The Nation Newspaper

Tag: Reflections

  • Reflections on Osun’s Walk to Live

    Reflections on Osun’s Walk to Live

    In the delicate business of governance, some things are given. Others are simply strange or, if you like, novel. Now take the foregoing: construction of roads is a given; building of schools is a normal everyday matter; ditto for maintaining medical infrastructure. But a governor in an endurance trek with his people? A bit extraordinary, huh? This is a monthly affair in Osun state where Ogbeni Rauf Aregbesola has embarked on health awareness initiative. In our type of environment where top government officials announce their presence with blaring siren, it is a comfortable relief to have a governor walk through your door as he waves enthusiastically to you.

    For many, the experience would endure for a long time.

    The programme tagged “Walk to Live” has been hosted by a number of communities in Osun State including Iwo, Ikire, Ife, Oshogbo and Ilesha. I have partaken in two, the last of which was the Ilesha edition of Saturday November 24. Earlier, I had joined the train in August at Ile-Ife. In each of these cases, Ogbeni led his people, in thousands, to walk a distance of no fewer than 25 kilometres, spartanly-clad, reminiscence of the Great Trek of some 14000 Boers from Cape Colony in South Africa in 1835.

    In Ilesha, as the crowd glided from Aladiye location of the Action Congress of Nigeria, ACN, Ilesha West Secretariat, through Osogbo garage, Oke Omiru, Isokun, Orikiran to Oke-Isa where the trip terminated at Ilesha Grammar School. I could not help but long for the heady days of the seventies when we rancorously held sway as out-of-control college teenagers in the lovely serenity of Ijeshaland. Boy, we were thoroughly unhinged to the eternal trepidation of our poor parents. What with nightly foray to Ipetu-Ijesha Grammar School, Iloko Grammar School, St. Margret, St Lawrence and Hope Grammar School, among others in search of God-knows-what? I digress.

    With an unbroken line of crowd stretching far beyond five kilometres, this project is a product of sound creative thinking. The governor was a spectacle to behold as he endlessly halted to acknowledge cheers from enthusiastic locals peeping through windows, scurrying across balconies and hanging on rooftops to make a mental documentation of an uncommon scene. Others- male and female- convinced they could muster the strength, tore through the thin security cordon around the governor to scream their messages of innumerable goodwill. I heard one who screamed, “Aregbe, I have seen you this year. May God count me among those that would see you next year”. Another, a female bearing her wares chorused, ‘’you will be there for 12 years”.

    In terms of the fun and excitement, the August Ife edition of the political road show, as I would like to call it for reason that would reveal itself soon, was no less engaging. Ogbeni ignored the inclement weather that was spewing rain in torrents to lead the crowd from Oduduwa College through Sabo, Odo-Ogbe, Lagere, Mayfair, Ede road, Campus gate to Obafemi Awolowo University Sports Centre where, once again, yours truly was ravaged by the firm arm of nostalgia about some long spent good old days of undergraduate years of unlimited ‘aluta’.

    If you are a keen observer of happenings in Osun state, particularly since the advent of the Ogbeni Rauf Aregbesola administration, it is unlikely you would find the governor’s popularity curious. You may, of course, find his style of administration strange. First, Aregbe frowns at being addressed as “Your Excellency”preferring a lowly “Ogbeni”. Also not for him the flamboyance of the office of governor. He would appear in public attired like any worker in the state.

    In all certainty, what he could not display in sartorial flamboyance he generously hawks in infrastructural and life-changing transformation in the State of Osun. In less than a hundred days in office, 20,000 youths were absorbed into the civil service through O’Yes programme. Young Omoluabis- as Osun indigenes are now called- still in school are either enjoying free meals or they have had their tuitions slashed to affordable level.

    If the young enjoys Aregbe touch in schools and elsewhere, the elderly too have had their palpable state ameliorated. No fewer than 1,602 vulnerable senior citizens are now on a monthly N10,000 allowance each apart from provision of food stuff. More so, another 136 elderly persons have benefited from free medical attention for serious ailments. This programme is tagged “Agba Osun Welfare Scheme”. Massive rehabilitation of roads is also taking place across the state.

