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Tag: revisited

  • Interrogating ‘Change’: ‘Genital test’ revisited

    Talk is cheap, according to a common wisecrack.

    At a time hierarchs of the ruling All Progressives Party would probably be seen scratching their heads in search of answers whenever asked to furnish tangible dividends of the “Change” extravagantly promised in 2015, how soul-lifting that there remain folks truly committed to filling the void.

    Through personal examples, these exemplars – consisting mostly non-state actors – have continued to raise hope while Abuja power-mongers only seem obsessed with sowing doubts.

    True, only dreamers would expect the procession of broom-wielding zealots currently stomping the national landscape to literally move mountain by laundering off, within the twinkling of an eye, the offscouring that took ages to accumulate in the proverbial Augean stable.

    But, if the mammon of big things cannot be subdued yet by those who had made a fetish of the “change” mantra, many, at least, expect measurable – if not demonstrable – change in soft issues like the family sector. If only to foster peaceful coexistence in communities and bolster the happiness index of the nation at large.

    So, it then becomes easier to understand why public acclaim now seems showered in the direction hitherto completely overlooked. From the temples of Redeemed Church scattered across the land, to the trough of Benue, deep down to the creeks of Bayelsa, it has indeed been a deluge of innovations with a depth that bears testimony to sheer creativity and uncommon sagacity.

    Consider, for instance, how distorted the marriage institution would still have been – and the inherent mortal danger to national stability – without the bouquet of far-reaching reforms recently unleashed by the Redeemed Church. In view of pervasive and persistent reports of marital unions coming under distress on account of circumstances that seem more man-made than divine, the church elders chose not to lament or wring their hands in cowardly surrender.

    Taking the bull by the horns, the Redeemed Church under Daddy G.O., the impeccable Enoch Adeboye, has since decreed a regime of comprehensive clinical examination otherwise called “genital test”. Others in the soul-winning industry may shy away from such sensitive – if not sensuous – subject; not the Redeemed Church irrevocably committed to domesticating values whose historical parallels could only be “glasnot” (openness) and “perestroika” (restructuring) in Gorbachev’s Russia.

    In an epistle worded without ambiguity that might be exploited by mischief-makers, the church declared that the new policy followed a studious observation of recurring cases of marital conflicts among the faithful resulting from “falsehood, especially in the case of undeclared or unconfessed reproductive/genital status”.

    Apparently, in a desperation to hook their unsuspecting loved ones, many would hide biological secrets with the same cunning that Republican candidate Donald Trump concealed his dodgy tax records before the US polls of November 2016. Or sex up their physiological endowments the way our lawmakers pad national budgets, until the wedding night when the dark truth finally unravels.

    So, before intending couples approach the altar for blessing thenceforth, a clean bill of health is required to be presented before hand, expressly certifying that relevant organs in the reproductive system of both the male and the female are in serviceable condition.

    In what suggests more emphasis on the male folk or not minding possible accusation of gender bias, the presiding physicians are enjoined to pay particular attention to the testicles, epididymis, spermatic cord, and vas deferens (the three tubes connecting the various parts of the male reproductive system). Not forgetting the rectum/anal area and the prostate gland.

    To foreclose quacks or “arrangee” certification, the church insists that only clearance originating from recognized government hospitals would be accepted.

    Even as the “genital test” initiative continues to attract more plaudits than knocks from across the land as a means to stanching the spreading epidemic of failed marriages, there are however indications that the Church, mindful of growing objection to cosmetics-enabled dubiety by the female folk, might consider extending the new rule of engagement to also include a possible cap on the application of chemicals and powder, often deployed to cement layers of deceit.

    As could be guessed, the complainants are the men folk lamenting that the cocktail of magic powder and some other chemical agents are now willfully used in a manner that dramatically alters the facial appearance of the female gender with a malicious intent to deceive the opposite sex. A grave allegation capable of unsettling the bourgeoning industry of make-up artists, no doubt.

    Meanwhile, even while the church’s response to this latest observation is still being awaited in terms of scope and scale, authorities in Bayelsa State have chosen to blaze an entirely different trail in the family sector.

    To walk the talk on improved maternal healthcare as inelienable human right, kind-hearted Governor Seriake Dickson came up with a revolutionary idea of paying intending mothers a monthly stipend. He is obviously taking this step to ensure that indigence is no longer an excuse for the pregnant women not to attend ante-natal clinic, thus positioning his state as the first to achieve success in the much-trumpeted SDGs (sustainable development goals) by the United Nations as far as safe motherhood and zero infant mortality rate is concerned.

