‘Rotimi Ameachi would win the Rivers State Governorship election’

• Alabo Graham-Douglas, accused of pandering to ethnic sentiments for cheap relevance
• Source discloses that Ameachi is popular with the youth of Rivers State
  

Rotimi Chibuike Amaechi, the Speaker of the Rivers State House of Assembly, would win the Rivers State Governorship election, according to a well-placed source in Rivers State. The source said that Rotimi Ameachi is in the catbird seat. It comes on the heels of demands for power shift from the Riverine area of the State who insist that it is their turn to hold the highest post.


The source said that the House Speaker is popular with youths in the State and is on course to a landslide victory in the April 2007 , Rivers State Governorship election. The Upland and Riverine dichotomy - the clear blue water of Rivers State’s politics - threatens to shake Nigeria’s largest oil-producing State, accounting for 40% of Nigeria’s oil revenues.


Rivers State has experienced great militant activities. ‘People are disillusioned; graduates do not have jobs, there is no medical service and good roads. People pick up guns out frustration,’ the source said.


Many see Ameachi as Peter Odili’s yes man. Both of them are embroiled in a corruption stew of N200 billion. Since 1999, River State has received more than N500 billion as well as more than N200 billion in internally generated revenues but the State Governor, Speaker and Local Councillors have been accused of siphoning State funds meant for development.


Governor Odili has been accused of wasting away almost eight years in Government; - he is the longest serving civilian Governor since the State was created in 1967 - he allegedly gave loads of money to titled traditional heads in 24 states. EFFC - a body instituted to fight corruption and other vices - reported that Odili spent millions in renting hotel rooms in Abuja during the primaries that saw Rotimi Ameachi emerge as the PDP flag-bearer for the Rivers State Governorship election.

According to the source, the decimal Upland and Riverine dichotomy would not in any stand in the way of the young Governorship aspirant who enjoys a groundswell support from youths in the oil-producing state. ‘Ameachi’s ethnic group, the Ikwerres, are the single most largest group in Rivers and they would provide him enough votes to cruise to victory.’

Rotimi Ameachi hails from the prolific oil-producing Ikwerre ethnic group who are native to Port Harcourt. Opponents of his candidacy say he hails from the Upland, therefore unfit to be Governor. They say that since Peter Odili comes from the Upland, it would be inappropriate to concede leadership to another ‘Uplander’.

The source played down speculation that the State would descend into a dog breakfast if there is no power shift. People from the Kalabari ethnic group have stressed strongly that it the turn of the Riverine area to produce a governor.

‘Because they have guns they feel they can be threatening,’ the source said.

The Odili Government has said in the past that it has put to death the rancorous Upland and Riverine dichotomy.

‘Everywhere in Rivers State is Riverine, there is no where, you do not find water, so this Upland-Riverine issue is nonsense,’ the source said. ‘Besides, Peter Odili comes from the same area as the Kalabaris… in the West.’

The source said that people hampering for power on the basis of ethnicity or region are mischievous. He said that Douglas was a political failure, - irrelevant in the scheme of things in the State and avoided by progressives - in the State, whose only tool for relevance is pandering to ethnicity, despite his political exposure. The source that Douglas was using it to manipulate the people.

‘I would have thought, he would be moderate but he has chosen to introduce the divisive the issue of Upland and River Dichotomy. In 1999, people from all ethnic groups came out enmasse to vote for Odili, there was no talk of ethnicity nor region. He is injecting this lethal substance to the State.’

Ijaws in Rivers State have alleged marginalisation in the State. ‘All the ministers who have served in Abuja have been Riverine’ the source said. ‘Ijaws have had two Governors, since the State was created and they have produced lots of ministers.’

In the last Rivers State primaries six Governorship aspirants: Senator Martins Yellowe, Chief Parowiso Samuel-Horsfall, Chief David Briggs, Chief Chris Oriyi, Mr. Kio Bestman, Chief Dumo Lulu-Briggs and Mr. Isaac Nwowu walked out of the election citing irregularities.

One January 15, 2006, leaders of the Rivers State Consultative Assembly, wrote a letter to the President asking him to grant the Ijaw ethnic group the Governorship slot. Members of the Assembly include former Minister of Aviation, Alabo Graham-Douglas, Alabo T. J. Sekibo, Chief D. E. Tobin-West, Dr. M. P. Okonny, Chief Ombo Isokrari, Prof Dagogo Fubara, and Chief E. E. Ogodo,

Bonkoo Tombari Tobby writes: ‘…Finally, if the governor and the speaker are not made to be accountable for all the billions garnished away, they will unleash uncouth vituperations and compound absurdities that may send the hard-earned fragile peace down the abyss of oblivion.’

Nigerian Newspapers Divide over Freedom of Expression in Nigeria

Almost eight years since the advent of democracy in Nigeria, Nigerian journalists and media stakeholders express mixed feelings over freedom of expression in Africa’s largest democracy and one of the world’s largest democracies. Journalists have been killed, beaten and arrested on flimsy grounds since 1999 and the Government hasn’t pushed a bill into law that would guarantee freedom of expression, in addition to a weak and largely ineffective judiciary, mostly inaccessible to the ordinary Nigerian.