    The comrade governor ceaselessly made it clear that the exercise is an initiative of his administration to promote good living among the people. According to him, it is also designed to bring back the good old days of active living. Good intent. However, some think the project has a more pungent political message. In fact, one that profoundly touches on the suitability of Ogbeni for the position he currently occupies in the State of Osun.

    Not long after he mounted the saddle, the ever-robust rumour mill operated by the opposition went to town bearing a most heinous tale that the governor was seriously ailing. They said he was so feeble in health that he could not be at his desk for four unbroken hours without collapsing. How wicked! It is said that a worried Aregbesola had sought medical help everywhere including Iraq (can you beat that?) to no avail. Therefore, the walk could not have come at a more auspicious time than when Osun people needed assurance that, indeed and in action, their enigmatic helms man is fine and kicking.

    As one flips the page, it would also be discovered that the huge crowd that accompanies Ogbeni on these trips is a testimony, if ever one is needed, to the popularity of the governor and his party in the state. If leaders of the opposition in Osun ever witness any of these Isrealite-like journeys and the passion with which the masses welcome Aregbesola at every point, they would need no further proof that, indeed, their ideologies have been consigned to the dustbin of history.

     

    • Lawal is Publicity Secretary, ACN Ogun State.

  • Reflections on Awo phenomenon-2

    Reflections on Awo phenomenon-2

    These national groups are as distinct from one another as the Ibos are distinct from them or from the Yorubas or Hausas. Of the eleven, the Efik, Ibibio, Annang national groups are 3.2 million strong as against the Ijaws, who are only about 700,000 strong.

    Ostensibly, the remaining nine national groups population is 1.4 millions. But when you have subtracted the Ibo inhabitants from among them, what is left ranges from the Ngennis, who number only 8,000 to the Ogonis, who are 220,000 strong.

    ‘A decree creating a COR state without a plebiscite to ascertain the wishes of the people in the area, would only amount to subordinating the minority national groups in the state to the dominance of the Efik-Ibibio-Annang national group. It would be perfectly in order to create a Calabar state or a Rivers by decree and without a plebiscite because each is a homogenous national unit. But before you lump distinct and diverse national units together in one state, the consent of each of them is indispensable, otherwise, the seed of social disequilibrium in the new state would have been sown. On the other hand, if the COR state is created by decree after the Eastern Region shall have made its severance from Nigeria effective, we should then be waging an unjust war against a foreign state. It would be an unjust war, because the purpose of it would be to remove ten minorities in the East from the dominance of Ibos only to subordinate them to the dominance of the Efik-Ibibio-Annang national groups.

    I think I have said enough to demonstrate that any war against the East, or vice versa, on any count whatsoever, would be an unholy crusade for which it would be most unjustifiable to shed a drop of Nigerian blood. Therefore, only a peaceful solution must be found, and quickly too to arrest the present rapidly deteriorating stalemate and restore normalcy.

    It is my considered view, that whilst some of the demands of the East are excessive within the context of a Nigerian union, most of such demands are not only well-founded, but is designed for smooth and healthy association amongst the various national units of Nigeria. For instance, the East has demanded the creation of separate regional monetary authorities, the demolition of the appellate jurisdiction of the Federal Supreme Court, and the dependence of the Federal Government on financial contributions from the regions.

    These and other suchlike demands, I do not support. Demands such as these, if accepted, will lead surely to the complete disintegration of the Federation, which is not in the interest of our people. But I wholeheartedly support the following demands among others, which we consider reasonable and most of which are already embodied in our memoranda to the Ad Hoc Committee:

    ‘That mines and minerals should be residual subject: that revenue should be allocated strictly on the basis of derivation; that is to say, after the Federal Government has deducted its own share for its own services, the rest should be allocated to the regions to which they are attributable; that the existing public debt of the Federation should become the responsibility of the regions on the basis of the location of the projects in respect of each debt, whether internal or external; that each region should have and control its own militia and Police Force; that, with immediate effect, all military personnel should be posted to their regions of origin.

    If we are to live in harmony with another as Nigerians, it is imperative that these demands and others, which are not here related, should be met without further delay by those who have hitherto resisted them. To those who may argue that the acceptance of these demands will amount to transforming Nigeria into a Federation with a weak central government, my comment is that any link, however tenuous, which keeps the East in the Nigerian union, is better, in my view, than no link at all.

