Why African Countries Remain Poor

 By Olufemi Oyedele

There are two types of poverty; extreme and relative. Extreme poverty is a state or condition of lack of basic needs like food, housing, clothing, transport, education, medicals and security, and a position of hopelessness of people. It is generally experienced by those living on less than $1.99 daily. All nations are endowed with natural resources that are supposed to make them live above the poverty threshold and, in the olden days, human beings naturally settled in communities that provided them with basic needs of living—food, water, shelter, medicals and security and safety from attacks. Gross domestic product per capita is considered an important method to compare how poor or wealthy countries are in relation to each other.

The average GDP of Africa is the lowest amongst the seven continents (Africa, North America, South America, Antarctica, Australia, Asia and Europe) at $9,700 (2021). Africa has the highest number of countries on its continent with 54 countries. With natural resources, especially arable land, rain forest, adequate sun, mineral resources and human resources, no African country is supposed to be poor.

Parable Of The Self-Appointed Messiah

By Chris Nonyelum

The President, Commander-in-Chief of the Armed Forces of the Federal Republic of Namibia, Retired General Mamodu Basiri sat in his palatial office ruminating over the events of the past three and half years since he assumed the mantle of leadership of the Namibian nation as a democratically elected civilian despot. The tides of reckoning were moving too fast, and his country men and women were subjecting him to certain ‘uncharitable’ assessments of his stewardship. Too much had been said and written about his messianic mission for his beloved country. 

He had mounted the saddle of leadership with the promise to clean the Augean stables and set his country men and women on the part of economic rediscovery and glory. But the burden of leadership has overstretched his sanity almost to breaking point. He was no longer sure how effective his sense of rational judgment was. One thing though, was very clear to him. He has failed woefully in his much touted messianic mission. But he was determined to cling to power at all costs. 

Heart-Wrenching Tales Of An African Illegal Immigrant In Europe

By Joel Savage

It's hard for many Africans in Europe, to tell Africans at home the truth about the hard living conditions in Europe. In the midst of suffering, many Africans in Europe take pictures sitting behind a table covered with bottles of beer, creating a false impression that they live in comfort and luxury.

I share my stories to warn Africans that Europe is not paradise, a perfect place of riches, peace, and happiness. After reading this story, any African who wants to come to Europe must think twice. As a child growing up in a strongly religious family, I was taught that everything which is opposite to the teachings of the Holy Bible, including laziness is a sin. I tried my best to live a clean life. We were taught to believe that Israel, Jerusalem, and other Biblical countries were all in heaven, without a slight knowledge those countries were all on the same earth we are living.

Nigeria: A Culture Of Substandard Living

By Passy Amaraegbu

“All good is hard. All evil is easy. Dying, (suicide) losing, cheating, and mediocrity are easy. Stay away from ease.”

 – Scott Alexander

One major way to measure the degree of development in any society is the value she placed on human life. Even animals operate with the instinct that human life is sacred. This is the reason they initially exhibit fear and flight when they encounter human beings.

Consequently, every progressive human society focuses on the double task of preserving and improving the lives of mortals. Some European and even Asian nations have perfected in this crucial task to a high degree that the elderly cohort (65 and above) form a significant part of their population. In other words, the life expectancy of such nations is high. For instance, the UN 2015 world life expectancy of Nigerian is 52.29 years, UK is 80.45, and Japan is 83.74. The main reason for this divergent disparity in the life expectancy of nations is based on the different values these nations place on the lives of their citizens. 

Nigeria: Independence Without Culture Or Identity?

By Dan Amor

Culture is the artistic and other activity of the mind and the works produced by this. It is also a state of high development in art and thought existing in a society and represented at various levels in its members. But culture as a thematic focus in this piece, concerns the particular system of art, thought, custom, beliefs and all the other products of human thought made by a people at a particular time; in short, the way of life and identity of a people. This essay is therefore informed by the urgent need for a new sense of national identity and character in Nigeria.

What special qualities would distinguish the citizens of this country considered to be the largest and most populated black nation in the world? For instance, under the influence of Montesquieu, Abbe du Bois, and others the eighteenth century placed great emphasis on delineating national character. The Spanish, for example, were said to be brave, mystical and cruel; the English practical, phlegmatic shopkeepers; and the French refined, artistic, and immoral. Each nation was thought to have a special significance, a character, evident in its history, the impression made on travelers, its climate, and in the features of its land. Most nations possessed a long, mysterious past from which its character had simply come into being. The United States of America, on the other hand, could see its origins clearly and explicitly. Moreover, its people were largely British with minorities of Germans, Dutch, French, and others in some of the provinces. Yet, in curious, unselfconscious ways, these transplanted Europeans, even in early colonial days, seemed somehow a different breed of men.

President Mugabe Receives Wheelchair From Cabinet Ministers As Belated 93rd Birthday Gift

The President of Zimbabwe, Robert Mugabe on Monday received a gift from his cabinet ministers and it was a wheelchair.

The belated birthday gift according to the ministers is to enable their boss who is 93 move around his office and home with ease.

