The Nation Newspaper

Tag: Where

  • Where are they?

    Sadly, two abducted high-profile professors of medicine were in the news last week when the President of the Nigerian Medical Association (NMA), Dr Uche Rowland Ojinmah, lamented that the country’s medical professionals were endangered.  At an event on October 24, during the association’s 2023 Physicians Week in Umuahia, Abia State, Ojinmah, perhaps hyperbolically, observed: “The menace of the kidnapping of doctors, dentists, and their relatives has become a daily event to the point of desensitisation.”

    He highlighted two disturbing cases, saying, “Let me also remind the government of Cross River State that we are still awaiting the return of Prof. Ekanem Philip-Ephraim. To the Abia State government, we are still waiting for information on the whereabouts of Prof. U.U. Iweha. We will not stop asking. Kidnapping and insecurity, I must tell you, are now major causes of medical brain drain, and we call for action, not rhetoric”.

    It’s been more than a year since Prof. Iweha, a professor of Surgery, was abducted. He was the provost of College of Medicine, Amachara, Gregory University, Abia State, before his abduction on June 5, 2022. He had served as the chief medical director (CMD) of Abia State University Teaching Hospital (ABSUTH), Aba, and CMD Abia State Specialist Hospital, Amachara.

    According to his son, Chukwudi, he had rushed back home from church on the day, to prepare for an event where he was scheduled to represent the Chancellor of Gregory University, Prof. Gregory Ibe. The kidnappers were waiting for him at the gate of his house in Umuajameze Umuopara, Umuahia South Local Government Area (LGA) of Abia State.

    He said the kidnappers initially demanded a ransom, which the kidnappee’s family paid. They were then told that they would find him at the Army checkpoint at Isiala Ngwa by the express road.  They went to the place, but he wasn’t there. The kidnappers stopped picking up their calls.

    “As a family, we cannot discern the motive behind this evil act or even point an accusing finger at anybody,” he was reported saying, in June, on the first anniversary of his father’s abduction. He criticised the police investigation of the incident, and appealed to the Abia State governor, Alex Otti, and the lawmakers representing his community at the state and federal levels to help “bring this matter to a positive conclusion.”

    “We are still looking for our father,” he stated, adding, “We appeal to the media to create further awareness of our painful and traumatising situation, with the hope that anyone with information will come forward, and it will lead to the rescue or release of our father.”

    Women of the Umuopara clan had dramatically staged two demonstrations in August 2022, demanding government intervention and effective action from the security agencies. Also, the Abia State chapter of the NMA went on strike for three days in June 2022 to force the government to take action on the abduction issue.

    Nothing has changed. Prof. Iweha’s whereabouts are unknown. Who kidnapped him? Is he dead or alive? These questions demand answers.

    It’s been more than three months since Prof. Ekanem Philip-Ephraim was kidnapped “at about 9:00 pm” on July 13, 2023. The incident happened “around Mountain of Fire and Miracles Ministries Church, off Atimbo in Calabar Municipality LGA.” A report said “four robust individuals arrived at the professor’s facility in a Toyota vehicle pretending to be patients and then whisked her away.” A professor of Neurology, she was a consultant at the University of Calabar Teaching Hospital (UCTH), Cross River State, before her abduction.

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    The NMA, Cross River State chapter, in a statement in August, lamented that after “28 days in captivity and 21 days when we last heard from her, the situation has remained unchanged,” despite “the withdrawal of services and continuous peaceful protest.”  The group noted that within the past five years, 14 doctors had been kidnapped in the state, adding, “we cannot continue to save lives while ours and that of other law-abiding citizens is under constant threat by armed bandits and kidnappers.”

    Nothing has changed in this case too. Prof. Philip-Ephraim’s whereabouts are unknown. Who kidnapped her? Is she dead or alive? These questions also demand answers.

    It is disturbing that the NMA president numbered “kidnapping and insecurity” among “major causes of medical brain drain.” The country’s medical sector-related human capital flight, which has escalated alarmingly, was formerly mainly blamed on bad governance and  poor working conditions.

    Indeed, the exit figures concerning healthcare professionals in the country are troubling. More than 9,000 medical doctors were reported to have left the country to work in the UK, Canada and America, from 2016 to 2018. Also, more than 700 medical doctors trained in Nigeria were said to have relocated to the UK from December 2021 to May 2022, a period of six months. The number of Nigeria-trained nurses registered in the UK was said to have grown from 2,790 in March 2017 to 7,256 in March 2022.  Notably, Ojinmah said at an event last October: “Nigeria-trained doctors are leaving in droves for Saudi Arabia, Oman, Kuwait, Qatar and the United Arab Emirates. No official figures yet, but it can’t be less than 2,000 as of today.”

     The country’s doctor-patient ratio is dangerously low, and is nowhere near the World Health Organisation’s (WHO) standard doctor-patient ratio of one doctor per 600 people. With only about four doctors available per 10,000 people in Nigeria, it is unsurprising that there are issues regarding availability of, and access to quality primary healthcare services in the country. There is no doubt that the problem is compounded by the flight of healthcare professionals.

    The unresolved abductions of the two professors of medicine further underline the scale of insecurity in the country. It is sad that they were kidnapped, and their whereabouts are unknown. This is a familiar picture in the context of the country’s security crisis. That is fearful. 

    There are several other unresolved kidnap cases across the country. When such cases are unsolved, it adds fuel to the fire. The evil agents of insecurity should not be allowed to thrive. The authorities should urgently deal with the monster.  

  • Who belongs where?

    There are 109 seats in the Senate. This figure has not changed. But who belongs where keeps changing. Such is the perpetual motion that there is uncertainty about the majority party and the minority party in the upper chamber of the National Assembly.

