The Nation Newspaper

Tag: talking

  • The time for talking is over

    The time for talking is over

    On the first Sunday morning in February 1990, I got a big surprise when as was usual for me I turned to the Sunday Guardian. On one side of the centre page was an article which I had submitted to the Guardian a few days before through Jide Oluwanuyitan for consideration for publication in the newspaper which at the time was the acclaimed flagship of the Nigerian press. The title of that piece was ‘Transit or perish’, at a time when the cost of petrol had just been increased to sixty kobo per litre and I was sure that there was a conspiracy to keep us home bound. Now that we have to cough up an unimaginable sum in excess of six hundred Naira per litre, a sum which is a thousand times more, I am struck dumb with amazement, disbelief and more than a dash of justifiable anger. At this point in time, we have no wriggle room left and we have been propelled into the anteroom of a raging monster hell bent on destroying us all, our insensitive ruling elite included. I am appalled that this simple consequence of where we are is still eluding the best majority of Nigerians who are hurling rocks all over the place, obstinately oblivious of the fact that we all live in fragile glass houses.

    Since that day in 1990, at the height of rascally military rule, I have written a thousand articles and more in several newspapers, enough to fool a large number of people into thinking that I was a trained journalist and columnist. It was not until last year, a couple of years after retiring from my day job as a university lecturer that I finally became a columnist in The nation, albeit still an outsider in the field of journalism. For the avoidance of doubt, I confess that I am a pharmacist and have papers to prove it even if there are far too many people in this country who are claiming to be one thing or the other on the strength of fake credentials craftily produced by talented but bent printers. These days it is even not out of place to doubt the authenticity of the currency notes in our pockets given the official as well as unofficial strength of the battered and unloved Naira.

    Since 1999, I have engaged Nigerians in a wide variety of topics and published two volumes of my earliest journalistic adventures. I skirted very close to the wind of military (governmental) displeasure that no less an erudite scholar and lawyer than the late Professor M.I. Jegede jocularly advised me to let him know what I was writing about, just in case he had to use his legal expertise to extricate me from the clutches of a government which by nature was devoid of any sense of humour. Fortunately, the government was apparently too busy with existential matters to bother with the musings of an obscure lecturer of Pharmacy masquerading as an opinion moulder in a highbrow publication dishing out fares that were presumably too rich for the consumption of that mythical man in the street.

    A few days after that first article was published, I was in Jide Oluwanuyitan’s office when Tunji Dare, one of my favourite columnists of all time and Editor of the Guardian’s Op-Ed page at the time, walked in larger than life. I was thrilled to see him and thanked him for publishing my piece. If I was thrilled by simply meeting him, I was launched into the lunar orbit when he told me that it was he who needed to thank me for submitting that article to the Guardian. According to him he loved the article so much that he published it in violation of house rules simply by publishing it as there was a rule which insisted that all authors had to be acknowledged by their full names and not by their initials. I had submitted the article as A. Lamikanra and he wanted to know what the A stood for. Adebayo, I replied, with perhaps a little more gusto than the occasion demanded and by doing so, Adebayo Lamikanra joined the Guardian family through thick and thin as I came to find out when the newspaper was locked down for a long period by a petulant and particularly rascally military government.

    After the opening salvo of that first article, there was no stopping me as article after article was published and this gave me so much name recognition that a lot of people greeted me with uncommon familiarity as soon as they knew that they were in the presence of Adebayo Lamikanra. Some of them it has to be said, were at least a little disappointed to see me in the flesh. That feeling can be summed up in the comment of one such person who had through my writings imagined that I was some oversized human being with an uncommonly large head. Seeing that I was of pretty average size with only a slightly bigger head than most people was a shock to his system and he could not resist letting me know this.

    When I started this journey of bothering Nigerians with my thoughts, I really did think that I could make a difference, just a little difference to the way the country was being run or rather being driven into the ground. Now that I am much older and presumably wiser, I have come to the realisation that I was just dreaming. The so called leaders of Nigeria are uniformly hard headed men and increasingly frequently, women, who have no time for dreamers or their infantile dreams. They live in a sordid world of the all too real world of certainty, a place where dreams are annoying distractions not to be entertained or even acknowledged. People like me are like pestilential mosquitoes with a loud whine but certainly no bite. We could even be amusing from time to time but who under no circumstances were to be taken seriously. In any case, they hardly have any time for distraction from their primary business of studiously pulling Nigeria apart piece by piece. Taking time out to sample the opinion of the minions under their heel is certainly a bridge too far. It cannot be accommodated within their busy schedule, official political and social.

