa State, the home of President Goodluck Jonathan came to an abrupt end as a lone figure emerged from the shadows and flagged down the vehicle near the Akragba River in Otu-Asiga. He was a lean and haggard-looking man of about 50 years, dressed in blue jeans and red stripped shirt; he ordered the passengers to disembark and demanded a fee before the vehicle could pass the bridge.

The bridge over the Akragba River collapsed in September 2012 during the flood and has remained in that state. On August 17, 2013, Wisdom Dick was standing on Akragba bridge, face beaming with pride mixed with some anxiety. Two months earlier, himself and three of his friends from Out-Asiga community had come together to rebuild the bridge and enable free flow of traffic. Using their skills as builders and buying planks on credit from local businessmen, they built the failed portion of the Akragba bridge and mounted a toll on it to recoup their investment.

“We spent over N300,000 to construct this bridge, we took the materials on credit and have been paying back the debt from the toll we have collected. We have only N30,000 to pay now before we can start to make profit,” Dick said.

His colleague, India Otuma, also mounted guard at the other end of the bridge using a long pole to cross the entrance. He released the pole only after the payment of N100 toll for vehicles and N50 for tricycles. As vehicles arrived, passengers came down and the driver would make a slow and painful journey across the plank bridge which creaked under the weight of the vehicles. The “bridge builders” said they suffered for a long time before the bridge could be opened again and even lost one of them, Samuel Avoh, during the construction.

“Give me the money, you are wasting my time,” India shouted at a car owner who promptly parted with the required funds. He turned around and said; “We are not levying toll, this bridge is very important and the government has refused to fix it, so we borrowed materials to do the job and have to pay back. We have not even made any profit.”

Omiringi community itself is in mourning, not only of the individual losses but also of the destroyed Omiringi bridge which connected them to the rest of the state. Children and youths in the community came out to begin the unenviable task of cutting the bridge into pieces and selling the parts as stones to house builders. A child about seven years of age sat on a stone and began to hammer away at a rock, after about 15 attempts the rock gave way and dissolved into small granite stones. The stones were then packed into a bag and taken to the road where a bag cost N300.

The state government distributed 40 bags of cement to the affected communities to kick-start the rebuilding process but that has proved grossly inadequate. The Ondewari clan in Olodiama, Southern Ijaw Local Government hit upon a most brilliant idea. Instead of distributing the cement in measures to the victims, they decided to build a public toilet, some others simply sold the cements leaving the victims in ruins.

In Otu-Aba, a community close to the home of President Goodluck Jonathan, in Otuoke, mud houses pulverised by the floods have yet to be rebuilt. Others that are still standing have their foundations washed off. While some of their owners who could not reconstruct them had relocated to squat with their relatives in other communities, others who perhaps had no place to go had continued to live there.

Otuma Ediomolo, a 60-year-old man was defiant refusing to vacate his building with a wobbling foundation. “I cannot go anywhere again. I will continue to live here. We can’t rebuild our houses because we don’t have money. The government has not given us anything”.

Also distraught is a 75-year-old Matilda. Her mud house was destroyed but she has no money to rebuild it. She relocated to a temporary structure made of roofing materials.

“There is no money to rebuild it. My husband is late and we don’t have money. The government promised they will assist us but we have not seen anything. Even the 400 bags of cement did not get to me. Our CDC chairman ignored me. He didn’t give me even a bag. I want the government to assist me.”

Victims living in squalor

When the communities in Rikko Jos North Local Government Area of Plateau State returned to the houses by the river to rebuild it, the state government promptly declined permission citing the dangers of flood. But the community like the others in flood-prone areas resisted government’s attempt to stop the construction.

One of the victims, Audu Abubakar, said: “We are not opposed to government’s appeal for us to move away from the water ways, we had expected the state government to assist us with building materials and a new land to build our houses. But the state government was not forth coming in this regard. And you know after the dry season, there will surely be rainy season, so instead of waiting to be beaten by rain, we had no option than to patch up our destroyed buildings and have a place to sleep and keep our children.”

The community seems set on a path of collision with the government, especially as the government is yet to disburse the N500million grant it received from the Federal Government.

Mallam Sani Yahaya said: “Plateau State government is so uncaring; we have families, we thought they will assist us to rebuild our homes, but we can’t allow our children to be roaming without a house to sleep. The only option available to us in the absence of no help was to return to where we were. It is not in our best interest to stay in water ways, but who will give us the land to relocate?” Yahaya asked.

A farmer in Yala council, David Una said: “Since they announced that money from the Federal Government, we have not seen anything. We are only trying to recover from our losses on our own and I can tell you, it is not easy. We are not getting any assistance from anybody.”