    Before the Western delegates went to Lagos to attend the meetings of the Ad Hoc Committee, they were given a clear mandate that if any Region should opt out of the Federation of Nigeria, then the Federation should b considered to be at an end, and that the Western Region and Lagos should also opt out of it. It would then be open to Western Nigeria and Lagos, as an independent sovereign state to enter into association with any of the Nigerian units of its own choosing on terms mutually acceptable to them.

    ‘I see no reason for departing from this mandate’, if any Region in Nigeria considers itself enough to compel us to enter into association with it on its own terms. I would only wish such Region luck. Luck, I must warn, will, in the long run, be no better that that which has attended the doings of all colonial powers down the ages!

    ‘This much I must say in addition, on this point. We have neither the military might, nor the overwhelming advantage of numbers here in Western Nigeria and Lagos. But we have the justice of a noble and imperishable cause on our side, namely: the right of a people to unfettered self –determination. If this is so, then God is on our side and God be with us- then we have nothing whatsoever in this world to fear.

    The fourth imperative, the second conditional one, has been fully dealt with in my recent letter to His Excellency, the Military Governor of Western Nigeria and in the representation which your deputation made last year to the Head of the Federal Military Government. As a matter of fact, as far back as November last year, a smaller meeting of leaders of thought in this region decided that unless certain things were done, we would no longer participate in the meeting of the Ad Hoc Committee. But since then, not even one of our legitimate requests has been granted. I will, therefore, take no time in making further comments on a point with which you are well familiar.

    As soon as our humble and earnest requests are met, I shall be ready to take my place on the Ad Hoc Committee, but certainly not before.

    Certain attributes are required on the part of Nigerian leaders- military as well as non-military leaders alike- namely: vision, realism, and unselfishness.

    But above all, what will keep Nigerian leaders in the North and East unwavering in the part of wisdom, realism and moderation is courage and steadfastness on the part of Yoruba people in the course of what they sincerely believe to be right, equitable and just.

    In the past five years, we in the West and Lagos have shown that we possess these qualities in large measure. If we demonstrate them again, as we did in the past, calmly and stoically, we will save Nigeria from further bloodshed and imminent wreck and, at the same time, preserve our freedom and self-respect into the bargain.

    In view of this, one has since discovered that the Awo legacy will never end. The Awo myth lives on. Theodore Sorenson sums it all when he wrote; “no myth or exaggeration, admiring or adverse can help hurt the dead. But it can make true perspective difficult for the living”.

    • Concluded

     

    • Teniola, former Director in the Presidency, Office of the Secretary to the Government now lives in Lagos.

     

  • Reflections on Awo phenomenon-1

    Reflections on Awo phenomenon-1

    In the light of the controversy that arose as a fall out from Chinua Achebe’s new book on Biafra, one aspect a lot of people have ignored, or forgotten, is the courage of Chief Obafemi Awolowo (1909-1987), a foremost nationalist and active public officer during that era.

    All of us may not agree entirely with Chief Awolowo as a leader cum politician or as a manager, but one cannot but salute the quality of his courage. No guess work on Chief Awolowo. You know where he stood. Some have analysed that it was this quality that created the blockage on the path of his becoming the President of Nigeria. Ironically, it is this same benefit that has made him a hero today. Someone considered widely to be a modern day victor, so to say.

    Courage is a quality of mind or temperament which makes one to resist temptation to give way in the face of danger, opposition or hardship. It stresses firmness of mind or purpose. Some call it boldness or doughtiness or guts or tenacity. Some call it stubbornness, doggedness or bull headedness. It is this courage that separated Chief Awolowo from the crowd. Even twenty five years after he has died and from the grave, Chief Awolowo is still the issue in today’s Nigeria.

    Unlike some very close associates of Papa Awo, I am not an authority on Chief Awolowo. As a reporter in The Nigerian Tribune, I covered his convocation speech as Chancellor of the then University of Ife, on July 6,1974,when he condemned the 1973 provisional census figures, conducted by Sir Adetokunbo Ademola as “a barren exercise”.

    To make such a speech at that time was too daring, venturesome and perilous because it was considered a blasphemy, but Chief Awolowo made the speech with courage.

