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Tag: RAINBOW

  • When the rainbow fizzles out

    CHASING shadows? Yes, that unfortunately is what a lot of people experience in their relationship. On the other hand it feels better when you what you feel bring ecstasy, sweet memories and some fantasy. A colourful relationship can therefore be compared with the rainbow which ushers you into a breath of fresh air.

    The seven rays are forces emanating from the white light. They are perpetually vibrating and encircling the globe in streams of endless energy.  The rainbow represents a bridge, depicts a new era, as well as symbolises peace, love and freedom.

    Emotionally, we respond to colours as they fit the time of day or year. Lack of sunlight can cause mood swings, depression and low energy level. You appreciate the combination in the rainbow in you and understand what some of the colours stand for. For instance, blue is the colour of distance and you can relate this to the oceans, skies and the heavens.

    The energy of blue helps us to hook beyond the immediate environment, expanding our perceptions towards the unknown. As we swing to yellow, you get entangled with the sun and its life-giving and sustaining energy. Yellow enriches, lightens and activates many of the systems of the body. Are you fascinated with the colours? Well, there is still a lot of excitement for you as you track your emotional rainbow. Red gives vitality, orange brings creative energy while green strikes a balance with nature. As you soar higher and higher, you are likely to hit the Indigo mark ushering you to the realm of fulfilment and satisfaction. Indigo amplifies the energy of blue in a profound way taking you through the mature levels as you move around majestically in love. At this point, you must be ready to stretch your emotional luck with violet. Violet is the highest and most subtle specialisation of light, being at the opposite end of the colour spectrum to red.

    For many who have seen the rainbow in their relationship, it is indeed a dream come true. Cynics may ask what the big deal is.  A lot! It brings your emotions to full circle as well as takes you to the next phase of the relationship. That is no wonder to me, in a world where we have been raised to believe that things or people make us happy. We have been conditioned to think that we can only feel good when we get a new dress, a new car, a new lover, a new baby, a new house, and that the degree of joy is dictated by the object(s).

    For instance, you can only feel so good while shopping for new accessories, which is a different level of pleasure from being with a lover. So not only do we need something or someone outside of ourselves in the first place, but even when we get them, we limit our degree of happiness based on the object or person. When what you have is sure, then you find happiness radiating all over. But when all you get is uncertainty, the rainbow in your life fizzles out.

    If you are at this stage, then you need to ask yourself certain questions about your relationship. Is it worth dying for? Are you with someone you can vouch for, no matter the odds? Some who is ever ready to give excuses or that emotional dry bone, the type that would let you down at the slightest provocation?

    There are a number of ways to assess your relationship from time to time. This way you would be able to understand the challenges, prospects, as well as identify how to solve some of the knotty emotional problems that you are going through.

    One way to do this is to reflect on his or her self worth to see if it is a partnership that you cherish. By doing this, you are likely to notice the thoughts, feelings and sensations that come from within clearly.

    Next, you can allow your discoveries to be in the background without being judgmental in anyway. You can now go on to  place some form of attention on these perceptions about your ‘sweetheart’ to actually determine if what’s vibrating in your heart is really sweet or not. Here you would start to do the evaluations and see if the ’emissions’ are good, bad, indifferent or poisonous.

    If what you feel is frustration, hatred and anger then you can be sure to notice blaming and limiting thoughts. You can go on to take a deeper search and it is at this point that you would discover that your relationship is heading for the rocks. Being on the brink can bring a lot of confusion in your mind and you certainly aren’t going to help matters this way.

    So, all that your heart would be riveting around would be his or her shortcomings or character defects. The crux of the matter is that what you give is what you get in any relationship. We need to come to the understanding that unless we are with an abusive or chemically dependent partner, our perception of the other party is actually a reflection of our efforts at creating and recreating love.

    Like a mirror, the other person is going to give you back what you dole out in good measure. Most times, when we take an inventory of our partner’s defects, it is indeed a sure sign that we are avoiding responsibilities for what we have created or brought out in the other person. Even if we cannot change the character of the person we have fallen in love with, we can actually improve on the quality of love and loving that we finally get.