    Read Also: Police arrest three over conspiracy, cyberstalking, threat to life

    We are confronted with formidable problems which we need to confront in return. Our population is ballooning in front of our eyes and our discomfort is growing in the same proportion. There are many otherwise sensible people who talk about a large market within which all manner of goods can be traded by our huge population. That can only be true when there are goods to be traded. Here, we are all voracious consumers who produce next to nothing. We are all dependent on a resource which was fortuitously laid down deep under our feet over billions of years and have no clue as to how it can be profitably extracted. We depend on avaricious strangers to do that. The crude oil we have been abusing over the last sixty years will be exhausted within the life time of most Nigerians living today. And there will be nothing but a few rusting structures to show for a century of wantonness. Every additional mouth adds to our discomfiture as each mouth must consume and gorge on a wide range of articles none of which we have the capacity to produce. This cannot end well as the time will come for the chickens to come home to roost to find nothing to sustain them.

    Now is the time to knuckle down seriously to begin to produce at least some of the articles of consumption beginning with the food we eat. There is this wide spread belief that it is easy to coax the soil into producing abundant harvests of a broad range of crops. Nothing could be further from the truth. For a start, we have abused our soils over many years, to the point of tiredness and we have now arrived at a point of diminishing returns. Our towns are spreading out with astonishing ferocity and land available for cultivation is disappearing under concrete foundations.

    In addition, farming is a combination of art and science and authentic practitioners are disappearing and not replaced. How long can this situation last when fathers are not handing over farms to their children who are sunning themselves under bright city lights? Your guess is as good as mine.

    Most of our young people are functional illiterates as our educational system is in tatters. Teachers are suffering from a severe case of invisibility as we have turned our schools into markets of sorts where teachers are fetchers and carriers, their authority having been usurped by wily entrepreneurs with an eagle eye on the bottom line. Under prevailing circumstances, teachers are just victims with very little to offer. After all said and done, we still have an identifiable educational system but for how much longer?

    Some notorious coup plotter, in justifying the coup in which he was involved claimed that our doctors were practising in clinics which had no drugs for patients. Today, forty years later, doctors are fleeing in droves and those clinics are bereft of both drugs and doctors. In the modern world, with all its distractions, a functional healthcare system must be a prominent fixture and so, our clinics must be fixed now if we are to be regarded as being part of the world.

    Above all, corruption sits like a vulture on top of a tall tree, waiting for us to expire so that it can devour our giant carcass. It is only a question of time before the inevitable happens. Among all the chaos, there are too many Nigerians gloating over our collective predicaments. They love nothing better than to dance to the sound of any failure and these days they have plenty to crow over. Like lepers who cannot milk a cow, they love nothing better than to dip leprous fingers into the little milk that has been squeezed out of our much emaciated national cow forgetting that in the end, they cannot escape from the terminal calamity waiting round the corner. The time for talking is now over as there is a lot of work to be done, the time for procrastination having long been passed.

  • Talking movies

    Filmmaking, like any other art, is a very profound means of human communication … you do want your film to be seen, to communicate itself to other people – Kenneth Lonergan

    In last week’s discussion, while lauding the entry of Genevieve Nnaji into the directorial seat in the world of films, I dwelt briefly on why I abandoned watching films, or what is today known pejoratively as Nollywood.

    Now, I don’t want people to run with the thinking that in writing that I have consigned the whole of our film system to the dunghill. Far from that, I want to acknowledge that there are very fine and compulsive filmmakers in the country. It is just that mentioning their names and saying why may not be possible here taking into consideration the little space I have.

    For instance, after reading last week’s intervention, someone called me and said he was in unison with me on the fact that our filmmakers have abandoned storytelling, which is the heart of any art form. They have abandoned it and are busy doing something else; she added that that was why she also fled, yes, that was her word, fled from anything Nigerian movies. She added that if care was not taken the fate that befell our football sector would befall our films too. In talking about the fate of our football, she was referring to what we have now where everyone thinks to belong; you have to support any of those foreign clubs and claim to know Arsenal, Real Madrid, Chelsea and all those clubs more than the native owners!

    She observed that many who were in the eighties weaned from Indian and later American and Chinese films are gradually beating a retreat due to paucity of good films from the home front.

