CredoWriters:Wakdok,Samuel Stephen
Rebranding is more than wearing smuggled ankara and telling pauperized citizens white lies behind a TV camera, which is powered by generators with fuel procured from black markets. It should be about gilded in Made in Nigeria textile fabrics and speaking the truth on behalf of millions of voiceless Nigerians.
Rebranding is not riding in foreign made jeeps to escape the impacts of our potholed embellished roads; it is about driving in Nigerian manufactured cabbies without feeling the fissures because the roads are themselves rebranded, hence no pot holes.
Rebranding is not having foreign construction firms building their own embassies in Nigeria and also building our own embassies in their countries, It is having Nigerian world class building and construction firms excelling anywhere in the world.
Rebranding is not restricted to acquiring a foreign degree as a prerequisite for local jobs, rebranding entails having a Nigerian degree that allows us international access to all job opportunities.
Rebranding transcends deregulating the importation of petroleum products to shoot a renowned cabal out of business; it is promoting local content drive to establish transparency and accountability. It is ensuring adequate local production and refining capacity to meet domestic need and achieve exportation of finished goods.
Rebranding should not be about a brazen mother-in-law of foreign men but being a gratified mother-in-law of humble if need be unemployed Nigerian men to diffuse the circular flow of national income.
Rebranding is beyond destroying fake drugs and running abroad to treat mere headache or food poison. Rebranding is having first class Nigerian hospitals to treat general and sophisticated ailments, coupled with magnificent indigenous drug manufacturing companies
Rebranding is not the cowardice of placing responsibilities on the doors of Nigerians while giving flimsy excuses for the miscarriage of governance, it ought to be the remorse of a government spokeswoman who is determined to right the ills of failures of government institutions as a first step towards making amends.
Rebranding is not the mouthpiece of a few parasites in power, propaganda failed woefully to win Hitler the Second World War. Rebranding is standing up as a patriot on the side of country and truth.
Rebranding is not the sanctimonious rigging of elections with imported electoral materials; it should be the reverence of conducting people driven elections where winners are elected not selected or imposed.
We are patriotic even if unbranded Nigerians. We pay our taxes and we can show the world our pay slips. Madam ‘Rebrandress’; can we please see your pay slip? We are so Nigerian that we have no International Passports since we do not envisage fleeing Nigeria after our ministerial tenures like El-Rufai et al. Can you please drop your dual nationality? All we have are our National ID cards. But our National Identity has been rebranded by hunger, fuel queues, potholes, strikes, insecurity and unemployment.
Madam Minister, nonetheless tell yourself the truth if not your employer or the tax payers. Do you still drink pipe borne water?
Do you eat local rice?
Do you pay for your fuel while it is still un-deregulated?
Do you pay PHCN utility bills?
No! Madam Minister, it is a fib.
Remove those spectacles and stop fibbing.
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Sunday, November 8, 2009
THE FECKLESSNESS OF AFRICA AND THE WIDER WORLD
CredoWriters:Wakdok, Samuel Stephen.
They wandered off our coastlines, disguising first as traders to the amazement of a so called primitive population. We were carried away by the charms of their goods. Common mirror, now we could see ourselves starring at us, unlike when we depended on the blurred images of our shadows or when we had to look into a bowl of water to see the imagery of our faces. When they saw our elation they brought religion and we were told to let go of the gods we knew, gods we were born into and worshipped. They came with their almighty God, who was hitherto unknown to us. While the Christians came from the south, the Moslems came from the north, and our gods were caught in the middle of crossfire. Suddenly our gods became idols and with all our sense of religion we became idolaters. We dropped the sword for the bible and Koran; we jettisoned life on earth for a life in heaven. With all our intelligence they called us illiterates. We had our languages they brought theirs; literacy was now measured only in their own language.
If we could solve all the geometry in this world and use herbs to cure all the ailments, as long as it was not in their language, for all they cared we were illiterates. Hence they took us under the trees, on the hills, inside a room anywhere they deemed fit and called it school, western education, Islamic education, and abolished home training. We were taught to read and write in their languages and to know their histories; we became an extinct people because we did not remember our history. We only know the history they wrote for us. They opined that Mungo Park discovered the River Niger, and we agreed, writing it as the answer to pass our exams. They wrote that Dr. David Livingstone and Sir Henry Morton Stanley were great explorers who came to the Dark Continent, we concurred although it was the black man who first struck fire to cook his meals, and light up his environment.
With trade and religion as the precursors, all they wanted they got in us. They chained us and sailed us as cargoes to their lands and their new world in the Americas. We became slaves, enslaved by those who stood on the pulpit preaching that God created us in his own image and thus equal. Yes, but the black man was not a man, so how dare we claim equality with the white? Though we were sub-human our men were able enough to plough their lands and mend their fences. They found our sub-women sexy and seductive enough to cohabit with, and the half caste came into being. After they had taken enough of our populace to produce more than what they could consume, when by the stroke of ingenuity the industrial revolution was born, they were faced with the bitter reality. They now converted the source of labour to become their market. The Blackman will be better as an everlasting consumer than a slave. It is still market slavery anyway.
They pushed the likes of William Wilberforce to fight for the abolishment of slavery; winning double honours. Get the glory for ending slave trade and prepare a market of heavy consumers. Long before now, they had found out that the Dark Continent after all is not so dark; they had placed their feet on a fertile soil with a ludicrous people and their hands on our resources. Therefore they decided to hold power in trust for us since we were barbarians and ushered in colonialism. In 1884 they went to Berlin to scramble for and partition Africa, what a great favour they did for us! The British, the French, the Portuguese, the Spaniards, the Germans, the Italians, the Dutch the Belgians, all had a bite and a lot to chew. Lord Lugard consolidated for the British through this method of indirect rule as the French introduced the principle of assimilation. We a people, unfit to rule ourselves.
Africa and the wider world; the beauty or the beast? Africa is that beauty which has attracted the world to her lands with her resources and people. From the destruction of Carthage to the invasion by slave traders, and the onslaught of colonial imperialists, all have laid siege on Africa. The wider world has raped, starved, bruised and exported the best of Africa. Yet Africa too is her own beast. When you see the starving children of the wars in the horn of Africa, if you ever saw the genocide in Rwanda, the amputees from Sierra Leone, the victims of Liberia’s war, the aftermath of the Janjaweeds in Darfur, the Guinean massacres of September 28th 2009. The beauty and the beast, the beauty is also the beast. Come home to Nigeria, corruption walks proudly at day and shake hands with poverty, co-habiting with unemployment and hunger.
When the foreigners came, they stayed at the coast; they didn’t enter the hinterland to arrest or steal us into slavery. We raided villages and towns, captured ourselves and brought us to the coast where the white man was waiting. We sold ourselves into slavery. Africa has been her beast; we are again selling our selves into economic mismanagement, political destabilization, social disharmony, religious fundamentalism.
What is happening to the African Peer Review Mechanism? The African Union {AU} must avoid the pitfalls of the Organization of African Union which preceded it. How many custom unions or common markets exist in Africa? The West African Monetary Zone has severally failed to take off due to the inability of member states to meet the conditions. The recent happenings in Niger and Guinea which have led to economic sanctions and arm embargoes will further strain the ECOWAS.
North Africa is more loyal to the Arab league than the African cause. Morocco bluntly is the only country which does not belong to the African Union. This is attributed to the AU recognizing the sovereignty of Western Sahara, a country occupied by Moroccan forces since the exist of Spain in 1975.The Southern African Development Commission (SADC) which ought to be more stable is now faced with the nemesis of a Robert Mugabe in Zimbabwe and the quagmire in Madagascar.
The horn of Africa is highly volatile, with Somalia as the world’s numero uno failed state. Eritrea and Ethiopia once the same country are now locked in bitter rivalry and have not recovered from their border war. Rwanda is trying to heal the wounds of its 1994 Genocide. This leaves Kenya and Uganda as the stable members of the East African Economic Community who themselves are not immune from internal rancor. Congo D.R. in Central Africa has the largest number of peace keepers in the world; Burundi and Central African Republic are still nursing the wounds of their civil wars.
While other economies of the world have long reached the fifth stage of Rostow’s growth theory; the state of High Mass Consumption, many African states are still at the first level of Traditional Society. Some have barely attained the second stage of Pre-Take Off and just a few may have reached the Take Off stage which is the third. May be South Africa can be said to have reached the fourth level of the Drive to Maturity.
Africa must rise up to the challenge, we must claim this 21st century which was earlier proclaimed the African Century at the turn of the last century. We should take a cue from the Latin American and Asian countries who themselves where colonized. Today many of them are a success story. We can not continue to bask in the euphoria of colonialism and pretend that we can escape with its curses as excuses. Africa must chart a development oriented course built on viable institutional frame works. Our African leaders must see themselves more as statesmen who think of the next generation rather than mere politicians who only think of the next election.
For Africa especially Sub-Saharan Africa to move out of the doldrums, we must replicate the experiences and determinations of South Africa, Ghana, Mozambique and Botswana. We must realize that our development will be attained endogenously. Exogenous dependent developments will only further re-enforce our dependence on the outside world which has always placed us at their mercy making us feckless before the wider world.
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They wandered off our coastlines, disguising first as traders to the amazement of a so called primitive population. We were carried away by the charms of their goods. Common mirror, now we could see ourselves starring at us, unlike when we depended on the blurred images of our shadows or when we had to look into a bowl of water to see the imagery of our faces. When they saw our elation they brought religion and we were told to let go of the gods we knew, gods we were born into and worshipped. They came with their almighty God, who was hitherto unknown to us. While the Christians came from the south, the Moslems came from the north, and our gods were caught in the middle of crossfire. Suddenly our gods became idols and with all our sense of religion we became idolaters. We dropped the sword for the bible and Koran; we jettisoned life on earth for a life in heaven. With all our intelligence they called us illiterates. We had our languages they brought theirs; literacy was now measured only in their own language.
If we could solve all the geometry in this world and use herbs to cure all the ailments, as long as it was not in their language, for all they cared we were illiterates. Hence they took us under the trees, on the hills, inside a room anywhere they deemed fit and called it school, western education, Islamic education, and abolished home training. We were taught to read and write in their languages and to know their histories; we became an extinct people because we did not remember our history. We only know the history they wrote for us. They opined that Mungo Park discovered the River Niger, and we agreed, writing it as the answer to pass our exams. They wrote that Dr. David Livingstone and Sir Henry Morton Stanley were great explorers who came to the Dark Continent, we concurred although it was the black man who first struck fire to cook his meals, and light up his environment.
With trade and religion as the precursors, all they wanted they got in us. They chained us and sailed us as cargoes to their lands and their new world in the Americas. We became slaves, enslaved by those who stood on the pulpit preaching that God created us in his own image and thus equal. Yes, but the black man was not a man, so how dare we claim equality with the white? Though we were sub-human our men were able enough to plough their lands and mend their fences. They found our sub-women sexy and seductive enough to cohabit with, and the half caste came into being. After they had taken enough of our populace to produce more than what they could consume, when by the stroke of ingenuity the industrial revolution was born, they were faced with the bitter reality. They now converted the source of labour to become their market. The Blackman will be better as an everlasting consumer than a slave. It is still market slavery anyway.
They pushed the likes of William Wilberforce to fight for the abolishment of slavery; winning double honours. Get the glory for ending slave trade and prepare a market of heavy consumers. Long before now, they had found out that the Dark Continent after all is not so dark; they had placed their feet on a fertile soil with a ludicrous people and their hands on our resources. Therefore they decided to hold power in trust for us since we were barbarians and ushered in colonialism. In 1884 they went to Berlin to scramble for and partition Africa, what a great favour they did for us! The British, the French, the Portuguese, the Spaniards, the Germans, the Italians, the Dutch the Belgians, all had a bite and a lot to chew. Lord Lugard consolidated for the British through this method of indirect rule as the French introduced the principle of assimilation. We a people, unfit to rule ourselves.
Africa and the wider world; the beauty or the beast? Africa is that beauty which has attracted the world to her lands with her resources and people. From the destruction of Carthage to the invasion by slave traders, and the onslaught of colonial imperialists, all have laid siege on Africa. The wider world has raped, starved, bruised and exported the best of Africa. Yet Africa too is her own beast. When you see the starving children of the wars in the horn of Africa, if you ever saw the genocide in Rwanda, the amputees from Sierra Leone, the victims of Liberia’s war, the aftermath of the Janjaweeds in Darfur, the Guinean massacres of September 28th 2009. The beauty and the beast, the beauty is also the beast. Come home to Nigeria, corruption walks proudly at day and shake hands with poverty, co-habiting with unemployment and hunger.
When the foreigners came, they stayed at the coast; they didn’t enter the hinterland to arrest or steal us into slavery. We raided villages and towns, captured ourselves and brought us to the coast where the white man was waiting. We sold ourselves into slavery. Africa has been her beast; we are again selling our selves into economic mismanagement, political destabilization, social disharmony, religious fundamentalism.
What is happening to the African Peer Review Mechanism? The African Union {AU} must avoid the pitfalls of the Organization of African Union which preceded it. How many custom unions or common markets exist in Africa? The West African Monetary Zone has severally failed to take off due to the inability of member states to meet the conditions. The recent happenings in Niger and Guinea which have led to economic sanctions and arm embargoes will further strain the ECOWAS.
North Africa is more loyal to the Arab league than the African cause. Morocco bluntly is the only country which does not belong to the African Union. This is attributed to the AU recognizing the sovereignty of Western Sahara, a country occupied by Moroccan forces since the exist of Spain in 1975.The Southern African Development Commission (SADC) which ought to be more stable is now faced with the nemesis of a Robert Mugabe in Zimbabwe and the quagmire in Madagascar.
The horn of Africa is highly volatile, with Somalia as the world’s numero uno failed state. Eritrea and Ethiopia once the same country are now locked in bitter rivalry and have not recovered from their border war. Rwanda is trying to heal the wounds of its 1994 Genocide. This leaves Kenya and Uganda as the stable members of the East African Economic Community who themselves are not immune from internal rancor. Congo D.R. in Central Africa has the largest number of peace keepers in the world; Burundi and Central African Republic are still nursing the wounds of their civil wars.
While other economies of the world have long reached the fifth stage of Rostow’s growth theory; the state of High Mass Consumption, many African states are still at the first level of Traditional Society. Some have barely attained the second stage of Pre-Take Off and just a few may have reached the Take Off stage which is the third. May be South Africa can be said to have reached the fourth level of the Drive to Maturity.
Africa must rise up to the challenge, we must claim this 21st century which was earlier proclaimed the African Century at the turn of the last century. We should take a cue from the Latin American and Asian countries who themselves where colonized. Today many of them are a success story. We can not continue to bask in the euphoria of colonialism and pretend that we can escape with its curses as excuses. Africa must chart a development oriented course built on viable institutional frame works. Our African leaders must see themselves more as statesmen who think of the next generation rather than mere politicians who only think of the next election.