With the largest population in Africa and ninth in the world, more than sixty percent literate population, a religious and ethnically diverse populace, as well as more than thirty newspapers, several State-run television channels , private radio stations and television channels, oil-rich Nigeria has the most active and broad media in Africa and one of the most robust in world.

Nigerian newspapers like Guardian,Punch,PM News ,Vanguard as well as other publications written in local languages circulate thousands of copies everyday.

As Nigeria straddles to elections April this year, the public watches the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC), the body responsible for conducting elections and other presidential hopefuls and expect the media to probe them. The Nigerian media is expected to provide information on corrupt politicians in Nigeria and national developments.

Sunday Omeleye, the Production Editor of The Nations Newspaper, a national newspaper said: ‘Barring one or two incidents of persecution, the Nigerian media is largely safe. If you go after the President without genuine reason then you have good reason to be apprehensive of arrest.’

The Lagos-based journalist said that the Nigerian media enjoys a great deal of freedom in carrying out its daily functions but stressed that there is no carte blanche for unchecked publication: ‘If the Nigerian Media wasn’t safe, then we wouldn’t be having more than thirty newspapers in Nigeria. Half of them would have closed down. Every profession has perils, journalism is not an exception.’

The Publisher and Editor-in-Chief of the Port Harcourt Telegraph, Ogbonna Nwuke said: ‘Nigerian journalists face a great deal of difficulty. The Nigerian government is deaf to their protection. They have not passed a law that would guarantee media freedom.’

A spokesman for ThisDay, a newspaper that recently lost its Editorial chairman, Godwin Agbroko, who was fell by gunmen believed to be assassins and whose headquarters in Lagos was partly razed by fire on the morning of January 6, 2007, expressed confidence about the media in Nigeria: ‘Since 1999, it has been very good practicing journalism in Nigeria. It has been so different from the years of military rule. Now there is a great deal of freedom in Nigeria. It is safe practicing journalism in Nigeria.’

‘This administration has made journalism conducive,’ he said. Asked about the recent incident involving the detention of two journalists over sedition charges he said: ‘The sedition laws were based on colonial law. The trial judge made it clear that it no more applies.’

He said: ‘Some people in Government feel uncomfortable with news reports but by and large it is safe.’

Joseph, a journalist with the national newspaper Nigerian Tribune said: ‘As long as you report news factually, you would have no problems.’

Observers fear that Nigeria hasn’t moved away from the blood-minded days of military rule where journalists were imprisoned, killed and subjected to all kinds of inhumane treatments. The Nigerian media has been praised for standing for justice in those days of iron-fist clampdown on freedom of expression. They went underground and launched an unrelenting campaign against the numerous barbarities of military rule. During Sani Abacha’s dictatorship, Nigeria’s former military ruler, many Nigerians were killed, exiled, tortured or murdered.

Nigeria was suspended from the Commonwealth in 1994, under Abacha’s government, following the death of environmental minority right activist Ken Saro-Wiwa, leader of MOSOP, a group that campaigns against environmental degradation and eight others, alleged, for their role in murdering four people. His death was believed to be a vicious campaign against his vociferous stance against the pollution and lack of compensation for oil exploration in the Niger Delta.

Close observers of the Nigerian media fear the canteen days of military dictatorships are still here.Dele Giwa, a journalist was allegedly murdered on the 26 of October 1986 by the former military dictator Ibrahim Babaginda - following damning publications - who is rooting to come back to power . There are fears that Nigeria may be a long way from a genuine environment of freedom of expression. Two former military rulers are in the front burner of presidential campaigns scheduled to hold in April this year.


Gbenga Aruleba and Rotimi Durojaiye of African Independent television were arrested under sedition charges last year.

The general manager of the Leadership newspaper, Abraham Nda-Isaiah and the Editor Mr.Bashir Bello, were arrested recently for allegedly reporting an offensive news report.

Mr.Danladi Ndayebo, the writer of the news report alleged that Arik Air, a Lagos-based airline, is jointly owned by Obasanjo and Peter Odili, the Governor of Rivers State.Ndayebo was held by the Nigerian State Security service(SSS).


The Nigerian media have been in the forefront of reporting Government activities.

Recently, Ikenna Ellis-Ezenekwe and Omoyele Sowore of Nanka.org and Saharareporters.com respectively, alleged that Anambra State Governorship aspirant, Andy Uba and the Independent Nigerian Electoral Commission (INEC) chairman Maurice Iwu falsified their academical qualifications.

The Nigerian media have remained faithful in publishing the corruption scandal rocking the Presidency. The President and Vice President Atiku Abubakar have accused each other of siphoning money from the nation’s treasury.

In the last election in 2003, the Nigerian media recorded lots of irregularities in the election. They provided a base for people who were rigged out to seek judiciary redress. Peter Obi, the Anambra State Governorship candidate was able to claim the State executive seat after heated court struggles. He took over the mantle of leadership from Dr.Chris Nwabueze Ngige, the erstwhile governor of the State.

The Nigerian media, true to type have played a vital role in ensuring that all public officials are held accountable. From Local Counsellors to the President of Nigeria, Olusegun Obasanjo, they have reported cases of fraud, diversion of funds and flouting of court orders.