    In toeing her line of arguments, I believe that our films need to be specialised and professionalised; it is not healthy for a scriptwriter to be the lead actor, producer, director all rolled into one. Such are the things killing the industry and making it to be dominated by half-baked productions. It is not enough to say our country is the second largest producer of films in the world when we produce low quality ones. Are we interested in quality or quantity?

    It is gratifying that the nauseating idea of the early days of Nollywood where a film that should not be more than a two or three hour movie is stretched unnecessary into parts one, two and sometimes three have gradually fizzled out. What is left to be dealt with is the idea of spreading a dance, song, or driving on a street scenes etc. for so long that you can actually excuse yourself and go to the bathroom and still come back to meet the scene still on!!

    However, I cannot but mention a few names that have in the last few years made films that have continued to attract huge reviews and crowd wherever they are screened. Top of the pack is the enduring Tunde Kelani whose film oeuvres continue to grow in quality and craft. There is also Kunle Afolayan, who we can call abolanle, one who met immense wealth at home and has added his own creative genius to the Nigerian film world.

    I can say without fear of contradictions that all the films that have been made individually by the duo (Kelani and Afolayan) have been of the top grade and excellent. Perhaps their superb cine craft is why they seem not to endorse being corralled into the Nollywood nomenclature! There is also my fellow Jos, Plateau State, born Steve Gukas, who is also making waves and telling compelling stories through his feature films. Not to forget Femi Odugbemi who is making impact with his documentaries, a branch of film I consider very serious and critical and not meant for the fainthearted.

    In concluding this piece I like to quote from an interview published in last week in our sister title. In an interview with my colleague Victor Akande, the South African film maker Jahmil X. T. Qubeka, while talking about how the continent could tell its stories better said, “Now, until we take this medium (film) and start to use it to articulate ourselves in the same way that Chinua Achebe could in a book, until we start doing that with this medium, nothing is gonna blow up. …Until we can make films in the way that Chinua Achebe articulated himself we are not where we need to be.”

    True talk.

  • Talking too much

    Talking too much

    The Minister of Labour and Employment, Chris Ngige, probably thought it was a good opportunity to play politics, but he has found out that political opportunism can bring problems.

    When he visited the hometown of the late former Vice President, Alex Ekwueme, on January 28 “to inspect the facilities in preparation for his burial,” Ngige said things to impress members of the public and promote the ruling party.

    He was quoted as saying at Ekwueme’s hometown in Oko, Orumba North Local Government Area of Anambra State: “I can tell you authoritatively that Mr. President (Buhari) is committed and passionate in ensuring a befitting burial for Ekwueme. If he does not come for the burial himself, I am sure the Vice President, Prof. Yemi Osinbajo, will be here for the burial, as a matter of right.”

    He continued: “I can tell you that I am satisfied with the progress of work. The Federal Government is doing rehabilitation works on Amawbia/Ekwulobia road, up to Uga and Akokwa, in Imo State. We are also doing road rehabilitation on Oko/Umunze road, up to Ibinta in Abia State. I know the cost of all this, not less than N480 million. The Federal Government is building the mausoleum, which will contain a modern library and other facilities, and I also know the cost of that too.”

    Ngige didn’t say why it took Ekwueme’s death to get the government interested in fixing the mentioned roads. Why must road rehabilitation be tied to the burial of a VIP?

    Ngige added: “And remember that the Federal Government took up all the medical bills of flying him abroad and bringing him back to Nigeria from London, upon his death. The cost of hiring an air ambulance is not a joke. So, Buhari has honoured this Igbo son in all ramifications. He has committed not less than a billion naira in this project, because he is passionate about it.”

    This figure attracted public criticism, and the minister’s Special Assistant on Media, Nwachukwu Ngige, needed to defend his boss. A defensive statement said:  “For the avoidance of doubt, what he did as a member of the Burial Planning Committee was to give the details of the road rehabilitation projects from the Awka end of the state and from Abia and Imo State axis, all leading to Ekwueme’s hometown of Oko, as well as the medical services, the mausoleum and others.  But at no time did the minister attach a figure of one billion naira.”

    Was Ngige misquoted? Or did he talk too much, perhaps unthinkingly?

  • Talking about sound character

    Talking about sound character

    The need for parents to teach their children how to exhibit sound character is the focus of a book titled  ‘Sound Character Decisions…a parent-child interaction tool’.