News24 reported that the mobile chair was presented to the long-term Zanu-PF leader at a ceremony in his office.

Mr. Mugabe is quoted to have thanked the ministers for the gesture.

“I thank all of you for putting your heads together to come up with this gift,” he said as he took delivery of the special mobile chair which insiders claimed was bought in China” he said.

Lightening Africa

By Said Adejumobi  

The metaphor for describing Africa as a “dark continent” has varied in time and space. In the 1970s to 1990s, Africa’s relative underdevelopment with high levels of poverty, ignorance, illiteracy, disease, etc was used by the Afro-pessimists like Joseph Konrad to qualify Africa as the “heart of darkness.” However, with the Africa ‘rising’ story, the energy crisis, precisely the provision of electricity, is now used to qualify the continent as a “dark continent.”  When an aerial picture of Africa is taken at night via the satellite, the image that suffices is undoubtedly one of a continent in utter darkness, with little twinkles of light, far in between.

The facts are daunting and the storyline is very bad. Over 60 per cent of the population of the continent estimated at about 612 million people,  do not have access to  basic energy. Sub-Saharan Africa excluding South Africa generates less electricity than Spain. The energy used in the city of New York is up to, if not more than, what the entire Sub-Saharan Africa consumes. Yet, electricity is the lifewire of a modern economy and society, without which human potentials, and economic development will be severely impaired. Firms cannot operate optimally,  jobs cannot be created, the informal sector cannot grow, the learning environment for our children will be harsh and inhospitable, and households will grumble all the time. That is the fate of Africa today. The promise of industrialisation and economic transformation will be far fetched for the continent if the energy infrastructure is not provided in Africa.

The energy challenge is now a major policy priority for the continent and the World Goal number seven (7) of the new Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) is to achieve affordable and clean energy. The Progress Panel headed by former UN Secretary General, Kofi Annan made energy the focus of its 2016 report entitled: Power, People and Planet, while the African Development Bank (AfDB) made it the subject of its annual board meetings which took place recently in Lusaka, Zambia from from May 23-27, 2016 on the theme: Energy and Climate Change.

Akinwumi Adesina, the new president of the AfDB, decked in a slim-fit suit and his trade mark bow-tie, spoke brilliantly on why the continent must be lighted up, and quickly too, and why the fate of our young men and women fleeing the continent, should not be in the Mediterranean Sea, but in economic prosperity at home. Energy is key to creating jobs and opportunities for them, at home. As Adesina delivered his message to the audience with passion, commitment, and conviction, the urgency of the matter no doubt dawned on everyone present. The AfDB used the platform to launch its new initiative on the ‘New Deal on Energy in Africa’ through which it hopes to support African countries to overcome the energy challenge with billions of dollars in investments.

There are areas of good consensus amongst key stakeholders on what needs to be done to get Africa lighted up. African governments can no longer do it alone; public-private sector partnership is central in changing the ball game on energy in Africa. Massive investments and strategic planing are required in the sector which hitherto was not the case except for political rhetorics and high level of corruption. And finally, is that the reform of the energy sector is imperative if the goal of lighting up Africa is ever to be achieved.

Nigerians:Docile Or Resilient?

By Emma Jimo

Nigeria is possibly the country with the greatest appellations and accolades in the world. Nigeria is called the giant of Africa, the world’s most populous Black nation, the nation with the highest number of malaria victims , etc. What about Nigerians? Some people have their own way of describing certain other persons. One of the most recent ones I have heard is the expression that ‘Nigerians are docile’!

(pix: abusidiqu)

 I think this is highly debatable, not to say annoyingly nauseating. An expression of this magnitude of indictment has its root in the perception that Nigerians remain calm often in the face of clear case of misrule  or uncomfortable policy or some other unprintable happenings. Against this backdrop, it pays to peep into semantics and epistemology. Semantically, to be docile is to be ‘quiet, not aggressive and easily controlled’. This is certainly helpful to arrive at my own viewpoint that Nigerians are resilient father than docile.

A writer Thomas Carlyle defines  genius as the infinite capacity for taking pains; that is, limitless ability for perseverance and capacity for endurance. I think seriously that tolerance, seemingly limitless capacity of Nigerians to endure pains and yet remaining hopeful against all clear signs of lack of hope in sight, all things being (un)equal are marks of ingenuity rather than docility. Since it is the relationship between the governed and the government that generated the assertion about docility, a politics – based example should not be out of place or off-tune here.

Since Nigerian political independence in 1960, governance or rulership has oscillated between military and civil rules sharing almost equal number of years until 1999 when a 16–year-at-a-stretch civil rule began. In Nigeria’s political history, no government, whether loved or hated, military or civil, imposed or voted legitimately has spent more than nine  years,  being also the maximum spent by the General Yakubu Gowon-led administration, by far the most economically comfortable, though arguably.

At least, the civil servants who got Udoji award would think about economic buoyancy even if academics would consider the same event as an (un)economically misdirected prodigality. Anyone who has got his ears close to the political realm should have heard, seen or read how in spite of nationally-acclaimed dribbling skills of a military ruler was fought to a stands till by a combined civil forces ofthe then very virile Nigerian Labour Congress and the National Association of Nigerian Students (NANS) with patriotic collaboration of the press, including the defunct clandestine and nocturnal Kudirat Radio, among others.