  • US’ Rainbow of moral decadence

    By the Supreme Court decision of June 26, the United States, US,   became the 26th country to fully recognise the right of Lesbians, Gays, Bisexuals and Transsexuals, LGBT, to enter into state sanctioned marriage. This has obviously triggered off yet another wave of debates on the issue of same sex marriage.

    Quite amusingly, on the day the Supreme Court made the decision, the White House was covered in rainbow lighting to celebrate the ruling with the ‘triumphant’ LGBT community. The rainbow colours, as the media has shown, now represents the symbol of ‘gay pride’. The very phrase brings a bad taste to the mouth, a taste that reminds one that our deep dark secrets as humans, are now coming to the fore. Years of quiet tolerance has stoked the appetite for disdainful immorality and it has grown to become a brazen affront to the foundations of organised society.

    Same sex affairs have been a feature of human sexual relations for ages. However, never has it garnered such public support or been so openly canvassed. For us as Nigerians, widely considered to be intolerant to the LGBT community, the news is largely unwelcome. It is rather appalling that today, countries like the US have indirectly worked gay rights into their foreign policy by exerting pressure on other countries particularly those dependent on US handouts, to be more tolerant of the LGBT community. Even countries not dependent on the US, are not spared. A country like Mozambique had been forced to reverse its ‘anti-gay’ legislations even at a time gay marriage was not legal in all parts of the US.

    The US Supreme Court decision and its endorsement by President Barack Obama will only toughen the US’ gay rights drive across the world, much to the disapproval of religious conservatives everywhere. This is because religion, which is at the root of the opposition to same sex marriages, is not always in tandem with legal realities. However, it constitutes a major foundation for the law in many countries, including the United States. For others, religion and law are one and the same thing, especially in the Muslim countries.

    This kind of verdict in the US is not surprising. What is, however, surprising is the level of opposition to it. In fact, the US Supreme Court justices were evenly divided on the issue until the swing vote of Justice Kennedy assured a 5-4 majority in favour of the verdict. The said Justice Kennedy has been known to give verdicts in favour of gay rights in the past. One of the dissenting opinions was from Justice John Roberts, the US Chief Judge backed by traditionally conservative justices.

    So far, a large number of Americans are unhappy with the ruling. The Republican states have been at the forefront of opposition to gay marriage and Gregg Abbott, the Governor of Texas, was swift in passing a bill to allow religious leaders to legally refuse to perform same sex marriage ceremonies. Abbott stressed that it is important for the clergy to be assured that religious freedom is “beyond the reach of the constitution”. This means the White House may have gone overboard with its support of the ruling without giving thought to the teeming number who feel their religious and personal convictions have been eroded.

    While Abbott may be right, the opinion of the dissenting judges rather show that the US constitution still guarantees religious freedom, but the majority judges trumped that freedom with a right which the constitution never contemplated. As they suggested, it should rather have been left to the states to determine whether they wanted to recognise same sex marriages or not, as had been the case.

    Coming back home to our deeply religious but largely corrupt country, one thing is clear. Unlike in the US case where the right of consenting adults to act as they choose is widely recognised, it is the right of two individuals of the same sex to legally enter into marriage, with its attendant benefits, that was in issue. Here, homosexual acts are illegal. So also, are same sex marriages.

    There is so much Nigeria needs from the US. But the US’ meddlesomeness in the affairs of foreign countries is well documented. With the aftermath of the US Supreme Court decision still hot in the media, one only hopes that when our President, Muhammadu Buhari, meets with President Obama in Washington on July 20, the issue of recognition of gay marriages does not come up, or worse still, become a bargaining tool for receiving the much needed assistance from the US government.

    With our ‘Muslim North’ and predominantly ‘Christian South’, we are unashamedly religious, and in the same vein, very conservative in our religious beliefs. Even with religion removed, our cultural and moral fibre drives us to be conservative about many things, including sexual matters. Yes, polygamy is culturally accepted, even religiously sanctioned, it seems, in the north, but that is part of our culture. Homosexuality is not.

    We are what has been referred to as ‘social traditionalists’ and the current sexual liberalisation being driven by other secular states – yes, for all our religious conservativeness, we are yet a secular country– must be rejected in order to protect our society and maintain whatever order we have left in the country. If Nigeria, through the legislature or judiciary, were to legalise homosexuality and same sex marriage as has been done in some other countries, then the fallout may be too severe for any sitting government to handle.