    To political adversaries likely to insinuate conflict of interest, note that the welfare policy took off months after the governor’s wife was delivered of a beautiful set of quadruplet and had taken off successfully long before the amiable governor lost his loving mother last month.

    But, alas, the devil is in implementation. However well-intentioned a policy may be, there is no silver bullet yet to completely stave-off abuse.

    Apparently, local folks – including those from neighboring states in the Niger Delta – have chosen to read an entirely different meaning to the new policy. Latest surveys indicate that the introduction of monthly financial grant to pregnant women may be triggering a baby boom of sorts in that province with some randy men now conveniently assuming that all fatherhood entails is no more than the pleasure of just getting someone’s daughter inseminated and then outsourcing the responsibilities to government.

    In fact, fears are already being expressed in official circles that a policy otherwise conceived with the noblest of intentions might end up only boosting sex tourism in the long run.

    In Benue, it is however a tale of communal self-help. Apparently heeding the loud cries of prospective grooms and other men of marriageable age, the wise men and women of Tivland have unveiled a game-changer. And a what an opportunity to kill the proverbial two birds with a stone. Coming weeks after their governor, Samuel Ortom, decamped to opposition PDP over disputed “red card”, his kinsmen in Benue would seem to have also found a perfect platform to demonstrate, by personal example, what they probably expected of those who found themselves a career by crowing “change”.

    What better way to start than the acclaimed most crucial building block of society – marriage.

    So, without ambiguity or equivocation, the Tiv Area Traditional Council (TATC) has announced sweeping reforms certain to not only sanitize the institution of marriage but also remove the climate of fear for prospective grooms in these austere times.

    By fiat, it has fixed a ceiling of N100,000 as total expenditure permissible for nuptials within the jurisdiction of Tivland in Benue. This covers dowry and sundry expenses.

    Doubtless, this particular clause is a response to pervasive lamentations that the prohibitive demands by parents and relations of the bride only amount to having the dice loaded unbearably against the prospective groom.

    By the time such shylocks name their prices and unscroll additional list of requests, you would think it is one big capital project. If nothing at all, the new cap on expenditure will certainly result in two outcomes in the times ahead: men savouring the freedom to hook ladies of their choice without stress and reduction in elopement by “rebel” love-birds on account of high bride price.

    Moreover, these cultural reforms by the Tivs do not just target financial immodesty, but also the emerging vice of paedophile. While understandably maintaining very creative silence on virginity, it however insists that any Tiv girl to be given out in marriage must be 18 years and above – far above the statutory 16 that is the age of consent.

    Breach shall attract a wide range of sanctions including – but certainly not limited to – boycott by traditional rulers/elders and denial of registration.

    Apparently coming to full knowledge after what must have been a scientific inquiry, TATC frowned at growing erosion of Tiv cultural values by needless ostentation and conspicuous consumption: “The practice of holding festivities in the bride’s house, popularly known as traditional marriage, involving cutting of cake, dances, parties, should be discontinued as it is alien to the Tiv way of life. Celebration of a new wife is done by the Tiv people only in the husband’s house.

    “Love should be the primary issue between the families concerned in marriage discussion, not money. Therefore, total expenses on marriage, including dowry or bride price and all sundry issues, which at the moment varies from one community or family to another, should not exceed N100,000 in Tivland.”

    To ensure strict compliance, TATC has, therefore, conscripted elders of families involved as enforcers, forbidding the current practice of bringing friends and well-wishers to such consecrating rituals, describing it as alien to Tiv culture.

    No better way to bring “change” to bear directly in people’s lives.

  • “Oluwole” revisited

    “Oluwole” revisited

    Not a few usually law-abiding persons, among whom I number myself, were saddened when the massed forces of law and order raided the enclave known as “Oluwole” in central Lagos, in March 2005 and reportedly put it out of business.

    Several weeks ago, there were widespread protests in Lagos against the slow rate at which the Passport Office processes applications for travel documents, despite inducements allegedly delivered directly to officials or through “consultants. ”There was anguished talk of interminable queues at passport offices, of applicants showing up at dawn day after day without getting any closer to obtaining their quests.

    Some of the distraught applicants were heard lamenting that “Oluwole” had been forced to close shop.