Former speaker of the House of Representatives, Alhaji Salisu Buhari was shamed out of office for lying about his academical qualification. He said that he studied at a university in Canada, but the university had no record of him doing so.Sani Kabir, a founding member of the The News Journal led the exposition. It was also ascertained that he lied about his age. His actual age was lower than what constitution requires.

The impeachment of Senator Evan Enwerem who lied about his age, the impeachment of Dr.Chuba Okadigbo former Senate President over allegations of corruption and misappropriation of funds and the near-impeachment of Governor Bola Tnubu over falsification are largely attributable to the vociferous nature of the Nigerian media.

The US Ambassador, Mr.John Campbell recently urged the mass media in the country to take up the cudgel in ensuring democracy and credible electioneering campaigns take hold. Nigeria is America fifth largest oil supplier.

In the past Nigeria has come under the radar of the international community. The Nigerian media launched a campaign to reverse the death penalty imposed on Amina Lawal ,39, by an Islamic Sharia court for bearing a child out of wedlock.

ThisDay’s Isioma Daniel went on a self-imposed exile after making sensual statements linking Muhammad and the 2002 Miss World pageant. A fatwa was issued by Mullahs in Nigeria on her, but was declared null and void by religious authorities in Saudi Arabia.

A media Watch Dog , the Media Foundation for West Africa (MFWA) reported on the January 24, 2007, that media attacks in West African media outlets increased last year more than any other year. It recorded 168 press freedom violations in West Africa compared to 148 cases in 2005.Out of fifteen West African countries surveyed, Nigeria led with 32 cases of media violations followed by The Gambia and Ghana.

A 2006 annual report on press freedom in Nigeria by Journalists Without Borders (JWB) a Paris-based international non-governmental organization that advocates freedom of the press noted : ‘Nigerian journalists, accustomed to cruel military juntas and police raids, have good reason to be disappointed. The restitution of power to a civilian government, in 1999, under former military figure President Olusegun Obasanjo, has not protected them from political persecution or abuses by the infamous State Security Service (SSS). Around 20 journalists suffered physical attacks in 2005, around a score spent time in prison. The hospital or the police stations are often a forced part of a Nigerian journalist’s rounds.’

The report poured encomium on the private-owned media in Nigeria: ‘The privately-owned press is robust, pluralist and populist. It does not mince its words about the powerful. Its outspokenness, won through years of “guerrilla journalism”, secret meetings and under-the-counter distribution, is general.’

In 2006, it ranked Nigerian 120th out of 168 countries, ahead of Turkmenistan and North Korea.

The Nigerian media faces its greatest challenge in the coming months as Nigeria approaches a landmark period in its history - the April Presidential, Governorship, State Houses, House of Representatives and National Assembly elections - after eight years of democracy. Observers see Nigeria’s stability crucial for peace in the West African sub-region and Africa, a continent that has known and still knows bloodshed.

Are there Jews in Nigeria?
The word Israel is conspicuous in the song. A man wearing a white turban around his head shunts around with his mouth brimming with excitement . On his left hand, he holds a black book. He reaches out and grabs a long white horn from a man nearby. He pauses a bit and concentrates on the musical instrument. Around him, is a man wearing a Jewish skull cap and other people, clapping and dancing with energetic possession. The synagogue in Aba was busy on this day. ‘May Adoni be with you and sun shine upon you and give you peace!’ Sing men, women, children and ladies in another video clip. In another gathering, a man is holding a book, while his body swerves. His mouth blows out with deep melodious sound. In a separate video clip – still the same gathering - his voice retains the same poignancy, urgency and religion. These are the Kodesh L’Hashem Nigerian Hebrew communities comprising of Igbos, Annangs, Ogonis and Ibibios .This is the face of modern Nigerian Jewry.

The Judaic religion is well-rooted in Nigeria and recognized by many Jews according to the leading figure in the Nigerian Judaic explosion –Abuja-based Remy IIona. IIona sees this trend as the rebirth of Igbo nationalism or spirituality, whom he says make up the vast majority of Judiac practitioners in Nigeria. ‘The main people behind the Nigerian Jewry are Igbos,they are the only ones taking it up with might and main… doing researches,’ he says. ‘There is no book written by other ethnic groups about their Judaic ancestry, infact it is an Igbo affair.’

According to an article The Ibo Benei-Yisrael Jews of Nigeria, he co-authored with New-York based Ahab Eliyah, Igbos still retain commands laid out in the Torah i.e. circumcision of sons on the eight day of life, separation of women during the menstrual cycle, not cross breading animals or plants, celebration of Yom Kippur and Sukkoth, immersion for uncleanness and the prohibition of un-kosher animals for consumption.

The Igbo ethnic groups are said to comprise of 3 lineage groups: Benie Gath,Benei Zevulum and Benei Menashsheh.

The Ibo Benei-Yisreali of Nigeria are said be descendants of southern and westward migrations of both ancient Hebrew and later Isreali peoples from Middle East into Africa.

Early Israeli settlements in Africa are thought to be in Ethiopia, Egypt and Tunisia.

Different authors and personalities have at sundry times posited or alluded to a Jewish ancestry in Igboland. G.T.Basden in his book, “Among the Ibos of Nigeria’’, p.31 noted: ‘There are certain customs which point to levitic influence at a more or less remote period… The language also bears several interesting parallels with Hebrew idioms.’

