Book Review: Unforgettable Islands to escape to before you die

This book lives up to its title. Forty Islands spread across every continent are deliciously presented in a confetti of light, sound and colors. The reader leaves satisfied about the adventure through turquoise waters, plushy palms, exotic wildlife to jagged cliffs and snow peaks. It is a wonderful introduction and appetizer to these wonders of nature. Well known places like the Bahamas are brought to life. Enjoy the scenic beauty of Sri Lanka, the lovely Sark Island and others. I hope I visit them before I die.

I see England smiling

This festive season is like none other I have experienced. I see happy faces.Perhaps it has to do with an increased mobility on my part, but this year I see a widespread anticipation and desire.

On New Years Eve, as I was about to enter my workplace an elderly woman flagged me down, full of smiles. ‘Happy new year,’ she said. At work, my colleagues bantered.

Shortly afterwards, I left there and came down to Brent Cross where I did some reading then onto an internet café, then Home. I saw people in a jovial mood. The travails of this year’s global economy didn’t dampen them.

I took a bus home where a passenger who had sat down next to me, raised his hands up before leaving and said. ‘Happy New Year.’ I responded to the gesture with a thumb projected.

Afterwards, I made my way home to the repeated sparks of firecrackers.For sure, this has been a turbulent year for many – the global economic downturn – yet in the eyes of many I see a resurgent anticipation.

Today being the New Year, the first person I met outside told me, happy New Year. There were other instances of felicity. Happy new year England!

God and Our Politicians

Listen to a Nigerian speak and you are more likely going to hear him or her say in every conversation ‘Thank God’, ‘as God would have it’, ‘leave it in the hands of God’, ‘God’s will.’ Nigerians are very spiritual people; their culture, language, names , songs romanticize about an intense spirituality. For example, among the Yoruba, names like ‘Olurun’, ‘Oluwa’ signify God; similarly names like ‘Ogunnike’, ‘Modupe’ speak about spirituality. A household song comes to mind, ‘Baba O Modupe’. Similarly among the Igbo, names speak of a distant spirituality with great emphasis on ‘Chukwu’ and ‘Chi’ both meaning God. It is probably accurate to say that every Igbo name has ‘Chi’ or ‘Chukwu’ whether silently or overtly suffixed or prefixed to it. I once inquired from an Edo workmate what the name ‘Osa’ meant and she told me God. I had asked against the backdrop of numerous names prefixed with ‘Osa’ stretching back years. One particular funny ‘Osa’ I studied with rammed the name into my memory. His name was ‘Osaye’.I never got to see his name written but the spelling follows the phonological pattern. Our past indicates a great investment in spirituality, the belief that there is an unseen guidance.

Today whether you are in Kaduna, Abuja, Lagos, Portharcourt you would experience a thick air of religion: whether its Penticostalism,catholism or Islamism etc.You may be approached by people handing Church leaflets and accosted by preachers.Obasanjo once famously said: ‘God is a Nigerian.’ Speeches by our politicians more likely end with ‘God bless Nigeria.’ Jonathan Power a longtime friend of Obasanjo once asked him who gave Nigeria oil and he replied, ‘God, but the devil is manipulating it!’


Yet I strongly suspect that this thick air of religiosity has sponsored a weak humanity in Nigerians; Nigerians seem to have followed a docile spirituality. Nigerians seem to have failed to harness spirituality for good. Nigerians are wont to surrender even in the face of despoliation and murder with the pacifism ‘God’s will.’ Our politicians use the name of God in ways that boggle the mind. Governor Alhaji Abdullahi Adamu, of Nasarawa State while receiving journalists in his Keffi residence as reported by Champion today, urged aggrieved parties of the just concluded elections to fall back on God in words that describe acquiescence .You could almost see the typical acceptance of anything that goes on in life as the will of God when he says, "those who accept the act of God don’t get aggrieved and those who are of God never get aggrieved”. Are the just concluded election results the act of God? Would God normally want people like Yar’Udua and other Governors to be in power? Must every leadership be accepted as God-ordained? If there is any sincerity in the constant reference to God why don’t politicians shun divisive politics and restructure the country?