    The book, written by an inspirational speaker, David Adegboyega, is designed to address and counter vices in the society by teaching children and youths the importance of good character. The 60-paged book covers a 30 day period with one lesson designed for each day. The book gives Parents the unique opportunity to write for their children on sound character in their own handwriting; it will be a memorabilia the children will keep all their life.

    Day 1, with the heading ‘Sound Character gives fragrance to your life’ stated that like ‘a rose in the garden,’sound character appeals to people.

    “The most expensive perfume in the world cannot cover the stench of a bad character. Being loving, honest and service-oriented make you the appeal of people. It will make you stand out like rose in the garden,” it stated.

    Days 2, 3 and 4 mentioned some of the benefits of having good character, adding that a good character is better than having a wardrobe full of clothes:

    “Most of us spend time and money in choosing and buying clothes, shoes and cosmetics. It should not come at the expense of developing sound character. Sound character steers you clear of sexually transmitted diseases. The surest way to get to any destination is to keep moving along the right path. The character traits of decency and modesty will make you distinct from the crowd”.

    In terms of making choices, the book emphasized in Day 30, that ‘sound character helps you to make quality choices.’

    “The results we get are direct consequences of the decisions we make. A loving person will never make a decision to hate neither will an honest person decides to cheat.”

    While commenting on the book, the Chairman, Board of Directors First Bank of Nigeria Limited, Ibukun Awosika said:  “The book encourages parents and guardians to invest their time, which is a scarce resource in our world today. However, much is needed in teaching our children the rewards of sound character and ethical living.”  David Adegboyega is raising a critical mass of Nigerians who will decide for sound character always. He believes that corruption will not be an option when decisions are based on sound character values. This is a positive contribution to the Government’s war against corruption b y dealing with the root cause.

  • Fashola: Why is no one talking?

    I have in the last few months been travelling to my hometown of Achina in Aguata Local Government Area of Anambra State at a high frequency for reasons which need not be stated here. I have been going by road because the road is today much better and safer than, say, this time last year. Another reason I travel by road is to have a first-hand experience with a view to reporting to the Minister of Power, Works and Housing, BabatundeFashola, who always solicits for such frank reports with a view to taking appropriate action.

    Whereas the Onitsha-Asaba-Benin-Ore sections of the Lagos to Onitsha Highway have in the last few years been generally good, the Lagos-Sagamu-Ore sections are in a mess. One is glad to report that tremendous reconstruction work is currently taking place in the worst of all the failed sections. Reynold Construction Company (RCC) has divided the Lagos-Sagamu-Ore sections into four parts and is working on them simultaneously in a rather frenetic manner, even in the rains. In a fashion reminiscent of the mass attack principle, RCC is reconstructing what remains of the Ondo State section of the highway, the Ijebu Ode part, the Sagamu end as well as the Lagos-Ibadan expressway. When I was driving from Anambra State to Lagos few days ago, I had to stop briefly at the Ijebu Ode site because what is going on there looks more like new construction rather than rehabilitation. Rev Sister Christy Okonkwo, an impressed Catholic nun who is from Nnewi in Anambra State and works with the Eucharistic Heart of Jesus Congregation at Epe in Lagos State, remarked after watching the massive deployment of equipment, machines and human resources: “There is still hope for Nigeria”.

    In the past, such massive reconstruction which always resulted in the closure of at least one side of the highway had invariably led to traffic gridlock. Reverend Sister Christy narrated how she and her colleagues spent three hours on one spot while going for the funeral of a colleague’s relative. Like the rest of her colleagues, she consequently developed a phobia for travelling by road to the South-east and South-south from Lagos. But this time traffic is directed professionally not just by the RCC workers and Federal Road Safety Corps officials but also by teams of police and army personnel whose presence injects discipline and order in the heads of commercial motorists, especially those of minibuses whose irresponsible driving exacerbates traffic gridlock. What is more, the conspicuous presence of soldiers in particular has driven away armed robbers and kidnappers from the highway. Capitalizing on the failed portions which naturally forced motorists to stop, kidnappers on one occasion shot an Igbo priest with the Warri Catholic Diocese in the hand and took away a young boy with him and on another occasion took away nuns of the St Louis Congregation in Ondo State who were travelling on a bus and hid them in a thick forest for a whole 10 days. Today all this criminal nonsense on the Lagos-Onitsha highway is history.