For Africa especially Sub-Saharan Africa to move out of the doldrums, we must replicate the experiences and determinations of South Africa, Ghana, Mozambique and Botswana. We must realize that our development will be attained endogenously. Exogenous dependent developments will only further re-enforce our dependence on the outside world which has always placed us at their mercy making us feckless before the wider world.
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Sunday, November 1, 2009
WATER running dry IN NIGERIA
CredoWriters: Wakdok,Samuel Stephen.
The fact that we have more water system than pit toilets today doesn’t mean that we have an improved water supply. Rather we have succeeded in having more empty pipes without water running in them. We have only derived a better means of digging wells exclusively for the rich called boreholes. With the streams and the rivers drying up, with the water table going further down, with pipe borne water disappearing, with the dams functioning at an all time low, with the lakes drying up, Nigeria has gradually become a nation of “Thirsty People”. Water a free gift of nature, abundantly present every where is now a luxury, this is a paradox.
“About two-thirds of Nigeria lies in the watershed of the Niger River, which empties in to the Atlantic at the Niger Delta, and its major tributaries: the Benue in the northeast, the Kaduna in the west, the Sokoto in the northwest, and the Anambra in the southeast. The Niger is Africa’s third longest river and fifth largest in terms of discharge. Several rivers of the watershed flow directly to the Atlantic, notably the Cross in southeastern Nigeria and the Ogun, Oshun, and Osse in the southwest. Several rivers of northeastern Nigeria, including the Komadugu Gana and its tributaries, flow into Lake Chad. The lake rests in the center of a major drainage basin at the point where Nigeria, Niger, Chad, and Cameroon meet. Kainji Lake, created in the late 1960s by the construction of the Kainji Dam on the Niger River, is Nigeria’s only other large lake”. Microsoft Encarta 2009.
The rivers, lakes and dams we have are enough to make Nigeria not only produce enough water for the needs of the people but also to make us a net exporter of water. Water is gold in its liquid form that is used for human and animal consumption, for domestic and industrial use, for private and commercial use. The prospecting, production, processing and distribution of water are worthwhile ventures that both the public and private firms can tap, tame and channel into profitable ventures. Unfortunately over the years we have not only wasted water but we have allowed water and sources of water to run wild and they are fast running dry.
Population explosion, immigration, global warming, desertification and deforestations, lack of adequate investment in water and associated infrastructure have all combined to endanger water and the millions of people who depend on water for drinking and as a means of livelihood. The rate at which the provision of water is declining, I am afraid we have more blood running across the country than water. Yet we have a federal ministry of water resources with the 36 states each having a state ministry of water not to mention the various water boards. These ministries and boards just read out mere statistics without improvement in the actual volume of water. With the debut of sachet and bottled water for drinking , “mai-ruwa” for household use and tankers for commercial and industrial use or digging of bore holes, the citizens have relieved the government of the responsibility of providing water, why then do we still have budgets running into billions of Naira for a lame duck ministry? Why not liberalize the production and distribution of water and set up a National Water Commission to regulate the sector?
The dynamics of water and its recycling will not only provide water for drinking, it can also feed, employ and earn foreign exchange for the country. The water boards can give up their rusty pipes to Independent Water Producers; and create water districts for competent water providers to bid for. These Independent Water Producers can dam their water or drill massive boreholes to generate enough water for processing and distribution in their various water districts. Smaller companies may concentrate on distribution only while bigger ones may focus on drilling and dams according to their economies of scale. Above all researches must be carried out to get the best possible way of producing sustainable and safe water at affordable rates. These will help in meeting the rising need and demand for water, this will go a long way in sustaining life by making safe water available, affordable and accessible to our people.
If countries like the Gulf States and Israel who sit on deserts can adequately provide water for all year use why will a country like Nigeria which sits on massive water bodies be running dry? It is only a fool who thirsts in the abundance of water.
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The fact that we have more water system than pit toilets today doesn’t mean that we have an improved water supply. Rather we have succeeded in having more empty pipes without water running in them. We have only derived a better means of digging wells exclusively for the rich called boreholes. With the streams and the rivers drying up, with the water table going further down, with pipe borne water disappearing, with the dams functioning at an all time low, with the lakes drying up, Nigeria has gradually become a nation of “Thirsty People”. Water a free gift of nature, abundantly present every where is now a luxury, this is a paradox.
“About two-thirds of Nigeria lies in the watershed of the Niger River, which empties in to the Atlantic at the Niger Delta, and its major tributaries: the Benue in the northeast, the Kaduna in the west, the Sokoto in the northwest, and the Anambra in the southeast. The Niger is Africa’s third longest river and fifth largest in terms of discharge. Several rivers of the watershed flow directly to the Atlantic, notably the Cross in southeastern Nigeria and the Ogun, Oshun, and Osse in the southwest. Several rivers of northeastern Nigeria, including the Komadugu Gana and its tributaries, flow into Lake Chad. The lake rests in the center of a major drainage basin at the point where Nigeria, Niger, Chad, and Cameroon meet. Kainji Lake, created in the late 1960s by the construction of the Kainji Dam on the Niger River, is Nigeria’s only other large lake”. Microsoft Encarta 2009.
The rivers, lakes and dams we have are enough to make Nigeria not only produce enough water for the needs of the people but also to make us a net exporter of water. Water is gold in its liquid form that is used for human and animal consumption, for domestic and industrial use, for private and commercial use. The prospecting, production, processing and distribution of water are worthwhile ventures that both the public and private firms can tap, tame and channel into profitable ventures. Unfortunately over the years we have not only wasted water but we have allowed water and sources of water to run wild and they are fast running dry.
Population explosion, immigration, global warming, desertification and deforestations, lack of adequate investment in water and associated infrastructure have all combined to endanger water and the millions of people who depend on water for drinking and as a means of livelihood. The rate at which the provision of water is declining, I am afraid we have more blood running across the country than water. Yet we have a federal ministry of water resources with the 36 states each having a state ministry of water not to mention the various water boards. These ministries and boards just read out mere statistics without improvement in the actual volume of water. With the debut of sachet and bottled water for drinking , “mai-ruwa” for household use and tankers for commercial and industrial use or digging of bore holes, the citizens have relieved the government of the responsibility of providing water, why then do we still have budgets running into billions of Naira for a lame duck ministry? Why not liberalize the production and distribution of water and set up a National Water Commission to regulate the sector?
The dynamics of water and its recycling will not only provide water for drinking, it can also feed, employ and earn foreign exchange for the country. The water boards can give up their rusty pipes to Independent Water Producers; and create water districts for competent water providers to bid for. These Independent Water Producers can dam their water or drill massive boreholes to generate enough water for processing and distribution in their various water districts. Smaller companies may concentrate on distribution only while bigger ones may focus on drilling and dams according to their economies of scale. Above all researches must be carried out to get the best possible way of producing sustainable and safe water at affordable rates. These will help in meeting the rising need and demand for water, this will go a long way in sustaining life by making safe water available, affordable and accessible to our people.
If countries like the Gulf States and Israel who sit on deserts can adequately provide water for all year use why will a country like Nigeria which sits on massive water bodies be running dry? It is only a fool who thirsts in the abundance of water.
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Saturday, October 31, 2009
Thursday, October 29, 2009
MISSIVE FROM MY UNBORN CHILD
MISSIVE FROM MY UNBORN CHILD
WakdokSamuelStephen.
I was excited reading your epistle, though it was written in English language I was able to read it here for in our world were God prepares us for earth; we speak the language of love which is universal. I will be bringing a billion watts of love along because from the pitch of your letter, your world will do better with more love. We live here as a community of souls but we have already been assigned our countries of birth since our God is omniscient. When I got your letter, I informed my fellow Nigerians-in-formation about the state of the nation in
While the unborn babies going to other countries are learning how to drive cars and fly planes, we were advised to learn how to paddle bicycles because of the deplorable condition of Nigerian roads and the fatality our nations air space. The planned deregulation of the petroleum sector we learned will also make the products dearer and out of reach. Our mates going to
As a family of proud Nigerians to be, we had an audience with God and asked him why the
I felt your pulse while reading your letter and I can tell how bitter most Nigerians have become. The religious and ethnic gulf is growing daily and I was even told how people now look for accommodation according to religious divide. There are Christian areas and Muslim areas especially in
We are interceding on behalf of our country of destination and we know God is ever faithful. It may take a while but definitely the storm will be over. We can't wait to come and join hands with you to build a thriving nation because we know that the grace of God will surely be possible but with the co-operation of men. We cannot afford to allow things to keep falling apart, we really need the centre to hold but until we come please keep holding the forte.
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Friday, October 23, 2009
THE YOUNG SHOULD GROW
WakdokSamuelStephen.
I had to change school in my Primary 2 because the proprietress of the school was relocating abroad. When I got to my new school, its motto was:” The Young Shall Grow". That was 24 years ago, funny how time flies. Looking back at all the years gone by, comparing the kids we were and who we have grown to become, that motto makes sense. There have been various transitions through life stages from biological to education, to family, exposure, relationship, career and many others. In 1985 Nigeria was 25 years as an independent nation and we are 49 years today with our jubilee march to the golden age of 50. When I think again on the past and present I am tempted to review the motto to "The Young Should Grow".
When we were young we looked forward to the future with pride, a bright future at that. We were made to believe that if we worked hard, read well, passed our exams etc we will get to be the future of the nation. We will have good life and all that comes with a qualitative life for deserving nationals of a naturally endowed country. This was very true. At twenty five, Nigeria as a nation was young and talking about the maxim; the young shall grow we ought to have grown now beyond where we are. But when we look back and see the level of realization or failure ,one would ask; is it enough to just wish that the Young Shall Grow? Can’t we rather assert that the Young Should Grow? If we had four refineries way back, they are now shadows. If we have more cars on our roads now, after spending billions of naira we have the worse roads ever. If we have more hospital buildings and churn out more doctors today, we have always caused the doctors to migrate and looking at the population explosion with the decay in health facilities we are an unhealthy nation. Checking out the exponential growth in universities and schools but observing the standard of education, the quality of teaching and incessant strikes, we should answer if we have really grown. We had several textiles in Nigeria years ago, today all the textiles in Kaduna and most elsewhere are wiped out and with them thousands of jobs and linkages gone. This is definitely not a plus for industrial growth. If we hosted COJA in 2004 and U-17 world cup and at various times hosted various tournaments, we have found it extremely difficult to host the U-17 world cup in 2009 without FIFA threatening to withdraw the hosting right.
The dramatic irony of it all is that the average Nigerian wants us to grow. I stand on the hills as an average Nigerian to lend my unheard voice: The Young Should Grow. I want us to redefine our destiny, we should rediscover our prosperity, and reclaim our lost glory. It is excruciating to see smaller African countries with little or no resources out smarting us in various ways. Look at sports, education, health, stability, unity and even Leadership. It is so upsetting that no Nigerian has won the M O Ibrahim Award for African Leadership which comes with a Five million dollars cash prize and subsequent annual grants. The award committee can not even find a suitable candidate for this year's award which is a big indictment on Nigerians; four out of every five black men in the world are Nigerians. Our sheer size, resources, clout in the international political system and the role we play in the global stage need make us perpetual winners of this award. If only we had transformational leadership in this nation this kind of award should not elude Nigeria. The most striking thing is that M.O. Ibrahim the founder or Celtel is a Sudanese. Sudan has been at war for close to 30 Years either between North and Southern Sudan and most recent the Darfur region of Western Sudan. After establishing Celtel and taking it to the peak of telecommunications he sold the company to Zain and part of the proceeds is used to promote leadership and good governance in Africa. That is lesson in corporate leadership for us in Nigeria.
The young should grow. Nigeria should have grown more by now. We can only grow when and if we break the jinx of "Pharaohic ruler ship" in Nigeria. Why must we keep running abroad when we have more than what it takes to make Nigeria better than those countries? At a point Dubai was a desert but look at what they have transformed that desert into today. Singapore was so tiny to survive on its own that they begged to join Malaysia as a federation and they were even expelled. Singapore depended on neighbouring countries for land to be used for military trainings, they imported sand at a point because they sit on water, and Singapore has a land area of 685 sq km only with a population of about 5million people. Today Singapore has transformed from a third to a first world country. Years ago Brazil was only known for its samba dance, football and sugarcane. With a land area of 8.5million square metres and a population of above 192 million people, Brazil is second to Nigeria with the highest number of black population in the world. Today Brazil has catapulted itself to become a technological and economic giant. Rio de Janeiro just won the right to host the 2016 Olympics and the country aims to invest 356 billion dollars in infrastructure alone over the next 30 years that is about 11.8 billion dollars yearly. Nigeria with a land mass of 923,768 and an estimated population of 140 million people ought to have become a power house by now when we imagine that almost all the mineral resources found on earth have deposits in Nigeria. Our capital investment has fallen over the years. Singapore is smaller than Nigeria in population and land mass, it has grown. Brazil which is bigger than Nigeria in terms of land mass and population too is growing at an increasing rate. So size whether big or small is not the cause for failure, ditto for population.
We have all the resources and brains to transform our nation into a comfortable and wonderful land for every citizen and resident to live peacefully with dignity. We have people and ideas that can make the system work for us. Why then are we second class citizens in our land? We can destroy hunger, erase power outages, eliminate bad roads, eradicate poverty, stop further de-industrialization, arrest unemployment, kidnap crime and assassinate corruption. We can grow, the young should grow. Nigeria must grow. We should make it grow.
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I had to change school in my Primary 2 because the proprietress of the school was relocating abroad. When I got to my new school, its motto was:” The Young Shall Grow". That was 24 years ago, funny how time flies. Looking back at all the years gone by, comparing the kids we were and who we have grown to become, that motto makes sense. There have been various transitions through life stages from biological to education, to family, exposure, relationship, career and many others. In 1985 Nigeria was 25 years as an independent nation and we are 49 years today with our jubilee march to the golden age of 50. When I think again on the past and present I am tempted to review the motto to "The Young Should Grow".
When we were young we looked forward to the future with pride, a bright future at that. We were made to believe that if we worked hard, read well, passed our exams etc we will get to be the future of the nation. We will have good life and all that comes with a qualitative life for deserving nationals of a naturally endowed country. This was very true. At twenty five, Nigeria as a nation was young and talking about the maxim; the young shall grow we ought to have grown now beyond where we are. But when we look back and see the level of realization or failure ,one would ask; is it enough to just wish that the Young Shall Grow? Can’t we rather assert that the Young Should Grow? If we had four refineries way back, they are now shadows. If we have more cars on our roads now, after spending billions of naira we have the worse roads ever. If we have more hospital buildings and churn out more doctors today, we have always caused the doctors to migrate and looking at the population explosion with the decay in health facilities we are an unhealthy nation. Checking out the exponential growth in universities and schools but observing the standard of education, the quality of teaching and incessant strikes, we should answer if we have really grown. We had several textiles in Nigeria years ago, today all the textiles in Kaduna and most elsewhere are wiped out and with them thousands of jobs and linkages gone. This is definitely not a plus for industrial growth. If we hosted COJA in 2004 and U-17 world cup and at various times hosted various tournaments, we have found it extremely difficult to host the U-17 world cup in 2009 without FIFA threatening to withdraw the hosting right.