I had gone to a lecture with a friend of mine when out curiosity I picked up a sheet of paper lying idle and to my amazement, it was a survey of people who professed to be followers of the Christian faith worldwide and Nigeria featured first. Nigerians not only profess faith in God but they export their religion to the world.

Even with the injury dealt by the just concluded polls, you would have thought that weak religious cries urging acceptance would be considerate but we are, as usual, treated to similar doses of retreat. Acceptance imposes years of servile leadership. Until spirituality helps Nigerians, politicians would continue hiding their impotence under the facade of religion. Until Nigerians rise and demand justice, any claim to spirituality would rightly be rebuffed.

International implications of a Yar’Adua Presidency

It was an election that had the soul of the nation and with good reason. Obasanjo was due for an electoral replacement. Nigerians by and large looked upon the elections enthusiastically with the belief that a culture of democratic – though imperfect -continuity would blossom and the much needed constitutional amendment towards achieving an inclusive society would emerge – even those ruthlessly pessimist, those neck-in separatists or secessionists mustered a flurry of hope . The elections inspired a sense of commaradie among a vast swathe of Nigerians. Nigerians at home and abroad, took the electoral preparation at heart and suggested faults or potential hazards to INEC, but it was deliberately thrown away. Unbeknown to them, the saliva of Maurice Iwu, Obasanjo’s organ grinder’s monkey, had them in, like an unfortunate insect battling to stay alive in liquid.

Obasanjo found in Iwu, a man who combined the mental craftiness of an advanced fee fraudster and the pugilism of a motor park tout, who could institute his shenanigans to the full tilt. He saw a man who possessed a rich well of lying water and the slickly turn of lime. Voices rose up and demanded Iwu’s sack but they deliberately and strategically fell on deaf ears.

By consenting to a Alhaji Umaru Yar'Adua presidency, Nigerians accept the inevitability of a pariah status - in a country already reeling from widespread electoral notoriety . Yar’ Adua was the first governor to introduce Sharia in his home state - Katsina – in a multi-religious society. How could a man of his pedigree preside over Nigeria? How would a Sharia Yar’Adua presidency seat with a relationship with Israel and America? I urge the American government and every other government to hold off any oil dealings with Nigeria. Nigeria is America’s fifth largest oil supplier and it is achieved in conditions perhaps on par or less than what obtains in Sudan where a greedy government deprives its southern tribes of their natural resources constitutionally. Perhaps the only difference between the Jangaweed and the Nigerian state is that they are forthright in their determination to extirpate the southern tribes of Sudan while the Nigerian government sponsors a quite policy of opposition elimination and apartheid. It only makes sense to me that the source of revenue is cut off.

Recently - in the Nigerian media - Yar’Adua while receiving members of the Northern Union implored that a power rotation culture between the North and South be entrenched and urged members of the NU to employ the same gusto they did in campaigning for a northern presidency towards a south presidency ‘when the time comes’. Every time he speaks, he confirms his dissonance with sanity. I watched him speak shortly after he was declared president-elect and I bled within me and this is the man many urge our acceptance? His recent statements are no surprise to me - very few things surprise about the Nigerian society; I have always seen Nigeria as a mystical nation, where unusual things happen.

Those who beg our forbearance in the face of monumental evisceration need to provide an answer to this question: when is the right time to act? In 1999 we were told the same thing, in 2003 we were told the same thing and now we are being told the same thing!

I do not blame our leaders because I believe they capture the collective schizophrenia that is Nigeria, I blame Nigerians. Our deep-seated divisions handicap us at this crucial juncture in our history to any concerted front. The rivers of tribalism flow from the kinky hair of Nigeria and empties at its foot .I cannot give an assessment of the 1966 January coup because I lack any subjective understanding of the flag they wove as they spilled blood ruthlessly but sometimes I wonder if any type of leader should be accepted. A wicked leadership can permit the deaths of people. Through the wicked policies of a leadership the majority can be held in prison.