    Homosexuality has been illegal all these years, quietly tolerated just as prostitution, equally illegal, is tolerated. The tricky thing about this kind of vice is that humans are morally weak and state action in respect of moral failings of the human mind and body, must be tactical. A secular state can hardly enforce virtue; neither should it endorse immorality. It is unfortunate that the US and many countries have taken steps to allow age long taboos, bringing human civilisation into a backward spin.

    Some unsettling developments in recent times include the German National Ethics Council, in late 2014, calling for the decriminalisation of incest between siblings and a district court in Tokyo, Japan, ruling that adultery, when it is for ‘business purposes’, does not constitute an extra marital affair. The UK, with the exception of Northern Ireland, already recognises same sex marriages. South Africa’s Constitutional Court had approved same sex marriage in 2005 and Colombia is set to follow suit.

    No one is calling for the lynching of homosexuals. Even if some African leaders like the despotic Yahya Jammeh of The Gambia and others are overzealous in their protection of traditional values, we cannot emulate the Islamic State in its barbarism. Remember that IS executed some homosexuals in response to the US Supreme Court ruling. But that is their own modus operandi; they are killers.

    Bestiality, incest and all manner of ungodliness now lurk dangerously in the corner. This is the time to pull out our Bibles and Qurans, we the ‘Muslim North’ and the ‘Christian South’, and make good on our ‘religious’ reputation by praying for the salvation of mankind, as it is now beginning to descend down a slippery slope into Sodom once again.

    This rainbow of moral decadence celebrated by Obama contains no pride. It is an affront on traditional society and a symbol of immorality. Now is not the time to lift the lid placed on immorality, rather, the West should realise that this is one door which should not be open more than a little crack or at all. President Buhari must carry this message to the White House.

    ‘If Nigeria, through the legislature or judiciary, were to legalise homosexuality and same sex marriage as has been done in some other countries, then the fallout may be too severe for any sitting government to handle’

     

     

  • Tamuno: The sacred canopy of our rainbow coalition

    Tamuno: The sacred canopy of our rainbow coalition

    He who exalts himself will be humbled and he who humbles himself will be exalted” (Matthew 23:12) “Blessed are the meek” (Matthew 5: 5)

    Professor Tekena Tamuno (1932-2015), a former Vice-Chancellor of the University of Ibadan, joined his ancestors on Saturday, April 11, 2015. He once used the metaphor of the “mother banana” and the “banana family” to illustrate the dynamics of the continuum and how our universe functions: that as the mother banana dies it gives birth to a new one! In essence, Professor Tamuno was this “mother banana,” forever green, immortal, and transcendental.

    Most certainly, there are greater minds to attest to Professor Tamuno’s long career; furthermore, there are hundreds of eye-witnesses to recount his days as the Vice Chancellor of the University of Ibadan; while there are also far more talented historians than my humble self to highlight his contributions to the writing of Nigerian history. Yet, as an act of fate as someone who interacted with him for over three decades, I have had the privilege of producing this tribute in his honor, and he deserves every laudatory statement I can make. I was drawn to Prof Tamuno in equal percentages: a third because of his personality; another third for his style; and a final third on behalf of his professionalism. Therefore, my tribute is arranged to touch upon each of these triple perspectives that together constitute his heritage. When Malcolm X died in February of 1965, Ossie Davis described him in his eulogy as a shining black star.  Similarly, Prof Tamuno, in my estimation, was one of our shining stars in the sky, one that we looked up to for the light that could illuminate the path on which we walked.

    Professionally, Prof Tamuno was a prolific historian, and without exaggeration, I can underscore, also without reservation, that there was none in his generation that out-produced him. On the leadership front, he was a talented leader, and there was no one that served on more committees, commissions and fact-finding missions more than he did. He got things done, and he produced consensus, indeed far more than anyone of his generation. His overall success, I had come to assume, was because he understood himself: He was open as well as being mutually respectful of others while still being conscious of his terrain and his place in history, unique qualities that he never exaggerated, not even for a moment.