The dramatic irony of it all is that the average Nigerian wants us to grow. I stand on the hills as an average Nigerian to lend my unheard voice: The Young Should Grow. I want us to redefine our destiny, we should rediscover our prosperity, and reclaim our lost glory. It is excruciating to see smaller African countries with little or no resources out smarting us in various ways. Look at sports, education, health, stability, unity and even Leadership. It is so upsetting that no Nigerian has won the M O Ibrahim Award for African Leadership which comes with a Five million dollars cash prize and subsequent annual grants. The award committee can not even find a suitable candidate for this year's award which is a big indictment on Nigerians; four out of every five black men in the world are Nigerians. Our sheer size, resources, clout in the international political system and the role we play in the global stage need make us perpetual winners of this award. If only we had transformational leadership in this nation this kind of award should not elude Nigeria. The most striking thing is that M.O. Ibrahim the founder or Celtel is a Sudanese. Sudan has been at war for close to 30 Years either between North and Southern Sudan and most recent the Darfur region of Western Sudan. After establishing Celtel and taking it to the peak of telecommunications he sold the company to Zain and part of the proceeds is used to promote leadership and good governance in Africa. That is lesson in corporate leadership for us in Nigeria.
The young should grow. Nigeria should have grown more by now. We can only grow when and if we break the jinx of "Pharaohic ruler ship" in Nigeria. Why must we keep running abroad when we have more than what it takes to make Nigeria better than those countries? At a point Dubai was a desert but look at what they have transformed that desert into today. Singapore was so tiny to survive on its own that they begged to join Malaysia as a federation and they were even expelled. Singapore depended on neighbouring countries for land to be used for military trainings, they imported sand at a point because they sit on water, and Singapore has a land area of 685 sq km only with a population of about 5million people. Today Singapore has transformed from a third to a first world country. Years ago Brazil was only known for its samba dance, football and sugarcane. With a land area of 8.5million square metres and a population of above 192 million people, Brazil is second to Nigeria with the highest number of black population in the world. Today Brazil has catapulted itself to become a technological and economic giant. Rio de Janeiro just won the right to host the 2016 Olympics and the country aims to invest 356 billion dollars in infrastructure alone over the next 30 years that is about 11.8 billion dollars yearly. Nigeria with a land mass of 923,768 and an estimated population of 140 million people ought to have become a power house by now when we imagine that almost all the mineral resources found on earth have deposits in Nigeria. Our capital investment has fallen over the years. Singapore is smaller than Nigeria in population and land mass, it has grown. Brazil which is bigger than Nigeria in terms of land mass and population too is growing at an increasing rate. So size whether big or small is not the cause for failure, ditto for population.
We have all the resources and brains to transform our nation into a comfortable and wonderful land for every citizen and resident to live peacefully with dignity. We have people and ideas that can make the system work for us. Why then are we second class citizens in our land? We can destroy hunger, erase power outages, eliminate bad roads, eradicate poverty, stop further de-industrialization, arrest unemployment, kidnap crime and assassinate corruption. We can grow, the young should grow. Nigeria must grow. We should make it grow.
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Saturday, October 17, 2009
WHO IS AFRAID OF DEREGULATION?
WakdokSamuelStephen
Who is afraid of deregulation? If anyone should be afraid of deregulation I believe it is the government and not the people. The crux of the matter is that government is not deregulating the petroleum sector, but they are about to deregulate the IMPORTATION of petroleum products. Deregulation is the removal of government regulation and control thereby easing rigid structures, but what we are about to witness is only the removal of subsidy because Government is not in control of the petroleum sector. If The Nigerian Government was in control of the sector, they will not be complaining of a powerful cabal. Will the government have found it this difficult to stamp out corruption in the sector if they were in control? By the way who are the players in this sector if not fronts and cronies of the Government? I believe that the sector has long been deregulated; the sector has since been outside the control of the government officially. What has been going on in that sector is that the government has been using their fronts and cronies to import juicy oil products. This does not speak of a regulated sector. The regulation has only been a burden on the average citizens, but for the parasitic power brokers; it does not exist.
Subsidy is a form of subvention paid to a business or economic sector. Most subsidies are made by government to producers or distributors in an industry to prevent the decline of that industry or to prevent an increase in price of a product. The problem with Nigeria's subsidy on petroleum products is two fold. Firstly, our successive governments have been paying subsidies to selfish middle men and importers because we do not have producers in the downstream sector, we only have rent seekers. Secondly in truth it is only the ordinary Nigerians that have been subsidizing the petroleum sector in real terms. The masses have been going without the necessities of life for government to pay subsidy to shylocks. I have always opined that the only thing government really subsidizes is corruption. Why then is government who is powerless to sanitize the rot in the petroleum sector so bent on withdrawing subsidy paid by the people if the people do not want it withdrawn? The present structure of the Nigerian Economy makes it inevitable for the petroleum sector to be subsidized to avoid a crowding out effect on the poor. The prices of petroleum products have far reaching implications on all the facets of our national lives.
Ordinarily since petroleum is a natural resources found in Nigeria, we are supposed to have a three sector economy when dealing with local consumption of the product
Y= C+I+G. Where Y= National Income, C= Consumption, I= Investment and G= Government Expenditure.
Since our various governments over the years have failed to invest effectively and efficiently, we have been forced to operate a four sector economy of
Y=C+I+G+(X-M) where X-M is the net of exports over imports.
Unfortunately since we depend on imported refined petroleum products for almost all our consumption of oil products, we are faced with a different model unique to only Nigeria among Oil exporting countries of
Y= C+I+G+ (M-X).
To this end the removal of subsidy on importation of petroleum products will further result in a fall in the already fallen standard of living of our people. The primary economic function of any serious minded government is to ensure a macroeconomic stability through controlled inflation, equitable distribution of income, ensuring a stable price regime, provide employment opportunities or the enabling environment and at least a balance of payment equilibrium. For a country like Nigeria with over 70% of the people living below the poverty line, removing subsidy on a critical commodity like Oil without analyzing the purchasing power parity and the par capita income of the people is very obnoxious.
The Global economic crisis brought to fore the shortcomings of the free market economic system propounded by Adam Smith the Father of Classical Economics. In his work, The Wealth of Nation published in 1776, Smith argued that collective prosperity will follow when individuals seek profits for themselves with minimal interference from government. But we have seen where greed and irrational economic decisions have led the global economy to a near collapse. The question however is what collective prosperity will follow when our government deregulates and allow selfish individuals seek excess profits at the detriment of a generality of the populace. Is it at this sensitive period of economic melt down where even government of capitalist countries are pumping in more funds to support their economies that the government of a starving nation will be withdrawing subsidy?
The demand for petroleum products by Nigerians is perfectly inelastic, meaning no matter how much the price goes up, demand will not reduce because our lives depend on petroleum products and the marketers know it. Consequently once government withdraws subsidy, the prices will keep going up because it is proven economically that prices are rigid upwards in underdeveloped economies. All the petroleum marketers need to do is to continually induce artificially scarcity. The first law of demand and supply states that when demand exceeds supply, the price of that commodity rises. The proponents of deregulation will argue further that the second law states that when price goes up demand will fall or supply will rise resulting in a glut which will further reduce prices. But perfect competition does not exist in Nigeria and the market is not adequately developed due to lack of information and the infrastructure needed to guide us towards a pure economy. Knowing these imperfections and the dynamics of distribution of products in Nigeria coupled with the evil activities of middle men, we will not attain equilibrium. The case of deficit supply is further exacerbated by lack of local refining capacity. We can further decompose consumption to
C= α+by. Where α is the autonomous consumption and b is the consumption dependent on income.
Based on the infinite inelasticity of the demand of petroleum products by Nigerians, the product will be consumed irrespective of whether income is earned or not, we assume that α= 100.
Therefore: α =C. Meaning the whole consumption may be independent of income.
As such the consumption of petroleum products (CPP) will tend towards infinity: ∞
And holding the purchasing power parity (PPP) constant
We have:
CPP/PPP = ∞/1 = ∞, where infinity =∞
CPP/PPP is reduced by government subsidy to have
∞+ G S = CC
(CPP/PPP) = ∞
Where G S = Government subsidy, CC = controlled cost.
Withdrawing subsidy will give us a model of
∞+ G S – G S= U C where U C = Uncontrolled cost
Therefore: CPP= U C= ∞
So with deregulation of the sector the cost of petroleum products will always rise and tend towards infinity and it will cause a spiral rise in inflation
Based on the above model, when we factor in the deflated income which is DY/I
Where DY= disposable income (Income – Tax)
And I= inflationary rate
The higher the levels of taxation and inflation, the lower the disposable income left for individuals and households to spend. When this limited deflated income is now spent on petroleum products and their derived demands, nothing or just a little will be left to save or invest in other spheres of life like education, housing, health etc.
If the government really wants to deregulate the petroleum sector, they must be strong enough to sanitize the oil sector, invest in the local petroleum industry, and build more refineries in all the six geo political zones. They must provide adequate transportation network and ensure we have stable sources of power to reduce dependence on oil as alternative sources of generating domestic and industrial energy. It is appalling for a government to be talking of a cabal in the oil sector or corruption. That is a confession of failure. As a producer of crude oil we ought to benefit from the comparative advantage but only a few have benefited all along, what the majority is faced with is a comparative disadvantage. The fundamentals of the petroleum sector are too delicate an issue for government to toy with. We are not afraid of deregulation; I am only ashamed of the excuses government is offering as the justification for full deregulation of the petroleum sector.
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http://credoworld.blogspot.com
stcredoworld@gmail.com
Who is afraid of deregulation? If anyone should be afraid of deregulation I believe it is the government and not the people. The crux of the matter is that government is not deregulating the petroleum sector, but they are about to deregulate the IMPORTATION of petroleum products. Deregulation is the removal of government regulation and control thereby easing rigid structures, but what we are about to witness is only the removal of subsidy because Government is not in control of the petroleum sector. If The Nigerian Government was in control of the sector, they will not be complaining of a powerful cabal. Will the government have found it this difficult to stamp out corruption in the sector if they were in control? By the way who are the players in this sector if not fronts and cronies of the Government? I believe that the sector has long been deregulated; the sector has since been outside the control of the government officially. What has been going on in that sector is that the government has been using their fronts and cronies to import juicy oil products. This does not speak of a regulated sector. The regulation has only been a burden on the average citizens, but for the parasitic power brokers; it does not exist.
Subsidy is a form of subvention paid to a business or economic sector. Most subsidies are made by government to producers or distributors in an industry to prevent the decline of that industry or to prevent an increase in price of a product. The problem with Nigeria's subsidy on petroleum products is two fold. Firstly, our successive governments have been paying subsidies to selfish middle men and importers because we do not have producers in the downstream sector, we only have rent seekers. Secondly in truth it is only the ordinary Nigerians that have been subsidizing the petroleum sector in real terms. The masses have been going without the necessities of life for government to pay subsidy to shylocks. I have always opined that the only thing government really subsidizes is corruption. Why then is government who is powerless to sanitize the rot in the petroleum sector so bent on withdrawing subsidy paid by the people if the people do not want it withdrawn? The present structure of the Nigerian Economy makes it inevitable for the petroleum sector to be subsidized to avoid a crowding out effect on the poor. The prices of petroleum products have far reaching implications on all the facets of our national lives.
Ordinarily since petroleum is a natural resources found in Nigeria, we are supposed to have a three sector economy when dealing with local consumption of the product
Y= C+I+G. Where Y= National Income, C= Consumption, I= Investment and G= Government Expenditure.
Since our various governments over the years have failed to invest effectively and efficiently, we have been forced to operate a four sector economy of
Y=C+I+G+(X-M) where X-M is the net of exports over imports.
Unfortunately since we depend on imported refined petroleum products for almost all our consumption of oil products, we are faced with a different model unique to only Nigeria among Oil exporting countries of
Y= C+I+G+ (M-X).
To this end the removal of subsidy on importation of petroleum products will further result in a fall in the already fallen standard of living of our people. The primary economic function of any serious minded government is to ensure a macroeconomic stability through controlled inflation, equitable distribution of income, ensuring a stable price regime, provide employment opportunities or the enabling environment and at least a balance of payment equilibrium. For a country like Nigeria with over 70% of the people living below the poverty line, removing subsidy on a critical commodity like Oil without analyzing the purchasing power parity and the par capita income of the people is very obnoxious.
The Global economic crisis brought to fore the shortcomings of the free market economic system propounded by Adam Smith the Father of Classical Economics. In his work, The Wealth of Nation published in 1776, Smith argued that collective prosperity will follow when individuals seek profits for themselves with minimal interference from government. But we have seen where greed and irrational economic decisions have led the global economy to a near collapse. The question however is what collective prosperity will follow when our government deregulates and allow selfish individuals seek excess profits at the detriment of a generality of the populace. Is it at this sensitive period of economic melt down where even government of capitalist countries are pumping in more funds to support their economies that the government of a starving nation will be withdrawing subsidy?
The demand for petroleum products by Nigerians is perfectly inelastic, meaning no matter how much the price goes up, demand will not reduce because our lives depend on petroleum products and the marketers know it. Consequently once government withdraws subsidy, the prices will keep going up because it is proven economically that prices are rigid upwards in underdeveloped economies. All the petroleum marketers need to do is to continually induce artificially scarcity. The first law of demand and supply states that when demand exceeds supply, the price of that commodity rises. The proponents of deregulation will argue further that the second law states that when price goes up demand will fall or supply will rise resulting in a glut which will further reduce prices. But perfect competition does not exist in Nigeria and the market is not adequately developed due to lack of information and the infrastructure needed to guide us towards a pure economy. Knowing these imperfections and the dynamics of distribution of products in Nigeria coupled with the evil activities of middle men, we will not attain equilibrium. The case of deficit supply is further exacerbated by lack of local refining capacity. We can further decompose consumption to
C= α+by. Where α is the autonomous consumption and b is the consumption dependent on income.
Based on the infinite inelasticity of the demand of petroleum products by Nigerians, the product will be consumed irrespective of whether income is earned or not, we assume that α= 100.
Therefore: α =C. Meaning the whole consumption may be independent of income.
As such the consumption of petroleum products (CPP) will tend towards infinity: ∞
And holding the purchasing power parity (PPP) constant
We have:
CPP/PPP = ∞/1 = ∞, where infinity =∞
CPP/PPP is reduced by government subsidy to have
∞+ G S = CC
(CPP/PPP) = ∞
Where G S = Government subsidy, CC = controlled cost.