The Special Adviser to Plateau State Governor on Media, Ayuba Pam, however, defended government’s decision to hold on to the fund. “”It is true that the fund has not been disbursed up till now. In fact, the N500 million was not meant to be disbursed. It was meant to be used to alleviate the plight of the victims. The N500 million sent by the Federal Government is not up to one quarter of what the state government is planning to do. Governor Jonah Jang is planning a project that will cost over N3 billion because the infrastructural challenge posed by the flood is more than distributing relief materials to victims. The affected areas require solid bridges, culverts, expanded road network, wider drainage channels and reclaiming the soil of the affected areas.”

In Cross River, the people of Afi community had more than collapsed buildings to contend with. The river which provides water for about 40 communities was destroyed by mudslides in the flood and with no alternative source of water; the villages are facing an epidemic of gigantic proportion.

A clan head who did not want to be named said Afi River served as the only source of drinking water for more than 40 villages that lived along its banks. He begged for the sinking of boreholes and water purifying chemicals as an interim measure to meet the needs of the affected villages.

More flood predicted

The Nigeria Metrological Agency (NIMET) has predicted more flood this year, this time it will affect 31 states. Already Awele can testify that the water level in the Niger River has risen. Everyday, he hobbles to the river bank and measures the rising water using his eyes. “This water is rising every day,” he announced.

The victims are not fooled that the next flood would not reverse any gain they have achieved. In Lokoja, the Commissioner for Environment and Natural Resources, Abdulrahman Wuya, said the victims would be relocated from the flood plains. Musa disagreed, saying the community does not trust the government to fulfill its promise.

As it stands, the victims are locked in a battle of mistrust with their government; will it take another flood to break the jinx?

September 7, 2013
Group gives 9000 people free medical service

Not less than nine thousand adults and Children received free medical services in Lagos during the recently concluded Ramadan fasting.

The Islamic Medical Association of Nigeria (IMAN), Lagos State branch attended to over five thousand adults and four thousand Children during seven outings.

The adults were screened for hypertension, diabetes and HIV and there was also free drugs. There was health talk and special consultations in dental, orthopedic, gynaecology and optical consultations. All the 4,000 children were dewormed and some of them had consultations with the doctors.

In his remark on the success of the programme, the State Chairman of the group, Dr Sola Labinjo said the medical team which included consultants, doctors, nurses, medical students, laboratory scientists and other health workers, were at seven locations. They are, Abule Ijesha, Idi Araba, Abesan Estate in Ipaja, Ikoyi prisons, Oshodi and other communities.

Labinjo said the mini dental clinic at each of the outing did dental counselling/consultations, examinations, treatment and extractions if necessary.

He added that free eye glasses were given to those with optical challenges and there will be a free cataract surgery for those diagnosed with the ailment.

The family health physician added that as for those who are HIV positive,they were referred to centres where they can have continuous treatment, counselling and support.

He also said the hypertensive and diabetic were adequately counselled and given advise on the need for a lifestyle change to live longer.

He quickly added that there will be a free cervical cancer screening for people after Ramadan as the activities of the group goes beyond the Holy month.

August 17, 2013
People versus power

That which hatred does, compassion can undo

The past two weeks I have written on the Trayvon Martin case. I did so for two reasons. One, the matter exposed the racist underbelly of American society. By extension, this episode warns that racism permeates all aspects of social and political-economic interaction Black people have, even among themselves. Global history has been unduly colored by racism; that morose legacy remains alive. The international political economy is more a product of racial competition than one of racial harmony. Much like Trayvon suffered on the isolated sidewalk in a small Florida town, to be Black is to be a potential victim in danger of being deemed the perpetrator of his own demise. Our color makes us an eyesore to others and thus harmful to ourselves because of the reaction of others to us. As it is with individuals so it is with us as a people and with our nations.

The second reason was that Martin’s tragedy lifted the veil covering a human dilemma even more fundamental than racism. In almost every population, from the smallest, humblest village to large, prosperous nations, there are people who would rather lord over others than allow each to live as they should. As there are those of us who desire the dignity of freedom and independence of thought and action, there is a countervailing element. This element would rather enchain your mind, body or both. People of this ilk seek to bend your will to fit their designs. If your will refuses to bend, they resort to breaking your body. These people will neither stop nor ever question their need for dominion. They only will question why you resist them. This struggle is age-old and endless. It shall exist as long as mankind exists. It exists between races as well as within the races. Oppression is unfortunately versatile to a fault. It often takes the form of racism. But it can be colorblind. It can found itself on religion, ethnicity or on the amount of money in one’s pocket.

Sadly, those who seek dominion over others spend inordinate time acquiring power then maintaining it so that they may perfect their schemes over others. We pray that we are governed by angels but history warns us to be prepared for the opposite. The man who lusts to have a gun, control an army, rule a land, or own the economy is more apt to use these instruments against your best wishes than to help you realize those wishes. Oppression of others is as much a human characteristic as breathing and eating. As long as this world exists, we are one bad turn from a loss of freedom if not of life. To be a person in this world is to be ever vigilant or a victim.