    That same year, as a reporter with Nigerian Herald, I covered a lecture in Ibadan during which he gave reasons, for quitting General Yakubu Gowon’s cabinet where he served as Minister of Finance.

    In Kano state while working as political correspondent with The Punch, I covered his triumphant entry into that ancient city for the Unity Party of Nigeria (UPN) Presidential rally on December 17, 1978. The crowd in Kano was a mammoth one.

    The following morning, we drove to Kaduna state with Ebenezer Babatope; I had a dinner with the great Awo at Hamdala hotel. At dinner, Chief Awolowo had a commanding presence. He sipped his lucozade drink gently. I even had time to check his Breitling wrist watch and of course his trade mark Barley shoe- very well polished.

    Later as city editor of The Punch, I covered the tribunal and Supreme Court proceedings, when Awo challenged the Federal Electoral Commission’s declaration of Alhaji Shehu Shagari as President of Nigeria in 1979. He would come to the tribunal and Supreme Court punctually, brief his lawyers and then sit down quietly. Often times, he greeted Chief Richard Osuolale Akinjide, Alhaji Shagari’s attorney. He lost both suits at the tribunal and the Supreme Court. He also lost the Presidential Election in 1983, retired to his home town Ikenne, refusing to challenge the 1983 Presidential Election, and insisted that, if Nigeria need him ,they know where to find him. In the early hours of May 9, 1987, Chief Awolowo died in Ikenne.

    As press Secretary to Governor Ekundayo Opaleye of Old Ondo state, I was present at his burial in Ikenne in June 1987, where late Odumegwu Ojukwu, the Ikemba of Nnewi described him as the “Best president Nigeria never had.” I thought the story on Awo was over that sunny day. I was wrong. Ojukwu was the man that led the failed Igbo secession bid that Achebe chronicled in his latest book. The book has resonated once again the Awo phenomenon and the role he played or what he allegedly said for or against the Igbo ethnic group.

    It is due to reiteration of Awo’s legacy and for the purpose of clarity that I feel compelled to reproduce the most courageous speech, Chief Awolowo ever made at the most crucial period of our National life at a meeting of Western Region Leaders of Thought at Ibadan on May 1, 1967

    The immortal sage started his meeting’s speech thus: ‘I consider it my duty to Yoruba people in particular and to Nigerians in general to place four imperatives, two of them categorical, and two conditional. They are that: Only a peaceful solution must be found to arrest the present worsening stalemate and restore normalcy: The Eastern Region must be encouraged to remain part of the Federation. However: If the Eastern Region is allowed by acts of omission or commission to secede from or opt out of Nigeria, then Western Nigeria and Lagos must also stay out of the Federation: The people of Western Nigeria or Lagos would participate in the Ad Hoc Constitutional Committee or any similar body only on the basis of absolute equality with other Regions of the Federation.’

    If the East attacked the North it would be for the purpose of revenge pure and simple. Any claim to the contrary would be untenable. If it is claimed that such a war is being waged for the purpose of recovering the real and personal properties left behind in the North by Easterners, two insuperable points are obvious. Firstly, the personal effects have been wholly locked up or destroyed, and could no longer be physically recovered; secondly, since the real property is immovable in any case, recovery of it can only be by means of forcible military occupation of these parts of the North on which this property is situated.

    On the other hand, if the North attacked the East, it could only be for the purpose of further strengthening and entrenching its position of dominance in the country. If the North claimed that an attack on the East was going to be launched by the Federal Government and not by the North, as such, and that it was designed to ensure the unity and integrity of the Federation, two other insuperable points also became obvious.

    First, if a war against the East becomes a necessity, it must be agreed unanimously by the remaining units of the Federation.

    In the face of such a declaration by the three out of the four territories of Nigeria, a war against the East could only be a war favoured by the North alone. Secondly, if the true purpose of such a war is to preserve the unity and integrity of the Federation, then these ends can be achieved by the very simple device of implementing the recommendation of the committee which met on 9 August 1966,as reaffirmed by a decision of the Military leaders at Aburi on January 5, 1967,as well as by accepting such of the demands of the East, West, Mid-West and Lagos as are manifestly reasonable and essential for assuring harmonious relationships and peaceful co-existence between them and their brothers and sisters in the North.