Withdrawing subsidy will give us a model of
∞+ G S – G S= U C where U C = Uncontrolled cost
Therefore: CPP= U C= ∞
So with deregulation of the sector the cost of petroleum products will always rise and tend towards infinity and it will cause a spiral rise in inflation
Based on the above model, when we factor in the deflated income which is DY/I
Where DY= disposable income (Income – Tax)
And I= inflationary rate
The higher the levels of taxation and inflation, the lower the disposable income left for individuals and households to spend. When this limited deflated income is now spent on petroleum products and their derived demands, nothing or just a little will be left to save or invest in other spheres of life like education, housing, health etc.
If the government really wants to deregulate the petroleum sector, they must be strong enough to sanitize the oil sector, invest in the local petroleum industry, and build more refineries in all the six geo political zones. They must provide adequate transportation network and ensure we have stable sources of power to reduce dependence on oil as alternative sources of generating domestic and industrial energy. It is appalling for a government to be talking of a cabal in the oil sector or corruption. That is a confession of failure. As a producer of crude oil we ought to benefit from the comparative advantage but only a few have benefited all along, what the majority is faced with is a comparative disadvantage. The fundamentals of the petroleum sector are too delicate an issue for government to toy with. We are not afraid of deregulation; I am only ashamed of the excuses government is offering as the justification for full deregulation of the petroleum sector.
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stcredoworld@gmail.com
Thursday, October 8, 2009
EPISTLE TO MY UNBORN CHILD
By WakdokSamuelStephen.
My dear child, even before your mother brings you to this world, I am already writing you a letter. I do not know how long it will take you to be able to read but I am certain you will read even at an earlier age than I did. Even before you know how to read in the white man's way you will have started reading the environment around you, the society you will be born into and the life you will meet and live. As a child watching the dramatization of Things Fall Apart on the Television in the mid 1980s, life was more peaceful, more purposeful, and full of hope for a bright future. Our mothers pushed in the labour wards or at homes for us to be born into Adam's earth. Our mothers sit and gist in the evenings as they watched us their children play. When we got home tired these mothers would tuck us into our beds in many cases spring beds. Our fathers leave home for work at day break, very certain that their families would not starve or want anything and they were very sure to return home to their families after work. We called all tooth paste maclean and called all soft drinks coke. We were not afraid of the dark because NEPA and now PHCN was not what it is today. We used our hands to drink water directly from the tap and did not know what a borehole looked like. There was no pure water. We learnt A, B, C and 1, 2, 3 on slates .We did not have or even see generators as kids. Transport fares had not gone up, food stuff and basic commodities had not skyrocketed. Infact we grew up to know deflation rather than inflation. God's name was not used to make money, education was for all who were determined to acquire it, and in short life was life.
Then SAP (Structural Adjustment Programme) came with its ugly harsh conditions on Nigerians from 1986. Stagflation took hold of our economy. Poverty became our wealth, firms including bakeries closed shops, and bread disappeared from the tables, we no longer ate blue band as we called it. Corruption soared among our leaders, 419 was born, the military became more politicized than ever. We were growing up from primary school to secondary school through the years, and so were the problems of our dear Nigeria. Inflation, unemployment, poverty, lack of capacity building and utilization, ethno-religious disharmony and crises. The middle class was wiped off in the late 1980s, we saw all these and we were supposed to be the new breed. My child you will come to read in the bible where Christ said if you put new wine in an old skin, surely the skin will burst. Babangida toyed with our intellectual heritage as a nation. They conducted elections but never gave the winner. They botched a republic that was supposed to be the connection between the history and the future and with it, the then present was sequestered and with us hanging in the balance.
Life became hell for many, insecurity grew by both night and day, universities became lost hopes of glory, we came into the university after secondary school, but Nigeria in the 1990s was at the brink of collapse. Abacha, they said was holding the nation to ransom, the university system was not spared. We have become older and bolder and we risked our lives for “aluta” that “victoria” may be “ascerta”. When on June 8th 1998 General Abacha died, many saw the end of an end or so we thought. The beginning of another beginning commenced when on May 29th 1999, Democracy was returned from limbo, the people danced and rejoiced, the new President (Obasanjo 1999-2007) who narrowly escaped Abacha’s ‘dachau’ came on board fire brand. He said he was born again; it was not going to be business as usual. Corruption was to be bound hand, feet and even mind and thrown into the bottomless pit. But promises came with lies, foreign exchange was burnt chasing ghost foreign investors when the home front was burning with crises and bomb explosions, tourism became the official function of a president saddled with enough domestic challenges. Sadly, my dear Jos the tin city, the home of peace and tourism was set ablaze on the 7th of September 2001 and it culminated into the declaration of a state of emergency in 2004. No one knew safety again not to talk of peace. The structure of the economy was still not deepened nor widened and once again we failed to diversify our economy. The black gold, our mono economy life wire sold above 150 USD per barrel but it didn't translate into a better life for the people except for the few "friends of silence". We had to buy our own fuel in our country at an internationally determined price. Even our police force had to embark on a strike.
Thank God for the first time in our history on May 29th 2007 we had a civilian to civilian transition, though the game was not played by the books, at least the game was played. The new man came with cleaner records in terms of transparency and rule of law but he has no activity in his dictionary. As Ayuba my good friend said let the man be reactive if he can't be proactive.
Of course our world became more integrated than ever. They called it globalization. As a developing nation, an emerging economy, our degree of openness is skewed in favour of imports. We imported everything and exported job opportunities to other countries. We benefit less from the benefits and opportunities brought by globalization. Even in the AGOA (African Growth and Opportunity Act) an attempt by the industrialized world to open up their markets to African exports, we the giant of Africa became loudly absent. Our Capacity utilization is at its lowest ebb and our markets (goods and money) at disequilibria. When the financial crisis snow balled into an economic crisis, we just melted. The portfolio investors clicked one button and there was a flight. Foreign direct investment of course dried up and true to the eroded structure of our economy we could not provide quick stabilizers. Deregulation and privatization are only perpetuating the structural disequilibria in our peripheral capitalist economy.
As children we only thought of where to play and what to eat and when to sleep, then been dragged from our beds to go to school, children now know fear, hunger, blood, sleepless nights and all manners of tensions. Nigeria's problems became more complex, the truth has not been told, but we are only lying to ourselves which makes us the biggest fools. Things are falling apart and fast falling. The centre is finding it difficult to hold. There is a killing spree be it physical wise, economic wise, political wise and other wise. My dear child, we the present generation are at a cross road. Do we continue with what the older generation is bequeathing to us or do we seek to redefine ours? If they have failed us can we afford to fail your unborn generation since we are bringing you to this world without your consent? Can we heal each others wounds and ultimately the wound of our dear country? Or do we also become priests in the funeral of our corporate existence? Do we allow the dynamics of economics, politics, religion, class, and resource control among others to disvirgin our faith in a viable and human future?
I am wondering when you are eventually born, if you will know innocence as we did when we were young. Will you and your peers be proud to be Nigerians? Already many Nigerians are sleeping at foreign embassies in search of visas to emigrate. Some who do not have that patience are using the trans Saharan desert routes to Libya en route Europe, while others are hiding in the cabin of ships to land in the Americas. Nigerians now prefer war ravaged Sierra Leone and Liberia. Ghana is now heaven while South Africa with the highest crime rate in the world is the place to be. Can mothers watch their children play again in a peaceful atmosphere devoid of hunger, fear and blood letting? Can Nigerians stop sacrificing their fellow citizens on the alters of selfishness, greed and violence? Will the rains of joy come and make the grasses of peace greener again? Will the rivers of security flow and allow the ocean of love envelope our land again?
Because I want you my child to have a better and more secured life than I have, I am praying that peace should return to Nigeria. I pray for socio-economic development to be pursued and attained. I pray for the restoration of the dignity of human hood but above all I pray for the centre to hold and hold firmly so that things will no longer continue to fall apart.
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My dear child, even before your mother brings you to this world, I am already writing you a letter. I do not know how long it will take you to be able to read but I am certain you will read even at an earlier age than I did. Even before you know how to read in the white man's way you will have started reading the environment around you, the society you will be born into and the life you will meet and live. As a child watching the dramatization of Things Fall Apart on the Television in the mid 1980s, life was more peaceful, more purposeful, and full of hope for a bright future. Our mothers pushed in the labour wards or at homes for us to be born into Adam's earth. Our mothers sit and gist in the evenings as they watched us their children play. When we got home tired these mothers would tuck us into our beds in many cases spring beds. Our fathers leave home for work at day break, very certain that their families would not starve or want anything and they were very sure to return home to their families after work. We called all tooth paste maclean and called all soft drinks coke. We were not afraid of the dark because NEPA and now PHCN was not what it is today. We used our hands to drink water directly from the tap and did not know what a borehole looked like. There was no pure water. We learnt A, B, C and 1, 2, 3 on slates .We did not have or even see generators as kids. Transport fares had not gone up, food stuff and basic commodities had not skyrocketed. Infact we grew up to know deflation rather than inflation. God's name was not used to make money, education was for all who were determined to acquire it, and in short life was life.
Then SAP (Structural Adjustment Programme) came with its ugly harsh conditions on Nigerians from 1986. Stagflation took hold of our economy. Poverty became our wealth, firms including bakeries closed shops, and bread disappeared from the tables, we no longer ate blue band as we called it. Corruption soared among our leaders, 419 was born, the military became more politicized than ever. We were growing up from primary school to secondary school through the years, and so were the problems of our dear Nigeria. Inflation, unemployment, poverty, lack of capacity building and utilization, ethno-religious disharmony and crises. The middle class was wiped off in the late 1980s, we saw all these and we were supposed to be the new breed. My child you will come to read in the bible where Christ said if you put new wine in an old skin, surely the skin will burst. Babangida toyed with our intellectual heritage as a nation. They conducted elections but never gave the winner. They botched a republic that was supposed to be the connection between the history and the future and with it, the then present was sequestered and with us hanging in the balance.
Life became hell for many, insecurity grew by both night and day, universities became lost hopes of glory, we came into the university after secondary school, but Nigeria in the 1990s was at the brink of collapse. Abacha, they said was holding the nation to ransom, the university system was not spared. We have become older and bolder and we risked our lives for “aluta” that “victoria” may be “ascerta”. When on June 8th 1998 General Abacha died, many saw the end of an end or so we thought. The beginning of another beginning commenced when on May 29th 1999, Democracy was returned from limbo, the people danced and rejoiced, the new President (Obasanjo 1999-2007) who narrowly escaped Abacha’s ‘dachau’ came on board fire brand. He said he was born again; it was not going to be business as usual. Corruption was to be bound hand, feet and even mind and thrown into the bottomless pit. But promises came with lies, foreign exchange was burnt chasing ghost foreign investors when the home front was burning with crises and bomb explosions, tourism became the official function of a president saddled with enough domestic challenges. Sadly, my dear Jos the tin city, the home of peace and tourism was set ablaze on the 7th of September 2001 and it culminated into the declaration of a state of emergency in 2004. No one knew safety again not to talk of peace. The structure of the economy was still not deepened nor widened and once again we failed to diversify our economy. The black gold, our mono economy life wire sold above 150 USD per barrel but it didn't translate into a better life for the people except for the few "friends of silence". We had to buy our own fuel in our country at an internationally determined price. Even our police force had to embark on a strike.
Thank God for the first time in our history on May 29th 2007 we had a civilian to civilian transition, though the game was not played by the books, at least the game was played. The new man came with cleaner records in terms of transparency and rule of law but he has no activity in his dictionary. As Ayuba my good friend said let the man be reactive if he can't be proactive.
Of course our world became more integrated than ever. They called it globalization. As a developing nation, an emerging economy, our degree of openness is skewed in favour of imports. We imported everything and exported job opportunities to other countries. We benefit less from the benefits and opportunities brought by globalization. Even in the AGOA (African Growth and Opportunity Act) an attempt by the industrialized world to open up their markets to African exports, we the giant of Africa became loudly absent. Our Capacity utilization is at its lowest ebb and our markets (goods and money) at disequilibria. When the financial crisis snow balled into an economic crisis, we just melted. The portfolio investors clicked one button and there was a flight. Foreign direct investment of course dried up and true to the eroded structure of our economy we could not provide quick stabilizers. Deregulation and privatization are only perpetuating the structural disequilibria in our peripheral capitalist economy.
As children we only thought of where to play and what to eat and when to sleep, then been dragged from our beds to go to school, children now know fear, hunger, blood, sleepless nights and all manners of tensions. Nigeria's problems became more complex, the truth has not been told, but we are only lying to ourselves which makes us the biggest fools. Things are falling apart and fast falling. The centre is finding it difficult to hold. There is a killing spree be it physical wise, economic wise, political wise and other wise. My dear child, we the present generation are at a cross road. Do we continue with what the older generation is bequeathing to us or do we seek to redefine ours? If they have failed us can we afford to fail your unborn generation since we are bringing you to this world without your consent? Can we heal each others wounds and ultimately the wound of our dear country? Or do we also become priests in the funeral of our corporate existence? Do we allow the dynamics of economics, politics, religion, class, and resource control among others to disvirgin our faith in a viable and human future?
I am wondering when you are eventually born, if you will know innocence as we did when we were young. Will you and your peers be proud to be Nigerians? Already many Nigerians are sleeping at foreign embassies in search of visas to emigrate. Some who do not have that patience are using the trans Saharan desert routes to Libya en route Europe, while others are hiding in the cabin of ships to land in the Americas. Nigerians now prefer war ravaged Sierra Leone and Liberia. Ghana is now heaven while South Africa with the highest crime rate in the world is the place to be. Can mothers watch their children play again in a peaceful atmosphere devoid of hunger, fear and blood letting? Can Nigerians stop sacrificing their fellow citizens on the alters of selfishness, greed and violence? Will the rains of joy come and make the grasses of peace greener again? Will the rivers of security flow and allow the ocean of love envelope our land again?
Because I want you my child to have a better and more secured life than I have, I am praying that peace should return to Nigeria. I pray for socio-economic development to be pursued and attained. I pray for the restoration of the dignity of human hood but above all I pray for the centre to hold and hold firmly so that things will no longer continue to fall apart.
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Monday, September 21, 2009
They found me.
WakdokSamuelStephen
I was a peacock
Coloured with pride.
I was a deer
Wild and full of marks.
I was a jackal
My long legs gave me advantage
And my bushy tails made me wager and swagger.
I was a lamb
Immature yet innocent.
I was a cub
Born un-tamed and growing naturally.
I was a lost coin
Stamped with my shinning value.
They found me
Took out my colours and left me pride less.
They found me
And domesticated me
They found me and cut my tails.
They found me
And took away my innocence.
They found me.
I am no more a lost coin.
They needed no tear gas to smoke me out.
They didn't have to use weapon of mass destruction.
They just needed a simple economic melt down
They introduced recession and infringed on my economic rights.
I can not be meek again.
They found me.
Did the find you too?
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I was a peacock
Coloured with pride.
I was a deer
Wild and full of marks.