This sounds gloomy. Here I confess a recent comment from a reader struck me. The commenter remarked my columns made him feel sad, as if hope had fled. The comment touched me to the extent that it became the impetus to what you now read. My writing tends to focus on tough issues and do so starkly. I do this not because I am forlorn or to deprive anyone of hope. My goal lies to the contrary. If I were devoid of hope and of the belief that people could have a better life, I would not expend my time in the futile exercise of writing. I would direct my energy toward other things that bring a more selfish profit. But I direct my efforts as I do because I hold the dearest hope for our people and for all of humanity. I believe the common person can face the swelling tide of power, arrogance and hatred yet withstand the awful might of these worldly, awful things. The odds say the poor and average should fold and break at encountering the great onslaught of wealth and power. Yet, I believe there is something that allows us to survive the odds and the powers arrayed against us. There is some thing that stops evil and wrong from claiming total victory. We survive the dark assault that we may join together in common, humane cause to claim a brighter day and just future.

The great thing in which I invest my belief, I know as God. My Muslim and Arabic brothers call him Allah. He is known by other names in other languages and religions. I believe he wants as many of us to escape from perdition and destruction as is possible. Thus, we battle against those things that would drag us in the wrong direction or crush us between the pestle and mortal of hard experience.

To believe in something higher and truer than our mortal selves is to believe we can reclaim our frail mortal beings from the grasp of the powers that would trammel us from reaching better ground.

I write not to break your spirit or resign you to the graveyard. That is as far from my intention as east is from west. I write to warn and awaken you. In times of war and battle, a slumbering man is a corpse in prospect. Ignorance is bliss only for the dead or already defeated. If you have hope and fight left in you, ignorance is as grave an adversary as the armed enemy itself. I write to warn and bestir your mind and passions so that you are sufficiently roused to fight and claim that which by virtue of being human is inherently yours. If perchance anything I have ever written has led you to take a step toward the pit of despair, forgive me for it means my pen has failed in its mission.

To any one whom any of my writings have lead to despondency, I ask that you discard the shrunken-feelings and revive your spirit. Our race, our people have great tasks ahead. There is no room for sadness or space for despair in the curative, collective endeavor we must undertake. We must go forward in the spirit that we live to live more fully despite the powers aligned against us.

In all that I have written, I have tried to sound this warning not to douse your spirit but to arouse it. Sometimes, a topic may anger you. This is good because rightful anger in correct proportion can be a tonic for a people caught so long in stupor’s web. Sometimes a piece may bring some sadness, but that is not to induce a defeated spirit but to make you aware how far things have fallen from their proper place.

A great storm has passed but it is not for you to relax. A greater storm approaches. Those who are not ready shall be swept aside. Each generation and each epoch has its own special characteristics and struggles. Some are times of peace. Some are times of learning and enlightenment. Some are times where little takes place as if history has reached a standstill. Yet, some are times where so much occurs that it seems fate and history never sleep. Some are times not of peace but of war and strife. We live in such a time.

The harshest wars are not always sword against sword, army against idea. At times, the most trenchant wars are those of idea against idea, vision against contrary vision. These are not battles pitting corporeal army against army but are struggles pitting the mind and spirit of enlightenment against those invested in inequity and wrong. Today, we exist in an age where affluent privilege seeks to drive all others toward penury and the socio-political subjugation penury ascribes.

We live in an age where technology and science allows man to do his best for his fellow man. Poverty, disease, hunger and many scourges that have plagued us can be decimated due to the advances in human knowledge. Unfortunately, our moral advance has not kept apace. Worst, not only has it lagged behind, the morality of the political economy has strayed far. Morally, we have entered an age as selfish and uncaring as any prior to it.

Poverty is rife though there is enough food to feed the planet. Water is being hoarded to profit some while the livelihoods and lands of many are being desiccated. People in whose families land has existed before recorded time are being dispossessed. The urban poor and working class are being pushed to the limits of their endurance.

Almost everywhere on the planet the powers of elite conservatism are on the loose, swallowing everything they can then blaming the victims for allowing themselves to be consumed by the merciless processes of a global political economy resentful of most of its inhabitants.

We write not to bring to tearful resignation but to incite the maiden stirrings of renewed struggle.

As Black people and Africans you must realize war is being made upon you. Thus, you will do well to wage your own war back against it. It is not necessary that you call the war upon yourself. War does not just come to the eager and willing. It more often falls on the weak, tired and unsuspected. To claim foul and unfairness will do little good; those that wage war against you will continue with greater relish the longer you ignore the reality of our situation. In America, Black people face resurgent racism. Trayvon’s case shows you can be killed in the middle of the street and your assailant be deemed the victim. Meanwhile, voting rights protection is being swept away. Black poverty and unemployment have escalated to Depression–era levels. That all this takes places under the first Black president only makes the caper sweeter for those effectuating it. American Blacks are being scammed of their hard won yet meager victories yet are mostly ignorant of the massive confiscation being enacted against them.