    The argument between Deputy Senate President Ike Ekweremadu of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) and Senate Leader Ahmad Lawan of the All Progressives Congress (APC) about the numerical strength of their parties in the Senate is curious.

    Since the position of Senate Leader is supposed to be held by a member of the majority party, and Lawan holds the position, it should mean that his party is the majority party in the Senate.

    It is puzzling that numerical strength became an issue.  But it is also enlightening. A report captured the argument between Ekweremadu and Lawan on December 13.  Lawan said: “The media reported that APC has 57 senators while PDP has 58. For the record, APC senators are 56 while PDP senators are 46.”

    Ekweremadu’s response: “As regards the party configuration, I want to say there is no particular statistics for now. We cannot talk about the figures that each political party has because there is no such statistics. So, let it be on record that we have no such record now.”

    The Deputy Senate President’s assertion is absurd. If there are no official figures that can clarify the numerical strength of the parties in the Senate, it is a confirmation of confusion.

    When 14 APC senators defected to PDP in July, a report said: “With the defection, the number of PDP senators rose from 42 to 56, thereby making it the majority party in the upper chamber of the National Assembly.” The report continued: “Soon after the defection, PDP senators embraced one another, rejoicing that they now form the majority in the red chamber…After the drama that unfolded at the hallowed chamber, the Senate caucus of the APC said that, in spite of the dumping of the party by 14 of its members for the PDP, it was still the majority party in the upper chamber.”

    The public should be clear about where their elected representatives belong, and which party is the majority party in the Senate. But clearly, the situation is not so clear. The argument about the numerical strength of the parties in the red chamber shows that it is upside down.

  • Where is our President?

    SIR: Recent happenings in our nation have led to the question, where is President Buhari? The answer remains a deafening silence. A lot of drama has been unfolding and revealing itself since the inception of this administration. Hardly would a day pass by that we won’t be inundated with corruption cases from public officials and institutions. And Nigerians have begun asking the change they voted for?

    The emergence of President Buhari was welcomed as a great departure from the ugly past and many thought his coming would cleanse our polity of the hydra headed monster called corruption but with the drama unfolding from the top, many Nigerians are asking, where is the change they promised us?

    On September 13, Governor Nyesom Wike held a press conference alleging that the head of Special Anti-Robbery Squad (SARS) in Rivers State was behind series of armed robbery incidents and kidnapping in the state with evidence of a picture of a SARS member allegedly gunned down in an operation by the squad of IG of police.  The governor alleged that the SARS commander was planted in the state to sabotage the security architecture and create an atmosphere of fear and called on the Inspector General of Police and the federal government to stop playing politics with crime and save Rivers State from insecurity.  The Inspector General of police waved the allegations aside while describing the allegation as nonsense. Since Governor Wike made the implicating allegation against the Nigerian police, people have been asking – where is President Buhari?

    The Nigerian National Petroleum Cooperation (NNPC) has been in the news for the wrong reasons. The relationship between the Minister of State for Petroleum Resources, Dr. Ibe Kachukwu and the Group Managing Director of Nigerian National Petroleum Cooperation (NNPC) Dr. Maikanti Bello has gone sour after a letter written to the President by Kachukwu was leaked to the press alleging unprofessional conduct against the Group Managing Director, NNPC which includes the award of contract worth billions of dollars without following due process, and other acts of insubordination.

    At the presidency, there are several allegations the seat of the president has been hijacked by a powerful cabal who decide who or what they want the president to see or give approval. People are still asking about the outcome of the probe of former Secretary to the Government of the Federation, Babachir Lawal over the involvement of his companies in controversial contracts involving Internally Displaced Persons, IDP in the North-east.

    The issue of insecurity and the killer Fulani herdsmen and the wanton killing of people are still national issues yet to be curbed and the APC-led federal government.

    As the drama continues to unravel, Nigerians are watching in disbelief, the body language of President Buhari. One question has continued to reverberate across the country is – where is President Buhari?

     

    • Joe Onwukeme, unjoeratedjoe@gmail.com

  • To where from Here?

     ”…And beware of a calamity that may afflict not only the transgressors amongst you to the exclusion of others and know that Allah’s retribution can be severe”.                 Q. 8:25  

    Preamble

    Writing a drama is like conceiving a pregnancy. For the drama to be practically actable, the writer must take into consideration not only the theme, the setting, the characters and the complications that may build up spirally to the climax in such a drama. He must also think of the anti-climax of the drama as well as its possible denouement.

    A playright’s ingenuity

    Nothing shows the ingenuousness of a playwright as vividly as the crew of actors who put into action the script that gives birth to the drama in question. It is like delivering a pregnant woman of her pregnancy. If the delivery process is not carefully handled, the deliverer may end up becoming an undertaker. And that is when a drama is said to be tragic.

    The world as a paradox

    The entire world today is a paradoxical theatre in which over seven billion human beings including Nigerians are watching a drama. Whether for ecstasy or dismay the viewers may randomly roar into controversies as the drama progresses. But the main concern of each viewer is what may become of his favourite character.

    In the current global drama against which we had been admonished in the Qur’an as quoted above, the concern of this columnist is the ‘colony’ called Nigeria. This is not just because the colony is my immediate constituency, it is also because Nigeria is the heart of Africa. And if anything negative happens to her the whole of Africa will cease to be at rest.

    Hidden agenda

    A clandestine script was unveiled in respect of Nigeria in 1995. Its contents revealed that this heart of Africa called Nigeria was heading for a break up by year 2015. The designers of this devilish agenda had set a timeframe of 20 years for its execution without suggesting any solution. And to portray their dream as a realisable one they kept hammering the probability of the success of that obnoxious project using some hazardous occurrences in the land as evidence.