    “Oluwole,” I should explain, was a complex nuance phenomenon. It was an enclave somewhere inside Balogun Market in central Lagos, but few knew its exact boundary.

    Few of its teeming patrons actually went to its operating premises anyway.  Accredited and freelance agents stationed on the precincts of a popular hotel close by ran errands not too discreetly between patrons and service providers.

    In a clime where uncertainty ruled, “Oluwole” offered certainty. It was the one place where, for a negotiated fee, you were virtually guaranteed to get whatever you wanted and whenever you wanted it, no questions asked. At “Oluwole,” the perennial shortage of passport booklets that hobbled business at passport-issuing offices was inconceivable.

    To its operators, “Oluwole” was a way of life, of getting on in the world. But it was also a source of constant thrill, the thrill of reproducing any artifact or document so faithfully that it would be difficult to distinguish it from the original, and doing it without fuss and without the slightest regard for consequences.

    The police, not given to nuance, profiled “Oluwole” pithily as “a notorious area in Lagos Island noted for document forgery and counterfeiting.”

    During the 2005 raid on “Oluwole,” acting police Inspector General Sunday Ehindero, reported with breathless excitement how more than 40,000 Nigerian passports, ordinary and diplomatic.

    But that was just a fraction of the haul, which also included some 1,500 passports issued by Libya, Libra, Sierra Leone, Guinea Bissau. Cameroun, Senegal, Gambia, Jamaica, Costa Rica and Ghana.  Before you dismiss this as no big deal, these being Third World countries, I should add that passports of the United States, Switzerland and South Africa were also in the mix.

    So also were 10,000 blank British Airways tickets, some 50,000 cheque leaves of foreign banks, about 10, 000 United States Postal Money Orders, blank certificates of occupancy, bills of lading, and printing plates from which documents of high commercial value could be pulled.

    How, then, can any law-abiding person be discomfited to see such an institution put out of business?

    Let me explain.

    As constituted under Sani Abacha, of loathsome memory, Nigeria was an exemplar of the state as criminal and government as criminal enterprise.

    Rapporteurs for the UN Human Rights Commission noted with diplomatic tact in 1996, that the rule of law in Nigeria “was on the verge of collapse, if it has not already collapsed.” More tellingly, they declared that “Whether there is a Constitution left is debatable.”

    Abacha’s whims and fantasies as he voiced them or as his marabouts divined them constituted the law of the land.  Those who questioned this state of affairs were marked for ruin, disappearance, or death.  Often, the only way to escape Abacha’s demonic dragnet was to leave the country on a one-way ticket.

    But even that option was fraught.

    Your name was most likely on one of the many watch lists that state officials  could download with the click of a mouse from computer terminals at every check point.  Presenting your papers at any port was like delivering yourself to a unit of Hamza el-Mustapha’s killing squad.

    Even if you could talk or bluff you way through the 17 check points between Mile Two in Lagos and the border town of Sémè, the so-called NADECO corridor, you would still have to present your travel papers to make the crossing.  The route through Idi-Iroko, the border crossing in Ogun State, was similarly booby-trapped.

    Going through the bush was even more fraught.  What if your escort was in reality an agent of the very forces you were fleeing from, and delivered you right into their crushing embrace?

    In whatever case, the first crucial step was to obtain travel papers that would facilitate your transit but conceal your true identity. And “Oluwole” was the best source.

    Off, then, to the popular hotel aforementioned in Balogun one Saturday afternoon, in 1996, clad in unaccustomed full native attire so you be would be almost unrecognizable. You were still staking out the place when a young man approached you and asked if he could help.

    You told him your mission almost in a conspiratorial whisper, looking furtively around you all the while. Sensing your unease, he said, “Sir, relax.  Big men like you come here all the time to do business. There is nothing to fear.”

    There were many possibilities, each with its own risks, he explained. Some examples:  A clean new passport with your picture and true identity; a new passport with your picture but another person’s identity; a well-worn passport bearing your name and identity, or an old passport with false particulars.

    You made your choice and paid the requisite fee. The following day, he handed you your travel papers at an agreed rendezvous and with a knowing wink, wished you luck.

    The facilitator had in fact understated the capacity of “Oluwole” when he said that it offered many possibilities. He should have said that nothing was impossible there.