I was a jackal
My long legs gave me advantage
And my bushy tails made me wager and swagger.
I was a lamb
Immature yet innocent.
I was a cub
Born un-tamed and growing naturally.
I was a lost coin
Stamped with my shinning value.
They found me
Took out my colours and left me pride less.
They found me
And domesticated me
They found me and cut my tails.
They found me
And took away my innocence.
They found me.
I am no more a lost coin.
They needed no tear gas to smoke me out.
They didn't have to use weapon of mass destruction.
They just needed a simple economic melt down
They introduced recession and infringed on my economic rights.
I can not be meek again.
They found me.
Did the find you too?
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GENERIC MANIFESTO
Unused vocabularies, unpopular words
All rolling…tsunami, hurricanes;
Yet all existed, long before we exist.
We met us on this journey.
The euphemism of life’s struggle for all that is good and even ‘ungood’.
In life’s nudity.
In the documentary of this mundane generation,
We got lost because most chose a lost cause.
While mentored to explore lust we must seek to discover love.
How do we differentiate between the
Lust inherent in love, or the
Love gold plated by lust?
Do we seek to explicitly determine nature or
Strive to redirect the flow?
We can but be failures, so bad with lies and pretext.
So impossible with sycophancy,
Impatient with greed and proliferation of underdevelopment.
Where will success in these vices lead?
The night shines because our day is blurred.
We are bound with sexuality, but will prefer sensuousness
Taking a recess into the abyss of relativity
In between the linens of dialectics,
We must comprehend this materialism.
We are products of the known,
Dancing into the warm embrace of the unknown.
In our loins hide either or both
Success, failure. Or success and failure.
Is this an oxymoron for fertility?
Was this poetic or obscene?
Yet they all existed long before we did.
And will exist long after we cease.
It is a generic manifesto
advocating a generational rebirth.
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All rolling…tsunami, hurricanes;
Yet all existed, long before we exist.
We met us on this journey.
The euphemism of life’s struggle for all that is good and even ‘ungood’.
In life’s nudity.
In the documentary of this mundane generation,
We got lost because most chose a lost cause.
While mentored to explore lust we must seek to discover love.
How do we differentiate between the
Lust inherent in love, or the
Love gold plated by lust?
Do we seek to explicitly determine nature or
Strive to redirect the flow?
We can but be failures, so bad with lies and pretext.
So impossible with sycophancy,
Impatient with greed and proliferation of underdevelopment.
Where will success in these vices lead?
The night shines because our day is blurred.
We are bound with sexuality, but will prefer sensuousness
Taking a recess into the abyss of relativity
In between the linens of dialectics,
We must comprehend this materialism.
We are products of the known,
Dancing into the warm embrace of the unknown.
In our loins hide either or both
Success, failure. Or success and failure.
Is this an oxymoron for fertility?
Was this poetic or obscene?
Yet they all existed long before we did.
And will exist long after we cease.
It is a generic manifesto
advocating a generational rebirth.
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RICE AND THE FALLACY OF HOPE IN NIGERIA.
WakdokSamuelStephen.
The Nigerian project is becoming more of a charade by the day. Clearly it is now a sham, a mirage. Daily we loose track of what it takes to achieve the dream of an unashamed destiny. Nigeria is a like car moving at one hundred and eighty kilometers per hour. That is dangerously too high for any car to be driving at, yet that is not all. We are moving at this speed with our gear on reverse. Nigeria is moving backward and not forward. From agriculture to culture, education, health, water, housing, economy, security, health, governance and many more. We are eroding infrastructure and institutions alike. When we move a step forward, we take eleven steps backward.
Take the case of rice. We no longer have local rice along side the so called foreign rice in our markets. Definitely we are taking many rice farmers out of work by this trend.The bag of rice hitherto going for five thousand naira now goes for ten thousand naira and even more. Rice is just one aspect. We are fast loosing grip of hope in many other aspects. Years ago, eating rice was perceived to be a luxury. It was reserved for festivities and Sundays except for the rich. It was common to find tuwo, fufu, amala and other swallow on the table of the poor. This was because soup was cheaper back then. There were gardens and vegetations everywhere for vegetables and the likes used in making soup. Gradually, soup became more expensive because the gardens gave way to bungalows and stalls. Hoes have given way to shovels and hammers. Rice moved from luxury to become the staple food for the generality of Nigerians especially the urban dwellers. With rice, all a poor man needs is salt, oil, pepper and water, if he can afford maggi and Cray fish, then good. Interestingly now, the rice is getting out of reach again. What is the fate of the common man?
We are eroding infrastructure and institutions alike. When we move a step forward, we take eleven steps backward.
We can no longer offer hope to the average Nigerian that things are getting better. Hope is good for breakfast but very bad for dinner. When people can not afford to eat, clothe and have a roof over their heads, then this hope is very fallacious. The hope we are been given is a mistaken idea. It is a misplaced faith that majority of Nigerians now have.
We pay for food, medicine, education, and rent. We pay taxes, we buy pure water. We even beg to queue and buy fuel; we pay for light we do not get. The suya man uses generator to illuminate his suya spot. Churches use generators to power their sermon, hospitals need generators for surgeries. I am sure even prostitutes have torch lights in their hand bags to guide them on the streets at night. After all darkness is the electricity robbers need to operate at night. Imagine my feelings when I first saw a generator under the table in NEPA office. It was as if I saw charm on a church alter. For the sake of simple arithmetic ;if PHCN gave 12 hours of light daily, a child born in 1999 must have spent 5 years of his/her life in darkness. This would have been a very generous analysis because it is very illusionary. We pay for all and get nothing. All we get is the fallacy that someday things will get better. Some promises year in, year out.
We can no longer offer hope to the average Nigerian that things are getting better. Hope is good for breakfast but very bad for dinner
If we continue to obstinate, we will never make it in the future. If after wasting away the past we are not committed to a rebuilding process in the present, then I am sorry the hope of innocent Nigerians died yesterday. We can forgive the past, but if we keep stifling the present, certainly we have already murdered the future again. Every today was a yesterday killed and eventually every tomorrow may become a wasted today. The future is gloomy and daily we are confronted with problems that should not have arisen in the first place. From the Niger Delta crises to election riggings. From religious disturbances to strikes in various sectors.
If after wasting away the past we are not committed to a rebuilding process in the present, then I am sorry the hope of innocent Nigerians died yesterday. We can forgive the past, but if we keep stifling the present, certainly we have already murdered the future again. Every today was a yesterday killed and eventually every tomorrow may become a wasted today.
We are a blessed country but as a people we chose to curse ourselves. Or rather our leaders found it profitable to rape us; and afterwards call us harlots. This is a country that yearly budgets, rolling plans, development plans, visions and agenda have been sung and still been sung since flag independence was won in 1960.Yes, flag independence.
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The Nigerian project is becoming more of a charade by the day. Clearly it is now a sham, a mirage. Daily we loose track of what it takes to achieve the dream of an unashamed destiny. Nigeria is a like car moving at one hundred and eighty kilometers per hour. That is dangerously too high for any car to be driving at, yet that is not all. We are moving at this speed with our gear on reverse. Nigeria is moving backward and not forward. From agriculture to culture, education, health, water, housing, economy, security, health, governance and many more. We are eroding infrastructure and institutions alike. When we move a step forward, we take eleven steps backward.
Take the case of rice. We no longer have local rice along side the so called foreign rice in our markets. Definitely we are taking many rice farmers out of work by this trend.The bag of rice hitherto going for five thousand naira now goes for ten thousand naira and even more. Rice is just one aspect. We are fast loosing grip of hope in many other aspects. Years ago, eating rice was perceived to be a luxury. It was reserved for festivities and Sundays except for the rich. It was common to find tuwo, fufu, amala and other swallow on the table of the poor. This was because soup was cheaper back then. There were gardens and vegetations everywhere for vegetables and the likes used in making soup. Gradually, soup became more expensive because the gardens gave way to bungalows and stalls. Hoes have given way to shovels and hammers. Rice moved from luxury to become the staple food for the generality of Nigerians especially the urban dwellers. With rice, all a poor man needs is salt, oil, pepper and water, if he can afford maggi and Cray fish, then good. Interestingly now, the rice is getting out of reach again. What is the fate of the common man?
We are eroding infrastructure and institutions alike. When we move a step forward, we take eleven steps backward.
We can no longer offer hope to the average Nigerian that things are getting better. Hope is good for breakfast but very bad for dinner. When people can not afford to eat, clothe and have a roof over their heads, then this hope is very fallacious. The hope we are been given is a mistaken idea. It is a misplaced faith that majority of Nigerians now have.
We pay for food, medicine, education, and rent. We pay taxes, we buy pure water. We even beg to queue and buy fuel; we pay for light we do not get. The suya man uses generator to illuminate his suya spot. Churches use generators to power their sermon, hospitals need generators for surgeries. I am sure even prostitutes have torch lights in their hand bags to guide them on the streets at night. After all darkness is the electricity robbers need to operate at night. Imagine my feelings when I first saw a generator under the table in NEPA office. It was as if I saw charm on a church alter. For the sake of simple arithmetic ;if PHCN gave 12 hours of light daily, a child born in 1999 must have spent 5 years of his/her life in darkness. This would have been a very generous analysis because it is very illusionary. We pay for all and get nothing. All we get is the fallacy that someday things will get better. Some promises year in, year out.
We can no longer offer hope to the average Nigerian that things are getting better. Hope is good for breakfast but very bad for dinner
If we continue to obstinate, we will never make it in the future. If after wasting away the past we are not committed to a rebuilding process in the present, then I am sorry the hope of innocent Nigerians died yesterday. We can forgive the past, but if we keep stifling the present, certainly we have already murdered the future again. Every today was a yesterday killed and eventually every tomorrow may become a wasted today. The future is gloomy and daily we are confronted with problems that should not have arisen in the first place. From the Niger Delta crises to election riggings. From religious disturbances to strikes in various sectors.
If after wasting away the past we are not committed to a rebuilding process in the present, then I am sorry the hope of innocent Nigerians died yesterday. We can forgive the past, but if we keep stifling the present, certainly we have already murdered the future again. Every today was a yesterday killed and eventually every tomorrow may become a wasted today.
We are a blessed country but as a people we chose to curse ourselves. Or rather our leaders found it profitable to rape us; and afterwards call us harlots. This is a country that yearly budgets, rolling plans, development plans, visions and agenda have been sung and still been sung since flag independence was won in 1960.Yes, flag independence.
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EPITAPH
By WakdokSamuelStephen.
At my funeral
Which of my friends will be there?
How many will leave behind their tight schedule
and travel to pay me last (dis)respects.
I can see some few known faces
Many may be strangers, passers by, church workers, grave diggers, Bus drivers, but all strangers.
Some of my relations will go to the market to sell their perishables
Some of my friends will go for the last stage of those important interviews they have
My school mates will be on vacation after working hard all year round
My colleagues will be posting or calling over or even on marketing calls.
They seemingly sacrificing ones will dare all the distance and tight schedules and risk the bad roads
They will be there.
Yes from my coffin I can see her from that branch
I am seeing him from the other branch
Yes; one of my class mates is here
My supervisor came late but at least he made it at last
Who is that in black dress, or the lady in red?
Please remove your goggles so I can see the tears or is it smiles?
Oh. Wonderful you are man enough and strong, I hate tears.
Will they send a casket for me?
Will they use a new shovel or hire one?
Will it be wet sand or dry sand?
My funeral
Who will make the most beautiful speech?
"He was a nice guy; he was always caring for those in need"
"That was a good boy, very honest and sincere."
"He was a dependable friend."
How many will be sincere to say all the wrong things I said or did?
Who will be bold to say the number of times I erred.
Which lady will be frank to say I broke her heart?
Who can stand in the crowd and say this man was a bad man?
None I guess
All will say in Unison
"There lies a gentleman. The world at large has lost a good heart, a rare gem."
Yet If I was that good why did they let me die? Why did you leave me to die?
If my so called friends had come to my aid when I needed them most, who knows I may still be alive doing all the good things they now say I was good at.
If my allowances and entitlements were paid promptly, I may have lived longer.
If my country had done well for our welfare and security. I will still be working and contributing my quota.
All that I needed to remain alive was a little help from you, a little magnanimity from him. Just a little bit of tenderness from her.
It was cheaper for you to come to my rescue than all you have spent at my burial.
It was easier to walk to my home than the distance you covered to attain my funeral.
It was more beneficial for you to help me live than all the tears you are shedding now which I can't repay.
I am better alive than dead.
But the human nature is complex.
From those cold hearts I now get so much comforting words in my grave.
From those frugal pockets I now get these generous donations to lie in a golden coffin?
Keep your gold if you could not bail me with paper.
Take your incense away from my graveside
Plant no flowers by my tomb when you could have planted more than flowers in my life with a little kindness.
Save me all the stress and save yourself all these distractions.
My Epitaph I will write my self
“Here I am - because no one went a millimeter further to help”.
I hate funeral speeches.
Thank you.
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At my funeral
Which of my friends will be there?
How many will leave behind their tight schedule
and travel to pay me last (dis)respects.
I can see some few known faces
Many may be strangers, passers by, church workers, grave diggers, Bus drivers, but all strangers.
Some of my relations will go to the market to sell their perishables
Some of my friends will go for the last stage of those important interviews they have
My school mates will be on vacation after working hard all year round
My colleagues will be posting or calling over or even on marketing calls.
They seemingly sacrificing ones will dare all the distance and tight schedules and risk the bad roads
They will be there.
Yes from my coffin I can see her from that branch
I am seeing him from the other branch
Yes; one of my class mates is here
My supervisor came late but at least he made it at last
Who is that in black dress, or the lady in red?
Please remove your goggles so I can see the tears or is it smiles?
Oh. Wonderful you are man enough and strong, I hate tears.
Will they send a casket for me?
Will they use a new shovel or hire one?
Will it be wet sand or dry sand?
My funeral
Who will make the most beautiful speech?
"He was a nice guy; he was always caring for those in need"
"That was a good boy, very honest and sincere."
"He was a dependable friend."
How many will be sincere to say all the wrong things I said or did?
Who will be bold to say the number of times I erred.
Which lady will be frank to say I broke her heart?
Who can stand in the crowd and say this man was a bad man?
None I guess
All will say in Unison
"There lies a gentleman. The world at large has lost a good heart, a rare gem."
Yet If I was that good why did they let me die? Why did you leave me to die?
If my so called friends had come to my aid when I needed them most, who knows I may still be alive doing all the good things they now say I was good at.
If my allowances and entitlements were paid promptly, I may have lived longer.
If my country had done well for our welfare and security. I will still be working and contributing my quota.
All that I needed to remain alive was a little help from you, a little magnanimity from him. Just a little bit of tenderness from her.
It was cheaper for you to come to my rescue than all you have spent at my burial.
It was easier to walk to my home than the distance you covered to attain my funeral.