Around the country, it is tales of woe, anger and frustration around .The gored child weeps inconsolably in his mother’s arms. Nigeria is crying.


Obasanjo’s decision to rig was a defeatist confirmation of his unpopularity among the Nigerian public - a realization of the utopian atmosphere he constructed around him .
True, the Nigerian polity is largely unfavorable to any kind of peaceful election considering the ruling and opposition party thugs at their beck and call, armed to the teeth; but all these were made known or known to him before the elections.

What happened on the 14 and 20 of April was an open rape of decency and common sense. Nigeria witnessed the worst rigging in its history. This year’s elections mark the climax of election rigging in Nigeria's voting history – no time in our history has there been so much death, so much violence in a rascal bid to loot and plunder.

Welcome the Duke of Calabar!

You see, there is something fundamentally wrong with the Nigerian state. No matter what you do in Nigeria, it won’t stick because of murky backgrounds, stretching back to pre-independence days. There has to be a structural adjustment; a review of the ethnic and resource control issues in Nigeria. I have no doubt in my mind that, there are some that have put in their best in this outgoing administration, but the environment they operate in renders their efforts void because certain oppressive underpinnings are in place - that take way any effort.

Take for instance the drug and food situation in Nigeria. For years hospitals and traders wrecked havoc on Nigerians, sending many to an early grave but the corrupt authorities turned a blind eye preferring the little dole they received - in turn many died: seaports and airports were turned into graveyard transits: that is why I am firmly committed against the perpetrators and beneficiaries of corruption. In my university, I met a governor’s child who paid most probably more fees than the father will earn in three months, not to talk of accommodation, feeding etc. Yet Google the state the father presides over, and you’ll be amazed at the strength of corruption in the state.

Thanks to the internet everyone can now voice their opinion or events as they truly are without the punitive reach of the Nigerian state, much to their utter disappointment. Even this newly found freedom has come under severe strains but still, Nigerians in blogs and newspapers like http://www.leadershipnigeria.com/ where people are free to voice their views on Nigeria, reveal a country at tenterhooks and present a spectacular scenery for those of us in the diaspora intent on knowing the happenings in our homeland. Though one must point out these forums host libelous people who roll out out-of-sync views but nevertheless a picture of instability and massive discontent and simmering uprisings like the type envisaged by some in the Muslim world against their governments, perceived to be at loggerheads with Islam.

In this present dispensation we have had to endure mass death in the Niger delta and the Middle belt, incompetence, misused oil funds, raped hopes but nevertheless there has been few flash points from individuals who I believe point the way Nigeria must go.Governor Donald Duke of Cross River State, the good-looking, impressionable young man, has thrown in a new dynamism in Nigeria with his groundbreaking projects.

Cross River State, home to the Efiks, has produced personalities like Professor Eyo Ita, Etuborn Oyo Orok Oyo and Magaret Ekpo. Calabar the capital of the state was the first capital - from 1893 to 1906 - of the British Protectorate of Southern Nigeria. Marry Slessor arrived Calabar in 1878 from the United Free Church of Scotland.It was here that Nigeria’s first president Dr Nnamdi Azikiwe attended the historic Hope Waddel Training Institute.

To understand the history of Calabar is to understand Nigeria’s history. The history of old Calabar enlightens us about the obsession of our ancestors with the mythical, the superstitious and practices that seemed in keeping with their religious proclivities - and our slave trading past.Calabar has always been a factor in Nigeria’s history.

It is not surprising that the people of Cross River will indulge in throwing off the garb of oil dependence and launching into a non-oil dependent dispensation. Ghana recently posted huge returns in tourism, bolstered by American migrant inflows. Recently in a conversation with Mauritians they revealed that their little island off South Africa, gets its money from ‘tourism, tea and sugar!’Duke has had his own fair share of criticisms, but nevertheless he is a pointer to the direction many long after.