    Mike Wallace, 71, veteran television journalist and correspondent for “60 Minutes,” the award-winning news programme on the American television network CBS, was visiting Nigeria in late 1996 to report on 4-1-9 crimes. Wallace, a white man since deceased, obtained a birth certificate representing him as a Nigerian farmer born some 40 years earlier, somewhere in Akwa Ibom.

    With that certificate and other documents procured in like manner, Wallace obtained a Nigerian passport.  Officials at the U.S. Embassy in Lagos, who should know, confirmed that the passport was as genuine as any they had ever seen.

    And all this was in a day’s work.

    It is the nature of institution like “Oluwole” that it is not easily put out business. It has countless patrons, acting from motives ranging from those that evoke empathy to those that can only draw the strongest disapprobation.

    You cannot dissolve it, as the police claimed to have done.  You can only disperse it.

    “Oluwole” has probably been recreated in several centres not too far removed from the geographic location for which it was named, or from the prying eyes of law and order. It is certainly flourishing in cyber-space.

    Weep not for Oluwole.

     

     

    Correction

    • In my December 19, 2017 column (“In this season of goodwill”), I referred to former Vice President Abubakar Atiku as Turakin Adamawa. A correspondent tells me that the former vice president has since been elevated to Wazirin Adamawa, while the former title has passed to the son.

    My apologies to all concerned.

  • Constitution amendment: Failed bills may still be revisited, says Ekweremadu

    Constitution amendment: Failed bills may still be revisited, says Ekweremadu

    •’Devolution of powers key to infrastructural growth’

    Deputy Senate President Ike Ekweremadu is optimistic that the amendments to the 1999 Constitution rejected by the DNational Assembly could still meet the constitutional threshold to become part of the constitution when revisited.

    Senate President Bukola Saraki last week expressed the same sentiment when he declared that the killed proposal for devolution of power to state could still be revisited.

    The National Assembly last week failed to pass some core issues, including removal of the Land Use Act from the constitution, devolution of more power to states, creation of states, boundary adjustment and institutionalisation of 35 per cent affirmative action for women.

    A statement by the Special Adviser (Media) to Ekweremadu, Uche Anichukwu, said yesterday that Ekweremadu hailed his colleagues for approving about 95 per cent of the recommendations presented by his committee.

    He assured Nigerians that it was not the end of the road for the failed alteration bills since constitution amendment is a continuum.

    The statement quoted Ekweremadu as saying that further consultations as well as understanding of the issues at stake were needed.

    Ekweremadu, who also chairs the Senate Committee on the Review of the 1999 Constitution, spoke during a consultative meeting on Southeast infrastructural development with a delegation of the Partnership to Engage, Reform and Learn (PERL) and the United Kingdom’s Department for International Development (DFID) led by PERL’s Team Leader, Dr. Adiya Ode, in Abuja.

    He said: “We commend our colleagues for their understanding and ensuring that about 95 per cent of the amendments we proposed to them scaled through.

    “We are also conscious of the fact that Nigerians are worried about some of the recommendations that did not pass. Let me use this opportunity to further appreciate and reassure Nigerians that we are sensitive to their feelings and that we are likely going to revisit some of the issues they are concerned about when we return from our vacation.

    “Some of the issues did not scale through because there is need for fuller understanding as well as more consultations and consensus-building on them and their implications for our people.”

    Ekweremadu reiterated that devolution of more power to the federating units would quicken infrastructural development in the country.

    He added: “No doubt, your studies on Southeast were right because the region is indeed highly challenged, especially in the areas of transport infrastructure such as roads, railway and seaport. We are also challenged in the areas of power.

    “That is why we in the Committee on Constitution Review believe we mean well when we talk about things like devolution of power. Our view is that some of these things should be moved from the Exclusive List to the Concurrent List so that while the Federal Government is making efforts, the states too will be making efforts either individually or in clusters or partnership with one another.

    “That was why we took things like power to the Concurrent List so that States can generate power, transmit, and distribute power. The same goes for railway, which is still the exclusive preserve of the Federal Government. That way, Nigeria can effectively speed up socio-economic development in all parts of the country.

    “Unfortunately, some of these issues were misunderstood. But it is not the end of the road. We believe that with more engagements, the issues will be better appreciated and we are positive about more favourable dispositions when we revisit them. As leaders we all have our eyes on the future and are committed to building a better Nigeria for posterity”.