    On my part, I can only offer a summation—indeed a précis—of his glorious career as a professional historian. In it Prof Tamuno was Ibadan personified in a variety of ways: he entered the University of Ibadan in 1953 and he continued to live in Ibadan City, with a few interruptions, courtesy of national and international engagements, till 2015. He was a citizen of the city of Ibadan and he was certainly pre-eminently far more qualified than I, the “son of the soil,” to be an Ibadan chief. There was no significant academic or administrative position at the University of Ibadan that he was not invited to occupy; and as the records clearly demonstrate, he never struggled for any of them, from the Head of Department to the Vice-Chancellor, all positions in which he served with distinction. From his PhD thesis to his very last piece of writing, he was perpetually pre-occupied by not less than six inter-related investigations: (i) the evolution of Nigeria, from its pre-colonial indigenous culture to the modern, and from the creation of amalgamated Nigeria through colonial conquest to the end of British rule; (ii) the creation of roads and railways to provide modern infrastructure and communication systems; (iii) law and order in a changing state, in terms of an indigenous security system, the police force, and the army; (iv) institutions of governance (how federalism evolved, and how our leaders managed and betrayed us); (v) the stages in our growth from 1885 to the present; and  (vi) our various predicaments, including issues of underdevelopment, poverty and leadership deficit.  In all, after offering a sober analysis, he would confess, as he once did in a keynote address delivered in 1983 for a conference on nation-building:

    We are humble enough to acknowledge that we know not yet all we wish to know about this great country, Nigeria, about its great people, and their great problems.

    Limited space is often a thief of money and time, sadly disempowering me from a detailed critical elaboration of the aforementioned points. Yet, I also know very well that space cannot steal reflexivity. “Nigeria matters,” Tamuno proclaimed to all listening ears. In all of his writings, he persuasively argued that the problems of Nigeria would ultimately yield to its success. He gathered tremendous amounts of data on specific institutions, always trying to highlight the weight and import of evidence, and more so the importance of the explicit over the implicit. He was, in varied ways, a masterful storyteller, bringing out variation upon variation in dealing with topics and themes, mapping debates, respecting various opinions, and creating his own ideas. He certainly understood the workings of a nation in formation, a political elite that was conflicted, and of institutions that were in the process of maturation. He had a firm grounding in archival sources, for many years unearthing more archival “gems” than many of his peers. His perspective was both regional and national, as he was always offering nuanced understanding of the Nigerian condition. Irrespective of the moment in our history, our anguish and sorrow, Prof Tamuno applied the gentle balm, as he wiped our tears, and he sang joyful songs, indeed as, inter alia, he once did in the following words:

    Hence, they are

    Songs of joy and sorrow,

    Paeans of pleasure,

    Groans of pain,

    That blends moments of mirth

    With those of wrath,

    But with no target enemies,

    With no firm friends

    With an appeal, or whatever,

    To all of goodwill over the world

    [Songs of an Egg-head (Alafeni: Port Harcourt, 1982).]

    I knew him well as a Nigerian! As I still recall, I was with him for a few days in 1990, when he was at the National Institute for Policy and Strategic Studies at Kuru where he worked temporarily as a Visiting Professor.  In excitement, he took me to visit a plot of land that he bought in Jos to build his retirement house. To my surprise, he confided his retirement plan with me, saying that living in that part of Nigeria, the center of the country, represented his affirmation of the country’s oneness.

    The seriousness of his “oneness” understanding of Nigeria as a nation was the driving force of his intellectual career of well over half a century. He chose themes of oneness, from the evolution of the country’s boundaries to the institutions of managing the state, such as the police. Bothered by issues around violence, he devoted considerable space in his scholarship to the analysis of conflicts and strategies for peace. His demeanour, words, and strategic choices represented peace—both in over a dozen private discussions as well as in public where his humility was always fresh and striking. He was never tired of welcoming guests, giving them food from his garden, laughter from his heart, and generosity from his spirit.

    Symbolically, Prof Tamuno was one of the few lines in the colours of rainbow, the arch in the middle that formed in the sky for us to see and admire. He constituted a shield linked with the cosmos, the extraordinary being of colours, dispersed by the sun’s light, blessed by water droplets from the far sky. We cannot chase the rainbows, as they are too far high in the sky, but Baba Tekena Tamuno brought the lines and colours closer to us, making them reachable and touchable, and ever projecting as well as displaying his light and sunshine.