It was more beneficial for you to help me live than all the tears you are shedding now which I can't repay.
I am better alive than dead.
But the human nature is complex.
From those cold hearts I now get so much comforting words in my grave.
From those frugal pockets I now get these generous donations to lie in a golden coffin?
Keep your gold if you could not bail me with paper.
Take your incense away from my graveside
Plant no flowers by my tomb when you could have planted more than flowers in my life with a little kindness.
Save me all the stress and save yourself all these distractions.
My Epitaph I will write my self
“Here I am - because no one went a millimeter further to help”.
I hate funeral speeches.
Thank you.
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NO PARKING
By WakdokSamuelStephen
My fortune is about to change. The various tiers of government in Nigeria have found my artisanship worthy, and I have won the contract to provide a very essential service. My friend when did you become this skilled to be found so special by government? The last time I checked you dropped out of school in your junior secondary school. Yes, though I dropped out years ago, I have finally found the reason to believe I made the right decision. This job I have got will cause me to even hire a Human Resource Consultant to select and recruit more hands across the federation to execute these projects. From Abia to Zamfara not excluding the FCT, Abuja.
I am even at a loss on how to prioritize them. Can I run through some of them in case you can advise me?
Education- No Parking. Electricity-No Thoroughfare. Health care- No Parking. Housing-No Parking. Security -No Parking. Roads-No Thoroughfare. Employment-No Parking. Credible elections-No Thoroughfare. Agriculture and food security-No Thoroughfare. Rural Development-No Thoroughfare. Urban renewal-No parking. Industrialization-No parking. Social Services-No parking. Infrastructural Provisions-No Thoroughfare. Good governance-No Parking. Erosion control-No parking. Economic development-No Thoroughfare. Exports-No Parking.
I understand your enthusiasm my friend. You have a good contract for yourself. But I am scared you have plenty of work on your hands, you will be very exhausted by the time you are done. To provide No Parking signs for hundreds of millions of Nigerians may be very tasking. I won a contract too from the same governments. Mine is just to provide a parking sign for a few chosen Nigerians. And my contract sum is very high. You work hard but I work smart. I can help you if you agree to collaborate with me, but we will share your contract sum and you can then abandon your projects. Once I execute my single project, all your projects are completed.
My contract is to provide a Parking sign. Just one. Corruption-Please Park Here. (Highly reserved for V.I.Ps)
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My fortune is about to change. The various tiers of government in Nigeria have found my artisanship worthy, and I have won the contract to provide a very essential service. My friend when did you become this skilled to be found so special by government? The last time I checked you dropped out of school in your junior secondary school. Yes, though I dropped out years ago, I have finally found the reason to believe I made the right decision. This job I have got will cause me to even hire a Human Resource Consultant to select and recruit more hands across the federation to execute these projects. From Abia to Zamfara not excluding the FCT, Abuja.
I am even at a loss on how to prioritize them. Can I run through some of them in case you can advise me?
Education- No Parking. Electricity-No Thoroughfare. Health care- No Parking. Housing-No Parking. Security -No Parking. Roads-No Thoroughfare. Employment-No Parking. Credible elections-No Thoroughfare. Agriculture and food security-No Thoroughfare. Rural Development-No Thoroughfare. Urban renewal-No parking. Industrialization-No parking. Social Services-No parking. Infrastructural Provisions-No Thoroughfare. Good governance-No Parking. Erosion control-No parking. Economic development-No Thoroughfare. Exports-No Parking.
I understand your enthusiasm my friend. You have a good contract for yourself. But I am scared you have plenty of work on your hands, you will be very exhausted by the time you are done. To provide No Parking signs for hundreds of millions of Nigerians may be very tasking. I won a contract too from the same governments. Mine is just to provide a parking sign for a few chosen Nigerians. And my contract sum is very high. You work hard but I work smart. I can help you if you agree to collaborate with me, but we will share your contract sum and you can then abandon your projects. Once I execute my single project, all your projects are completed.
My contract is to provide a Parking sign. Just one. Corruption-Please Park Here. (Highly reserved for V.I.Ps)
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WHERE ARE THE PROPHETS?
BY WakdokSamuelWakdok
Noah, Moses, Samuel, Nathan, Elijah, Elisha, Jeremiah, Isaiah, John de Baptist. Where are the prophets?
We wake up daily to be entertained by various actors in our country; I have severally said Nigeria is an open air theatre. We have drama, ballets, orchestra all going on simultaneously in different places. Recent publication by CBN goes to attest that we have different classifications of Nigerians. We have now seen the lists of corporate debtors who owe banks in billions and multi millions. This class of course has always existed but it is just coming to the fore .Add this latest class of corporate debtors to the long age one of political debtors. Political debtors are the ones who owe the populace to deliver on the mandates given to them through election or appointments. They owe us a lot of transparency and good governance. Just like the banks owe their share holders and customers duty of safety and care on their share holdings and deposits. The political debtors owe us all the duty of transforming Nigeria into a land of prosperity.
I look around and ask; where are the prophets? What I see are people who are horses. The same old horses. They are deeply involved in the conspiracy of the horses. Horses who want to be cows, horses who want to be goats, horses who want to be sheep, horses who want to be pigs. I see horses who want to be dogs, horses who want to be wolves, horses who want to be lions and horses who want to be elephants. What I see are horses who want to be fish, horses who want to be eagles, horses who want to be rats. These horses want to be all and still remain horses, and as such they stop others from been other things. Because they have to be everything, they destroy every other people who stand in their way. They destroy our economy, our polity, our institutions and our sense of dignity. They are destroying our spirit of nationalism.
In the Nigerian ballet, our dance is rather characterized by unconventional steps and ungraceful movements. We are known more for negativity than positive trends. In the Nigerian orchestra, we have a few people who are large enough playing: unclassical" music with their various instruments of stealing, deceits, lies, and plunders. Nigeria is a symphony. Symphony is a complex musical composition, but ours is not a harmonious composition. In fact in the Nigerian sonata, the classical instrument used is the solo instrument of greed. The initiative for greed in Nigeria is very high and the consequence is massive. We are dancing to dangerous melodies. Melodies of robbery and rape. Rhythms of prostitution and destitution, lines of child abuse and violence. Tunes of human traffic and drug trafficking. Nigeria is a symphony of fire and I dare say the fire is burning hot and hotter.
In this open air theatre called Nigeria. A few are on the stage which is shielded. Their shield is both a protection for them and also the trophy they have won in exploiting and degrading us. The rest are on the popular stand and we have been relegated to spectators. We pay so much to gain entrance into the theatre only to be entertained by jokers who have monopolized all to themselves. They are of two folds. Some who seek power and the others who seek money. Power gives them access to everything they want and don't even need through misappropriating public wealth. Money in turn buys them power. So in the end whether they go through economic or political means, they all arrive at the same goal.
Nigeria needs a Noah to build us an ark, we need a Moses to take us out of Egypt, we need a Samuel to oil and proclaim a new king (set of leaders).Nigeria needs a Nathan to tell the leaders that they are taking the wrong path. Nigeria needs an Elijah to call down fire from above and consume all these horses. We need an Elisha to tell them to go and wash their leprosy. Nigeria needs a Jeremiah to say the truth no matter whose ox is gored. We need an Isaiah who will proclaim freedom to the prisoners and good news to those in sorrow.
Rather than having these men of honour, we are faced with dark horses. But I tell you brethren; all hope is not yet lost. If we can not have the prophets of old listed above, it then becomes even more imperative for us the new breed to become the John the Baptist who must herald the new law- change. That is the only way to stop this Symphony of fire from burning and destroying more. That is the only way we can stop our children and our children's children from asking this same question we are asking; where are the prophets?
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Noah, Moses, Samuel, Nathan, Elijah, Elisha, Jeremiah, Isaiah, John de Baptist. Where are the prophets?
We wake up daily to be entertained by various actors in our country; I have severally said Nigeria is an open air theatre. We have drama, ballets, orchestra all going on simultaneously in different places. Recent publication by CBN goes to attest that we have different classifications of Nigerians. We have now seen the lists of corporate debtors who owe banks in billions and multi millions. This class of course has always existed but it is just coming to the fore .Add this latest class of corporate debtors to the long age one of political debtors. Political debtors are the ones who owe the populace to deliver on the mandates given to them through election or appointments. They owe us a lot of transparency and good governance. Just like the banks owe their share holders and customers duty of safety and care on their share holdings and deposits. The political debtors owe us all the duty of transforming Nigeria into a land of prosperity.
I look around and ask; where are the prophets? What I see are people who are horses. The same old horses. They are deeply involved in the conspiracy of the horses. Horses who want to be cows, horses who want to be goats, horses who want to be sheep, horses who want to be pigs. I see horses who want to be dogs, horses who want to be wolves, horses who want to be lions and horses who want to be elephants. What I see are horses who want to be fish, horses who want to be eagles, horses who want to be rats. These horses want to be all and still remain horses, and as such they stop others from been other things. Because they have to be everything, they destroy every other people who stand in their way. They destroy our economy, our polity, our institutions and our sense of dignity. They are destroying our spirit of nationalism.
In the Nigerian ballet, our dance is rather characterized by unconventional steps and ungraceful movements. We are known more for negativity than positive trends. In the Nigerian orchestra, we have a few people who are large enough playing: unclassical" music with their various instruments of stealing, deceits, lies, and plunders. Nigeria is a symphony. Symphony is a complex musical composition, but ours is not a harmonious composition. In fact in the Nigerian sonata, the classical instrument used is the solo instrument of greed. The initiative for greed in Nigeria is very high and the consequence is massive. We are dancing to dangerous melodies. Melodies of robbery and rape. Rhythms of prostitution and destitution, lines of child abuse and violence. Tunes of human traffic and drug trafficking. Nigeria is a symphony of fire and I dare say the fire is burning hot and hotter.
In this open air theatre called Nigeria. A few are on the stage which is shielded. Their shield is both a protection for them and also the trophy they have won in exploiting and degrading us. The rest are on the popular stand and we have been relegated to spectators. We pay so much to gain entrance into the theatre only to be entertained by jokers who have monopolized all to themselves. They are of two folds. Some who seek power and the others who seek money. Power gives them access to everything they want and don't even need through misappropriating public wealth. Money in turn buys them power. So in the end whether they go through economic or political means, they all arrive at the same goal.
Nigeria needs a Noah to build us an ark, we need a Moses to take us out of Egypt, we need a Samuel to oil and proclaim a new king (set of leaders).Nigeria needs a Nathan to tell the leaders that they are taking the wrong path. Nigeria needs an Elijah to call down fire from above and consume all these horses. We need an Elisha to tell them to go and wash their leprosy. Nigeria needs a Jeremiah to say the truth no matter whose ox is gored. We need an Isaiah who will proclaim freedom to the prisoners and good news to those in sorrow.
Rather than having these men of honour, we are faced with dark horses. But I tell you brethren; all hope is not yet lost. If we can not have the prophets of old listed above, it then becomes even more imperative for us the new breed to become the John the Baptist who must herald the new law- change. That is the only way to stop this Symphony of fire from burning and destroying more. That is the only way we can stop our children and our children's children from asking this same question we are asking; where are the prophets?
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VIATICUM
VIATICUM
By WakdokSamuelStephen
Bless me Holy Father, for I have sinned. This is forty nine years since my baptism. I have come for your papal absolution.
My child, with a cardinal, nine archbishops, several bishops and thousands of priests, did you need to come this far for confession?
Your Holiness, I risked the volatility of my aviation space even when I have no national carrier any more, I didn't want to swim across the murky waters of my militant gulf or dare the trans Saharan route of my Taliban deserts, so I hired a private jet which further depleted my fallen foreign reserves. It is not to say I do not believe in the efficacy of my priests or bishops power to absolve me, but my sins are multitude..
Since my baptism forty nine years ago, I have been married to several men both civilian and military.
I have aborted the dreams of my children through incessant strikes academic and otherwise.
My extra ordinary affairs with Chinese, European and even African industries have resulted in the sad death of my textile industries.
My naira has become a harlot chasing after dollars and pounds and Euros and even CFAs.
My breast milk is nutritiously made of crude oil, uranium, iron, coal, tin, columbites cotton, groundnut, ginger, yam, millet, wheat, and many others but my children are starving because I am not baby friendly.
I cowardly and callously gave out my grand daughter Bakassi into a forced marriage to my neighbour.
The banks of my banks over flow with toxic assets and my money manager cum emir of risk management had to do a mouth to mouth resuscitation.
Kidnapping has become cheaper than pick pocketing in my place.
Many of my children have died under the bridge; many more are still dying under various bridges. Bridge of infrastructural decay, bridge of institutional collapse, bridge of cultural decadence and bridge of religious hooliganism.
The few stronger offspring of mine have become so greedy. They have hijacked my oil wealth. They have also hijacked the ballots and made my other children hostages, and I am helpless.
Every week four hundred of my children queue to India for medical attention and some even brave wars to go to Sudan.
My beautiful girls have been forced to adorn the streets at night and some even dare it at day. The boys have become so brave that the strike at will.
My dams are thirsty themselves so how can my people get water.
I have become so lazy and unproductive that we depend on Malaysia for palm oil, Italy for shoes, China for clothes and many other countries for everything we need.
Holy Father, my sins are so many that I can't remember the others, for these I can recall, I ask pardon from God.
My child, having listened to your confession, I am afraid you need more than an absolution. Absolution is for the living I will give you Viaticum. You need this communion because you are in danger of dying. When and if you survive this danger, then you may come back for absolution.
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By WakdokSamuelStephen
Bless me Holy Father, for I have sinned. This is forty nine years since my baptism. I have come for your papal absolution.
My child, with a cardinal, nine archbishops, several bishops and thousands of priests, did you need to come this far for confession?
Your Holiness, I risked the volatility of my aviation space even when I have no national carrier any more, I didn't want to swim across the murky waters of my militant gulf or dare the trans Saharan route of my Taliban deserts, so I hired a private jet which further depleted my fallen foreign reserves. It is not to say I do not believe in the efficacy of my priests or bishops power to absolve me, but my sins are multitude..
Since my baptism forty nine years ago, I have been married to several men both civilian and military.
I have aborted the dreams of my children through incessant strikes academic and otherwise.
My extra ordinary affairs with Chinese, European and even African industries have resulted in the sad death of my textile industries.
My naira has become a harlot chasing after dollars and pounds and Euros and even CFAs.
My breast milk is nutritiously made of crude oil, uranium, iron, coal, tin, columbites cotton, groundnut, ginger, yam, millet, wheat, and many others but my children are starving because I am not baby friendly.
I cowardly and callously gave out my grand daughter Bakassi into a forced marriage to my neighbour.
The banks of my banks over flow with toxic assets and my money manager cum emir of risk management had to do a mouth to mouth resuscitation.
Kidnapping has become cheaper than pick pocketing in my place.