Corruption In Kenya Is A Mere Pitfall Of National Consciousness

By Alexander Opicho
Kenya, in its capacity as a state and a government is now a victim of uncontrollable corruptions. The media of all type from both within and without has conclusively called Kenya as a country of mega corruption. The president so far has accepted that his country is a society of state thievery.

President Uhuru Kenyatta (pix: The Nation) 

This is great as acceptance is the only first critical point from which you start solving a problem. President Kenyatta is correctly diagnostic, Kenya as a political and state organization is currently under lethal threat of mega-theft of crown properties by state officers, a vice that is only self-pertuating through generations as a mere pitfall of national consciousness riding on the crest of self-idolatry of the tribes in love with the selves while putting on the dark blinkers even to a simple damn for the humanity in poverty that makes social geography of this country on the western shores of the Indian ocean.

What am I saying? I am saying that it is not the absolute duty of the state and government to fight corruption, but instead they are the people of Kenya that are bound to be wary and supposed to come out of sweet sentimentalities of tribal cocoonery and firmly say no to corruption and the corrupt leaders, especially the leaders as fellow tribesmen. It is so unfortunate that the people of Kenya expect a bourgeoisie state like the one in Kenya to fight corruption. It is impossible. History of politics is a repertoire of technical facts confirming a testament that bourgeoisie political organizations cannot fight corruption in the political class, instead the state is a basic tool which the economic bourgeoisie and the political bourgeoisie use as a tool of oppression for properly smashing the common person and the peasantry into a forlorn social station of the wretched of the earth.

Yoweri Museveni: African Political Thug Or Democratic Realist?

*President Museveni

By Alexander Opicho
Observing the 2016 general elections in Uganda brings to the surface a strong controversy between political science and governance as social practices. The contest that was between Museveni and the two veteran opposition politicians, Kizza Besigye and Mbabazi has been concluded with violence and strong possibilities of future violence, in spite of the fact that it has left Museven as the winner to his now seventh term as the president of Uganda or his 31st year as the president of Uganda.

This has happened on the backdrop of age-long heavy poverty, abuse of human rights, joblessness and despair, tormenting fear, squalorism, shameful diseases like leprosy, punctured education system, palpable police brutality and hostility, corruption, brotherism, oppression of the press and rights to freedom of the speech as well as irritating culture of political falstaffity by President Museven as the day to day experience of the people of Uganda. What I mean is observing politics in Uganda will lead you to nothing else but to a conclusion that democracy is a beautiful paralysis of human hope beyond any diagnosis known to mankind today and tomorrow.

To be concise Museveni might have won the presidential elections or maybe he has not won, that is not the problem; the issue is how Museveni monkey-wrenched the entire electoral process by using police and military brutality to destroy all the fairness in the election process. Those that watched or saw Museveni using military power to terrorize and humiliate his key opponent Dr Kizza Besigye will be activated mentally to remember the former military dictators that extremely employed armies in police uniforms to mayhem the unarmed civilians, I mean to remember the likes of San Abacha of Nigeria, Arap Moi of Kenya and Idi Amin Dada of Uganda.

New African Magazine August 2015 Out Now

AUGUST ISSUE OF NEW AFRICAN – OUT NOW! 
Monday, 10^th August/ London:

Ethiopia is increasingly in the spotlight for a number of reasons. As Africa's oldest independent country and the second largest in terms of population it has served as a symbol of African independence throughout the colonial period, was a founder member of the United Nations and remains the African base for many international organisations, most notably the African Union Commission. Most recently Ethiopia hosted thousands of delegates at third international conference on Financing for Development and played host to the US President Barack Obama during the first visit by a serving American president to that country. Addis Ababa will also be the venue for the forthcoming Africa Japan Business Investment Forum (http://ic-events.net/event/africa-japan/) at the end of August 2015.

The latest issue of New African magazine carries an exclusive, in depth and broad ranging interview with Ethiopian PM Hailemariam Desalegn. Topics covered include the PM’s views on democracy and the greater inclusion of opposition and other voices, good governance, employment creation and an overview of the country’s inclusive Growth and Transformation Plan with its focus on indigenisation, manufacturing and industrialisation, as well as broader issues impacting the Horn of Africa. We also get an insight into the life and times of Zimbabwe’s Vice President, Emerson Mnangagwa and the former Prime Minister of Namibia Nahas Angula.

Also in this issue – the cover story takes a futuristic look at Africa’s role in shaping its own developmental agenda, as Africa’s leaders and leading policymakers prepare to join other world governments at the United Nations in September in order to adopt the much-talked about new Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) as the landmark Millennium Development Goals draw to a close.