  • Saraki: Senate may revisit restructuring

    Saraki: Senate may revisit restructuring

    The Senate may revisit its rejection, last week, of the devolution of powers bill to the states under the ongoing Constitutional Review, Senate President Bukola Saraki said yesterday.

    The Senate has come under attacks from many Nigerians for its decision to reject more powers to the states.

    But speaking to reporters in Ilorin shortly after receiving a delegation of the ‘I Support Not So Young to Run’ group, Saraki said all hope is not lost on the matter as the Senate might review its stand on resumption from recess.

    He blamed the situation on what he called misunderstanding of the concept of devolution of power.

    “The fact that devolution lost that day does not mean that after the recess, after a lot of consultations, it will not scale through,” he said.

    Saraki added, “As you know that in the Senate we have three senators representing each state of the federation and the Federal Capital Territory (FCT). Whatever we do there we must engage and have a feedback from our constituencies.

    “I believe that if this constitutional amendment had come about eight months ago, devolution would have passed easily. But, I think we must be honest with ourselves that presently, there is a lot of mistrust in the country.

    “The air is highly polluted. Let us be very frank and that blame must be all round. What happened was that a lot of people misread or misunderstood or were suspicious of what devolution of power was all about.

    “Whether it was restructuring in one way or another kind of restructuring. And Senators made a lot of appeals that they were yet to consult with their constituencies. And you can see with what is happening, I think there was a meeting in Kaduna where it was clear that certain parts of the country wanted more time to understand what devolution is all about.

    “It is clear that not all senators were on board. My advice is that we cannot bully those senators that were not on board as this country belongs to all of us.

    “Nobody can rattle another person out of the country. What we must do is dialogue, and let all understand that it is for the making of a modern Nigeria and that it is not in any way going to undermine any part of the country.”

    He appealed for calm from those who feel disappointed by the development, saying: “the majority of Nigerians must be on the same page. Even if half of the country wants it, it will not scale through. What we can do is to lobby and cajole the other percentage that is required.

    “What I am saying in essence is that we have not foreclosed the devolution of powers bill. Nothing is foreclosed in this exercise. It was defeated as at that day but it does not mean it will be defeated tomorrow.”

     

  • Currency Wars, Revisited

    Currency Wars, Revisited

    In recent years developing countries like Brazil complained that the United States and other industrialized countries were waging a “currency war” against them by artificially driving down the value of dollars, euros and yen. Now officials in some nations, like Argentina and Turkey, are blaming foreign “vultures” and “the interest rate lobby” for the sharp depreciation of their currencies.

    Policy makers fear any big and sudden changes in the value of their currencies. A rapid appreciation makes their country’s exports less competitive on the world market, while a fast depreciation raises the cost of imported commodities like oil and makes it harder for governments to repay loans they took out in dollars or euros.

    So it should come as no surprise that officials are upset by the recent market movements. But their anger is misplaced. There is no foreign conspiracy against the Argentine peso, the Turkish lira or other currencies that have fallen against the dollar. The Federal Reserve’s recent decisions to slow its bond-buying program have strengthened the dollar. But most of these currencies have declined primarily because of domestic problems.

    For example, the Argentina peso has been under pressure for months because misguided government policies caused inflation to surge to 28 percent last year. The peso has fallen nearly 22 percent against the dollar since the end of November. The Turkish lira has fallen about 9 percent in the same period because Turkey’s central bank has been too slow to raise interest rates despite an annual inflation rate of 7.4 percent. And investors have been unnerved by the autocratic style of Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan, who has tried to squash corruption investigations of senior officials.

    What leaders of developing countries ought to be doing now is addressing economic problems like inflation and corruption while investing in infrastructure and education. Going forward, emerging markets could better protect themselves from the rapid flow of foreign capital into and out of their financial systems by regulating them. Unfortunately, many countries, including India and Turkey, made themselves more dependent on speculative foreign capital flows in recent years, according to the economists Dani Rodrik and Arvind Subramanian. That has made their economies more vulnerable to sudden changes in the sentiments of investors.

    Blaming the Fed is particularly misguided. Its bond-buying program, which was always meant to be temporary, has lowered interest rates and offset some of the damage from the financial crisis, though not nearly enough. Had the Fed not intervened, the global economy would have suffered a much deeper and longer recession.