Many of my children have died under the bridge; many more are still dying under various bridges. Bridge of infrastructural decay, bridge of institutional collapse, bridge of cultural decadence and bridge of religious hooliganism.
The few stronger offspring of mine have become so greedy. They have hijacked my oil wealth. They have also hijacked the ballots and made my other children hostages, and I am helpless.
Every week four hundred of my children queue to India for medical attention and some even brave wars to go to Sudan.
My beautiful girls have been forced to adorn the streets at night and some even dare it at day. The boys have become so brave that the strike at will.
My dams are thirsty themselves so how can my people get water.
I have become so lazy and unproductive that we depend on Malaysia for palm oil, Italy for shoes, China for clothes and many other countries for everything we need.
Holy Father, my sins are so many that I can't remember the others, for these I can recall, I ask pardon from God.
My child, having listened to your confession, I am afraid you need more than an absolution. Absolution is for the living I will give you Viaticum. You need this communion because you are in danger of dying. When and if you survive this danger, then you may come back for absolution.
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Saturday, August 22, 2009
Spritual Nigerian Conference
By WakdokSamuelStephen.
General Ironsi: Where is Mohammed? They killed me for enacting a decree making Nigeria a Unitary state. I only acted in the best interest of the nation. I wanted Nigerians to live as one.
Colonel Fajuyi: Morning Sir, I shared in your passion that was why I remained loyal till death. I would have been a bad host to let you die alone in Ibadan that fateful day in July. After all I knew the back gate of Mokola barracks if I wanted to escape.
General Ironsi: Thank you my loyal officer. See how over centralized the government has become. Why will a president give orders to a governor in a democracy? Is that the federalism they killed me to protect?
Sir Tafawa Balewa: Toh, General. Your boys started it. They interrupted democracy and intruded into politics. They killed not only us; they also killed the Nigerian vision when they struck on 15th January 1966. Imagine; they dumped my body on the express way.
Sir Ahmadu Bello: Abu, when I sent you to Lagos to head the federal government and stayed back in Kaduna to head the northern region, it was because in a truly federal system the regions (states) are not subservient to the centre. But that boy of mine (Nzeogwu) came and blasted my life away.
Chief Obafemi Awolowo: I do not support shedding of blood, but I am very sure if your NPC led government had not taken sides with Akintola and jailed me for treason, the tension of the 1st republic will not have degenerated into killings.
Sir Tafawa Balewa: It was Nnamdi who refused to swear me in after we won the 1964 general elections. That heated up the polity.
Dr. Nnamdi Azikiwe: Abubakar, there were widespread irregularities in that election you still claim to have won. I only did my presidential task with uprightness. That was the beauty of a parliamentary form of government.
Colonel Fajuyi: Welcome Murtala. Gen. Ironsi asked after you.
General Murtala Mohammed: I went for prayers. Though Dimka killed me on a Friday morning I have not lost faith in Allah. I have not missed a single Jumat prayer since I came here on the 13th of February 1976.
Lt. Col. Dimka: Gen Mohammed, ASUU is on strike again. Ditto for SSANU and NASU. I killed you because of your overzealousness. If you didn’t confiscate primary and secondary schools from the churches and mosques, the government would have had enough funds to cater for the universities today.
Col. Ibrahim Taiwo: Dimka after killing us in Ikoyi 33 years ago, the least you can do is to be remorseful and let’s navigate out of this Nigerian puzzle.
C.P. Joseph Gowmalk: Taiwo, my brother Dimka is right. Look at me. Why am I here? My sin was standing up for the liberation of the middle belt. I went as for as Ibadan to bring a university to Jos. I wanted my people to be free of the tyrannical feudal lords up north. Obasanjo and his smoking deputy roped me into a coup I knew nothing of.
Lt. Gen. Shehu Yar’Adua: Haba Joseph. What has my cigar got to do with this? Was it not your cousin Garba who announced the overthrow of your brother Gowon? It was the tribunal who recommended the death penalty.
General Bissala: Yes Shehu. The kangaroo tribunal you set up.
Maj. Gen. Joe Garba: I apologized to Uncle Jack (Gen. Gowon) before I came here. The interest of Nigeria has always been paramount to me. Gen. Murtala Mohammed wanted to stem out corruption. I did my best to advance the image of Nigeria when I was the president of the U.N. General Assembly.
Major Dimlong: The Nigeria we fought to keep as one, see it going up in flames. I even married a Yoruba lady. My son is known by his Yoruba name and not his plateau name. Thank God he married a doctor from Shendam.
Brigadier Bako: What about me? I was the lone casualty of the 1983 coup. I exchanged my life for that of Shagari. Today, both the military and the civilian regimes have failed me. I sacrificed my life for an ungrateful crop of people.
Maj. Gen. Tunde Idiagbon: Bako when we charged through on that 31st day of December 1983, you failed to see our objective. You wasted your life. Do you see why Nigeria needed people like Buhari and me? Poor Buhari he is still battling to win an election when all we needed then was a gun.
Maj. Gen. Mamman Vatsa: That was why I attempted to ease out my course mate. I saw the maradonic tendencies in him as far back as 1986. Unfortunately he killed me, and eventually killed June 12.
Major Orkar: General Vatsa, I read the scripts of your unfinished poetry and decided to continue from where you stopped. If only we ostracized those northern states we mentioned, all these religious strife and Boko Haram saga will not have occurred. But people like oga Bello aborted our mission.
Col. U.K. Bello: Gideon, I was one of the finest soldiers of my time. I would have failed as an ADC if I had let you kill Gen. Babangida. So I had to take his bullet.
Lt. Akogu: I was a fine soldier too. The painful thing is I didn’t face the firing squad standing like others. I was in a wheel chair because of my injuries. Anyway, is Nigeria not in a wheel chair 49 years after independence? Sick nation. Why did we fail on April 22nd 1990?
Prof. Olukoye Ransome-Kuti: I knew the physiology and pathology of Nigeria’s sickness that was why I vigorously pursued the primary health care programme. The healing must start from the roots.
Col. Victor Banjo: Chukwuma, you sneaked out of bed to go for morning mass. We have been holding a conference on the plight of Nigeria.
Major Chukwuma Nzeogwu: We all need God my brother, especially those we left behind in Nigeria. When we struck in 1966 to salvage the fatherland they called us tribalists. Now see what Nigeria has degenerated into. “A dying giant.”
Col. Banjo: Don’t feel bad. We know that we were not tribalists. Did I a Yoruba man not fight on the Biafran side? I captured the Midwest and was on my way to capture Lagos if not for Murtala and his 2nd Division.
Maj. Gen Usman Katsina: Victor, even if you had crossed Ibadan I was already on my way with the 1st Division. Was it not the same Ojukwu who executed you?
Ken Saro-Wiwa: We told the world this was bound to happen. In death our blood is our voice. Look at Ogoni land, look at Niger Delta, and look at Nigeria.
Fela: I can’t stop singing; suffering and smiling. That is the lot of Nigerians.
Lawrence Anini: They killed us for robbing the rich and sharing the loot to the poor. We now know the real robbers. They rob the people of their votes and wealth. Shame!
Chief MKO Abiola: When Sani incarcerated me, he held the hope of Nigerians hostage. Nigeria would have been better if I was allowed to assume my mandate.
General Sani Abacha: Kai MKO, don’t call my name. Thank God for GSM, dial Nigeria and talk to your friend IBB. He annulled your election. When I dissolved ASUU, suspended NLC and pursued NADECO, I was labeled an autocrat; the fruits of democracy are MEND, MOSSOB, OPC and all the strikes. Where is my vision 2010?
Bola Ige: So annoying that my brothers will kill me to prevent the truth from been heard.
Isaac Boro: I saw nothing good in that British induced marriage called Nigeria that was why I launched the secession of the Ijaw nation.
Chief Rotimi Williams: We may sit here all day lamenting. The problems of Nigeria are multifarious. I suggest we go to the Supreme Court for adjudication.
Bishop Idahosa: My dear friend, you can’t appear as a counsel here. The only advocate here is Jesus.
Chief Akintola: Then let us go into a parliamentary session. Who has a mace here?
Dr. Chuba Okadibo: The political sagacity taking place back home calls for an urgent resolution to be passed. I came with the mace I hid; we can use that for this special sitting.
Col. (Maj. Gen.) Effiong: These civilians want to scheme us out. They are aware we soldiers can not sit in parliament.
Aminu Kano: Do not worry Philip we are all Nigerians here. No soldiers, No politicians. It is my talakawas (masses) I feel for.
Chief Michael Opara: Are we using the parliamentary or presidential constitution?
Chief Enwerem: Let’s use the presidential.
Dr. Bala Usman: We can’t afford to keep arguing about parliamentary or presidential, military or political while Nigeria burns. The Historical materialism is the issue at stake.
Archbishop Ganaka: In the name of the Father, Son and the Holy Spirit. Our loving and merciful God, Nigeria needs you now as always. Send down your Spirit of love, justice and Peace. Look at Jos my beautiful bride; she is now a blood bank.
Pastor Bimbo: Heavenly father, forgive our brothers and sisters in Nigeria who have divorced their hearts from your ways.
Sultan Maccido: There is no God but Allah. The infidels are those who loot the treasury and exploit the ordinary people. The unbelievers are those who cause untold pains to your children. Cleanse our country of evil men and their wicked acts.
Cardinal Ekandem: Deliver Nigeria from further damnation through Christ our Lord.
Sunny Okuson: Ziga Ozi! Nigeria is ours for ever. We either win it or loose it for ever. Freedom is now or never. We have to win it and keep it for good.
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General Ironsi: Where is Mohammed? They killed me for enacting a decree making Nigeria a Unitary state. I only acted in the best interest of the nation. I wanted Nigerians to live as one.
Colonel Fajuyi: Morning Sir, I shared in your passion that was why I remained loyal till death. I would have been a bad host to let you die alone in Ibadan that fateful day in July. After all I knew the back gate of Mokola barracks if I wanted to escape.
General Ironsi: Thank you my loyal officer. See how over centralized the government has become. Why will a president give orders to a governor in a democracy? Is that the federalism they killed me to protect?
Sir Tafawa Balewa: Toh, General. Your boys started it. They interrupted democracy and intruded into politics. They killed not only us; they also killed the Nigerian vision when they struck on 15th January 1966. Imagine; they dumped my body on the express way.
Sir Ahmadu Bello: Abu, when I sent you to Lagos to head the federal government and stayed back in Kaduna to head the northern region, it was because in a truly federal system the regions (states) are not subservient to the centre. But that boy of mine (Nzeogwu) came and blasted my life away.
Chief Obafemi Awolowo: I do not support shedding of blood, but I am very sure if your NPC led government had not taken sides with Akintola and jailed me for treason, the tension of the 1st republic will not have degenerated into killings.
Sir Tafawa Balewa: It was Nnamdi who refused to swear me in after we won the 1964 general elections. That heated up the polity.
Dr. Nnamdi Azikiwe: Abubakar, there were widespread irregularities in that election you still claim to have won. I only did my presidential task with uprightness. That was the beauty of a parliamentary form of government.
Colonel Fajuyi: Welcome Murtala. Gen. Ironsi asked after you.
General Murtala Mohammed: I went for prayers. Though Dimka killed me on a Friday morning I have not lost faith in Allah. I have not missed a single Jumat prayer since I came here on the 13th of February 1976.
Lt. Col. Dimka: Gen Mohammed, ASUU is on strike again. Ditto for SSANU and NASU. I killed you because of your overzealousness. If you didn’t confiscate primary and secondary schools from the churches and mosques, the government would have had enough funds to cater for the universities today.
Col. Ibrahim Taiwo: Dimka after killing us in Ikoyi 33 years ago, the least you can do is to be remorseful and let’s navigate out of this Nigerian puzzle.
C.P. Joseph Gowmalk: Taiwo, my brother Dimka is right. Look at me. Why am I here? My sin was standing up for the liberation of the middle belt. I went as for as Ibadan to bring a university to Jos. I wanted my people to be free of the tyrannical feudal lords up north. Obasanjo and his smoking deputy roped me into a coup I knew nothing of.
Lt. Gen. Shehu Yar’Adua: Haba Joseph. What has my cigar got to do with this? Was it not your cousin Garba who announced the overthrow of your brother Gowon? It was the tribunal who recommended the death penalty.
General Bissala: Yes Shehu. The kangaroo tribunal you set up.
Maj. Gen. Joe Garba: I apologized to Uncle Jack (Gen. Gowon) before I came here. The interest of Nigeria has always been paramount to me. Gen. Murtala Mohammed wanted to stem out corruption. I did my best to advance the image of Nigeria when I was the president of the U.N. General Assembly.
Major Dimlong: The Nigeria we fought to keep as one, see it going up in flames. I even married a Yoruba lady. My son is known by his Yoruba name and not his plateau name. Thank God he married a doctor from Shendam.
Brigadier Bako: What about me? I was the lone casualty of the 1983 coup. I exchanged my life for that of Shagari. Today, both the military and the civilian regimes have failed me. I sacrificed my life for an ungrateful crop of people.
Maj. Gen. Tunde Idiagbon: Bako when we charged through on that 31st day of December 1983, you failed to see our objective. You wasted your life. Do you see why Nigeria needed people like Buhari and me? Poor Buhari he is still battling to win an election when all we needed then was a gun.
Maj. Gen. Mamman Vatsa: That was why I attempted to ease out my course mate. I saw the maradonic tendencies in him as far back as 1986. Unfortunately he killed me, and eventually killed June 12.
Major Orkar: General Vatsa, I read the scripts of your unfinished poetry and decided to continue from where you stopped. If only we ostracized those northern states we mentioned, all these religious strife and Boko Haram saga will not have occurred. But people like oga Bello aborted our mission.
Col. U.K. Bello: Gideon, I was one of the finest soldiers of my time. I would have failed as an ADC if I had let you kill Gen. Babangida. So I had to take his bullet.
Lt. Akogu: I was a fine soldier too. The painful thing is I didn’t face the firing squad standing like others. I was in a wheel chair because of my injuries. Anyway, is Nigeria not in a wheel chair 49 years after independence? Sick nation. Why did we fail on April 22nd 1990?
Prof. Olukoye Ransome-Kuti: I knew the physiology and pathology of Nigeria’s sickness that was why I vigorously pursued the primary health care programme. The healing must start from the roots.
Col. Victor Banjo: Chukwuma, you sneaked out of bed to go for morning mass. We have been holding a conference on the plight of Nigeria.
Major Chukwuma Nzeogwu: We all need God my brother, especially those we left behind in Nigeria. When we struck in 1966 to salvage the fatherland they called us tribalists. Now see what Nigeria has degenerated into. “A dying giant.”
Col. Banjo: Don’t feel bad. We know that we were not tribalists. Did I a Yoruba man not fight on the Biafran side? I captured the Midwest and was on my way to capture Lagos if not for Murtala and his 2nd Division.
Maj. Gen Usman Katsina: Victor, even if you had crossed Ibadan I was already on my way with the 1st Division. Was it not the same Ojukwu who executed you?