    He was not easy to imitate, and impossible to clone, for no one can ever garner the rainbow of medals that adorned his walls; and no one can ever come close to the rainbow of love that filled his heart and chest. We have to keep struggling to reach the silver-lining of his illustrious clouds and the gold located at the end of his rainbow. I won’t even try, for his resilience is uncommon, his patience is legendary, and I am too small to learn at his feet.

    A master of long narratives, his nuanced conclusions were open-ended, elastic, and never threatening. Our personality can be embedded in our intellectual projects and self affirmation, as it is possible to link Wole Soyinka’s iconoclasm to Ogun, the Yoruba god of iron. Prof Tamuno was probably seeking to imitate some aged saints or, like a riverine man, he was guided by the calmness of the sea. The rough waves possibly frightened him, and he rather stayed at the banks. That calmness of the sea crystalised into a “Tekena formation” that became defined as the “Tamuno’s humility.”

    There was one Saint Humility during the European Medieval Ages, a real saint, not an imaginary one. In fact, I am suspicious that Prof Tamuno, at one time or the other, might have read about this saint! For, as those who knew him well, as I did, would attest to, he had multiple faces to his personality: one face that looked to spiritual forces, humbling himself before God and His agents. Grace becomes superior to one’s achievements, as Prof Tamuno magnified his own limitations. But there was also the levelling equality with fellow men, in which he constantly lowered his being and self in relation to his colleagues, superiors, and subordinates.

    Being agreeable is no sign of weakness. The definition of a place in history, in space and time, is a recognition of one’s influence. Walking gently, to avoid hubris, does not compromise pride. Recording a life history devoid of narcissism is no limitation to being grounded in humilitas. As one thinks of all of these unique qualities, what comes to mind is the Tamuno magic!

    Prof Tamuno’s writing and life-style became the way to encode the spirit of humilitas, a careful use of oneself to teach practical ethics. I visited his house at Ibadan where he wore his simple top and shorts with many pockets, showing me his plants, his fruits, and his seeds. On one occasion in 2005, in the company of Prof Chris Ogbogbo, the amiable Head of the History Department and Prof Ademola Dasylva, both of the University of Ibadan, Prof Tamuno tried to recruit us into his way of thinking and lifestyle, warning us to be cautious, to exercise restraint, to cultivate wisdom. He invited me to dinner the next day, an appointment that I was unable to keep, thus denying myself of valuable fatherly lessons.

    As younger scholars, the moment we entered our car, we were united in our conversations, engaged in comparing Prof Tamuno to another professor we visited before him, who was full of arrogance and vain words; we chose instead to praise Prof Tamuno’s wisdom. He was modest in prosperity, honourable in status, and graceful in moderate opulence. The visitation, one of many, triggered a series of reflections in me: the Kantian formulation of linking truth-telling with humility; and the Jesusian formulation of death and agony as sacrifice and redemption.

    If the great Prof Tamuno learned from history, and he prospered by it, let us learn from him as well. In violating the tenets of his modesty and humility, I want to create a template for the Tamuno model of living: love Nigeria; read and cultivate skills; use talents; promote virtues; be meek; think of and appreciate others; make your ego small to realise your true humanity and place in the universe; and appreciate your smallness, but remain steadfast and true to your principles!

    Nietzsche, the philosopher, will quibble with my generosity, for he sees humility not as a virtue but as a weakness, a strategy of survival, deployed by the weak to minimise the damage done by the strong, the Übermensch. Prof Tamuno would be a dysfunctional element in the pool that Nietzsche studied made a study of.  To the contrary, Prof Tamuno recognised my own talent and was in praise of it, just as he recognised the talents of others. He did not deny others their honour, even when he was unjustly attacked. He did not build a cult of individualism and never asked anyone to worship him.

    Our star has relocated, not extinguished: you and I are like dust, insignificant, but hopeful: hopeful that what he wanted, a peaceful and united Nigeria, will surely eventually be created.