    For students of International Relations, such a prediction could not have been strange. It was part of the strategies often used by the imperialists either to re-colonise some old colonies psychologically or to scoop on and dominate their economies in a typical capitalist manner. They had done it successfully in some other countries none of which is now firmly on her feet. Vietnam, Korea, Yemen, Syria, Iraq, Pakistan, former Yugoslavia, Somalia, Sudan, Palestine and lately the entire Arab nations all of which have had their bitter tests.  It is a modern day equivalence of the 1884/1885 partition of Africa carried out in Berlin, Germany, by the European imperialists, which led to the colonisation of African continent. If any of the above countries had resisted the evil project and stood their ground, perhaps the world would have been spared of the throat-cutting threat posed today by the United States and her allies against what they perceive as lesser nations.

    The cult of capitalism

    Incidentally, the US which now champions the imperialists’ cult had also been a victim of this same imperialists’ guillotine especially in the hands of Britain. Yet, the cult of capitalism which has become their common bound would not allow the duo of US and Britain which had been mutually antagonistic to dwell differently today because it is only in such connivance that the gains of their common interest can be accomplished. Unfortunately, Nigeria doesn’t seem to have learned any lesson from countries that had toed the imperialists’ path .

    Rather than looking inwards for solution to our domestic problems as the US did before the two World Wars, our governments do not only look up to ‘Uncle Sam’ for solution even to a minor problem but also cry out to the President of America for help in minor hitches. It is just like the situation of a baby who has so much adapted to being spoon-fed that he would hold the ladle in his mouth even while asleep.

    Today’s Nigerians

    Today, Nigerians can hardly think on anything without reference to America. Whereas some progressive countries like Japan, China, India, Brazil and even the United States in their days of search for growth and development shut their doors to the world and made do with whatever they could produce internally which was why their sudden zoom into the limelight came to the world as a surprise. This has never taught Nigeria any lesson. Rather, all that matters here is empty and monotonous noise about becoming one of the biggest economies in year 2020 even when there is no concret plan for such. No truly progressive country has ever indulged in such a senseless propaganda with success. What would have ordinarily justified such propaganda is a surprising zooming into the global economic stage as the listed countries had done. But Nigeria’s endemic corruption that has become a culture would not allow such a progressive leap.

    Propaganda

    It can only take a shameless country like Nigeria  with so much wealth but lacking to embark on such a hopeless propaganda. Now, how our previous  government spent about $16 billion allegedly budgeted for revamping our electricity remains a question which many generations of Nigerians may not be able to answer. Yet, the focus of some evil agitatus is to ensure the continuity of corruption for personal and ephemeral benefits. Even as of today, patriotic Nigerians have not been shown any blueprint that could qualify them for such empty slogan being echoed about year 2020 without our input or mandate.

     In retrospect

    In the 1980s, under the self-styled military President Ibrahim Badamosi Babangida, the slogan was ‘Housing for all or education for all or jobs for all in year 2000’. And the foremost megaphone at that time was  Prof Jerry Gana of MAMSA fame. That propaganda ended up in sheer deception. And in the 1990s, under the maximum despot called General Sani Abacha, the slogan was changed to ‘VISION 2010’. It also ended up in sheer fiasco after spending billions of naira.

    Then came a former military Head of State, Chief Mathew Aremu Okikiola Olusegun Obasanjo who claimed to have become a democrat without any tutelage. He started his democracy with a slot of the presidency and fooled Nigerians for eight years that became a wasted period in the history of Nigeria. It was on this man that Nigeria’s premium was hopefully placed albeit aimlessly because of his military antecedent and prison experience. His own invented slogan was that of hitting the top echelon of global economy in 2020. And the slogan was continually re-echoed until his exit from government in 2007 a few years away from the target mark. As at the time of his exit, Nigeria, like now, was without electricity, drinkable water, pliable roads, national airline, functional refineries and standard education programme that could propel any possible hope in the deceptive slogan. The pilots of that hopeless odyssey included northerners and southerners as well as Muslims and Christians. But the result, as usual, was an absolute failure. Thus, today, as an OPEC member nation, Nigeria remains the only country that exports crude oil and imports refined fuel for domestic consumption. Where are we going from here? In all OPEC countries, Petrochemical industries are a major point of hope for the citizenry. In petrochemical  industries, thousands of trained youths are employed and economic growth is vivid. But this has no place in the economic dream of Nigeria even as the noisy slogan for hopeless dream sounds louder.

    Rather, what our successive governments often  perceived as the problem was the backlash of their ineptitude which paved way for misrule. But none has ever thought of a possible solution.

    Implications           

    By relying on imperialist countries such as the US and Israel to help resolve the problem of insecurity  Nigerian government headed by former Goodluck Jonathan did not only admit its incompetence to protect the citizenry, it  also surrendered its authority to those countries and thereby compound the existing problems. After all, those invited countries were the manufacturers of the instruments of insecurity in our land. Security of a country is like the heart in human body. Handing it over to someone else is like paving way for one’s own death. No serious government will ever trivialise the existence of its nation to that extent. We all know that whoever pays the piper must surely dictate the tune. And in diplomacy, there is neither permanent friend nor permanent enemy.

    A government is said to be of essence and in control of affairs only if it is believed to be capable of protecting its citizenry and defending the territorial integrity of its nation. Any government that is incapable of doing this and would rather decide to throw the gates of its nation open to foreigners for whatever reason is unfit to be called a government. That was the prevailing situation for many years before the current government came on board. But despite all efforts by the current well intentioned regime to rectify the situation, the forces of evil are bent on the continuity of their evil machinations facilitated by indemnified corruption. Where are going from here?