Recent Igboukwu discoveries are said to be evidence of ancient relationship between Igbos and Jews.

The decline of Jewish communities in West Africa, is said to most likely be the result of Muslim invasions into North Africa starting from 640 CE and later into West Africa in the 1300’s and 1400’s CE. Various accounts link Jews with resistance struggles against Islamic invasions.

The Ibo Benei-Yisreal and other West African Jewish communities are said to have lost religious documents and other written documents during Islamic repressions and other pressures.

There are thriving Maghrebi Ibo communities in places like Tel Aviv Isreal, south-eastern Nigeria, the United states and other places in the earth. There are synagogues scattered all across Nigeria.

When I speak to Remy IIona on the phone, he seems pensive and concerned. He believes that only a return to the Judiac religion would salvage the Igbo race from headlong perishment. ‘The Igbo society is shattered, there is no unity,’ he says, ‘we have to go back to our old religion which is the Jewish religion.’

As a young child, his father instilled in him, the belief that Igbos are Jews. His life is dedicated to the Judaic religion .He sees the religion as a potent tool for Igbo regeneration.

IIona is the liaison officer in Nigeria responsible for Nigerian Judiasm.He believes passionately in Igbo Hebraic roots. According to him he has long past the stage of doubts: ‘When I wrote my book Jews in Africa 1, the Jews who read it cried…they cried,’ he says, ‘they were so touched by the book. The book was just so convincing and it is only a draft.’

He blames the moral squalor of the Igbo to ‘colonialism’ and slave trade: ‘Colonialism and slave trade shattered us’ he says with regret.

He is very positive about the international embrace of the Igbo by world Jewry: ‘Outward-looking Jews align with us. There have been tremendous interactions.’ He continues: ‘Last Sabbath, 10 Jews visited the major synagogues in Abuja.’

He goes on to weave the nativity of Judaism in Igboland: ‘MASSOB always makes reference to Zion in their activities,’ he tells me. ‘There is a great connecting to Judiasm by the Igbos.’

According to IIona, more than sixty Israelis visited major synagogues in Nigeria last year.He said that the Israeli government is watching the young Judiac movement in Nigeria with interest and care: ‘The Isreali government is aware of what is happening and they are keeping a very close eye on developments’ he says.

‘When you think about Jews, you think about very zealous people, people who never give up under any condition. People destined to only success. The Igbos are just like that,’ he says with great pride.

‘The Igbo society is a picture of disunity - Igbo Catholics do not marry Igbo Anglicans and vice versa.99.9% of Igbos are astray; there is a great moral void in Igboland,’ his voice blares with concern.

He laments the ‘effect’ Christianity ‘has had’ on the Igbo race: ‘The ‘religion’ put a knife between us.Igbos used to be the crème de la crème but now they grapple with festering rot.’

He tells me that people of all ages come to the synagogues in Abuja and leave with a great sense of satisfaction: ‘Whenever they come they bustle with energy. There is always something to hold your their attention.’

He prophesies a great return of Igbos to Judiasm: ‘They would come from the North, West, all over…back to Judiasm, our original religion.’

He says that there is a great interest in Isreal by the Igbos in Nigeria: ‘All Igbos are talking about Isreal.’

'There has been no opposition from Nigerians, the enviroment hasn't been hostile,' he says.

He emphasizes the Igbo connection to Isreal: ‘There are lots of Igbo migrants in Israel doing well’

‘Igbos are marginalized in Nigeria. They need to retrace their steps back to our original religion to regain posture’ he says. ‘I am going to write an article about Igbo Jewish roots, that would shock the world. The book I wrote is outdated. There are much more stronger facts, that clench the Igbo Jewry belief.’

Jews number at least 14 million and are found in more than ten countries in the world, with the largest presence in Israel and America. Isreal has an outreach programme that embraces all Jewish descendants around the world. In the eighties, Ethiopian Jews were airlifted to Israel. Jewish languages include Hebrew, Yiddish and Bukhori.


Sources
· Fifty minutes conversation with Abuja-based Remy IIona,the leading Judiac figure in Nigeria.
· The Ibo Benei-Yisrael Jews of Nigeria(http://www.rabbihowardgorin.org/Ibo-Benei-Yisrael.pdf)
· See: http://www.re-emergingfilm.com/Home.html
· Youtube clips: http://www.youtube.com/results?search_query=igbo+jews&search=Search

The Jelani Aliyu Factor And The Gift Of Encouragement

The news that Nigerian-born Jelani Aliyu ,40, designed the electric car Chevy Volt is refreshing and brings to fore again the numerous human potentials infused in Nigeria. Nigeria, no doubt is a country saturated with vast geniuses .Many more endowed with different capacities may never be heard until there are opportunities - until there is a societal truncation of inhilatory idiosyncrasies .A shift to talent espousal. Our educational system and larger society largely emphasize theory with little stimulus for pragmaticism. The capable are relegated to subservience while mountains of hypothetical peddlers are hallowed. The onus rests on any well-meaning Nigerian to assist in any way.