    Professor Tamuno, sleep well, the great one, and permit me to sing a dirge:

    ‘The honey eater

    Looks not at the edge of the axe

    The astute trader

    Bothers not with the din of the marketplace

    The egg lover

    Regards not the anus of the hen

    Thirsty throat befriends weeping palm tree

    Stretch out your calabashes

    I have poured libation

    Come join the spree

    Baba, rejoice, for you are already fit to receive grace:

    Poet, sing your song

    To the resonant din of the bell

    Ko ko, ko ko, ko ko, ko ko

    At its instance, the rhumba

    Là là, ko ko, là là, ko ko

    The earth must open for the earthworm

    Là là ko ko fè fè, là là ko ko fè fè

    The potter must get her clay

    And the painter his colors

    With a face and nose to the ground

    The writer surely must find his words

    To make flow the rivers of ink

    Là là, là là, là là, là là

    Là là, ko ko, là là ko.’

    Prof Tamuno, I offer a promise: we will keep history alive: If we stay alive, songs and drama will come from Mouths of truth that seek no rewards enduring pain without any gain.

    Great one, we will serve others as a constant reminder of your humility and greatness:

    Judge us: this is all that you know

    Condemn us: the passion of your spirit

    We forgive: when we cross the passage of

    Time, asking questions:

    Were you with us in the grasslands?

    Who laughed with us in the savannah?

    Who cried in the forest?

    Did you hear the story before the stream?

    What did we say at the bank?

    Did you cross the river with us?

    Sir, be assured, we will descale our obsequiousness but enscale our memory of you:

    Flourish Greenfingers

    Like the cornstalk

    Rising in its season

    Flourish, Greenfingers

    The years of your triumph

    Call for celebration

    The labour of truth

    Is evergreen.

    Flourish, Greenfingers

    The one

    Who has earned

    His purple robe

    Swirl, Sway, Swirl Greenfingers

    Ignore the heads in the clouds

    The sure footed

    Must reap bountiful harvest

    Swirl, Sway, Swirl, Greenfingers

    With royal gait

    As you arrive to dine

    At His pavilioned regal tables.

     

    •Prof Falola is of The University of Texas at Austin, US.  

  • Rainbow Housing Estate unveiled in Lagos

    Rainbow Housing Estate unveiled in Lagos

    The fast developing urban renewal project and largest construction site in sub-Saharan Africa sprawling in the heart of Port Harcourt, Rainbow Town Housing Estate has been unveiled in Lagos under the umbrella of  a consortium of Bode Adediji Partnership a firm of estate surveyors & valuers.

    Mr.  Bode Adediji who is also a  former president of the Nigeria Institution of Estate Surveyors & Valuers, spoke at the  presentation of the project in Lagos.

    In his presentation, he explained that  the project is the biggest integrated luxury real estate development in Africa  currently  built on a 23.24 hectares of land designed to accommodate residential, commercial, recreational and educational property development of various types and sizes.

    The objective he said is to create an exceptional environment where the upper class can live, work and play adding that the master plan reflected some of the ideals of new urban communities worldwide and is gaining international recognition. He said the project is largely a private enterprise  with participation of the Rivers State government by way of land contribution and sponsored by the FirstBank of Nigeria.

    On the composition of the team, he said it is composed of very outstanding and successful Nigerians with enviable track record with the Special Purpose Vehicle (SPV) -the Rainbow Town Development Limited offering impeccable leadership to drive the project.

    He explained that the  state governor took the initiative to revamp the previous slum into a much better housing scheme in 2000.

    Located with strategic proximity to the robust and vibrant Trans-Amadi business-industrial area of Port Harcourt, the ambitious program was conceived with a range of good quality 1,181 residential units creatively located in terraces, detached houses and 25 high-rise condominium towers. These units, he  revealed, will address various lifestyles and family sizes with 2 and 3 bedroom condos, 4-bedroom terraces and 5-bedroom detached duplexes, all en-suite with domestic aid quarters.

    On the return on investment, he urged investors to invest and take advantage of the urban renewal programme  of the current administration in the garden city and expect huge returns.

    He however, was silent on the pricing, noting that they will come up with it on request.

  • Mandela and the Rainbow Nation

    n his effort to end the Apartheid regime in South Africa in the early 1990s, the late Nelson Mandela was admirably tough on his struggle to free his countrymen from the ruinous regime that turned them into slaves in their fatherland.

    In the end, South African gained free in politics but economically, the people still depended on their tormentors, who did not leave the country after the Apartheid regime crumbled.