    Partners in crime

    Globally, the tripod of the US, Britain and Israel are known for their unprovoked belligerence and implacable transgression against nations that refuse to comply with their imperialist policies. And it is probably in reference to such imperialist powers that Allah had warned mankind over a millennium and a half ago that: “…When imperialists encroach on a territory they audaciously pillage and brutally destroy it even as they subjugate the juggernauts therein to the level of servitude”. Q. 12: 22.

    Nigeria’s vintage position

    The real problem that Nigeria constitutes in Africa is that of serving as a regional incubator of corruption and yet connives with the engineers of Africa’s problems for unrealizable solution. In a logical poetic stanza many centuries ago, an Arab poet once opined thus:

    “We all blame our time for our misdemeanour; when the misdemeanour blamed on our time is actually in us; We smear time with all types of iniquities and yet expect time to cleans us of any blame; Were time endowed with mouth to comment on us, it would have blamed us for generating all crimes; Certainly no hyena eats a fellow hyena; as some of us humans openly eat our fellow human beings”.

     The truth of the matter

    The truth of the matter is that the roots of the multi-dimensional problems staring Nigeria on the face today are traceable mostly to the corridors of our government. Of all the vices that constitute seemingly insuperable problems for Nigeria today particularly corruption, none originated from a source other than that of the government. Even where such corruption happens in the private sector, it will be discovered to be a derivative of the public sector either through obnoxious policies or deliberate nepotism or religious irredentism. How, on earth, can we classify the case of a notorious so-called frontline cleric who was contracted by the government to smuggle arms and ammunition into the country from South Africa in the name of political patronage in a multi ethnic and multi religious society like Nigeria? Yet, the government wanted Nigerians to accept that fraudulent act as a normal business.

    Immunity clause

    The absurdity of immunity clause in Nigerian constitution is obviously an  authorisation of corruption for  some  rogues who are claiming to be political or religious leaders in the country. What justification will such rogues have in prosecuting or preaching the known thieves thereafter? Those who injected immunity clause in our constitution as well as those who are in position to remove it but rather chose to retain it are together accomplices in the entrenchment and spread of corruption in the land. Such people will have no logical reason to talk of fighting corruption because they are its creator and sustainers.

    Another evidence of audacious governmental corruption in Nigeria is manifest in the position of the so-called FIRST LADY. Here is a position which has no provision in the country’s constitution but which is given such prominence that classifies the occupier over and above the elected Vice-President at the federal level and Deputy Governor at the State level. This illegal position has no official budget but it is flamboyantly provided with such paraphernalia of office that compete almost favourably with that of the President or the Governor at the expense of the public. With this kind of illegal operation how can any Nigerian President or Governor morally question any corruption in which any public officer is involved? This is one of several areas in which President Muhammadu Buari deserves commendation even if evil politicians are blind to it. And now, the judiciary which is generally acknowledged as the last bastion of ordinary people’s hope has joined the bandwagon of monumental corruption in Nigeria. Where are we going from here?

     We are our own problem

    We are our own problem. We know the sources of what we call problems. But we inadvertently incubate such problems. And we know how to proffer solution to them. But, like ‘lotus eaters’ in ‘Odipuxs Rex’, we are so much drunk with illegality that it has become so difficult if not impossible for us to part with it. Thus, like the pot that calls the kettle black we continue to deceive ourselves by mischievously passing the bulk anytime the die is cast.

    Admonition

    Allah’s words will never look for relevance. They are foever the reference points for those who are rightly guided. Through such words, Allah warns in Qur’an 13:11 thus: “Surely, Allah does not change the situation of a nation or community until they themselves have resolved to change it through their attitude”. Acting the imperialists’ evil script as often done will do no one any good in Nigeria.

  • Where are the intellectuals?

    The world is a dangerous place, not because of those who do evil, but because of those who look on and do nothing.” – Albert Einstein.

    I was on my way to Akure, the Ondo State capital last week with some colleagues when one of them popped up a question about our intellectuals. He made the point when we passed the signpost of a University. “I don’t seem to hear anything these days about robust argument that bothers on ideology, radicalism and the economy like I used to during my university days,” he said setting the ball rolling.

    That was how a discussion that started from Ile-Ife to Akure did not end for some- time. We discussed everything from the sorry state of our varsities, composition of private varsities; the restriction they place on students’ movement that most of us feel negates the notion of universities to the churning out of first class graduates at a time the standard of education is on a free fall, down to the dearth of intellectuals as we knew them in the past. The discussion later “adjourned” with the question: Where are the intellectuals?

    During our discussions names, such as Eskor Toyo, Yusuf Bala Usman, Abdullahi Smith, Sam Egwu, Peter Ozoesan, Monday Mangvwat, Ode Ojowu, Tam Davis West, Wole Soyinka, J.P Clarke, Chinua Achebe and a host of others kept popping up. Whenever a name pops up, the discussion will shift to that individual and what he stands or stood for. Those of us who grew up in an age where intellectuals were bold and never shy away from saying things the way they were certainly know that a void now exists. It is therefore not surprising that solutions to present day complex issues are not often deeply rooted.

    It was Hussein al-Attas, the Malaysian philosopher, who categorised intellectuals into two: the functioning and non-functioning. For him, functioning intellectuals are repository of the hopes and potentials of their nation. They are constantly burdened by the malaise, the disjuncture and fissures in their society. The irony, however, is that such an intellectual, according to Chinua Achebe, “lives on the fringe of society – wearing a beard and a peculiar dress and generally behaving in strange way. He is in revolt against society which in turn looks on him with suspicion if not hostility. The last thing the society would do is to put him charge of anything.”