    Lest I forget, while driving through Benin, we noticed there were two awfully failed sections of this extraordinarily busy highway. One is directly opposite the NIPCO filling station on the Benin-Agbor section of the road while the other on the Benin By-pass. Fashola was contacted on his personal phone, and he quickly began to ask questions about the exact locations and extent of the failed portions. It was evident that the officials of the Federal Ministry of Works and the Federal Roads Maintenance Agency (FERMA) had yet to report the state of the road to him. When he was satisfied with details of the failed portions, he promised to immediately get in touch with the contractor to assess the rehabilitation and revert to him. Talk of responsive leadership. Talk of working with passion and commitment.

    A few weeks ago when it was brought to his knowledge that the Asaba end of the Lagos-Onitsha Expressway had collapsed, he immediately directed Julius Berger which was working on another project in the neighbourhood to move to the site of the failed part. Work is going on there right now. The rainy season has always been cited by various state governments and the Federal Ministry of Works as the main justification for suspending road construction or rehabilitation by this time of the year, but this explanation cuts no ice with Fashola who, as we have seen right from his days as the Lagos State governor, works all year round.

    One has not in the last few months been travelling to other parts of the country, but one understands that road reconstruction is taking place all over the federation everywhere there is a provision in the budget for it. Even the most awfully failed part of the Okija-Ihiala-Uli-Egbu-Oguta-Ahoada linking Anambra, Imo and Rivers states which is not in the captured in this year’s budget is being rehabilitated because it is considered a national emergency.

    It has to be noted that RCC, Julius Berger and Integrated Services Ltd are among several companies which moved to sites before the release of the first quarter of this year’s budget. They went to work without the payment of mobilization fees in these economically hard times because of their trust in the integrity of the minister. As management experts have long noted, integrity or character is a most invaluable asset in business transactions whether in the private or public sector. In other words, as more releases are made, both the scope and intensity of road work by the Federal Government will escalate.

    Fashola assumed duties as the Minister of Power, Works and Housing only last November, that is, less than a year now. Before he could settle in office, take stock of things, make his own projections and then mobilise funds, critics had gone to town, with some wondering if he could run this enlarged ministry successfully. If Fashola could excel as the Lagos State governor in a way which earned him great praise and awards from the greatest global media and think-tanks, he should be expected to continue on the trajectory of high service delivery. Now that work is going on even in the rainy season on federal roads, why have even the media been shy to report it?  Well, if the media fail to report these developments, frequent road users like us who feel and experience the massive work daily cannot deny the evidence of our eyes.

     

    • Umenzekwe is immediate past President of Odunade Building Materials Dealers Association, Lagos.

  • Let’s stop talking and planning violence

    Many Nigerian politicians these days are talking and planning, not elections, but violence. Some are threatening war by their own particular nationalities against all other nationalities of Nigeria. Some are issuing threats of religious wars, though in veiled phrases. Altogether, it seems as if, come mid-February, the real event in Nigeria is not going to be elections but horrific conflicts and pogroms.

    As the rest of the world absorbs these fearsome vibrations from Nigeria, worldwide apprehension about Nigeria has risen to fever pitch. What one would describe as the peak came early this week when the American  Secretary of State, John Kerry, hurried to Nigeria to appeal to Nigerian rulers and leaders to stop planning for violence and start planning for free, fair and peaceful elections. If the government of America feels compelled to take that kind of action, then the situation must be a lot worse than most of us, ordinary Nigerians, know.

    It is therefore critically important for us all to warn our politicians. Tempers are such in Nigeria these days that if violence starts as is being threatened and planned, it is very likely to develop to extents beyond the wildest imaginations of any Nigerian and any Nigerian political leader. In country after country in Black Africa, political violence usually starts small, but by igniting pent-up angers, fears and hostilities, it then sets up horrendous conflagrations that seem to go on forever – often consuming and destroying lives and properties indiscriminately. Nigeria is more combustible today than most Nigerian politicians seem to know or care to know. They are wrong in thinking that another Nigerian civil war will proceed and end neatly, or be spatially limited, like our first civil war.

    It will help if our politicians watch videos on the civil wars that have wracked the Democratic Republic of the Congo (Congo-Kinshasa) off and on since 1960. The political storm started as a small incident a few days after the celebration of independence. Then it rolled forward and ballooned out until it engulfed most of the country, led to the assassination of its first Prime Minister, generated a viciously corrupt military dictatorship, and then concatenated in an even larger second civil war. This second war became so massive that it involved all the countries of Central Africa and became known as “Africa’s World War”. An estimated 5.4 million people have died in this war – the largest human casualties of any one war since the Second World War of 1939-45. Today, in spite of United Nations and African Union peace-keeping efforts, rebel forces are still alive in parts of this country.