    We have been told that an act of secession would be a signal in the first instance for the creation of the COR state by decree which would be backed if need be by use of force.

    With great respect, I have some dissenting observations to make on this declaration. There are eleven national or linguistic groups in the COR area, with a total population of over five millions.

     

    • Continue tomorrow

  • Reflections on management of Nigeria’s economy

    Reflections on management of Nigeria’s economy

    The Nigerian economy has been off the rails over the last four decades or so. The situation took a turn for the worse as it literally dropped off a cliff and now lies in a ditch, face down. The manifestations are obvious; youth unemployment is high, poor power supply, poor road network, obsolete rail system and sub-standard educational and health systems. Overall, the average Nigerian is living in appalling conditions with mud or mud-brick [dwelling] houses using firewood as cooking fuel and depending on kerosene as source of lighting. Only limited households have access to pipe-borne treated water for drinking and cooking. To boot, many people in the country use the bush as toilet. Infant and under-five mortality rates are very high. In the area of security, Nigeria has not fared well either with several incidents of kidnapping and terrorism occurring every month. A generic reason for this parlous state of the Nigerian economy and wider society is the poor perception of what economic management really means. It is perhaps not immodest to assert that our top managers of the economy have not demonstrated sound understanding of what it takes to manage a modern economy.

    A modern economy thrives on the platform of a lean and highly-efficient government, an enterprising and active private sector, functional infrastructural base and a robust academic environment. These would be supported by a highly-mobile military and people-friendly Police force. As complements, a modern economy needs an articulate, educated and enlightened political class as well as a neutral and fair judiciary and strong labour movement. Therefore, the fundamentals of modern economic management are derived from proper understanding of the structural linkages within the economy. Such appreciation would be reflected in what to do when there is an upsurge in economic activities (boom) and what not to do when there is a slow-down. It is the interaction of the policy and economic variables that usually engage managers of a modern economy at the macro level where the central government operates on a routine basis. At equilibrium, the right mix of policy variables will produce the desirable level of economic variables and the citizenry would be reasonably at peace – obtaining the goods and services they require at the right places, the right time and the right prices with full employment.

    There are two other segments of the economy that needs attention; the meso and micro segments. Between the macro level of the economy on one hand, and the micro level [comprising consumers and producers] on the other, there is the middle or meso level. The two sets of meso level economic variables relevant to modern economic management are markets and infrastructure. Markets form part of the mechanisms through which economic and policy variables transmit signals or connect to operators at the micro level. Policies or other forms of interventions alter market conditions faced by individual households and producers through changes in relative prices and quantities traded. The other component of the meso economy is infrastructure. Three types of infrastructure are readily discernible, namely: economic, social and institutional. Investment in economic infrastructure like roads, electricity and irrigation facilities promotes economic activities and boosts money supply, thereby stimulating production.

     

    Government needs to also invest heavily in social infrastructure as they impact positively on the lives of individuals as well as promote production. The foremost social infrastructural facilities are related to the provision of health services, educational facilities and water to the population. Institutional infrastructure forms the bedrock of public administration and internal and external security. Included here are all government institutions at all levels of government. Top rate performance of these institutions on a sustainable basis is a sine qua non for efficient management of a modern economy. With optimal levels of infrastructure in place, the right enabling environment would have been created for the micro economy to thrive.

    Our economic managers must realise that in managing a modern economy, the least attention should be given to political, religious and ethnic considerations. Rather, the primary focus should be on such economic factors as creating an enabling environment for the private sector and markets to function efficiently. It is pertinent to note that no road, electricity facility, school, hospital, police or military force is owned by political parties in Nigeria. Neither are any of these infrastructural facilities solely used by Moslems, Christians, Hausas, Igbos, Efiks, Binis, Yorubas, Fulanis, Nupes or Urhobos. They are of universal usage; indeed, public goods and services in which we must invest. Nigerians must also amend their attitude towards the management of infrastructural facilities in the country. We tend to build facilities and then go to sleep. Even as the population increases regularly, we do not plan to upgrade, maintain, sustain and expand our facilities. With increased demand and stagnant supply, the facilities soon become over-stretched and decayed.