    The discussion drew me back to one of Nigeria’s intellectual, the late Dr. Yusuf Bala Usman. With him, you cannot fail to notice a blend of historical and radical interpretation of the trouble with Nigeria and how to get out of our national problems. Like most scholars of his time, Usman came to scholarship from a Marxian perspective. He strongly held on to Marx’s retort that philosophers have hitherto interpreted the world whereas the point is to change it. Transforming the world ranges from aligning scholarship to the amelioration of the human condition, subordinating knowledge to human progress and making theories socially responsible to human needs.

    The dynamics of Marxism was, in his case, confronted with the rampant injustice of his society. He stood against this till death. For those who were opportune to interact with him physically or through his writings, it was clear that he does not see Nigeria through the lens of “north” and “south.” To him, justice does not have an ethnic colouration. However, it is part of the genius of this historian to forge a unique political and scholarly identity that defines his progressive orientation in terms of a broad national ideology that holds both the northern and southern political elite responsible for the degeneration of the polity.

    He was motivated by the vision that Nigeria could be rescued from the mercantilist political class which constantly sought to benchmark its material prosperity against the existential austerity of the ordinary masses. What is needed, he often stated, is an alternative governance space that affords intellectuals the possibility of exposing not only enormity of elite crimes but also the recipe that could bring about national transformation.

    Usman was not only functional as an intellectual who speaks truth to power, but also one who insinuates himself into social and national responsibilities. He didn’t see himself as a radical progressive who only criticises; but was always at the forefront of providing recommendations that could point at the right direction in resolving identified problems.

    This was the main reason he accepted to participate in the national Constitution Drafting Committee which was set up by the federal government in 1975 to draft a new constitution in the march toward civil rule. However, his radical thought on the preconditions for national unity could only be aired through a minority report he wrote with other progressives like Dr. Segun Osoba.

    As a radical historian of repute, he critiqued mal-development in Nigeria from a radical understanding of the methodology and role of historiography in national development. Understanding the nature of the national question requires a deep understanding of history and how it ought to be done. Together with his teacher, Professor Abdullahi Smith, they pioneered a rethinking of postcolonial historiography and the teaching of history in Nigeria. This effort followed in the step of the Ibadan School of History masterminded by the late Prof. Kenneth Onwuka Dike, former Vice Chancellor of the University of Ibadan in the 60s and 70s.

    After the decline of the Ibadan School of History, the Ahmadu Bello University School of History took up the challenge of rethinking African history that had hitherto been circumscribed by colonial methodology and its emphasis on written sources as the only objective means for writing history. This methodology automatically leads to the disparagement of oral tradition and other sources as a veritable tool useful for historical reconstruction.

    The implication of this historical methodology for the reconstruction of African and Nigerian history becomes immediately obvious: the largely oral basis of African history would ensure that we would never be liberated from the “victor’s history” written by the West. The colonial historical methodology essentially distils a conqueror’s worldview that is inimical to a true understanding of the achievements, values and possibilities inherent in a people’s history. Thus, as a contrary perspective, Usman and others fabricated a radical historical template that ensures not only that historical reconstruction must involve a vast array of sources – written, oral, linguistic, ethnographic and archaeological – but these sources must equally be subjected to strict critical and evaluative standards to authenticate their provenance and reliability.

    The radical nature of Usman’s historiography manifests in his insistence that history must be consulted to answer the question of the formation and possibilities of nation states. The lessons of history, in other words, points at the capacities of nationalities and nations to emerge out of the multiplicities of cultural and ethnic energies available to it. Thus, the critical assessment of history from its many sources confirms that nation-building, or what Dike called “an experiment in polytechnic state formation”, is a fact of history.

    In a lecture dedicated to the memory of Dike and the Ibadan School of History, Usman insisted that contrary to the European myth of a primordial and indissoluble racial and ethnic groupings that make up the state, “not only nations, nationalities and ethnic groups, but even racial groups, are products of the historical process and are formed, unformed and transformed in the course of historical development.” History therefore undermines our pessimism about the national project by confirming the possibility of mosaic of ethnic and cultural synergy that would make Nigeria an enduring dream.

    The legacy of this great historian is therefore that we can learn and unlearn our own histories as a nation, and from its insights take up arms against the centrifugal forces of disintegration and injustices. This legacy alone is enough to transform him into a world-historical intellectual.

    But sadly, most of what he and similar colleagues fought for went down the drain when the teaching of history was expunged from school curriculum at the secondary school level. Even in the varsities, history, in its core sense has also been considerably watered down. It is not surprising that most youth today live in a country they know so little about. This is the tragedy of the nation and why we need the intellectuals.

     

     

  • Where are they now?

    Where are they now?

    We knew we were going to miss them, but nobody thought it would be this early. We miss their flamboyance, garrulity and exuberance.  I speak of no other than some of the men who until recently were in charge at various levels of the country’s affairs.

    But this is not to say that they have all vanished from the scene. No.  Take, for instance, the former Zamfara State Governor, the distinguished Senator Ahmed Sani Yerima. Nothing was heard of him for a long time, until he moved the motion to nominate former Kwara State Governor Bukola Saraki for Senate president.

    His seemingly long hibernation had given room to various speculations, with some analysts claiming authoritatively that the politician was away in some overseas institution to study how to reinvigorate the waning sharia  fire he sparked off with remarkable festivity.