    I have academic colleagues who saw some parts of the Rwanda genocide of 1994. As they tell it, there was not much of a sign of impending trouble in the days before. But once the mass killings started, it was as if everybody had long been preparing to kill their neighbours. Within days, virtually everybody in sight was a machete-wielding desperado and killer. A journalist on the spot reported, “There are no devils left in hell; all of them are on duty in Rwanda”. Within 90 days, over 750,000 people had been killed, and over two million had been forced to flee from their homes.

    Virtually every country of Black Africa is prone to these political wild fires. Last week, I told the story of the mass killings now in progress among the 40 different nationalities of South Sudan where, in only two years of independence, between 50,000 and 100,000 people have been slaughtered. Somalia slowly slid into confusion in 1991, and it continues to live in that disorder till today. A few days ago, the United Nations and the African Union agreed to increase the number of international peace-keeping forces in Somalia. The political hurricane goes on and on all over Black Africa, generating horrific destruction, loss of lives, and blood-curdling human deprivation and suffering.

    The truth behind these patterns of madness is that our Black African countries are very fragile. The disorientation started when our various peoples were forced into countries that were not their own choosing; and it has become very profound in our time. Our peoples feel trapped and deprived, and are therefore often on edge. Little conflicts have a tendency to blow up into mammoth disasters. Therefore, it is a serious crime to start violence in any of our countries – because it is impossible to tell how far and wide it will go.

    As I have said in various ways in this column, the disorientation of our many peoples in Nigeria has been compounded by the folly of concentrating power and resource-control in the so-called “federal government”. We have called into being a demon that we can never, on our own, peacefully send away. No Nigerian who enters into the limitless powers of the presidency and the limitless ocean of money under the president’s control can ever choose to do the right thing and return Nigeria to a sane federation. The disorientation, sense of loss, anger, bitterness and mutual animosity among our various peoples have risen very high and are escalating fearfully at this point. It is therefore a very wrong time for our politicians to play with any idea of conflict.

    Whatever else they may choose to do with our country, our political leaders must seriously commit themselves to the avoidance of violent conflicts. The candidates in the coming presidential election have agreed to conduct their election campaigns, and run the election itself, in peace, and to prevail on their supporters and activists to do the same. We do not see the effects of that agreement in the conduct of the campaigns yet. Threats of violence are still being hurled from virtually all sides, and politically motivated conflicts are still being reported in various places. The informed world still continues to worry. Governments and international agencies are considering how to help Nigeria to prevent violent conflicts generated by election.

    But whatever help the international community may offer, it is we Nigerians that must bear the ultimate responsibility for the destiny of Nigeria. In the context of our senseless accumulation of power and resource-control into the federal centre, we have evolved a political culture that conceives of elections as do-or-die wars. If we really intend to sort out the future of this country in a peaceful manner, we must get rid of this essentially criminal approach to elections.

    For our 2007 elections, many countries and international agencies sent pre-election observers, and then sent countless observer teams at election time. Yet, we made that election one of the most criminally rigged elections in our history. I fear that we are going to do exactly like that with our February election – and that if we do, we will almost certainly have the violent conflicts that the world fears. And judging from the moods of these times, I fear that the violence of 2015 may be our final folly together. Those thinking of rigging elections, and those thinking of responding with violence – both are, in the atmosphere of today, planning to ride on a tiger’s back, and they are taking the risk of ending up in the tiger’s belly.

  • Talking to God

    Text: Nehemiah 1: 4-11. When Nehemiah received visitors from Jerusalem, he was told that the remnant that were left of the captivity were in great affliction and reproach. More important was the fact that the wall of Jerusalem was broken down and the gates burned with fire. Nehemiah was downcast and wept. ( Nehemiah 1:2-4).

    Knowing that a big assignment was at hand for him which was obviously out of his personal capacity, he knew that the King’s consent and support was imperative. He immediately went to the place of prayer and was consistently praying and believing, until the walls of Jerusalem were built, even in the midst of very stiff opposition. (Nehemiah 2:4; 4:4-5; 5:19; 6:9,14,22,29,31).

    Jesus has promised that whatever you ask in prayer believing, you shall receive ( Matt. 21:22). As you take your case to God in prayer and believing, you will not only have what you ask for but mountains shall be removed in Jesus’ name ( Matt. 17:20).