Ken Saro-Wiwa: We told the world this was bound to happen. In death our blood is our voice. Look at Ogoni land, look at Niger Delta, and look at Nigeria.
Fela: I can’t stop singing; suffering and smiling. That is the lot of Nigerians.
Lawrence Anini: They killed us for robbing the rich and sharing the loot to the poor. We now know the real robbers. They rob the people of their votes and wealth. Shame!
Chief MKO Abiola: When Sani incarcerated me, he held the hope of Nigerians hostage. Nigeria would have been better if I was allowed to assume my mandate.
General Sani Abacha: Kai MKO, don’t call my name. Thank God for GSM, dial Nigeria and talk to your friend IBB. He annulled your election. When I dissolved ASUU, suspended NLC and pursued NADECO, I was labeled an autocrat; the fruits of democracy are MEND, MOSSOB, OPC and all the strikes. Where is my vision 2010?
Bola Ige: So annoying that my brothers will kill me to prevent the truth from been heard.
Isaac Boro: I saw nothing good in that British induced marriage called Nigeria that was why I launched the secession of the Ijaw nation.
Chief Rotimi Williams: We may sit here all day lamenting. The problems of Nigeria are multifarious. I suggest we go to the Supreme Court for adjudication.
Bishop Idahosa: My dear friend, you can’t appear as a counsel here. The only advocate here is Jesus.
Chief Akintola: Then let us go into a parliamentary session. Who has a mace here?
Dr. Chuba Okadibo: The political sagacity taking place back home calls for an urgent resolution to be passed. I came with the mace I hid; we can use that for this special sitting.
Col. (Maj. Gen.) Effiong: These civilians want to scheme us out. They are aware we soldiers can not sit in parliament.
Aminu Kano: Do not worry Philip we are all Nigerians here. No soldiers, No politicians. It is my talakawas (masses) I feel for.
Chief Michael Opara: Are we using the parliamentary or presidential constitution?
Chief Enwerem: Let’s use the presidential.
Dr. Bala Usman: We can’t afford to keep arguing about parliamentary or presidential, military or political while Nigeria burns. The Historical materialism is the issue at stake.
Archbishop Ganaka: In the name of the Father, Son and the Holy Spirit. Our loving and merciful God, Nigeria needs you now as always. Send down your Spirit of love, justice and Peace. Look at Jos my beautiful bride; she is now a blood bank.
Pastor Bimbo: Heavenly father, forgive our brothers and sisters in Nigeria who have divorced their hearts from your ways.
Sultan Maccido: There is no God but Allah. The infidels are those who loot the treasury and exploit the ordinary people. The unbelievers are those who cause untold pains to your children. Cleanse our country of evil men and their wicked acts.
Cardinal Ekandem: Deliver Nigeria from further damnation through Christ our Lord.
Sunny Okuson: Ziga Ozi! Nigeria is ours for ever. We either win it or loose it for ever. Freedom is now or never. We have to win it and keep it for good.
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Police and Thief: The Nigerian Identity Problem
By SamuelStephenWakdok
Growing up in the 80s, a game was common. We played this game of Police and Thief. The bad guy of course was the thief. After much chasing and hiding, it was normal for the police to catch the thief or for the police to shoot and kill the thief. That was based on simple logic, the triumph of good over evil. Dele Giwa once said that the triumph of evil over good is temporary, because in the long run good must triumph over evil. Even as kids it was very clear to us that evil must be quashed. Looking back into history, I can not really say how it went wrong, but definitely something went wrong.
The police and thief game shows the picture of how the larger society ought to be. The police in this piece are not limited to the men and women of the Nigerian Police force; rather it is the Nigerian State. It encompasses all the institutions of the state and their various agents. It does talk about the machinery of government with due reference to those saddled with the responsibility of governing the country. It is both the elected and public officials, both civil and military. It talks about the security and law enforcement agencies in the country. The dictionary defines a State as: a country's government and those government-controlled institutions that are responsible for its internal administration and its relationships with other countries. Or: a country or nation with its own sovereign independent government. It went further to define a government as a political authority: a group of people who have the power to make and enforce laws for a country or area. The state is therefore viewed as the ruler; the state and its administration are viewed as the ruling political power. A government thus assumes the mandate given by the people. Since every one can not be law unto him/herself, the citizens surrender their power to a government who then has the authority to rule on their behalf. The legitimacy of any government is derived from the people and that is why popular participation mostly through free and fair elections seems to be the best form of coming into power.
It is only justifiable that after giving up their power to the state to rule with their mandate, the people of any country or nation will expect certain duties and responsibilities on the part of the rulers in exchange for the rights and privileges the rulers gain from occupying public offices. These include but are not limited to the security of lives and property, provision of basic amenities and infrastructure, employment opportunities, social services, enabling atmosphere for businesses to thrive among other things. In fact I can summarize the responsibilities of any meaningful government to; developing, sustaining and even improving the human development of the people by utilizing the resources at the disposal of the government.
Like a day which gives way to the setting of the sun, the situation here has become blurred. It is no more Police and thief but has over the years become a case of the Police is the thief. And for me this is the crux of Nigeria's Identity Crisis. Identity is defined as what identifies somebody or something: the name or essential character that identifies somebody or something or essential self: the set of characteristics that somebody recognizes as belonging uniquely to himself or herself and constituting his or her individual personality for life. How ever Identity crisis is defined as anxiety about social role: a period during which somebody feels great anxiety and uncertainty about his or her identity and role in life and society. It can also be defined as anxiety of a group: a period of anxiety or confusion about the nature, aims, and role of a group, organization, or business and in this case a nation. Nigeria is a study in contrast. The country is both a giant and a dwarf. It is rich and yet one of the poorest nations on earth. Rich in resources both natural and human, but her people are poor. Nigerians are a very religious people, yet violence and crime rates are very high. Nigeria has enormous body of water but there is scarcity of water for human consumption and commercial use. We are the sixth largest exporter of crude oil (may be seventh now since Angola has overtaken us) but also one of the heaviest importers of refined petroleum products. The country has a vast array of arable land but majority of her people are starving. Nigeria has many educated people who have excelled in all endeavors of life but our basic problems at home have not been solved. We have many sources of generating and distributing electricity but we exist perpetually in semi darkness and are the largest importer of generators in Africa. We export very few (crude oil and prostitutes) but import almost everything (including tooth pick and cotton buds) . We spend huge funds and lives to ensure peace keeping and enforcement in warring countries but we can not keep simple law and order at home. Nigeria has an over centralized government but recent literatures and reports describe the country as a failed state. Nigeria is a juxtaposition of different things.
The state and her institutions, the government and her organs, the people, have all connived to ensure that Nigeria does not become the pride she was destined to be. Nigeria has been wandering between obscurity and oblivion. We have no meaningful identity to present to the world or even ourselves. The state has failed in its primary role of harnessing the resources of the country to the benefit of the generality of the citizenry. Rather corruption has become so endemic that it has been elevated to become the official language of governance. Corruption has become the fuel which burns the governed but cooks the food for the elite club who has hijacked power. Various governments have been hypocritical in fighting corruption. They only fight it with their lips but oil its wheel with deeds. We have school buildings but the standard of education has nose-dived. We have health professionals but our hospitals have become an ante-room to the grave. Air transportation has become a flying coffin, water ways are not available, rail system is out of service and our roads are death traps. We have more streets than homes in this country, more churches than Christians and more mosques than Moslems. We have more crises than solutions, more rogues than patriots and more contracts than projects. We destroy faster than we build and do not maintain at all. We have a government but we are been compared to Somalia which has been without a functional government since 1991. We talk so much about development but achieve nothing or at best so little. In the midst of all these, Nigerians won the survey of happiest people in the world some years ago. The contrast defers scientific rationality.
Nigeria is the only country where political parties campaign during elections without a manifesto. Obviously it means the government has no ideology. Any government with out an ideology is a car without a driver. It can stop at any time in transit. It may skid off the road; it may summersault and may even drive itself into an ocean. And that is exactly what is happening. Nigeria has been driving on the road of insecurity, driving into the ocean of dehumanization with reckless impunity. We have no safety valve to gauge the volume of air in our tube. Meaning we may burst at anytime due to excess pressure or may go flat due to inadequate air. Life expectancy in Nigeria is at a lowly 47 years in a millennium where technology, research and development have used science to demystify most health related problems. Given Nigeria’s resources, abundant talents and the size of this country both in terms of population and land mass, Nigeria ought to be what United State is to the American continent, or what India is to Asia or what Brazil has become for Latin America. Unfortunately we keep falling on the scales of development indices.
The police and thief of the days gone beyond has become the police is thief. The state has not stood on the side of justice, equity, peace and development. The act of governance has become the route to exploitation. The Nigeria's identity problem calls for serious concern. If the police is now the thief, who will the victims run to for help? If the state is the bandit who will the citizens run to for reprieve? The police is the thief. Yes, that is the crux of Nigeria's identity problem. The state is the terror. Political, social and economic terrorist.
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Growing up in the 80s, a game was common. We played this game of Police and Thief. The bad guy of course was the thief. After much chasing and hiding, it was normal for the police to catch the thief or for the police to shoot and kill the thief. That was based on simple logic, the triumph of good over evil. Dele Giwa once said that the triumph of evil over good is temporary, because in the long run good must triumph over evil. Even as kids it was very clear to us that evil must be quashed. Looking back into history, I can not really say how it went wrong, but definitely something went wrong.
The police and thief game shows the picture of how the larger society ought to be. The police in this piece are not limited to the men and women of the Nigerian Police force; rather it is the Nigerian State. It encompasses all the institutions of the state and their various agents. It does talk about the machinery of government with due reference to those saddled with the responsibility of governing the country. It is both the elected and public officials, both civil and military. It talks about the security and law enforcement agencies in the country. The dictionary defines a State as: a country's government and those government-controlled institutions that are responsible for its internal administration and its relationships with other countries. Or: a country or nation with its own sovereign independent government. It went further to define a government as a political authority: a group of people who have the power to make and enforce laws for a country or area. The state is therefore viewed as the ruler; the state and its administration are viewed as the ruling political power. A government thus assumes the mandate given by the people. Since every one can not be law unto him/herself, the citizens surrender their power to a government who then has the authority to rule on their behalf. The legitimacy of any government is derived from the people and that is why popular participation mostly through free and fair elections seems to be the best form of coming into power.
It is only justifiable that after giving up their power to the state to rule with their mandate, the people of any country or nation will expect certain duties and responsibilities on the part of the rulers in exchange for the rights and privileges the rulers gain from occupying public offices. These include but are not limited to the security of lives and property, provision of basic amenities and infrastructure, employment opportunities, social services, enabling atmosphere for businesses to thrive among other things. In fact I can summarize the responsibilities of any meaningful government to; developing, sustaining and even improving the human development of the people by utilizing the resources at the disposal of the government.
Like a day which gives way to the setting of the sun, the situation here has become blurred. It is no more Police and thief but has over the years become a case of the Police is the thief. And for me this is the crux of Nigeria's Identity Crisis. Identity is defined as what identifies somebody or something: the name or essential character that identifies somebody or something or essential self: the set of characteristics that somebody recognizes as belonging uniquely to himself or herself and constituting his or her individual personality for life. How ever Identity crisis is defined as anxiety about social role: a period during which somebody feels great anxiety and uncertainty about his or her identity and role in life and society. It can also be defined as anxiety of a group: a period of anxiety or confusion about the nature, aims, and role of a group, organization, or business and in this case a nation. Nigeria is a study in contrast. The country is both a giant and a dwarf. It is rich and yet one of the poorest nations on earth. Rich in resources both natural and human, but her people are poor. Nigerians are a very religious people, yet violence and crime rates are very high. Nigeria has enormous body of water but there is scarcity of water for human consumption and commercial use. We are the sixth largest exporter of crude oil (may be seventh now since Angola has overtaken us) but also one of the heaviest importers of refined petroleum products. The country has a vast array of arable land but majority of her people are starving. Nigeria has many educated people who have excelled in all endeavors of life but our basic problems at home have not been solved. We have many sources of generating and distributing electricity but we exist perpetually in semi darkness and are the largest importer of generators in Africa. We export very few (crude oil and prostitutes) but import almost everything (including tooth pick and cotton buds) . We spend huge funds and lives to ensure peace keeping and enforcement in warring countries but we can not keep simple law and order at home. Nigeria has an over centralized government but recent literatures and reports describe the country as a failed state. Nigeria is a juxtaposition of different things.
The state and her institutions, the government and her organs, the people, have all connived to ensure that Nigeria does not become the pride she was destined to be. Nigeria has been wandering between obscurity and oblivion. We have no meaningful identity to present to the world or even ourselves. The state has failed in its primary role of harnessing the resources of the country to the benefit of the generality of the citizenry. Rather corruption has become so endemic that it has been elevated to become the official language of governance. Corruption has become the fuel which burns the governed but cooks the food for the elite club who has hijacked power. Various governments have been hypocritical in fighting corruption. They only fight it with their lips but oil its wheel with deeds. We have school buildings but the standard of education has nose-dived. We have health professionals but our hospitals have become an ante-room to the grave. Air transportation has become a flying coffin, water ways are not available, rail system is out of service and our roads are death traps. We have more streets than homes in this country, more churches than Christians and more mosques than Moslems. We have more crises than solutions, more rogues than patriots and more contracts than projects. We destroy faster than we build and do not maintain at all. We have a government but we are been compared to Somalia which has been without a functional government since 1991. We talk so much about development but achieve nothing or at best so little. In the midst of all these, Nigerians won the survey of happiest people in the world some years ago. The contrast defers scientific rationality.
Nigeria is the only country where political parties campaign during elections without a manifesto. Obviously it means the government has no ideology. Any government with out an ideology is a car without a driver. It can stop at any time in transit. It may skid off the road; it may summersault and may even drive itself into an ocean. And that is exactly what is happening. Nigeria has been driving on the road of insecurity, driving into the ocean of dehumanization with reckless impunity. We have no safety valve to gauge the volume of air in our tube. Meaning we may burst at anytime due to excess pressure or may go flat due to inadequate air. Life expectancy in Nigeria is at a lowly 47 years in a millennium where technology, research and development have used science to demystify most health related problems. Given Nigeria’s resources, abundant talents and the size of this country both in terms of population and land mass, Nigeria ought to be what United State is to the American continent, or what India is to Asia or what Brazil has become for Latin America. Unfortunately we keep falling on the scales of development indices.
The police and thief of the days gone beyond has become the police is thief. The state has not stood on the side of justice, equity, peace and development. The act of governance has become the route to exploitation. The Nigeria's identity problem calls for serious concern. If the police is now the thief, who will the victims run to for help? If the state is the bandit who will the citizens run to for reprieve? The police is the thief. Yes, that is the crux of Nigeria's identity problem. The state is the terror. Political, social and economic terrorist.
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