Meanwhile, Africa undergoes similar assault. The historic forces that detest Black America hold similar content for Black Africa. Thus, rural land is being gulped by international agro-business while food prices climb as do poverty rates. The global economy demands Africa open its markets to international trade but the markets of established nations remain closed to the new types of trade that will assist Africa’s necessary industrial development. If we continue in this way, we will forever remain the lowest rung of the world economy yet they will tell us to be glad with the progress we are making. It will be true that we mark progress. However, that progress will be owned by others and not ourselves. The more we work and do as they say, the richer they become and the poorer you grow. During the coming decades, our commodity prices, especially oil, will stagnate or even lower in real terms. Our population and misery shall be the two things that are sure of rapid growth.

Despite the talk of a world waiting for Africa to development, the world invests more heavily in Africa’s underdevelopment. As in the colonial era, the global economy will establish several outposts on the continent. These places will experience growth and dynamism. But it will not be growth based upon the growth intrinsic to Africa. These outposts will grow to the extent that they mimic how the global economy extracts Africa’s wealth from Africa. You will be told to look at these places as examples of what can be done for Africa when the reality is more akin to look at the harm being done to Africa.

Again, this is why I write. I write to warn you of the war that comes dressed as a friend and that speaks the language of development. I write that you will know the powers with which we must contend and that you understand their strategies, tactics and wiles. This generation must do its best to lighten the burden of five centuries of pain endured by Africa and her children who have been scattered to the four winds. I write that the old sun might set on our broken state and that a new sun may rise on our dreams for equality and justice. As long as I sense malign forces seeking to harm us, I shall write as I do. I hope that you continue to read as you have.

08060340825 (sms only)

July 28, 2013
A lift for people behind bars

Things are looking up for inmates of Oji River Medium Security Prisons. There is a turnaround of fortunes for them.

The prison commissioned in 1992 was tucked away in rural Oji River with the aim of reforming convicts with ligh sentences.

But due to logistics and remoteness of the prison, the inmates were often deprived of some basic amenities and provisions. The problems of drugs, foodstuff, clothings and sanitary wares have been hitting the inmates in addition to the fact that their number has since shot up from an initial 80 to 149.

Commissioned on December 7, 1992, the prison was fitted with every amenity required for living at least a tolerable life. The prison cells were provided with functional showers in their bathrooms.

There was also a functional borehole. There was a clinic and a well equipped workshop. But all these amenities are no longer functional. The inmates resigned to fate. They almost provide everything for themselves. Visits by charitable organisations were rare.

Things are changing. A charitable organisation, Carmelite Prisoners’ Interest Organisation (CAPIO) visited the prison and met with the inmates. The organisation, a Catholic Church organ, went with lots of items for the inmates. There were various foodstuff, drugs, clothings, provisions, slippers, towels and toiletries.

The items were so much that the Deputy Comptroller of the Prison, Sir Eric Okafor exclaimed: “This is first of its kind. Additional goodness on top existing goodness.”

One of the leaders of the inmates added: “I have never seen such gift items since my stay in this prison.”

He thanked the CAPIO for their gesture which he said was “unprecedented in the history of this prison.”

He prayed that God will bless them and always replenish their sources.

CAPIO director, Rev. Fr. James Ekereku told the inmates that it has been one desire of the organisation to fight for those who have been imprisoned unjustly, adding, “we also have programmes to rehabilitate freed prisoners.”

Ekereku said he was impressed by the orderliness of the prison and the inmates. He advised the inmates not to waste their time in prison idling away but should try to learn a trade or at least keep busy with one trade or another.

He also implored them to give their lives to God.

“These items you see here were donated by individuals. It was difficult for us convincing them to donate for prisoners because of their experiences in the hands of criminals.”

He urged them to change their lifestyle when they are freed so as to make their work easy for the organisation.

“We discovered that many of you are not interested in changing after regaining your freedom and often go back to crime. You should know that God is there for you and if you repent, he will open the way for you to make positive achievements.”

Ekereku pleaded with them not to venture into anything that could bring them back to prison after being freed.

The comptroller of the prison, Sir Eric Okafor told the visiting Carmelites that he regarded their visit as a “widow’s mite” not because it “is all you have but because you squeezed out time to come and give to those who could not reward you.”

“I say this because any good without a pinch on your skin may not be rewarded. You came for charity, charity without reward.”

He prayed that God will continue to bless the CAPIO members and the inmates will ever remember them for this unprecedented visit and gesture.

July 17, 2013