Other features include ‘Kenya/Tech’, the Kenyan government's new startup craze; a look at development aid to Africa from a Nordic perspective; the rise of Venture Capital firms in Africa and a narrative on a new movement in East Africa to make motorcycle taxis, one of the most popular forms of transport, safer. Alongside these stories are the regular Opinion pieces, cultural reviews and sector reports,  

The August issue is out now and digitally available via http://www.exacteditions.com/newafrican. It is also available on Apple and Android app stores

Remembering The 'Rumble In The Jungle'

By Banji Ojewale

Forty years ago on October 30 1974, the world was rocked by the celebrated fight between Muhammad Ali, ex-heavyweight boxing champion of the world and George Foreman, the title holder. The colorful Ali aptly called the bout the Rumble in the jungle because it took place in thickly forested Zaire, now known as the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC).

Muhammad Ali

(pix: Reuters)

It was a huge, larger-than-life affair put together by an imperial president Mobutu Sese Seko with many unprecedented features. It was the first heavyweight championship contest in Africa; it brought together two of the planet’s greatest pugilists; it saw Mubutu budget more than ten million dollars to promote the show; it gave the fighters their biggest ever earnings; finally, it offered Africa the rare opportunity to see two of its eminent sons battle for supremacy on their own soil. They had always been forced to do it away from “home”.

The African leader was said to have traveled this expensive route in order to cover up for years of his corrupt era, egregious human rights abuse and misrule, all of which pauperized the country. He did not succeed. He failed to exploit the potential salutary public relations of the fight to improve the lot of the people. Actually it would appear Zaire got the rough end of the stick, because two years later in 1976, the country gave the international community the dreaded Ebola Virus Disease (EVD).

Ebola: Liberian President Writes Very Touching Letter To The World

Dear World
In just over six months, Ebola has managed to bring my country to a standstill. We have lost over 2,000 Liberians. Some are children struck down in the prime of their youth. Some were fathers, mothers, brothers or best friends. Many were brave health workers that risked their lives to save others, or simply offer victims comfort in their final moments…

Liberian President Ellen Johnson Sirleaf 

There is no coincidence Ebola has taken hold in three fragile states – Liberia, Sierra Leone and Guinea – all battling to overcome the effects of interconnected wars. In Liberia, our civil war ended only eleven years ago. It destroyed our public infrastructure, crushed our economy and led to an exodus of educated professionals. A country that had some 3,000 qualified doctors at the start of the war was dependent by its end on barely three dozen.

In the last few years, Liberia was bouncing back. We realized there was a long way to go, but the future was looking bright. Now Ebola threatens to erase that hard work. Our economy was set to be larger and stronger this year, offering more jobs to Liberians and raising living standards. Ebola is not just a health crisis – across West Africa, a generation of young people risk being lost to an economic catastrophe as harvests are missed, markets are shut and borders are closed.

How The Africa Channel Can Help Multiculturalism On British Television

By Emma Fox

The British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC) has expanded its repertoire and global reach to the point where it regularly broadcasts to an American and Arabic audience. It gives the Americans an opportunity to explore the best of what British television has or has had to offer and allows an expanding Arabic audience to feel that they are not forgotten by the Western world. Because services like this have been positively accepted, it was important that a similar service was launched for African people in the United Kingdom.

BBC America

BBC America was launched in 1998 and broadcasts popular British programming such as Doctor Who and In The Flesh. What is unique about BBC America is that, contrary to its name, it does not solely broadcast programmes from the BBC. Instead, it opts to broadcast popular programming from other British networks as well as its own. This allows the American audience to gain an understanding of British television and can also assist British television and film producers to gain recognition in an otherwise difficult environment to crack. A station such as this in the United Kingdom would inevitably do the same for African filmmakers and television producers.

Opening Frontiers To The Future

eLearning Africa 2014 Call For Proposals Now Open

Many African countries are undergoing an economic boom, with ICTs seen as a major tool supporting growth. While Internet penetration rates remain low, innovative technologies are helping to ensure connectivity for more Africans than ever before.

The buoyancy in the African eLearning market is yet another sign that the potential of this diverse Continent is already being realised. There are, however, major challenges ahead. Inflated trade tariffs and restrictive border controls between many African countries, for example, are stifling intra-African trade and collaboration, frequently presenting an all-too-physical barrier to continued, sustainable growth.

Out of this environment of challenge and opportunity, eLearning Africa has announced a Call for Proposals, inviting participants from across Africa and the world to submit their ideas, innovations and research, under the main theme of “Opening Frontiers to the Future”.

Office Bullies

By Moses Obroku

If you haven’t experienced working under a cantankerous, highly irritable, generally obnoxious boss, believe me, fate has been extremely kind to you as you have been spared one of life’s greatest trauma. To the people whose lot in life it is right now to be working with such bosses, I can only hope that something happens about that situation real soon before permanent damage is done to whatever is left of your dignity.

*Moses Obroku

And as you know too well by now, this special breed that your boss is, do not need any external stimulus for him/her to get real nasty with you. On their own, they can generate a negative energy minefield to ensure your every work day of the week is unbearable for you.

Often times, they create unnecessary tension around them at the work place. They seem to hold this twisted view that the boss has to be stern looking with this ‘don’t –joke-with me’, ‘I -am- tough’ kind of disposition; like that is when they can command respect quickly. These bosses do not realize that when subordinates work with the apprehension of being given verbal jabs indiscriminately, they end up making more mistakes as the fear of what is anticipated soon materializes.