    The South African economy remained the largest in Africa but the country has distinction as world’s most economically-skewed nation since 2009.

    This lopsidedness is not new. It grasped the attention of critics as far back as 1998 when the then Deputy President, Thabo Mbeki, stated before the parliament that South Africa was not a nation of a homogeneous people. He added that it was merely two nations rolled into one.

    To Mbeki, the country could be seen as a superficial society of “small” affluent white men whose lifestyles rivalled the super-rich anywhere in the world. The other people in South Africa, according to Mbeki, are black citizens who seemingly have a permanent date with poverty. Mbeki’s statement, which came to be known as “Two-Nations Speech”, is now regarded as a candid refutation of racial-economic harmony around the world.

    Besides, was Mbeki foretelling a racial confrontation by his speech? Did he have knowledge of impeding Marikana massacre of August 2012 when 34 striking miners were gunned down by police in broad daylight?

    In analysing South Africa’s economic inequality, social critics agree from the outset that colonialism and Apartheid had much to do with it. But in the post-apartheid era, a small undercurrent of thought emerged suggesting that the country’s socio-economic woes were aggravated and perpetuated by “compromised negotiations” that were spearheaded by the liberation icon, Nelson Mandela.

    After all, he was the beloved, the ultimate victim of apartheid struggle. Post-Mandela era, the ghost of the “compromised negotiation” hunts the country.

    Indeed, Ghana’s Kwame Nkrumah had addressed the same question of what domain should African anti-colonialism target first: politics or economy? Nkrumah responded in his capacity as the elder statesman in African nationalism, asserting: “Seek ye first the political kingdom and all things shall be added unto you.”

    During the negotiations to abolish Apartheid, was Mandela aware of Nkrumah’s political kingdom dictum? He would be forgiven if he was not aware. After all, he was already in prison when African nationalism became popular.

    In addition to his well-known photographic memory, Mandela was well read. Prof Ali Mazrui told how he was once in a conference and, accidentally, bumped into Mandela in the hallway. Startled, Mazrui greeted the global icon and introduced himself as Ali Mazrui. Mandela responded: “Oh, Professor Ali Mazrui, nice to meet you! I used to read your publications when I was in prison!”

    If Mandela remembered Mazrui’s name and he had read his publications while in prison, he certainly knew of the economic-political kingdoms debate prior to African decolonisation.

    Indeed Nkrumah’s dictum on this issue is one of his three most cited statements and Mazrui has published extensively on Nkrumah. In de-emphasising the economic front in the negotiations to abolish apartheid, was Mandela acting under the spell of Nkrumah?

    In all likelihood, Mandela was preoccupied less with ideologies than the practical circumstances that surrounded him. For the survival of his country, he had chosen to enlist the political kingdom first of reconciliation and nation-building.

    This attempt to build a Rainbow Nation was indeed the only viable alternative that was open to discussions. In this sense, Mandela was not alone. He was in the mould of Kenya’s Jomo Kenyatta, who also came out of a colonial jail and wrote a book clearly aimed at ‘coddling’ his former British detractors. Hence, the unsurprising title of his 1968 book: Suffering without bitterness.

    The mood of doom that hung over South Africa deteriorated immensely from the 1980s and was profoundly unattractive to foreign investor. International economic sanctions had become universal and were now biting deeply. Suddenly, these forces were boosted by the 1986 passage of the US Congressional Comprehensive Anti-Apartheid Act. The movement was also gaining momentum in the US and contributed further to Apartheid’s economic woes.

    Mandela did play his historical part in terminating political apartheid and bringing democracy to the South Africa peacefully. For that he won the 1993 Nobel Peace Prize. But the task of fusing socio-economic equality into the political kingdom turned out to be arduous undertaking.

    This year marks two decades of democracy in South Africa. Yet, the de facto economic apartheid remains intact. South African blacks remain pathetically poor. In 2009, South Africa surpassed Brazil as the most skewed society in the world.

    In Mbeki’s opinion, South Africa is yet to be a nation; it remains two nations in one. How to narrow the gap between the white and black, and how to construct genuine fundamentals of a Rainbow Nation eluded Mandela. Unlike Fidel Castro’s Cuba, Mandela’s South Africa is an incomplete revolution, a work in progress.