Nigerians to my mind are not dull people. There are people in Nigeria who produce things. I even hear that mobiles phones are now being cloned. I have met Nigerians in my sojourn abroad who commanded responsibilities.The Dukian concept is an outspill of years of compression and repression. It is a recognition of the malady inflicting Nigeria and a deliberate attempt to stray away.

The Dukian concept contends with the reductionist concept that revels in the maintenance of the status quo; Dukianism urges a conscientious movement towards a sustainable ideology.

‘Tinapa is conceptualized to be a world-class integrated business resort. It is to be implemented under the Private Public Partnership (PPP). Located by Calabar River, and contiguous to the Calabar Free Trade Zone, it is the realization of an exciting dream - the first integrated business and leisure in resort in Nigeria.Calabar, with her natural potential for tourism, through the unique vision of Tinapa, will be transformed into a global trading hub reminiscent of great international free zones like Hong Kong and Dubai.The complex will provide international standard wholesale emporiums, integrated shopping complexes and product distribution elements supported business tourism and entertainment facilities. The locations of these, in close proximity to Free Port on the east-west trading routes, provide exciting opportunities for Tinapa to serve…,’ says the Cross River State government’s website.

The Tinapa dream captures a dynamic, complex ingenuity that will rebound into the future of Nigeria and serves as the single most pivotal highlight of this present civilian administration.
Just today, while at the Leadership newspaper website, I came across corruption allegations against the Kogi state governor. I constantly come across corruption allegations against Nigerian heads, not to talk about the unresolved Petroleum Trust Funds, but there are people who have put in their best into a system begging for continuity and development and this to me is the single most daunting challenge that should occupy the thoughts of anyone aspiring for presidency.

We have seen people in authority come and go and some of us are not deceived. No matter what anyone does it would never equal the efforts put in by Duke and some others in revamping the system and so the game must be raised below par. Right now I see a murderous rat race to the presidency to lay hold on oil wealth. In secondary school economics I was taught the theories of supply and demand: too much demand , price increases; less demand, price decreases.

In Nigeria the demand for presidency is incompetently high - requested by people who have rarely distinguished themselves in any field. Too much demand competing for a commodity: demand outstripping supply. Nigeria is terribly uncultured politically – we have still not shed ourselves of the violence in the first republic. Nigeria is a country where power is sought with gung-ho fanaticism, where blood inevitably flows for selfish reasons. I came across a fellow I knew recently, who vanished during the primaries. Upon my inquiries about his whereabouts during the period, he confided, he returned to contest in the primaries in his region. Unable to carry on, the winner of the battle deposited money to him to ‘assuage any injury’. ‘Everyone must be killed for there to be development; everyone is corrupt,’ he sounded apocalyptic.

These president wannabes, in a bid to gain relevance have joined the opposition and caught many gullibles in their fake pieties. And it shouldn’t surprise anyone: before President Olusegun Obasanjo, came on stage the second time he ‘lamented the worrying state of Nigeria.’ We now know better. When he leaves he will do the same: a vicious hypocritical cycle bind. Somehow a sense of caution is missing. Their mission though written in cryptic ink bears an unmistaken quest to protect sectional interests.

The Vanguard newspaper in its editorial today says: ‘Nigerians have endured unnecessary hardship since 1999 because their Governors with the connivance of the powers in Abuja elected backwardness, and at best a blurred future, for the country.Many of the charlatans who have presented themselves for these offices are definitely deficient and grossly incompetent to steer Nigeria to the future its people desire and deserve.The ravaging poverty in the land has reduced the people to a state of the helplessness never before seen in these parts, at a time of unprecedented revenue from oil and gas. Yet the obscene opulence of the campaigns, is another reminder to voters to be careful in choosing who manages the country from May 29.How sad it is that prudence, accountability, selflessness and the interest of the public are no longer worthy attributes for office. What happened to the trillions of Naira that the States got from the federation account in the last eight years? Is it enough to prance about on campaign podium and make new promises when the ones made eight years ago have not been fulfilled?It is more disheartening that with the poor performance of the last eight years, candidate after candidate pledges continuity of the programmes of the departing administrations. What future is there then for the country?’