    Many would recall the picture of the thief, Jangedi whose arm was sawn off for stealing a cow. Asked how he felt after he had lost an arm, Jangedi replied that he was excited because sharia had at last become a reality – thanks to Yerima’s dedication, which some analysts described as fanaticism.

    Others, without facts, insisted that Yerima had gone on a long overdue honeymoon after his highly contentious marriage to a minor, who activists described as a 13-year-old daughter of an Egyptian taxi-cab driver. Yerima, not one to run away from a fight, you will recall, defended his right. He told the army of child rights campaigners to prove that his bride was indeed a minor. “If you say we’re are wrong, tell us the truth,” the activists demanded of the senator. Instead of replying the innocuous question, Yerima mounted a legal battle for a perpetual injunction to halt what he described as a blatant abuse of his rights. Smart guy. Ever since, all has been quiet. Nobody has gone to get the injunction lifted and the senator has been enjoying without hindrances all the rights and privileges of a new groom and, needless to say, performing all the duties that go with such perquisites.

    Ali Modu Sherriff was indisputably the godfather of Borno politics. At the height of the Boko Haram insurgency, the push for him to be questioned was relentless. But, the authorities could not summon the courage to take him in for questioning. Instead, they pampered the former governor like a new baby. The Maiduguri airport that was shut down after Boko Haram insurgents violated it was often opened for Sheriff’s flights to land. As soon as he left, the airport would be shut again. Governor Kashim Shettima was never that lucky. He drove all the way to Abuja and back whenever he had to visit the capital city. Such was the royal pleasure Sheriff enjoyed in the Goodluck Jonathan administration.

    So privileged was Sheriff that he sat at a meeting between former President Jonathan and Chadian President Idris Derby in N’djamena. The bilateral talks centred on how to stop Boko Haram’s bloody campaign.

    Some dubious youths posing as mediators between the government and the fanatical sect were said to have got millions of dollars for their ‘fruitless’ exertion. By the way, where are the suspects the Department of State Service (DSS) arrested?  My apology for the digression.

    Sheriff’s presence at the meeting aforementioned became a subject of political and scholastic disputations. Why was he at the talks? Does he know, as being speculated, something about Boko Haram? Is the government hiding something from the public? The questions were many. To date, they remain unanswered. Now, Sheriff, who lost his firm grip on Borno politics, has been quiet. He is said to have gone back to his first love – ‘trading’ in  dry fish and other commodities ferried across the borders in long trucks.

    Jelili Adeshiyan (remember him?) was Jonathan’s robustious Police Affairs minister. He once granted an interview in which he denied hitting former Osun State Governor Isiaka Adeleke during a row among Peoples Democratic Party(PDP) stalwarts. His upper cut, he swore, would have landed Serubawon (scare them stiff) in the hospital. In fact, he vowed that after leaving office as minister, he would hunt for Adeleke and beat him up.

    Adeshiyan is yet to fulfil his vow, perhaps because Adeleke has been away in Abuja, ensconced in the Senate where only members are allowed to, occasionally, test their pugilistic skills.

    The former minister, a source said, has since returned to Osun from where he leapt from obscurity to the national stage, turning the police into an electoral tool of the PDP to be deployed into service in Ekiti and Osun.

    Chief E.K. Clark, the Ijaw leader, was a vociferous supporter of former President Jonathan. He was a regular caller at the Presidential Villa. He travelled far and wide to campaign for a fresh term for Jonathan whose praise he sang to high heavens. After Jonathan lost the election, the old man retreated to his Abuja abode. In no time, reporters found him and asked him to comment on that election. Clark retorted: “You want me to die because Jonathan lost the election? I won’t die.”

    The chief, who has since congratulated President Muhammadu Buhari, urging Nigerians to co-operate with him, has found a new vocation in his Edwin Clark University, Kiagbodo, Delta State, which he decided on his 85th birthday to set up as his legacy. By the way, Clark used to be a teacher who became a headmaster. Now, there is little time for Ijaw activism.

    My friend Reuben Abati and I spoke on the phone a fortnight ago. He was upbeat . “I’m jobless o,” he said excitedly, adding; “ Put it in your paper. Reuben Abati, Phd, MA, LLB, Oxford – trained; looking for a job. What kind of country is this?”

    Abati was really busy as presidential spokesman. Since he left- lost – the job, those condolences after Boko Haram killings have been coming in trickles. It was so tough that I once suggested on this page that a minister should be named for that purpose to free Abati from such mundane matters.

    So there you have it – Abati is up for hire.

    Former Benue State Governor Gabriel Suswam dropped his bid for a Senate seat after being trounced by Barnabas Gemade of  the All Progressives Congress (APC) and went overseas for what he said was a long overdue health check and vacation. From the blues came the news that the police had arrested His Excellency for alleged wife battery and that he was being detained by the UK police.

    Many, who never cared to confirm the report, began to give it their own perspectives. Some said the former governor was suffering from some Post-electoral Defeat Psychosis (PeDP) that induced a strange  and unrestrained aggression in his behaviour. Others simply said it was all a kind of depression that would soon subside.

    Thankfully, Suswam issued a press release debunking the allegations as “full of mischief and aimed at slandering me and my dear wife”. The former governor remains in the UK– with  his wife.

    Former Oil Minister Diezani Alison-Madueke has not been seen in public since Jonathan lost the election. Not even the flood of allegations of multi-billion naira – sorry, a slip there – multi-billion dollar – frauds in the sector would attract madam’s comment.