    Nigeria is a particularly strange case, completely at variance with propriety and defying logic. Most states are too poorly resourced and managed to have any economic future due to high cost of administration. In spite of these facts and owing to ignorance of and insensitivity to current realities, many people are agitating for the creation of more states as if new entries will run on auto-pilot. For the size of our economy at present, the cost of governance is very high. Why are there so many public institutions in the country? Why should salaries in public service not aligned with the scope of responsibilities and schedules? Why should our law-making be a full-time job? Why should the lawmakers, Ministries and CEOs of public institutions have the power to engage Special Assistants and Advisers at the expense of government even as many of them have little value to add?

    Nigeria has to take the counsel of the US President Barak Obama. On a visit to Ghana some three years ago, he had advised Africans that the way to progress is to build strong institutions rather than strong leaders. Failing to do this, African countries cannot leap forward into the 21st Century. For instance, we cannot lay claim to building strong institutions in Nigeria if a major political party [as an institution] can put forward a felon for high office and he “governs” a State for eight years; subsequently planting his scion as a key player in government. How then was the man expected to focus on good governance. Rather, he looted the State treasury of billions of Naira, evaded the law in his country only to be convicted through diligent prosecution in another country. This clearly exposes Nigeria’s weak institutional infrastructure.

    • Dr. Akinyosoye, an Applied Economic Policy Analyst and Data Management Specialist writes from Ibadan.

  • Mellanby Hall at 60: Some reflections

    Mellanby Hall at 60: Some reflections

    How time flies! Mellanby Hall, the premier hall of residence in the permanent site of the Premier University in Nigeria, University of Ibadan, is 60 years already, and, as a great Mellanbite, who has always identified with members of that Great Hall since I graduated from that University 40 years ago, the Hall Master, Professor Agbede, the Hall Warden, Dr A. Fadoju and the Hall Executives invited me to deliver a speech, along with some other prominent Great Mellanbites on Saturday October 6. That event turned out to be an emotional occasion for both the present generation of Mellanbites being prepared for life in Nigeria and those Mellanbites who have long graduated into the world and impacted Nigeria with those virtues and culture with which they were equipped at Mellanby Hall. There are many reasons for us to celebrate that monument called Mellanby Hall, for, embedded in that celebration is the story and history of that great hall. Professor Kenneth Mellanby (seconded from Cambridge University) was the First Principal of the University of Ibadan and that perhaps explains the good sense in the University Council’s decision to name the great hall after him. Secondly, the National Universities Commission, in a recent country wide survey, adjudged Mellanby Hall as the cleanest and best kept hall, not only at the University of Ibadan but amongst all university halls of residence in Nigeria.

    Angels don’t come down from above to keep our buildings and institutions. We should therefore single out all those officials, from hall porters, executives, wardens and hall masters from 1952 till date for a special praise and appreciation. Thirdly, we may celebrate those unique and fortunate people who have had the good luck to pass through Mellanby Hall and have therefore been passed through by the culture associated with that great hall. Where do we start from? How many do we want to count in “Adepele’s Dentition”?

    Fellow Nigerians, please come along with me and let me share with you, a little bit of my own passage through Mellanby Hall. In our days, once your Higher School Certificate results were satisfactory, all you had to do was pick up an admissions form, fill it and send with your results to the admissions offices of the four existing universities at that time. Within eight weeks, your letter of admission would be sent to your house or postal address. You didn’t have to know any one in those offices, and you didn’t have to visit them either. A few weeks after your letter of admission, your Hall of Residence would be allocated and also sent to you by post, in addition to being pasted at the entrance of each hall. It was through this route and machinery of a superbly efficient university bureaucracy led by the Late Prof. Adeoye Lambo, the Vice Chancellor, and late Nathaniel Adamolekun, the Registrar, that providence and goodluck conspired together to “Jonathan” me into Mellanby Hall, from September 1969 to June 1972. Just like that British Constitution that is so uniquely famous for its being “unwritten”, each Mellanbite was expected, from day one, to adjust to a certain set of unwritten rules and regulations. You have to be a complete gentleman. If you talked too much or too loudly, you were quickly ostracized. You had to be serious and studious, otherwise, no one would identify with you. No matter how lowly and humble your background was, you had to dress well and neatly all the time. Having entered the university through the door of Loyola College, Ibadan, where, from Class 1, up to Higher School, we had been taught and brought up with the tradition that noise making belonged only to the jungle and that being loud and loud-mouthed was a manifestation of an inferiority complex, adjusting to those Mellanby’s unwritten rules was therefore a painless ritual for me.