But all is not lost in dredging local potentials to economic relevance in Nigeria. First Bank of Nigeria Plc, and Zinox Technologies Limited recently signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) for a N1 billion facility recently, that would enable customers buy Zinox computers more easily. Now with a 10% down payment, a student, worker or a lecturer in Nigeria’s tertiary institutions can own a computer or a laptop. Chief Leo Stan Ekeh is the chairman of Zinox Technologies. Nigerians have achieved technological advancements.Olukayode Oluwole, a Nigerian mechanical engineer based in the United States made a keyboard capable of typing tonal marks and ascents of over 400 Nigerian languages. Nigerian teacher, Mohammed Bah Abba won $75,000 for his pot-in-pot cooling system for refrigeration - the zeer pot.Brino Gilbert, won two medals and a trophy at the May 2003 Invention and New Product Exposition(INPEX) in the United States. He also won a bronze medal in the aerospace/Aeronautics category and a manufacturing silver medal . After 10 years of plying through the wilderness, soliciting for assistance, solitude finally came from America to Gilbert. Ezekiel Izogu is the dab hand behind Z-600, arguably Nigeria’s first car.

Modern industrialized societies are built on the participatory symbiosm of digital development. A country cannot afford to neglect indigenous technologies. Every single ability must be summoned to achieve national development. Talent exploration starts off like a dream and blooms into an exquisite want - tailed from continent to continent. Today many of us use appliances/technologies we know little about. These creature comforts were built in many cases, on a deliberate policy of inclusion. Their societies emphasized/emphasize the importance aptitudes, developments. No country blights or repudiates capacities and excels. Nigeria cannot be an exception.


Have you ever thought about the history of email? The email we send is the brainchild of the email system invented by Raymond Tomlinson. It was the first system able to send emails across different hosts; previously emails could only be sent by people using the same computer. He used the @ sign to separate the user from the machine. At the time of his invention, it was thought to be inconsequential; when he showed the invention to one of his friends, he was told off.


Bell Laboratories invented cellular mobile phone. There are so many other inventions that have helped humanity. Thomas Alva Edison (1874-1931) invented the first electric bulb. He invented phonograph, telephone and motion picture technology.

"Mortals! rejoice at so great an ornament to the human race!" Proclaims the Latin inscription on Newton's tomb.Isaac Newton (1642-1727) was born in Lincolnshire on December 25, 1642. The foundation of technological civilization rests on him. The law of motion – laws of inertia, action and reaction and acceleration proportional force – also known as the Newton’s laws were defined by him in his book 1 of Principia. Newton also correctly formulated and solved the first ever problem in the calculus of variations .He propagated the principles of scientific methods which applied globally to all branches of science. He was the first to place dynamics on a competent basis, from which he deduced the theory of statics.He was the first to enunciate the theory of attractions, the application of the principles of mechanics to the solar system, the creation of physical astronomy and the establishment of the law of physical astronomy. He developed the theory of hydrodynamics. Newton was the first to solidify physical sciences. He was the first to mathematize and elevate them to vigorous procedure which marked the Age of Reason. The principles expounded by Newton were used in social science. They influenced the economic theories of Adam Smith. The decision to make the United States legislature bicameral is said be his ascendancy.

It is no gainsaying that talent exploitation serves as an alembic for national development. Encouragement is a very potent tool in enhancing a nation. A nation that ignores the exigencies of encouragement does so at its/his/her own peril. The potentials of each citizen must be encouraged, allowed to flower and assume maximum benefit for society. Sadly, in Nigeria this is lacking and in many respects - being talented in Nigeria is mostly a taboo: you are relegated and thrown apart. If care is not taken, you can be killed in some cases or subjected to witchcraft. Such is decrepitude talents/abilities are treated in Nigeria. People have argued that this attitude is a consequence of sociological degradation in our society but I beg to defer. Each individual can contribute to uplifting of our country.

At the age of 8 or 9, I was taught how to play chess. At first I was occupied with learning how to move the knight – a chess piece - which was really unique compared to the queen ,towers , rooks, pawns etc. At the age of 10, I came back home with my first chess championship win. I was given a trophy for the triumph. I also won a swimming medal in a championship. Those little seeds, sown in me proved to be energizing and inspiring. I have since smashed chess experts, won another chess championship, defeated two of the hardest chess softwares/electronic games in the world. These were made possible in an atmosphere of encouragement; the prodding, the encouragement, the correction all did it for me. I was not thrown away, relegated, flogged irredeemably, but I was taken aside with the gentle understanding of encouragement.

People who studied at the University of Nigeria Nsukka(UNN) regaled me tales of inventions by students. I was told about someone who came routinely to university with a car he made and an invention that provided electricity to the university. I am sure that that these tales replicate all around Nigerian institutions. Nigeria, I have no doubt, is a boiling pot of immense capabilities and potentials – from sports to science, there are people vested with tremendous potentials.


I used to watch a programme – Dragon’s den – people would bring their discoveries and stand in the midst of entrepreneurs and advertise them. The ones the entrepreneurs found interesting were taken up with a promise for financial investments in return for a share in the future company.I watched as creative inventions that go to the heart of human needs were brought .I found out, why in advanced countries, there are so many little gadgets, used in enhancing standard of living. As long as there is a financial backer, the products go into fruition. This spurns initiatives - people are propelled to invest their talents into productivity.