    – New York Times

     

  • Transformational Leadership Revisited

    Transformational Leadership Revisited

    The following is an updated version of a piece that appeared on this page three years ago. There is good reason for an update. Three years ago, with the emergence of the Jonathan presidency following the demise of former President Yar’Adua and the leadership struggle within the ruling party, a good number of citizens concerned about the need for a new beginning through the instrumentality of a transformational leader, invested their hope in Jonathan’s ability to provide such a leadership. Even those who didn’t see a messiah in Jonathan had hoped that his background placed him in a better position to provide the leadership for change in policy and attitude that the country sorely needed. Three years after, the question is: what has changed?

    While developmental projects matter and leadership is rightly judged on the basis of its success or failure in promoting the welfare of the people, what is even more important is the ability of the leader to steer citizens on the path of moral rectitude and attitudinal change. The challenge of leadership is leading by example, and on this, the scorecard of President Jonathan has been far less than exemplary.

    Three years ago, when I wrote about transformational times with the challenge to the President to lead the charge, a commentator wondered whether it was a realistic challenge when a section of the country was already deploying the “s” word.

    I surmised at that time that the revival of the “s” word, where “s” stands for secession, had a lot to do with public cynicism about the real motives of political actors; and we all knew that it wasn’t the first time that provocative word was deployed, having featured periodically in the checkered political history of this country beginning in 1953, then 1966 and 1993.

    Indeed, in 1967, it was not just a word that was deployed; an act was performed with devastating consequences. Since the tasting of that forbidding fruit, however, it seems to me that we have all been forced to accept the reality of our common fate. We are in this lifeboat together, and we either float or sink together. It is this reality that trumps cynicism for me.

    On the assumption that none of us as individuals, zones, or nationalities is suicidal, the question is “how do we float together?” This question faced us in 1970 at the end of the civil war. It was not properly addressed. It faced us in 1993 after the debacle of the annulment. It was not properly answered. On those occasions, leadership hubris intruded the zone of rationality, and rationality retreated. We are faced with exactly the same question now, and it will not go away unless we address it satisfactorily.

    The life boat analogy is apt for my purpose. The various scenarios that can sink a lifeboat are present in the case of this country at this time. Imagine some of the occupants deliberately puncturing a part of the lifeboat. Or imagine more occupants brought into the boat without expanding the boat. Or imagine some of the occupants of the boat being disproportionately tasked with paddling while others are forever napping. Surely with these kinds of issues, only a miracle can save the boat and its occupants. And no doubt, many Nigerians now believe that with our present situation only a miracle can save the country. I think it serves us better to actively work for our miracle to happen.

    In the last few months, we have seen the deliberate and sustained effort to spread fear concerning the 2015 elections. Again, there is nothing new about this. We once heard a former president declare that an election in which he was not going to be a candidate was a do-or-die affair. And we saw an investment of raw power and intrigue of the meanest kind in the federal elections of 2007. We also saw the house of cards built by that investment crumble before our very eyes. Shouldn’t that have sent a signal that Nigerians wanted a different direction in the matter of electoral integrity? And now there is nauseating chatter over the airwaves about the hell to expect should Jonathan fail to get a second term. Shouldn’t this President have read from the pages of history—even our own limited history—that citizens reward leaders who truly lead and they revile those who rely on raw power with no moral compunction? But where is the presidential rebuke of the loose talk going on?

    Just to pick on the very recent incidents, the President failed to show true leadership in the matter of the Nigerian Governors’ Forum elections even after the unsolicited revelations from members of the Northern Governors Forum. Instead he intensified the vain rhetoric about party discipline. Must party discipline be prioritised over conscience?

    Now we are witnessing a further escalation of the same crisis as the Rivers State Assembly is engaged in a macabre dance, the calculated outcome of which may be a declaration of a state of emergency. Should this be the ultimate goal of the brains behind the crisis, the question is what does the President expect to gain? How a president benefit from a politically engineered crisis that is aimed at removing the institutions of governance of a state, including the governor? What legacy does the President expect?

    Of the very important issues that the Jonathan presidency was expected to tackle and resolve for a lasting legacy, none is more important than that of keeping this lifeboat afloat. For this to succeed, we have to pay careful attention to its need for restructuring to avoid leakage and provide for its expansion in the light of new occupants being brought in in waves. A transformational leadership passionate for the survival and prosperity of the country and imbued with integrity is needed for this purpose.

    Only incurable and irrational egoists believe that this country rests on a solid foundation and therefore is not in need of a fundamental restructuring. But to argue with an irrational egoist is not only to endorse irrationality but to become a partner in irrationality. I am not willing to do that.