    But there have been speculations on her health. Some reports said Mrs Alison-Madueke had been hospitalised in London for some serious but undisclosed ailment. Others said she had been taking a well-deserved holiday. But many have been asking: When did the former minister fall ill? If the Jonathan administration left the stage on May 29 and she was around shortly before then – unconfirmed reports said she was among those urging Jonathan not to throw in the towel – when did she fall ill? What is the nature of the illness?  Is it all a facade to avoid being called to account for her turbulent tenure at the oil ministry? We really can’t tell.

    All has been quiet in the Northern Governors’ Forum since former Niger State Governor Babangida Aliyu quit its chairmanship. He was up in arms with Jonathan for contemplating a second term. He said the former president actually signed an agreement that he would spend one term. Pressed to show the paper, Aliyu said it was with a Southsouth governor.  Now that it is all over, will Talba Minna show the paper – at least for the record?

    His successor, Alhaji Abubakar Sani Bello, has been asking Aliyu, who cherished his adopted populist title of Chief Servant, to return the N2.9b he allegedly collected from the treasury and shared among top government officials on the eve of his departure.

    The ex-governor’s spokesman has described the allegation as false, even as Bello insists the money, which was said to have been obtained as a loan, must be returned to the treasury. Aliyu is said to be away in London for a well-earned rest.

    There are many other public figures whose whereabouts are of public interest.

    Dr Akinwunmi Adesina, the  former Agriculture minister, is now African Development Bank (AFDB) president. A little bird  tells me he plans to yield to the clamour by many countries for the miracle of the cassava bread that has made breakfast such a remarkable culinary delight in Nigeria.

    They deserve to be remembered quite often. Don’t they?

  • Where are the trillions?

    •N42trn earnings in four years, yet Nigeria is broke and in debt

    This manner of recklessness could be said to be unprecedented just as the damage is extensive. The only consolation the country may be left with today is that the chicken has finally come home to roost and we are well about picking the pieces.

    According to report, an estimated N42 trillion revenue accrued to the coffers of the Federal Government in the four-year period of 2011 to 2014; this was during the era of President Goodluck Jonathan. Incidentally, these were Nigeria’s most recent oil boom years when the price of crude oil averaged $100 per barrel and production quota was in the region of two mbpd (million barrels per day).

    However, these were the years of the locust, it seemed. The more revenue that accrued to the nation, the faster it seemed to be frittered away. In fact, it was not only that earnings were vanishing as fast as they hit the treasury, Nigeria’s debts continued to mount.

    Speaking with the state governors recently, President Muhammadu Buhari had admonished them about the importance of fiscal discipline in the management of resources accruing to their states. The governors had visited the president to seek for financial bailout as most of them are several months in arrears of their workers’ salary bills. Such is the level of the nation’s despair despite huge revenues.

    “There are financial and administrative instructions in every government parastatal and agency. But all these were thrown to the dogs” Buhari said, expressing shock that the governors who sought bailout now were the same that tolerated the fiscal atrocities committed with the Excess Crude Account (ECA) since 2011. Most of the revenue loss during this period is attributable to non-remittance of earnings by ministries, departments and agencies (MDAs) of government. In such sector as oil and gas from which the bulk of the nation’s wealth is earned, the Ministry of Petroleum Resources, in cahoots with the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC) finagled with earning so much that they became almost sovereign unto themselves.

    The Jonathan years were singularly characterised by ineptitude, impunity and mind-boggling corruption. There was also a total lack of transparency and accountability while government officials at all levels carried on as if it was an endless street party. It was mis-governance at a level that had no parallel.

    Though it could be argued that insurgent activities of the Boko Haram terror group may have compounded the problems and raised the cost of governance, examples abound to show that this is not a tenable excuse for a most profligate era. Take the example of the so-called fuel subsidy payouts. From a total of about N300 million in 2010, it sky-rocketed to about N1.2 trillion in 2011/2012 and more worrisome, it all turned out a massive fraud. Not one of the supposed oil marketers who made away with billions of naira was convicted or made to pay back since 2012.

    More galling however is that with an average earning of N10 trillion per year, there are no visible investment in the critical areas of the economy. Power generation, perhaps the most niggling infrastructural challenge of the nation remains at sub 4,000 megawatts level it was before Jonathan’s time. Other areas like roads and transportation, health and education did not fare much better. Human development indices too remain at the nadir among nations.

    Today, the crunch has come; crude oil prices have crashed just as the nation’s currency and there is not even enough fund to pay the salary and pensions of civil servants. We are consoled however that the new man in the saddle, President Buhari seems to have a grasp of the situation at hand. Apart from plugging the leakages, he must insist on fiscal discipline at all levels of government. That is the way forward.

  • Rivers: Where are the elders?

    Rivers: Where are the elders?

    WHAT is going on in Rivers State?

    The scene is familiar. A group of lawmakers – usually infinitesimal in number -find their way into the House of Assembly chamber, grab the mace, proclaim one of them speaker and, apparently in a befuddled state of a newfangled legal muscle, proceed to make fundamental decisions. By the time the world learns about such actions, it is too late for sanity to prevail, too late to withdraw a bitter joke.

    That was the scenario on Tuesday at the Rivers State House of Assembly. Five lawmakers – they are often described as loyalists of Minister of State for Education Nyesom Wike; have they lost their identities? – seized the chamber to proclaim a new leadership that lasted just a few minutes. Governor Rotimi Chibuike Amaechi moved in to pull the brakes on the theatrics. The nonsense stopped after a few heads had been smashed.

    A source has just told me that the root of the Rivers crisis is money. Cash. As a corollary of this is 2015. The crisis in the local Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) has been contrived to achieve a purpose, which surely is not to project the people’s interest, but to pursue personal designs for personal gains. I hope the actors do not think they can take the people for granted forever. When they realise the truth and rise, the consequences may be too grievous for us all to handle.