    Jesus Christ continued in Matthew 17:21 that to remove mountains however, it is imperative to combine prayer with fasting.

    During this Lenten season, as you fast and pray, the Almighty God shall remove whatever mountain (hindrance, obstruction, fear, lack and challenges) standing between you and where God is taking you to in the name of Jesus. Amen

    Prayer: Father, remove every mountain in my life during this season, bless my home and prosper this nation in Jesus’ name

    Theme: Place of His power

    Text: 1 Corinthians 16:8-9

    Paul, the Apostle, knew that God had opened a great door of opportunity for him but also knew that ‘by arm of flesh shall no man prevail’ (1 Sam 2:9b). The best he could do in the midst of that quagmire was to wait in the place of power. He therefore decided he would not make decisions ‘in the flesh’ but wait till Pentecost – day of His power!

    Jesus Christ had given us that template, when after His resurrection He told His disciples to wait for enduement of power from high. (Acts 1:4,7). When the day of Pentecost was fully come, there was a spiritual explosion that not only changed the disciples but lifted them to a higher platform in their lives and ministries. (Acts 2:1-14). Even Peter that betrayed Jesus Christ three times was suddenly emboldened by the power of Pentecost.

    As you they stay in the place of His power during this season of fasting, you will have an encounter with fresh fire from above and the Almighty God shall change your tongue, appearance, outlook and your story in Jesus’ name.

    Prayer: Eternal God, I stand before you in the place of the power of Pentecost, change my story for your glory in Jesus’ name.

    Theme: The voice of the Holy Spirit

    Text: Acts 27:7-13

    A life devoid of the Holy Spirit’s leading and direction is a dangerous, tortuous and wasted life. That was the experience of Paul when he was being taken to Rome. Julius, a centurion of Augustus’ band, ignored Paul’s counsel but believed the owner of the ship as well as the master.

    In view of flagrant disregard of the voice of the Holy Spirit, they were troubled, embarked on a long fast, were compelled to jettison some items to lighten the ship and wasted lots of avoidable time and materials.

    Jesus Christ is not limited to yesterday alone but also has His power on today and of course the unknown tomorrow ( Hebrew 13:8). Therefore, his leading, even when it is seemingly stupid is a key to celebration. ( Is. 1:19; John 2:5).

    During this period that our nation is passing through pervasive economic, social and security challenges, we need to turn to God for direction. A word from Him will turn things around for us as a nation , as families and individuals. There is assurance in Him that nothing is impossible.

    As you open your heart to hear Him and obey, your life will not be wasted and your progress shall be accelerated in Jesus’ name.

    Prayers: Oh Lord, open the ears of our leaders and people in position of influence and authority in this nation to enable them have clear-cut direction and free us from the shackles of poverty, fear and lack in Jesus’ name.

    Theme: Gird your loins for adversaries

    Text: 1 Kings 13:7-24

    The young prophet heard God’s voice but surrendered it to the counter-prophesy of the older prophet, who obviously was an enemy in disguise. Eventually, he lost not only his life but also the honour he would have received on accomplishing the task he had been given.

    When a person is about to experience a breakthrough, promotion or advancement at work, as a family or even a nation, it is commonplace to find enemies that are clothed with the garb of friends surface to fulfil the devil’s ministry to “kill, steal and destroy” ( John 10:10a). They reared their ugly heads before Nehemiah through Sanballat, Tobiah and Geshem but were unable to prevail against the work of God because Nehemiah was very vigilant.

    It is therefore expedient to be sober, alert and also vigilant because the devil walks about looking for whom he may devour ( 1 Peter 5:7-8).

    During this season of fasting, it behoves every child of God to be vigilant, be wary of temptations that will come through ‘hidden sins’, compromises at work, lies, deceit and son so that fasting is not turned to hunger strike.

    As you remain vigilant, the hands of the devil shall not settle upon you and God’s promises for your life shall not be truncated in Jesus’ name.

    Prayer: Father, give me a discerning heart that I might be able to identify the adversary in whatever form it appears and grace to overcome temptations in Jesus’ name.

    Theme: Diligence

    Text: Proverbs 22:29

    Diligence means careful and thorough work or effort. It means being committed to a course and pursuing it vigorously.

    One of the keys of King Solomon’s success as a King was his hard-work. He was a man that knew where he was going, what he would need to get there, how he would get the required resources and the time frame within which he would have to get there.