New York Senate Passes Resolution On Chinua Achebe

J1186-2013: LEGISLATIVE RESOLUTION Mourning The Death Of Paramount Novelist Chinua Achebe, Founder And Pioneer Of African literature

 

 A Nigerian National Newspaper Reports
Achebe's Passing (pix:Ugochukwu Ejinkeonye (2013))
 
WHEREAS, It is the sense of this Legislative Body to pay tribute to the lives of those esteemed individuals of international renown who distinguished themselves through their life's work; and
WHEREAS, Foremost novelist, Professor Chinua Achebe, died on Thursday, March 21, 2013, at the age of 82; and 
WHEREAS, Born Albert Chinualumogu Achebe, on November 16, 1930,
Chinua Achebe was a Nigerian novelist, poet, professor, and critic; he was
best known for his 1958 novel, THINGS FALL APART, selling over 12 
million copies around the world, and having been translated into 50 languages, 
 making him the most paraphrased African writer of all time; and

We Focus On Children And The Sick -- Duru, Founder, "Azione Verde"

 About a decade ago, Boniface Duru, a priest from the Catholic Diocese of Orlu, Imo State, Nigeria, residing in Rome, founded an NGO called Azione Verde, which has for many years now offered scholarships to many brilliant but less privileged children and free medical services to a lot of rural dwellers in Nigeria. In this interview with Nigerian Journalist and Writer, UGOCHUKWU EJINKEONYE,  Duru speaks on the activities of his group, the state of education and healthcare delivery in Nigeria, and the future programmes of his organization.  

Excerpts: 

Ugochukwu Ejinkeonye [Left] Interviewing 

Boniface Duru

Since your NGO has an Italian name. I think it would be appropriate to commence by saying what it means in English.  

Well the NGO is called “Azione Verde” which means “Green Action”. And the name emerged from our philosophy that “children are the basis for development.” Children must go to school and not work. They must be properly taken care of. I believe that a nation that has no care for her children has no future. So green is a sign of hope, a sign of the future, and a sign of health and even wealth. Green is always a positive sign wherever it shows. So that is why we chose the name – the Green Action, and our attention is focused on the children and the sick. So that’s why it is called Azione Verde. 

Thank you. I had wanted to ask you the areas you focus on, but it is like you have touched briefly on them. I understand you have built a school in a rural community in Orlu in Imo State and that annually you fly in a number of medical personnel from Europe to attend to the health needs of people in some rural areas. Maybe, you can elaborate on this.  

We have two basic areas of attention: one, we concentrate on the children because we believe that to make a positive impact on the future and  development of a nation, there is need to educate the children. So our first focus is to make meaningful and lasting impact on children. Actually, I am against the aspect of humanitarian efforts geared towards bringing used clothes and then food items for the people. No, I believe that the only way to sustain development is to prepare the children, give them a different culture without obliterating the positive one they already have and then you would have made a lot of contribution to national development. Our second focus: to sustain a nation, there is need to also take care of the sick because a sick nation is a weak nation. In a nation where several of the people that constitute the workforce are sick, then the ability to produce and develop is grossly reduced.

Duru With The Azione Verde Medical
Team In Orlu Imo State


Tell me more about your healthcare programme.  

We actually do what we call village to village treatment. Once every year we bring in doctors and nurses from overseas. Each time we bring in about 40 people – doctors, nurses and medical assistants – and then we move from village to village visiting  sick people. And where we encounter very serious cases, we refer them to good hospitals and pay the bills. In some occasions, we have had cause to fly people outside the country for further treatment and brought them back when they became  healthy again.

Where do you attend to the people? Do you have some kind of affiliation with some hospitals or do you create temporary health centres in classrooms or community halls in those villages?  

When we started, we were using the seven hospitals owned by the Catholic Diocese of Orlu in Imo State. So we would put out announcements inviting people requiring medical attention to come to those hospitals. These structures were on ground and spread throughout the diocese, so we used them at the beginning. Then, gradually, we started using other structures. For instance, when we went outside Orlu to Mbaise (Imo State), we used a health centre. And when we went to other places, we attended to the people at their community squares.  

Duru With Some Of The Children On The

 Azione Verde Scholarship

Could you recall when the idea of founding an NGO occurred to you?  

I wouldn’t want to use the term, “the idea of founding an NGO” occurring to me. I would rather say it was the NGO that came to me. Well, my intention was to make a positive contribution to development in Africa. When I came to Rome, I became a chaplain in a hospital for four years. So during the first two years, I saw the difference between the way the doctors there took care of their patients and the way it was done here in many of our hospitals. It dawned on me that a lot of deaths which took place here and still take place were caused by carelessness on the part of our medical personnel. Down here, we have many hospitals but only very few can qualify to be called hospitals indeed. This brought tears to my eyes as I reflected on the many avoidable deaths that occurred in our hospitals regularly. Every day, I wept at the hospital, as I considered that very simple sicknesses that killed people in Africa could easily be taken care of given the right personnel, equipment and drugs. So, that moved me to begin to question the quality of drugs used in our hospitals and how far the relevant supervisory agencies go to ensure control over what is given to patients and all that. So I was worried and started thinking about it. I started holding meetings with some of the doctors there asking them whether they would be willing to join me to visit my country if I was able to put together an organisation and they readily agreed. Down here there is hardly any control on the quality of drugs being brought in.
  