To the Duke of Calabar: you have towered above those in Nigeria, who among the festering rot have sought whether genuinely or not, to bring some sanity, showing Nigerians can, if they desire, unravel detrimental infrastructures. Your print on our sand will reverberate.

America assures Nigeria of cooperation during April Elections

America has assured Nigeria of cooperation in the forthcoming elections scheduled to hold on April 14 and 20 and urged all parties involved to ensure their success.

‘The United States is a committed partner in assisting Nigeria with its preparations for credible elections that are acceptable to the Nigerian people.’ The U.S State department said in a press statement today.

‘The election poses a unique opportunity for that country's democratic development. This transition, along with the sustained fight against corruption, and the emergence of an institutional balance of power among the three branches of government is a vital element in the growth and consolidation of democracy in Nigeria.’ The report said.

America highlighted the financial and manpower support it has provided Nigeria for the April
elections.

'The United States has provided almost $15 million over the past three years to train political parties, electoral commission staff, and civil society in facilitating preparation of these polls. The United States is supporting nearly 200 observers accredited to the National Democratic Institute, the International Republican Institute, and the U.S. Mission in Nigeria.’ Sean McCormack, a Spokesman said.

America urged the electoral authorities and the government to ensure the total success of the election and urged all parties involved to eschew violence.

The press release said: ‘We encourage the electoral authorities and government to take all possible measures to enhance public confidence in the elections. These steps should include the immediate granting of full and transparent access for domestic and international electoral observers, as well as posting and publishing results at each polling station.

‘We urge all parties to refrain from violence, and to exercise their liberties responsibly and according to the rule of law.’

If the elections go smoothly, it would be the first time Africa’s most populous country embarks on a civilian to civilian transition since it achieved independence in 1960.

Many Nigerians are dissatisfied with the current administration. They say the fight against corruption is selective and that the government failed to institute a viable constitution and improve infrastructures, significantly power supply despite unprecedented rise in oil revenues.

Dr. Dora Akunyili: Tribute to a Woman Warrior

Before the advent of award-wining, fifty-three year-old Dr. Dora Nkem Akunyili, Director General of the National Agency for Food and Drug Administration and control (NAFDAC), most Nigerians did not know that a body vested with the responsibility of ensuring standard drugs and food existed, but now the campaign has reached a crescendo worldwide.

On Thursday, N6.5 billion worth of substandard drugs from over 3000 drug shops, were destroyed in Onitsha. The drug market was closed on March 6. In place, Onitsha Bridge Head Drug Market was constituted with a warning not to indulge in selling fake drugs.

The closure of the Onitsha drug market is a long overdue but welcome step. To think that those slimballs have fed on the blood of many is terribly inexplicable rationally and further highlights a worrying social rot. For years they got away bribing corrupt authorities in Nigeria, who shared the same passion for money above life, but now the death knell tolls on their activities. Attempt has been made on Professor Akunyili’s life but she escaped.

The story of Akunyili of Nanka, Anambra State is a story of unrelenting gusto in the face of dare-devils without any care for life and the stench of corruption that allowed the growth of fake drugs . The story of Nigeria cannot be written without mention of her name. Her story evinces an unusual fortitude in the face of life-threatening realities around the path to sanitizing the country from a multi-billion monstrous drug monolith that has caused the death of many including Vivian, Akunyili’s sister.

Since she left her role as a Senior lecturer and Consultant Pharmacologist in Medicine ,University of Nigeria Nsukka (U.N.N.), Enugu Campus, she has led a trail of success in fighting the menace of substandard food and drugs.