There are world bodies that animate this renaissance. Amongst them is the World Intellectual Property. Last year for example Bianling Zhang,31,Xumao Ye,34,Ning Zhang,36, Houjian Tang,31, and Manxia Tie, all won a gold medal for ‘ A Method of the Secure Access of Mobile Device and Confidential Data Communication in Wireless Local Area Network.’

A country is destined to arteriosclerosis if every positive creativity is not committed to use. Every individual must sink forth their time and resource in ensuring that the best comes out of Nigerians. The waiting and blaming of government should now be a thing of the past. It could only mean organizing a little tournament for people.

Ethnic Minorities, Justice and Languages
I picked up a yellow-covered book recently which happened to contain the rules of the Nigerian civil service and flipped through it casually, promising myself to read the book with greater commitment in the future. To my astonishment under the language examination section, only three local languages stood clearly apart for usage, but it stipulated separately, that any other local language can be used, provided there is a ‘reasonable reason to do so.’ A wind of thoughts possessed me. Why aren’t the Igbo,Yoruba and Hausa languages subjected to such stricture? Why the qualification? What is so special about these three languages? In a country of many languages - this is a travesty and one that must be rectified quickly if sanity, justice, development must prevail. I think it is time that all Nigerians plunge their hands into helping drag Nigeria out of the doldrums.

These corrections are imperative in securing a united and coherent Nigeria. Anything short, is to mind, a marriage of delusion and deception. Prevarication and adamant hold of the status quo portends disaster for the country. Some minorities whose languages are treated with utmost contemptment hold the country with oil , from which an almost mono-economic Nigeria thrives and achieves international recognition in a world swarmed by its battered image of 419 and established corruption. It smacks of ingratitude and wickedness to sponge their oil, despoil their natural habitat and accord their language such low status. Nigeria can be great only if certain frameworks are put in place to ensure a habitable, peaceful environment where all are given a fair share of opportunity; nobody is subject to apartheid. Nigeria must move in this regard to secure and guild them through the path of evenly paved roads.

Perhaps, no other section in Nigeria suffers from such inhumane disregard than oil producing enviroments.They not only contend with poor national ,state and local governments but treacherous evisceration of their water and land; desecration of their natural trades. The stark, ungrateful, barbarous excavation of their mineral resources is compounded by the lethal injection of language apathy. Our national languages must be stretched to include all languages. Dialects within languages must also be allowed to assume written and spoken dimensions. Every language must be accorded a sense of health. Allowed equal access and importance in the running of government, presented to world in equal measure as well as other protocols the use of languages espouses in modern life.

Every language is important and none should be thrown away. Being a speaker of two non-Nigerian languages – to varying degrees - I appreciate the beauty ,benevolence ,fraternity language brings. I have shocked many by suddenly speaking their languages. Questions, excitement, merriment swirl around. How, when, where did you learn the languages, they ask All of a sudden you are grafted into a large world of new companions. Once in a workplace, people who couldn’t speak English but spoke French came for a service. A senior manager demanded if anyone knew how to speak French. Nobody in sight could, and the only one who seemed to be around from the minute French-speaking pack was far away. I tendered myself and engaged them in the French language amidst the euphoria, to the relief of our guests and my workplace’s delight. It wasn’t my job to attend to them as my workplace had a clearly delineated division of labour but they reaped from their diversity. A subjective CV(curriculum vitae) would emphasize not just the obvious contents of your abilities – education attainments – but other thin-lined competences. The languages you speak however numerically slight could turn into a pot of gold. I have always wondered why certain details should be put on CVs but I have come to find out that organizations have wide reaches and tap into different innate capacities of the individual. The special hobbies you do that turns others off may be useful in other contexts – keeping a wine collection and obsession with nature may prove to be unwinding in the future. So therefore, a country must harness every strength within, to surge a mighty expression.

Every language has to be given human life; the speakers must be made to feel a sense of relevance .The Tamil separatists in Sri Lanka, has language as one of their grievances against the majority Sinhalese whose language reaps the bounties of national relevance in the Island. The Tamil Tigers are the first in recent history to embark on suicide bombing. Their first suicide attack involved a lorry bombing at an army camp in 1987, which killed 40 people and in the years that followed at least 200 Tamil Tigers blew themselves up. The conflict between the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) and the Sri Lankan government is Asia's longest and bloodiest separatist war, claiming more than 60,000 lives since the LTTE launched its bid for Tamil independence in 1972—the war has seen off successive Sri Lankan governments. Thousands have died since the eighties. Their language is a cut of wonderful design and artistry. This injustice incenses them heavily. Sidelining people can have a very devastating effect as the Sri Lanka case appears to show.

Every language carries with it depth. Language not only serves as linguistical vehicles, they hold histories in sacred vaults accessible in titillating increments. Some languages never advanced to written stages but compensated with deep stores of oral histories, sayings, handed down for centuries. Reading about the history of certain people might lead to a wall but introspective interviews unearths stories, myths, mysticism, folklores cached within and referenced in linguistical abstracts. Sadly, the Nigerian constitution only gives imminence to the Igbo,Hausa and Yoruba languages. These languages, according to the 1999 constitution, shall form the basic indigenous communication used in running the national assembly.