But we have NAFDAC in Nigeria here? 

Even NAFDAC does very little. In Europe, there are no drugs coming in from China but Nigeria is full of Chinese drugs and it is this same NAFDAC that allows these drugs to come in. And some of these drugs are not qualified to answer that name. So I was worried about this. Then on the other hand, I saw that the cause of most problems in Nigeria, and in Africa, is illiteracy. We are mostly illiterate people. Even many of those who claim to be educated are not properly educated; and as you know, there is this saying that half-education is dangerous and that is what is causing problems in many places in Africa. So I said: how can children be trained? How can we make positive contributions to development? The only answer was that children must be given quality education early enough before they become adults and become preoccupied with many other things. You remember the expression Tabula rasa. Tabula rasa means a vacant human mind occupied by no thought or experience, just like white paper. And on a white paper you can write, but on a paper already filled with several writings, you cannot write. So only children have the mind that could still be described as Tabula rasa, a kind of clean slate with enough space for you to write something on. But sending these children to school is not enough. Their education must be combined with formation. Education and formation produce balanced human beings. Education without formation may produce giants, but they would be negative giants. The result is always destructive. So that was why I started putting together these ideas, and writing them down.  And from there we took off, and from stage to stage, we got to where we are today. 

How is your secondary school doing? 

Yes, we have built a secondary school. You have seen the pictures, but actually we want to upgrade it now to a University of Science and Information Technology because we want to make a contribution in those areas of learning.  

Now, your school is located in a rural community. I don’t know how much you charge as fees, but I hope it is such that can be affordable to the people there.  

Yes, we are not talking about the fees now. We are talking about the quality of what is being offered, and the effective operation of the institution. Well, for your information, we have about 1,000 children benefiting from our scholarship programme. We select children who are orphans, those from very poor families, and those who are very intelligent. So the condition is not just that the person cannot afford to pay his or her fees. We also want them to be able to demonstrate a capacity to cope with the standard of education we are advocating. That is what actually forms the basis for the school. And we are trying to use it to change the society like I said before. We want to form and educate children and mould them to become responsible and productive members of the society. When education is combined with formation, it produces balanced human beings that are very responsible. 

Duru With Former Nigerian President

Olusegun Obasanjo

It is like for now your focus is Imo State? 

Yes, for now the base of this organization is in Imo State. Why? I am from Imo State, and as they say, Charity begins at home, but the horizon of the organization extends far beyond Imo State. We have people benefiting from our facilities everywhere. For now there are no children attending our school. We use different structures. So a child in Abeokuta can go to a school in Abeokuta under our scholarship, because we started the scholarship programme before we built the school. The children are attending schools at different places, but they must be recommended.  So every academic year, our secretariat pays their school fees wherever they are. We are responsible for their fees, books, uniforms, bus fares and several other things. Sometimes, a child costs us about a hundred thousand naira a year, and sometimes more than that. We have already produced a medical doctor through our scholarship programme. We have also produced a psychologist who is at the moment at the orientation camp in preparation for the compulsory National Youth Service Corps (NYSC).

Now, let’s return to your healthcare programme. How do you get your volunteers? Do you have people who are regular on your list? Are they all from Italy or do you have some others volunteering from other parts of Europe? 

If you look at our magazine, you will see that our organization has a universal spread. It is called Azione Verde Internationale because of its international nature. We have people from the United States. We have some doctors from several other places who are members of our organization. We also have members from Malta, Canada – in fact, from all over the world. Anyone from anywhere who appreciates the value of what we are doing can become a member. 

The Azione Verde Medical Team At Work


So you have permanent members then, or is it that each time you are coming to Africa, you advertise for volunteers and people respond? 

Yes, like now, if you visit our website (www.azioneverde.org) you will see the date of our next visit to Nigeria. So those interested to be part of our programme can apply. Already, some nurses are applying from the United States. Anybody who is interested can come.  It is not limited to some people. 

I heard that you received one of the highest honours in Italy for your humanitarian services. Tell me about it? 

Yes, I received this award in 2010 and it is an award given only to Italian citizens from the Basilicata Region, but for the first time in their history, they selected me as one of the recipients. Why? Because they saw the value of what I am doing. It is not just about what I am doing in Africa, coming to Nigeria regularly to render some help. But then they had also seen the positive effect of my work on their own young people, because in Italy alone this organization has about a thousand volunteers; and then from time to time we are having meetings. I re-educate them on the value of appreciating our common humanity, as we strive to achieve a better understanding of others outside our immediate environments. It is also another way of exposing the young people to international frontiers. So when we bring them here, they see our people, and see that we don’t live on trees, for instance. They see that those living here are also people as they are, and when they go back home, they join me to re-educate their own people. And I must tell you that they enjoy coming here. For 12 years we have done this and we have had no accidents. For this, they selected me and gave me the award. 