    A brief recall of some of the events. A court in Abuja handed over the leadership of the party to Felix Obuah as chairman. Obuah is believed to be loyal to Wike. Godspower Ake, who the Abuja court removed, is of Amaechi’s faction. He insists he was validly elected in an election Obuah never participated in. The House of Assembly suspended a local government chairman and his executives from office for alleged fraud. The party asked Amaechi to restore the council chiefs. He did not. He couldn’t have. The principle of the separation of powers will never allow that. The party suspended Amaechi and asked him to apologise for him to return to the party.

    Ever since, the Rivers crisis has been part of the trouble with the national PDP. Amaechi’s plan to retain his chairmanship of the Governors’ Forum became a fratricidal strife from which the forum is yet to recover. Governors became the subject of beer parlour jokes after Plateau State’s Jonah Jang maintained that he won the election with his 16 votes. Amaechi scored 19. Academic giants were seized by a strange frenzy in a bid to unravel the new theory of how 16 became bigger than 19 – the Nigerian politician’s latest contribution to scholarship. Till date, they are yet to resolve the mystery. Unable to conceal his questionable neutrality any longer, President Goodluck Jonathan embraced Jang, hosting him at the Villa.

    Amaechi was subjected to all manner of indignities. A recent visit of the First Lady shut down the Rivers capital city, Port Harcourt. He had to shelve some official engagements for as long as the Dame Patience Jonathan road show lasted. Many verbal grenades were hurled at him. The official aircraft that flew him to the Akure Airport was grounded in questionable circumstances. Before then, Rivers had lost some oil wells to its neighbour, Bayelsa, in what has been seen in many informed circles as an attempt to cripple the state financially.

    Amaechi and Commissioner of Police Mbu Joseph Mbu are not the best of friends. They are not working together. In fact, the governor says since Mbu’s arrival in the state, the crime rate has surged, adding that kidnappers are back in business and robbers have ended their holiday to seize the state by the throat. Mbu denies it all. He insists that he remains an impartial enforcer of the law and not an executioner of a political design drawn up from the very top as part of a line-up of activities to enfeeble Amaechi.

    The governor has remained pertinacious, saying the interest of the people is paramount. Nobody, it should be noted, has dismissed Amaechi’s achievements in many areas of development – health, education, infrastructure and all that. Why then is he having problems? Politics? Envy? Ambition?

    A school of thought says it is because Wike, a former associate and Chief of Staff to Amaechi, wants to succeed him, but that the governor has dismissed this as a mere dream because he and the minister are from Ikwerre. Others, he says, should be given a chance. Wike kicked. He launched into a war of attrition against Amaechi.

    Like a mere scratch of the skin, the Rivers crisis has grown into a sore that needs attention because of its potential to balloon into an infectious disease that will spread to other places and become difficult to heal. There are speculations that the main target of the madness in the House on Tuesday was Amaechi. If the five legislators had had their way, they would have initiated impeachment proceedings against the governor. Sounds strange? Yes. But, recall, dear reader, that recently, 16 was said to be bigger than 19. Besides, memories of such incidents are fresh. Dariye. Alamieyeseigha. Fayose. Impeachment is a long process, but our politicians sure know how to shorten any process. After all, doesn’t the end justify the means?

    The role of the police in this drama has been everything but noble. From just watching hoodlums harass the lawmakers on Tuesday, the police yesterday stepped up the game. They reportedly fired teargas into the Government House as they pursued people who had come to show solidarity with the embattled governor.

    Where is the Constitution in all this? Where is the rule of law on which the Jonathan presidency has built its shaky public image? With businesses shut down yesterday as policemen chased protesters around the city, there is a clear invitation to anarchy. Presidential aide Dr Doyin Okupe has said his boss is not involved in the crisis, adding that Amaechi is too small for Dr Jonathan to fight. Hold it doc; that is wrong. The issue is not Amaechi. Why should the President watch as a part of the country is being wracked by anarchists who don the garb of politicians. Shouldn’t he show he is not part of this morbid game – many believe he is –?

    Those former militants who made a living by fighting the law are back in business. They are leading the assault on the state’s constituted authority – obviously with official backing. Isn’t this a costly way of keeping ex-militants busy?

    Nigerians, ever inventive, have started cracking jokes with the Rivers situation. A friend sent me this: “Dad & Son.”

    Son: Dad, why are you training in martial arts?

    Dad: It has been entrenched in our constitution as part of the criteria to contest elective office.

    Son: Are you sure, dad, that we now have such in our constitution; since when?

    Dad: Oh my son, yesterday the Rivers State House of Assembly was suddenly turned into a boxing ring. I need to acquire skills to defend myself when I become a honourable member.

    But the Rivers crisis is no laughing matter. It is the type that makes decent people fulminate. Where are the elders? Should the nonsense in Rivers be allowed to go on? The other day at the Villa, a group of Rivers indigenes, among them some notable individuals, visited the President. They poured invectives on Amaechi, casting him in the mould of an implacable brat. That is not the way of elders who are expected to be custodians of public morality and wisdom. It is politics taken too far.

    It is good that the National Assembly has stepped into the matter. The nonsense in Rivers must be arrested. It should not be allowed to spread. With a state of emergency in three states, the fiendish bloodletting in Plateau and the communal clashes all over the place, Nigeria seems to be overdrawing its account in the bank of peace. It may hit the red.

    Rivers indigenes have a big role to play in the resolution of this crisis, which is part of the long-predicted implosion of the ruling PDP. They should demand peace and decency. But, again, where are the elders?