The European union comprises of 23 member states and 27 languages. On joining the EU, each national government decides what language or languages to adopt. The citizens of each country decide. No language is foisted on any country. The 50 year-old body has an official who overseas multilingualism in the person of Commissioner Leonard Orban. Nigerian is long overdue for a compromise that would breathe life into the teeming polyglot ethnicities strewn across 356,667 sq miles.

In Nigeria, there are more than 50 languages that are spoken by less than hundred people; Sambe for example is spoken by six people in a Kaduna village (source: Research on minority languages in Nigeria by Roger Blench, 2001).

Dr. Uwe Seibert, of the Department of Languages and Linguistics, Faculty of Arts at the University of Jos writes : ‘Talking about the languages of Nigeria one may say that, unless they are documented and developed, they may be gradually given up in favor of more prestigious languages, and with time they may be forgotten completely.’

By ‘prestigious’ languages he may mean more acceptable languages to the populace.

He laments the inactivity of many languages and predicts a bleak future:

‘Many languages are no longer actively spoken by the younger members of the language community. They may still be able to understand the language, but they prefer to speak English, Hausa or some other language of wider communication among themselves and to their children. The consequence is that these languages will become extinct in the next generation. In fact there are some Nigerian languages that are nearly extinct (e.g. Holma, a Chadic language spoken in Adamawa State) or have already ceased to exist (e.g. Auyokawa and Teshenanci, two Chadic languages formerly spoken in Jigawa State).’

The Nigerian Language policy is one of the many threads of imbalances plaguing our country.
There has to be an immediate reversal to create a system of fairness across the board. I have heard people say that it is impossible to embrace every language spoken in Nigeria, so therefore we must stick to a selected few. Perhaps, they would appreciate the need for proactivity if their languages are mashed and threaded with abject ridicule...relegated to irrelevancy .There are more than six extinct languages in Nigeria ; a tireless, masculine overdrive should occupy our immediate existence not just to incorporate every language in Nigeria but other issues that would impact positively on minorities to reflect and engender a just Nigeria .

THE COMMERCIAL EDITOR

THE human nature is archetypically hypocritical. Parochialism dictates his attitude to the outside world. He has been described as the acacia of modern government and a legend in his own lifetime. The editor is arguably the most powerful person in any newspaper. He decides the direction, his newspaper goes. He may be an organ grinder’s monkey, but to the extent of a newspaper's plans. He decides the materials that are published, the layout of the newspaper and other fundamentals of newspaper publishing. He rides in his discretions like an all conquering emperor.

The editor decides the angle a news material must follow. It may be a sustained vendetta against his foes, subtly played within the boundaries of law. His outlook may be shaped by socialist or capitalist leanings. The editor drinks the absinthe of severe criticism. He struggles to provide materials that are not abstruse to a soft-threading readership. He must be abut to swift delivery, yet employing the quietus, gentle news-reporting demands.

The editor serves as the access road between readers and news events. He goes through access time, digging up material for publication. He may attempt to break the achromatic predilections of the ruling class .There are concerns about money-grubbing journalism .He must not relent poking at the leadership aconite. His writings must not be a load of codswallop or a load of cobblers. A countenance more in sorrow than in anger we do not want nor a riddle wrapped up in an enigma. A rose by any other name would smell as sweet.

LEADERSHIP IN CONTEMPORARY NIGERIA

It was a normal visit anybody might receive on a New Year’s Day, but the only difference was the surprise nature of it. I was together with my older brother, when someone more acquainted to him, socially, but equally one, I had more than a passing acquaintance of, emerged with his woman and an extra agile figure. The talk was what you would expect from a convergence of people who not only shared youth but a simmering casualness to one another. Staccatos of laughter and merriment shot out with gushing and generous overflow from our lips. There was one thing odd about this meeting; it had a political dimension. My brother had intimated the agile friend, in a jiffy, that he knew someone in position of authority in Nigeria, rather unseriously. ‘And you still do the kind of job you do.’ The agile figure said with a dismissive air. Sensing a shallow ethnic angle, I took it up with him and said that we must stick to merit and leave out ethnicity. He engaged me with arguments about the infantilism of my argument and insisted that mine was an untenable position. ‘Nigeria is about what you can get. Whatever you lay hold of, grab it, it is yours,’ his body settled with unashamed comfort in the couch. Soon, his other male friend joined the discourse. I stuck to my guns insisting that nothing can defeat substance and that we should aim to promote plurality of ethnicity at all levels of government.

‘Only indigenes at various states, should be in positions of authority,’ the newly awakened friend insisted.

After this meeting, I was strengthened in my belief that the problem of leadership in Nigeria lies with Nigerians. Our leadership failures are our own. A sense of self-righteousness exudes from critics who slam the government day and night, but they themselves are most likely, in their personal lives, far from paragons of morality. At the heart of the leadership crisis found in Nigerian lies a willful tolerance of corruption, glorification of 419 and assorted vices.

I pondered on the selfish stand I saw displayed so happily. The strength of conviction the agile fellow held, was scary. It was easy for me to understand why we breed thieves with no leadership competence. There was anger and irritation in me as he sang his perverted song. Leaders do not just come from thin air, they grow up amongst people, they have biographies many people can relate to. I picked up a book, out of curiosity recently, on Mao, a former communist ruler in China, responsible for the death of 70 million people in peace time, and read a chapter of a man, who had no extraordinary formation . According to the book – MAO The Unknown Story – he was born into a peasant family in a valley called Shaoshan, in the province of Hunan, the heartland of China, on 26 December 1893.