Duru And His Team With Governor

 Rochas Okorocha Of Imo State 

Now, you are talking about re-education, new attitudes towards other people and better appreciation of others outside our immediate environments. In 2007, a young Nigerian wrote an article in the Washington Post entitled: “Stop Trying To ‘Save’ Africa”, and observed that humanitarian efforts in Africa by Western celebrities and NGOs appear sometimes to be geared towards promoting “the stereotype of Africa as a black hole of disease and death.” Now I would like you to talk about the people volunteering for your organization? What is their attitude towards Africa? Is it a case of embarking on a hazardous mission to the jungle to “save” some perennially helpless creatures? Or do they come to meet human beings faced with challenges just like any other people on earth? 

Actually, when you read the founding philosophy of this organization, you will see that I made it clear that men should meet men on common grounds, where I will shake your hands because I appreciate you and you shake my hands because you appreciate me. So when I talk to them, I tell them that we have no problems about food. Yes, Nigeria has no food problem. Nigeria has no clothing problem. Nigeria is not a poor country. Nigeria has a basic problem of mismanagement, and, if you like, corruption. And if you want to change Nigeria, you have to help form the children who tomorrow will become the protagonists of their own environment. If anybody is coming to Nigeria because he wants to give out food to some suffering, starving people, that is wrong. You can say that about Rwanda, not Nigeria. You can say that about   some other African states, because they lack food and water.  So, overseas I tell them: don’t bring food to Nigeria, we are rich. Don’t bring clothes to us; we may even have more than you have. Come to us and see how we are. We want to educate our people. Some people don’t have equal opportunities and this is created by corruption, as you know. So, one very effective way to combat this corrupt practice is to help these children become adequately equipped to become the protagonists of their environments. The only way to empower them is to give them education. And not only education; you have to give them formation too. A lot of people say to me out there: we want to come to Nigeria and adopt children. And I say, no! We want you to come and visit Nigeria and see how you can help us form responsible future leaders and agents of change. When these children become doctors and lawyers, they can then come overseas and then your meeting with them will be a dignified one. Indeed, if you come overseas and see our people suffering and see what our people sell there to make money, you will weep. Some young men are out there selling toothpastes, buttons, socks, underwear; they go from one house to another. Sometimes they don’t even sell anything; they just ask for help. They tell people: please help us, we are poor. So this is a problem. And the only way you can avoid the continued reoccurrence of this problem is to properly train these children. I live overseas and I am able to talk to five thousand Italians and they listen to me. Why? Because of that little education and formation that I got. So if we are able to give it to our children today, in 10 to 15 years, they will do the same thing. And when you have people like me or 2,000 people with the same vision, then our country will change automatically.

Recently, you met with the governor of Imo State, Mr. Rochas Okorocha. I want to know if there is any form of collaboration you discussed with him to further what you are doing? 

Yes, the Governor was very positive about what we are doing because it also tallies with his own vision. The other day, somebody was asking me whether I sold my own ideas to Governor Okorocha? I only replied, as they say, that great minds think alike. He found out that what he is doing is in line with our own work. So he was very happy. That was that. He welcomed us. Actually, we didn’t get anything from the state government because my organisation is not asking for money. We do our things ourselves. Our collaboration is on the level of ideas. He also supported us by giving us security, but, like I said, our collaboration remains on the level of ideas and vision. Imo State government is not funding Azione Verde and Azione Verde is not funding Imo State. The governor is just is a good, hardworking man. That is all. 

Now, the credibility of any NGO depends to a large extent on its sources of funding. So who are the people funding your NGO? 

Yes, many people, many Nigerians always ask me this question.  Journalists, too, have shown interest in our source of funding. We don’t have any big brother. Like I told you, we don’t ask for money from anybody. We don’t even have grants. We source the funds ourselves. The volunteers that come with me pay their air fares. We also make contributions to arrange for what we eat and how we stay. So nobody funds this organisation. For the work we are doing, we have our levies. Everybody levies himself, all the members of the organisation. So sometimes also, we do a few collections from ourselves for the running of the school and the other structures. So, we don’t have a European Union (EU) grant or something like that. We have not even gone to the EU to ask for any. A lot of people who know me personally as a priest, however, make some donations. Not much money, really, but it’s helpful. They give you what they have, and they are happy about the way the funds are managed and the transparency with which everything is carried out. But I must tell you that 85% of what we spend is based on my personal effort, then the remaining 15% comes from the group. 

The year 2012 is still young, what have you scheduled to accomplish before it runs out?  

We want to inaugurate our university. We are trying to find the funds for the registration, because, you know, Nigeria demands a huge amount of money as deposit from people wishing to establish private universities. So we are trying to do that and then finish it up. This is what is basic on our agenda. Our organisation is ten years old. Actually we hit ten last year but we are doing our anniversary this year and we are also enlarging the scope of our work. For instance, for the first time, we are extending our mission to Congo and Cameroon because we have opened our offices in those two countries. So we will inaugurate our office in Congo this year. 