    The founding fathers of this country were patriots to the core. They held conferences in which they deliberated passionately on a fitting constitution for the country. They zeroed in on a federal structure as the best in the light of diverse nature of its peoples. Each region was to have its own constitution, its own coat of arms and flag. Each region was to keep up to 50% of the resources coming out of its land and the sweat of its people. Each country was to be responsible for some vital aspects of the lives of its people, including their internal security, their health and their education. The system they agreed upon worked; it generated healthy competition among the regions. It was not the structure that faltered; it was human nature that led to its collapse.

    What will save this lifeboat at this transformational time is a genuine effort on the part of the President engaging those transformational leaders who in their various stations have paid their dues and made enormous sacrifices for the survival of the country thus far to come together once more in one accord. Even politicians who may be thinking only in terms of political or sectional interests should get it right this time that the possibility of satisfying such interests is minimal in the light of the imminent and present danger of collapse the country is facing.

    No one doubts the poverty of values this country is experiencing now. From the horror of armed robbers to Boko Haram insurgents beheading innocent victims, and kidnappers making daily living uncertain in cities, we are inching closer to a failed state. The President must now resolve to actively engage all stakeholders to save this lifeboat through fundamental restructuring and thus preserve his legacy. President Jonathan must now choose the noble art of statesmanship over the odious craft of politicking. This is what transformational leadership is about.

  • Indian Ayuba’s mother’s case revisited

    Indian Ayuba’s mother’s case revisited

    It was four years ago that Esther Amonja’s story was first told; that love story between mother and child that stole the hearts of many; that story that changed the status of her daughter who became The Nation girl by chance and the goodwill of Nigerians. But four years after, her mother’s case has remained the same. Perhaps bemused by this fact, feeling that the season of Valentine is beyond empty ‘kisses’ and ‘hugs’, this reporter has taken another bold step.

     

     

    Her lookalike invokes emotion

    IT was another market day in a rustic community at Wamba Local Government Area, Nasarawa State. Under the baking July sun, sellers and buyers from near and far scampered about. Sellers called out to prospective buyers with raised voices, trying hard to gain their attention. Buyers haggled the prices of goods with sellers, hoping to get a good deal.

    Amid much trading activities and tick crowd, one woman stood out with her wares. But hers was not the regular wares. It’s a unique one, consisting of worn out and torn clothes, empty bottles, nylon bags and more! What you may readily discard as trash were her priced ‘possession’. And an open shed in that market was her home.

    That was a typical scene four years ago when this reporter first met the woman, Esther Amonja Ayuba, who, holds dear to heart her most treasured possession, her daughter, Indian. And that was the life she had lived for years with her child (who was staying with her father) and had kept an eagle eye on her, “because I do not want her to stray beyond my reach”, the little girl had said.

    And so for years, their love story became a ‘wonder’ to some and a ‘secret inspiration’ to others. That love caught the spotlight when The Nation on Saturday published their story on August 22, 2009. It stole the hearts of many, impacted positively on her daughter’s education and bettered the girl’s life – a feat that affected her mental state but only for a while.

    Mama Indian then returned to the family’s house from the market that served as her home for years, insisting that she would stay there, as she put it, “to make sure Indian is not sent into marriage before her time”.

    Her statement came about because Indian had been away from home in school after her change of fortune. Esther, missing her daughter’s absence, kept going home to inquire about her whereabouts. Perhaps, in a bid to pacify her, she was told that the girl had been given out in marriage.

    However, when Indian returned from school, she went lto her mother at the market. The woman literally detained her, querying her why she allowed herself to be given out in marriage. And so she followed her daughter home, saying she would stay there.

    That was in 2010, a year after their story was first published. Evidently, her mental wellbeing seems to be connected to that of her child. And as such psychiatrists and psychologists noted that a quick medical treatment is necessary to restore her mentally. They were of the view that her case is not hopeless.

    However, many, who had followed the story then had thought that it was only a matter of time before she returned to the streets because, according to them, a myth holds that a mad person who has left home and lived in the market place is a somewhat hopeless case.

    Some others asked then: “What if the reverse was the case as that of Esther, what becomes of the person?” Psychiatrists had waved such thoughts away as “nonsensical”, saying “Esther’s case is not peculiar but needs urgent medical attention”.