‘The valley of Shaoshan measures about 5 by 3.5km.The 600-odd families who lived there grew rice, tea and bamboo, harnessing buffalo to plough the rice paddies.’ Yet history records him as a most brutal bloodthirsty ruler. What about AL Bashir Omar, the Sudanese ruler, tied to at least one million deaths since he toppled a democratically elected civilian government in 1989? Did the birds sing at his birth? What about Haile Mariam Mengistu of Ethoipia, who feasted while his people starved to death and allegedly, ordered the execution of more than one million Ethiopians? Where did he come from? Was he not an Ethiopian? When people talk about heartless rulers they seem to imagine that they are aliens. They neglect the incubators in schools, playfields that nestle these people to experts. Incubators that flourish with the flight of restraint; a situation whereby, people are cooked into ethnic shenanigans in local politics and graduate into tribal vanguards who lack anything visible to show but a passionate avowal for incompetence and narrow grovelling.



Under our watch men and women have plundered with glee. This selfish audacity of the followership sustains such culture. In Nigeria finding a leader who has the interests of his subjects at heart is hard if not impossible to find. Anyone who appears to be a cut above the rest is soon portrayed in the same light, casting doubt on their genuity. In an atmosphere where ethnicity rents the air and little or no argument is made on substance the outcome becomes a self-fulfilled ‘prophesy’ of doom. I was informed by people and based on experience, that village members taunt and disturb public officials of the same ancestry for positions or advancements. The ones who do not comply are relegated and bad-mouthed. ‘This is your opportunity to elevate us,’ they say. And yet we wonder why our country rests and slides on such shaky grounds. Why red drips of blood slide down the wall in horrific spectacle. If at the grassroot level primitive and selfishness holds sway what future do we really have? If at the end of his tenure people are not bloated by corrupt largesse he/she becomes an outcast, a word of derision.

What people do not understand is a state/village/town’s prosperity is everyone’s prosperity. We all live in one confine empowered by constitution to live whosesoever we desire. Nonetheless, the joy of seeing a cast-down smile anew is refreshing. Seeing his land glow in sceneric radiance is beautiful. No doubt, help and opportunity should be extended to them but not with impartiality driven by fiduciary ties.

Every business that runs in a tight-knit competitive market emphasizes the importance of competence. People of relevant competence and experience are thrust at the helm and laden huge payroll or upkeep. They understand the importance of putting people of capability to stir their ship. They recognize the role mediocrities play in harming business. They poach; they hunt for the right personality. There are private-run universities that earn more money than the Nigerian government as well as other private efforts that net in huge profits – i.e. airports. At the helm of these bodies are people, able to shoulder the rough and tumble of operation. Of course, they do not have government to bolster or shore them up when they are down so they put in the best. A government head may not feel any constraint to yield results because of a massive big brother at the side. Incompetents are two a penny but ability takes time to nurture. Our public services met swift deaths at the hands of dead canons who could not run little match boxes but were entrusted into unmerited importance.

Instead of us railing at our leaders we should turn the fire to ourselves. Our environment hosts and encourages rogues. The people. Many of our leaders spent their formative years in Nigeria. They may have gone abroad later on and came back to fill positions of authority, but the fact remains that a significant portion of their lives were spent in Nigeria, evidenced by their outlook and culture. Think about what would have become of our society if every monthly allocation was used to build frameworks we so passionately cry for – sound education, hospitals, etc. If those millions stolen were invested prudently the returns would’ve been staring us in the face after almost eight yeas of leadership, but instead rot, disillusionment pervades the land. If every penny was thrown with a sense of community, surely by now, there must be legacies. Instead, many spend their effort throwing insults at leaders. They console and roll in fetid delight at aspersory rods thrown at them for their barratry. They never mention the cesspit they wash in that shoots out the leadership.

The Nigerian society is complex .Division not only gropes between ethnic groups but within tribes. What is known as ethnic groups in perhaps all cases, are groups of people, tied together by language and culture and may have dialects that are distinct or mutually unintelligible. And so, in States where sole ethnicities are in preponderance, there exists a chasm between the sub-ethnicities and it doesn’t stop there. Within sub-ethnic groups there may be slight differences in language and culture and these further create room for opportunism, readily exploited by the selfish. It still doesn’t stop here, it carries on through villages or family groups till the last man standing. While States with different ethnic groups play out a mini-national show. There is a tussle for leadership, a desire to opt out or alignment with one tribe over the another. This forms the genealogy of antagonistic and shallow approach to national government. From their little parochial enclaves, they emerge well-versed in ethnic football. So leadership in Nigeria is not just what plays out in Abuja but a kaleidoscope encirclement of debris flinging with feverish pace.


Issues of indelible importance stare us poignantly in the face. History watches us with curious eyes. Would we take the cue or sink further into groundless vacuity? We must insist on people to whom ability resides with delivery.

Until the afflatus to free ourselves from the grapnel of societal vices seizes us with enough passion, the dead, hollow sound of endless tunnel descent stares us in the face. Until the desire to rid ourselves, with unflinching finality, from people void of any baroscope, the austerity of their asocial impositions becomes a constant reality.