That’s important because I was wondering whether you don’t intend to reach out to other African nations? So, it’s good you have said that. Now I want to look at the quality of the school you are setting up. You know that many schools these days have the problem of standards. How do you intend to ensure the realization of the standard you have in mind? 

Actually we are trying to introduce an innovation in education. Like I said, we are establishing a university of science and information technology. We have a group of experts in Italy who are drawing up the curriculum. We want to train our students to be productive and not just to acquire ‘head knowledge’. We are not aiming to turn out people who merely memorize their lessons shortly before entering the exam hall in order to merely acquire paper qualification. We want to produce tested scientists so that in a very short time, we’ll start sending back technology to Europe. That’s what the school is all about. Being a journalist, too, I will want to teach what I studied. I will want a situation whereby we do journalism differently. Within our school we will have our own television and radio stations where our students will practice. This is what we want to do. 

Duru With Former Imo State Governor
Achike Udenwa At Government House, Owerri


You said you are upgrading the secondary school to a university?  

Yes, we will move the secondary school to another location but still under our management. My intention also is to repeat this model of secondary school everywhere in Nigeria. So as soon as we take off, the secondary school will be sited in every state in Nigeria and it is our secondary schools that will feed the university. 

So nobody can come from outside? 

No, no!  Because we want to have these children formed. Personally, I will teach them on the use of ideas to change the nation because what is Azione Verde today is built on ideas. And when you have an idea, and follow it and put it into practice, it becomes a reality. 

Do you think your university will be able to absorb all the people your secondary schools would be turning out every year? 

Yes, the university will do that in the first few years. Then as the number of students grow, so will the departments and campuses of the university.  We can, for instance, have a secondary school in Abeokuta, and then after four or five years, we would have a department of the university in Abeokuta.  And then if we have one in Calabar, we will repeat the same thing there. So that is the intention. 

Azione Verde Centre Under Construction
In Orlu


Through the Faculty of Education, you will be able to train and retrain some teachers for your schools? 

Yes, some of these children will become teachers automatically because they will go to specialize in Italy and in other parts of Europe. And then, definitely, they will come back to the school and teach. Not all of them will come back, you know, because some might want to go into other areas, but some of them will definitely come back. 

In Imo State today, many parents are withdrawing their kids from private schools and enrolling them in the public schools since Governor Rochas Okorocha came into office and started his programme of restoring quality in public schools and also introduced his scholarship scheme.  Don’t you think this might pose a formidable challenge to those of you running private schools?  

Well, what Rochas is doing is good if that will be sustained. That is what we all want. But you still must understand that the state system lacks formation and this is why the church-owned or private schools with vision must still strive. So,  the private school operators must not be threatened by this development because it is what we all are looking for. But the problem lies in the sustainability because the next administration might not be able to sustain what Rochas has started today. Rochas may be there for the next four or eight years. Then, after, him some fellow might come in and the system might crash. But even if the thing is sustained, private schools can co-exist with public schools and complement each other. We are all pursuing the same goal of providing quality education to Nigerian children.  It is left for parents to look at what each institution is capable of offering and choose where to enroll their kids. 

You keep talking about combining education with formation. Now assuming Rochas or any other governor is attracted to such an alternative and then invites you and your team to come and sell the idea to the public schools system? 

That would be fine. It would be for us a big victory. We can reinstate what was originally in the public schools because in the past our schools run by the Irish were known for the combination of formation and education and that was why when the colonial structures started crumbling, the educational structures followed suit. Those you see among public servants behaving responsibly in the various offices were mostly those trained by those expatriates. And when we – the latter day students – took over, the structures started crumbling. 

You’ve made your point, but I wonder how many people out there that would readily agree with you about the positive values of colonialism.

Yes, you cannot tell me that colonialism had no positive elements. Colonialism had a lot of positive elements and I was just saying now that our inability to separate the positive elements of colonialism is the problem we are having today because we seem to have retained and sustained only the negative elements. Today what happens? The colonial masters built roads from Enugu, Coal City, to Port-Harcourt because they wanted to move the coal from there to the sea ports and then to their country. Today what are your politicians doing? The first week they assume office, they build the road only to their villages. Is it not the same thing? So they only picked the negative aspect but don’t let us forget that some of these colonial people died here in order to help us.

Well, we hope to find a more convenient time to further explore this interesting subject, but for now, do you have any final word to the youths of this country especially about values?   

Yes, I still feel that we can change our people but you know the problem there is that nobody gives what he does not have. Sometimes we blame the youths but the youths have nothing to offer because nothing was given to them. The failure of our first generation politicians to carry over the positive values of our colonial system into the new dispensation is at the root of the leadership crises in the country. Instead, when they took over, they started fighting a system that had sustained them and destroyed even the beneficial structures they had inherited,  when they had nothing to offer themselves. And because they did not have a better alternative, they were unable to produce those saints and those angels that will sustain and move our country forward. And that’s why we have remained where we are.  

Thank you very much for your time. 

 Thank you for coming and  speaking with us.  

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Interview conducted Saturday, March 10, 2012, in Lagos, Nigeria