    According to a Consultant Psychiatrist with the Lagos State University Teaching Hospital (LASUTH), Ikeja, Dr. Bola Ola, Esther is fortunate to have a child with such an enduring love, noting that although presumptuously moved by her child’s new found fortune, she had returned home, her mental state is still the same.

    He raised the fear that if a quick medical intervention was not done, her case might grow worse. Many observed that her daughter’s success story would not be complete without impacting on her health.

    “All that she needs is one experienced psychiatrist to examine her for at least a week: morning, afternoon, evening and night as the case may be,” it was said. Hence, Dr. Ola, an experienced and internationally-acclaimed psychiatrist, said he was willing to examine and diagnose her state so as to commence treatment – all for free. He advised that treating her at the community where she had probably been stigmatised would play a vital role in her recovery. If she eventually recovers, he said, it would go a long way to affect people’s negative perception of the illness.

    Dr. Ola said he would subsequently train a health worker in the local health centre on how to administer treatment.

    On that account, The Nation went in search of a health worker and found John Umar, who was at the time the Chief Nurse at the Primary Health Care Centre, Chessu. To show he was acquainted with Esther’s case, he said: “She is like a sister to me. We all know about her sickness and what your paper has done for her daughter. Both of them are inseparable: seeing Indian seems to make her happy. As far as I know, medically, her sickness was seasonal before it got out of control and has been like this for a very long time. In those days, you would find her sitting alone; and she used to pack her clothes in my premises. Unlike most sick people, she is not aggressive or troublesome; she is respectful.”

    And on the request of caring for Esther, he had said then: “I can help administer the drugs and monitor her if I am taught what to do and if the drugs are made available. And if I am not here, I will brief my colleague on it.”

    Umar has since left and Mrs Esther Usman Muzha, who worked with him for years before he left, has now taken over from him. On one of such reconciliation journeys to the place, this reporter met Mrs Muzha and raised the issue with her. “I am here because of Esther, Indian’s mother…” the reporter said.

    “I am aware of her case. I was rightly briefed by Mr. Umah and we have been waiting to receive the visitors and give our service, that is why we are here,” Mrs Muzha said.

    At that time, three years ago, when Dr. Ola had signified interest to observe and diagnose her case for possible treatment, what it would take to bring the psychiatrist to the place alone was to cost about N300,000. This includes the cost of transportation, accommodation, drugs, series of tests and sundry expenses.

    A clarion call was made concerning her case, yet nothing happened. The help of some people was sought, but they responded, thus: “There are a thousand and one Esthers scattered all over the place. Why concentrate on one person?”

    Such statements were condemned by some observers, naming it “insensibility”.

    “What about the government or corporate bodies or groups, clubs and so on, why don’t they take the case up as their CSR?” Many had asked.

    Three years after Mama Indian’s dramatic return to her family abode, her mental state has still not changed. It has become exactly as the doctor had predicted. Although the family has taken her to local homes where such ailments are treated, still no improvement has been recorded. And even though her family members often say ‘she is improving’, she now wanders between her home and the places known to only her. She sometimes goes far from home to the village of the late father of her child, Indian. At other times, she goes further away, only to return the day. That has been her routine.

    Meeting Mama Indian again brought tears to the eyes. On a self-imposed journey of reconciliation, the reporter was reminded that it is not yet Uhuru for the woman. What further increased the spark of compassion was the meeting of Mama Indian’s “lookalike”, as she is often called. Jumai, Mama Indian’s younger sister, who is happily married with kids, depicts how Esther would have looked like if she were not sick or has fully recovered. “Before her sickness, they say we resembled. People used to call us twins. They sometimes mistook me for her and her for me and we wore the same clothes. But she is my elder sister o. I know she will become well again. She sometimes comes to visit me in my place,” her younger sister said in Hausa.

    Her statement brought tears to the eyes of those listening, including the interpreter, who quickly gathered herself together winked his back for fear of being labelled a weakling.

    That coincidental meeting made this reporter more determined than ever to bring Mama Indian’s case to the public space again with hope that good-spirited individuals or organisations will look her way.

    And what better time to do so than now, the season and month of love. Beyond just telling her story, this reporter made up her mind to put her money where her mouth is, ever so determined to revive and spearhead the campaign of Mama Indian’s treatment and rehabilitation again. She is donating her February salary, hoping that perhaps someone who will have compassion and take up the challenge. Will it be you, she asks?