     

    Segun, 300-Level, Public Administration, LASU

     

  • Rainbow Book mourns Awoonor

    Rainbow Book mourns Awoonor

    Members and friends of the Rainbow Book Club mourn one of Africa’s outstanding sons, Kofi Awoonor – poet, author, diplomat who died in a senseless siege on innocent people at the Westgate Mall in Nairobi, penultimate Saturday.

    Ambassador Awoonor last visited Port Harcourt as a guest writer at the maiden edition of the Garden City Literary Festival (now Port Harcourt Book Festival) at the University of Port Harcourt (UNIPORT) in 2008. As a major writer to the festival, alongside Nobel Laureate Prof Wole Soyinka and Captain Elechi Amadi, Awonoor addressed an auditorium filled with enthusiastic students, staff and guests at the university. In the course of the four-day event, he also sat at a symposium organised by the English Department of UNIPORT.

    Awonoor facilitated a Master Class in which upcoming writers sat under his tutelage. He also fielded questions at a Meet-the-Author session attended by over 200 literary enthusiasts.

    Awonoor’s book, The House by the Sea, a collection of poems, was one of the books of the festival in 2008. Visitors took to Awonoor almost immediately, thanks to the winning combination of his personable and humble character. They huddled around him at the end to get his autographs; the signed books remain a testament to his presence at the event and in their lives.

    Awoonor was among the people killed in the attack by Somali Islamist rebels on a Nairobi Shopping Mall this weekend. The Club mourns his passing and sends prayers out to his loved ones.

    The Port Harcourt Book Festival is in its sixth year, and will take place between October 21 and 26, with the theme: Literature and the creative economy.

    The final event, a jazz and poetry evening, would serve as an evening of tribute for Awoonor.

  • Rainbow College valedictorian wrote speech in JSS1

    Ihe 2013 valedictory/graduation of Rainbow College was exciting in many regards for the 90 graduands of the school’s day and boarding arms.

    Prayers, praises, presentation of academic and social prizes, hand over of the staff of office to new prefects, and farewell songs by the graduands spiced up the event held in the school hall of the beautiful college located on a large expanse of land in Maba Village, Ogun State, off the Lagos-Ibadan Expressway.

    However, the valedictorians had the day. The stories behind their journey to fame land were as interesting, and for one of them, unusual.

    For Dumebi Okwuosa, the valedictorian for the boarding arm of the college located in Maba, the road to the top was not easy. At the graduation, he picked up the Chemistry, Physics and English Language prizes. However, it did not used to be so. While introducing him, the principal, who presented an informal citation of the graduand, said Dumebi used to be one of the poorest pupils in the class.

    However, he transformed into a high achiever by a dint of hard work.

    When he had the floor Dumebi thanked many people: his teachers for grooming him; his parents for their investment, and the proprietor of the school, Mrs Oludolapo Odunlami, for daring to dream.

    “I am highly elated and thankful that I am the valedictorian after such hard work and competition. When we came to secondary school, some of us wept publicly; some privately; I was one of them. Six years after, we are glad we came and can be the Class of 2013 of Rainbow College. Like the person who woke up and said God bless the person who invented sleep; I say God bless my parents for funding my education.

    “I also say God bless the proprietor for having in her mind the vision of this school. I took a cue from her when I wrote my speech in JSS1,” he said to a rapturous applause from the audience.

    The valedictorian for Rainbow College (Day), which is located in Alaka, Lagos, was Moyo Akingbola a girl described as an all-rounder, who is both beautiful and brilliant. With the competition for the best graduand very steep indeed, Moyo said she was pleasantly delighted to be best.

    “I was very shocked and happy to learn that I was the valedictorian,” she said of her achievement. To the graduands she advised: “Don’t let the six years here be the best of your lives,” urging them to strive for excellence afterwards.

    In his speech, outgoing Head Boy, Michael Davies, praised the teachers for their sacrifice.

    “As from today, no one will consider us as under educated. We thank you for making us better people; we thank you for your patience; we will never forget you,” he said.

    In an interview, Mrs Odunlami advocated parents to partner with the school to mould well-adjusted children. She also urged the graduands to be focused, and determined.