    My sojourn in Mellanby Hall was a turning point for me. It was in Mellanby Hall I discovered myself and how to relate and get along with all tribes in Nigeria. I met many good and outstanding people and cultivated friendships that are still enduring till today. It was from those Mellanbites I got my nickname “Sir Muye”, and, within a short time, “Sir Muye” spread throughout the University Campus! I met Dr Edwin Madunagu, our Hall Chairman in 1969. A quiet and gentle giant, who although didn’t talk too much, his body language sometimes emitted loud and threatening signals which the hall authorities could hardly ignore. I met Akin Famodimu, Yinka Bada, (Students Union President 1969), Tayo Okubote, Adewale Owoade, Dr Olukunle, The Okusami Twins, Tunde Jawando, Chichi Nwachukwu, Yinka Sogbesan etc.

    I met Kingsley Adeseye Ogunlewe, the ebullient politician and former Federal Minister (he probably doesn’t know or remember me anymore, but me, I know and remember him very well!). In spite of all those political “shakara” and outpourings, associated with frontline politicians in Nigeria, Adeseye Ogunlewe remains a true, unique and valuable Mellanbite. I met Tonnie Iredia, (which one be Tonnie Iredia sef? Your name is Anthony Iredia and I should know, because you were my Loyola classmate. Maybe your Loyola nickname of “Tony-Ray” was too much of a sweet melody to your spirit, and you had to change to Tonnie after Mellanby Hall. Abi?) Mellanbite Anthony Iredia is a complete gentleman, a hard worker, a humour merchant, with a rare ability to make the likes of Idi Amin, laugh out loudly, and at the same cut him to size with intelligent but diplomatic and embarrassing questions. He ended up his distinguished career in the service of the nation as Director-General of NTA.

    Have you ever heard of the name “Groove”? If you haven’t heard of “Groove”, have you heard of Prince Ladipo Sanmi Eludoyin? At times, he is fondly referred to as “O’sha”, but only a few inner circle of friends like Asiwaju Bola Ahmed Tinubu, Pius Akinyelure, Afolabi Salami, Kayode Soyombo and some select members of the “Adeola Odeku Conclave” are licensed to call him by that acronym. Sanmi Eludoyin is the Enigmatic Boy Wonder, who, like the Glo Advert, is Ruling his World, with success that has touched many people and governments in many parts of the world. “Groove” Sanmi Eludoyin is very apolitical but ironically, most of the key decisions within South-west geopolitical zone and in some vital sections in the corridor of power in Abuja are never taken without his “for your information”. Ladies and Gentlemen, “Groove” is a distinguished Mellanbite, and I can tell you for free, that the management and students in Mellanby Hall are already making arrangements to honour him and some others with the Distinguished Mellanbite Award” within the next few weeks. Let “Groove” go and “sit down somewhere” for now.

    I also met the late Yakubu Abdulazeez and the late Adekunle Adepeju. With due respect to the dead, Yakubu Abdulazeez had a dual personality. He was respected for his over-intelligence and over-brilliance, but because of his penchant for cigarettes smoking, we didn’t appreciate that part of him, so much so, that if he stood in front of you and asked for an obligation, you were most likely to turn him down but if he went back to his room and put the same request into writing and sent back to you, you would most likely and enthusiastically get up to oblige him unconditionally. His talent and ability to pull the crowd with his writings was on display during the 1971 students riot, when, as the Public Relations Officer in the “Chairman Mao” Agunbiade/Tayo Ogungbemile Presidency of the Students Union, he wrote his controversial “A Call To Arms” which moved and incensed most students to obey that call and confronted the Police in a peaceful “face-to-face”.