Before Akunyili took over her post in 2001, 80% of drugs in circulation were substandard: some were outright poison; powdered chalk; some expired.

Nigeria gained a reputation for being a country where harmful drugs were sold and used without scrutiny. Merchants of death plied their wares with shameless abandon; rejected drugs found a ready market in Nigeria. Tales of corroboration with authorities abounded – it was pathetic. Nigerians have been known from South Africa to Thailand for being involved in illicit drug peddling. I remember being told by a smiling chunky dud in Nigeria: ‘I like to be involved in drug trading.’ People turned their eyes as these death sellers indulged in their nefarious activities.

In 1990 more than 100 Nigerian children died from a painkiller that had been made with a toxic substance.

There are people who want Nigeria to remain backward and a land of anything-goes, so they can profit. Nigeria without regulations sweetens their gory appetites but this time around they have had it in their faces. At the heart of this crusade is a tireless woman who braved a society greatly prejudiced against females. Even Obasanjo confessed to narrowly missing her. She is a shadow of merit in the right position. She vindicates my position that authority must be held by the qualified – there’s no apology for being good that is why the English league travels around the world to get players, despite homegrown football players. Merit must outpace sectionalism in every form.

Dora is a beautiful advertisement for the Nigerian woman long held down by societal misconceptions. Nigeria women occupy a very strategic position in the Nigerian society. It is not unusual to find women almost single-handedly feeding, clothing etc their families – in the traditional Nigerian family, divorce is rare, so efforts are put in to ensure the success of marriage against all odds, often times with the woman at the receiving end.

Since her emergence on the national stage there has been a lot of debate about the place of women in Nigeria.

Olakunle Fredrick Sorinmade, the Lagos West senatorial candidate of the Citizens Popular Party (CPP) has cashed in on Akunyili’s rising profile in his proposal to create laws strengthening women (Daily Champion,2007).

Professor Akunyili stands tall. She may have foibles, but no matter how it is cut, she shows that Nigerians can have a will to dismantle the various evil structures in place if they desire. She has strenuously fought her corner. Hardly a week goes by – anytime I read the news – without mention of progress towards stemming the tide of illicit drug related activities made. Recently 800 cartons of banned vegetable oil valued at N10 million were impounded by the National Agency for Food and Drug Administration Control (Daily Champion). Whenever I think about her I see the picture of lost Nigeria; a Nigeria that can be found.

In recognition of her service, the European Parliament has invited her as a guest speaker to the forth-coming Public Hearing on Counterfeiting Medicine on April 10, 2007, where she is expected to pour insights into the global fight against drug counterfeiting.

Prof.Akunyili was born in Makurdi, Benue state on the 14th of July 1954 to Chief & Mrs. Paul Young Edemobi.A devout catholic, mother of six children – having a grand child - married to Dr.J.C. Akunyili a Medical Practitioner, she has more than 20 awards under her belt .

She got her B.Pharm (Hons) in 1978 and P.hD in 1985 from the University of Nigeria Nssuka (UNN).

On resuming office she restricted pharmaceutical imports to two airports and two seaports, each staffed by NAFDAC officials and blacklisted foreign companies thought to be involved in manufacturing fake drugs.

"It is in Onitsha that all the fake drug dealers in all Nigerian markets are trained. They move from Onitsha to other markets. They distribute from Onitsha to other places. They have so much money. It is by the grace of God that anybody can resist their money. They often claim that they are millionaires in all currencies (ThisDay, 2007)." She said.

The war against substandard food and drugs is just a tissue in the morass of decadent activities plaguing Nigeria.

According to the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFFC), Nigerian fraudsters raked in N70 billion from advance fee fraud (419) in the past 10 years.

The Federal Government recently released N1.2 billion to the newly-created Directorate for Cyber security (DFC) to respond to security issues on the internet.

References

Lemonick.D.M and Costa D.G.(2005).Drug Warrior (Times magazine)
www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,1124289,00.html

nafdacnigeria.org