    Jesus Christ was an emblem of diligence. At age 12, he was at his Father’s business. He knew what He was called out for and 18 years later, His fullness came. In Luke 2:41-49, His parents were looking for Him on their way back from Jerusalem, when they eventually saw Him, He told them “ how is it that ye sought me? Wist ye not that I must be about my Father’s business”.

    Life is a business. It is therefore imperative to get a vision of where you are going early and pursue it with unwavering focus to enable you make an impact.

    Lenten talk. Rev. Henry O. AdeleganSolomon was not only thankful man but he had a record of being diligent hence his tank was always full. One day, Solomon single-handedly offered a 1,000 burnt offering to God, which Bible commentators valued within the ambit of $ 25,000 and $ 325,000, he provoked God’s hand to move in an unusual way.

    The concequence of this rare feat was for God tan offer him an ‘open cheque’ – He asked him to ask for whatever he wanted. In fact after, he made his request known, God surprised him. He gave him all he wanted and added what he never asked for that will make him one of the kings that ever traversed the land.

    He didn’t stop there, after the temple had been built, he offered 22,000 oxen and 120,000 oxen which provoked God ‘s second appearance to him ( 2 Chronicles 7:5-12).

    At a time like this in the annals of this land, it is only attained when parts come together with their individual capabilities for the purpose of working towards an identified goals and objectives. (1 Corinthians 12:4-11).

    Towards making a success of this life therefore, it is imperative to walk in the counsel of Jethro to Moses about the need to first identify the human resources available, their areas of strength and delegate towards having good success in life (Exodus 18:13-23). No man knows it all so do not go it alone!

    Be that as it may, family success is predicated on husband and wife working as one; on every department in a working environment team together as an entity and a nation not fragmented along tribalistic divides. When we work united, we shall have success unbelievable in Jesus’ name.

    Prayer: Father, help me identify the resources that you have sent to me to help me actualise my dream and give me grace to utilise them well for your glory in Jesus’ name.

  • Ibori/EFCC: I won’t stop talking, says Clark

    Prominent South-south leader Chief Edwin Clark has said he cannot be cowed by the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) from speaking on the controversial $15 million traced to convicted former Delta State Governor James Ibori.

    He called for a periodic scrutiny of the recipients of the Senior Advocate of Nigeria ( SAN) award.

    Clark said the handling of corruption cases by some SANs is suspicious.

    Clark was reacting to a failed attempt by EFCC lawyer Rotimi Jacobs (SAN) to persuade an Abuja Federal High Court to summon him for commenting on a matter already in court.

    The elder statesman had called for the sack of EFCC Chairman Ibrahim Lamorde for the needless controversy over the status of the money.

    Ibori allegedly offered the money as bribe to the anti-graft agency.

    Rejecting the request to invite Clark, Justice Gabriel Kolawole said the application was diversionary, adding that, Clark was neither a party nor counsel in the matter before him.

    He, however, said the commission was at liberty to file a formal application to summon Clark before him.

    Addressing reporters in Abuja yesterday, Clark said the failed attempts by EFCC to incite the court against him “was nothing but a ploy to stifle good conscience and freedom of speech.”

    He hailed Justice Kolawole for his steadfastness and good faith.

    The elder statesman said as a lawyer of almost 50 years “ he appreciates and respect judicial officers.

    “I have never wittingly or unwittingly done any act to prejudice any pending suit or bring down the Judiciary.

    “I am also fully aware of my right and will not hesitate to state it as it is as the truth will continue to flow from me like water.

    “I won’t hesitate to state that any attempt to stop me, the same truth will become a flood.”

    He debunked EFCC’s claim that Senator Andy Uba had no knowledge of the bribe money.

    Clark said :“It is laughable that EFCC is complaining about facts known to the world, which is only reinforced by my humble self and other compatriots.”

    According to him, Uba on September 23, confirmed to him in the presence of others that Ibori brought the money to his house and Nuhu Ribadu was in his house to receive the money and later sent for Lamorde, who was then director of operations to pick up the money.

    “I am further alarmed why there should be two contradictory depositions by the EFCC when Bello Yahaya, a senior superintendent with EFCC, in 2007 swore to an affidavit that Ibori attempted to bribe the commission with the $15 million in question.

    “This year, he made a turn in another suit to state that he had the consent and authority of Lamorde to swear a contrary affidavit that the said $15 million is an unclaimed property and no one has claimed or shown any link to the sum,” he said.

    He called for a restructuring of the EFCC to make the international community view the nation’s anti-corruption agencies as ineffective.