    Unfortunately, a drunken and God-forsaken Policeman pulled the trigger and, who was the victim? That super-gentleman and easy-going Mellanbite, Adekunle Adepeju. That was the day the Nigerian Police lost its innocence and began to put on the garb of recklessness and impunity. May the souls of those two Great Mellanbites continue to rest in perfect peace, Amen.

    Saturday October 6, was a day full of Joy and fond memories I will not forget in a hurry. Meeting the Hardworking and selfless Hall Warden DR A. Fadeju, Prof Adeloye, Chief Tunde Oshobi, Hon Rotimi Agunsoye, a former Hall Chairman in 1987 and former Commissioner in Lagos State and his retinue of friends from the Lagos State House of Assembly, Mellanbite Idowu Sowunmi, the rising star writer at Thisday, who, is presently on loan as Senior Special Adviser, and also those young Mellanbites and their Hall Executives, headed by Stephen Omotayo all put together, was a thrilling experience. Mellanby Hall, I am glad and proud that I passed through you and also that you passed through me. Happy Birthday Mellanbites! Let me seize this opportunity to appreciate the V.C, Professor Isaac Adewole, who has done so much within his short tenure to contribute to the stature of Mellanby Hall as an enduring monument.

     

    • Runsewe wrote from Ogbogbo-Ijebu, Ogun State.

  • Reflections on mental health day

    Reflections on mental health day

    SIR: Yesterday October 10, was World Mental Health Day. The Nigerian Survey of Mental Health and Wellbeing conducted between 2001 and 2003 found that about 12 percent of adults in the population have had at least one episode of mental illness in their lifetime, while about six percent have had it over the last one year. These are relatively low rates, reflecting the considerably high level of stigma-induced denial in these climes (The World Health Organization estimates that one in every four persons will be affected by a mental disorder at some stage of his or her life).

    Nevertheless the reported 12 percent rate corresponds to a whopping 20million Nigerians, and among those of them who had seriously disabling illness, only about eight percent had received treatment in the preceding year. Given that the majority of mental disorders (77% in the Nigerian survey) occur in mild forms, most cases go undetected for years. Millions are burdened by distressing anxiety, obsessions, mood disorders, paranoia and other internal difficulties, and they must devote considerable mental energy toward maintaining a semblance of normalcy while trying to cope with the pressures of everyday living.

    In a society like ours, “keeping it all together” becomes a compelling distraction on which affected persons must expend precious innate reserves of resilience, which insidiously takes its toll in the form of declining work performance, strained inter-personal relationships and compromised physical health.

    Eventually, one final misfortune like loss of a job, a divorce or maybe an armed robbery attack – all traumatic events from which most healthy people will get over–tips over an already crumbling psyche. Before they tear their clothes and run out naked into the streets, these troubled minds have expended great effort concealing internal distress. And unlike most physical illnesses for which a relatively brief period of medical or surgical treatment could restore the individual to normal functioning, mental illnesses tend to be chronic and run a protracted course that takes enormous toll on the emotional and socioeconomic well being of the both the sufferers and the family members caring for them. It’s a suffering that might have been prevented by timely recognition and intervention in the early stages of illness, instead we end up paying a costly price for denial and wilful ignorance.

    The federal government espouses a noble vision of Nigeria becoming one of the 20 leading global economies by the year 2020. Whether such a lofty target is achieved or not, continued economic growth will eventually see us make the transition to at least a middle income country. WHO estimates suggest that depressive illness will become the leading cause of disease burden at the time, exceeding Malaria, HIV/AIDS and the like. Already, mental illness is responsible for the most years of healthy living lost due to disease and premature mortality in the developed world.

    We must begin to face up to the reality of an increasing burden of mental illness in the populace. It tends to occur in varying shades and degrees, and already is far more prevalent than is immediately apparent. The milder forms though ubiquitous mostly go unrecognized, yet constitute fault-lines of the mind which compromise personal productivity and social harmony. Those moderately affected live and work amongst us all, perpetually labouring under a defect of reason. Alarmingly, a good number make it into political office and their distorted cognition is a mist that beclouds sane judgment. Call this deformation professionelle or what you will, but the jeopardized ability to love and to work is the elephant in the room whose inevitable growth may choke our forward march as a nation.

     

    • Dr. Walter Nzeakah

    Neuro Psychiatric Hospital Aro, Abeokuta