Forty Days In A Trauma Ward

By Moses Obroku

I have always had an unexplained dislike for the colour red. Perhaps, it is because somewhere in my subconscious I have associated it with danger or blood. However, in the morning of Thursday, February 23, 2006, I put on an oxblood shirt and a red-brown-black blend tie over black trousers to go to work which I just resumed two days before.

Having only completed my National Youth Service in September of the previous year, I thought I was rather fortunate to have landed that job, considering I did not have to stay at home for long. So it was with great expectations that I commenced training on the job. I remembered praying that morning as I always do before setting out, for God’s protection.

After a rather hitch free commuting via public transport from Ajah to Airport road where the headquarters of the company is located, I had an exciting day at work and before the close of business that day, I was given an invitation to attend the company’s annual retreat which was holding at Nike Lake resort in Enugu that year. Things were looking great! I was excited about the retreat of the following week as I had never been to the eastern part of Nigeria before that time.

Here was I, fresh from school with a law degree, NYSC behind me, and a promising job ahead of me. Life was good! Those were my thoughts as I made my way back home. At Oshodi, I boarded a non-stop bus to Ajah.  Since I was the first to get into the vehicle, I took the front seat as it usually has more room. Soon after, a male passenger came to join me in front and I made room for him to take the inner seat while I retained my window seat. I would never know now, how that decision played out.

As the now filled bus made its way towards the third mainland bridge, the ride was smooth, things looked normal. When the driver started to ascend the bridge, at the intersection where the road forks towards Ibadan expressway to the left and Lagos Island to the right, he should move towards the right and continue on the bridge. I just started to think that the vehicle was too close to the kerb and… (I didn’t quite finish the thought) when everything happened in surreal slow motion in my mind.  The driver violently hit the kerb with the left wheel, which made the bus travelling at about 100 km/per hour careened out of balance, fell on my side and continued sliding on the concrete highway till it spent its velocity and came to an abrupt halt right in the middle of the road. Fortunately, there was no other vehicle coming behind to run us over.

The noise of the crash was deafening. The windshield had shattered to a thousand places sending pieces of glass fiber everywhere. Metal had squeezed, seats were pushed into each other and there was silence for a fraction of a second before the cries, wailings, and screams emanated from all around as if people were zoned back into the present to confront the horrors.

Disease-Ravaged Africa- The Nigerian Scenario

By Moses Obroko

November 2030: 

Africa is facing a biological warfare from nature in the year 2030. The dreaded ebola virus has yet again surfaced; only this time in West Africa. It was in 1976 that it was first identified and named after a river in the country that used to be called Zaire, now Democratic Republic of Congo. Of course no one had really given any serious thought to developing a cure/vaccine for it in Africa as it usually breaks out at intervals every other few years. 54 years later, the virus having mutated into a stronger strain, has reared up its head once more; only this time with fatalistic global consequences.

The death toll from the virus is rising in Sierra Leone, Guinea and Liberia. Many countries along the West African coastline are already overrun by it with Benin Republic beginning to count its own fatalities.

And then it happened! Nigeria which had hitherto had been grappling with every other socio-economic and leadership issues known to mankind, got the virus. And the world noticed!

Nigeria has nearly 190,000,000 people who had been bedeviled by corrupt, inefficient leadership, having a rippling effect on their economic wellbeing. The people of Nigeria had always borne their poor socio-economic situation with the equanimity of the subjugated. One military dictator after another had instilled the fear of the ruling class in the masses. Robbed of any will power to challenge any government of the day, Nigerians always hoped and prayed to God to help them solve problems they already have the solutions to, but lacked the will power to do so. Nigerians can tolerate poverty, bad leadership and deprivations from the callousness of a wicked few.  This is because they can see and feel the problem. For instance, it is because there is no electricity, or the roads are bad or doctors are on strike and the hospitals are not well equipped; indeed the reasons are varied and countless for which Nigerians perfectly understand-and can stomach.

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.

Our Broken Souls

By Moses Obroku

“We have come home
From the bloodless wars
With sunken hearts
Our boots full of pride-
From the true massacre of the soul
When we have asked
‘What does it cost
To be loved and left alone’ "

-- Lenrie Peters

It would appear that Lenrie Peters, that great Gambian poet who only passed away on May 27th 2009, had the situation of today’s Nigerian graduate in mind when he wrote the above poem very many years ago. Indeed the situation of the Nigerian graduate is pathetic, very pathetic. For a while now, I have had nothing but deep respect for the majority of youths in this country. They are peaceable, strong and hardworking; with uncanny determination to succeed no matter what it takes.

President Goodluck Jonathan and his wife, Patience, during                                      an African Union (AU)  conference in Uganda (2010)

Many of Nigeria’s youths attempt external examinations even while they are still in high school, just to get a head start on the journey to success. No one will forget in a hurry the experiences at WAEC and JAMB offices nationwide!

Undaunted, the Nigerian youth proceeds to the university where he has to contend with heavy fees, lack of facilities, sometimes incompetent lecturers and the frequent disruption of academic activities by strike actions, where of course he is the grass between the lecturers and the federal government.

After being severely battered by the academic system and a year or two of his life forever wasted by bureaucracies, the Nigerian youth  finally graduates and the same insensitive  government still demands another year of compulsory National Service from him. Peaceable and cooperative, these graduates wear the NYSC uniforms with pride and are dispatched to the far flung corners of this nation.



Graduating Students at the University of Lagos

Some of them to places they ordinarily may never step into in this lifetime. But seeing victory in sight, these brave youths soldier on in service to fatherland. Many of them the hopes of their families that have been shackled by poverty, and have endured no small pain in ensuring such youths get what it takes to make a difference in their collective lives.

A few will meet violent deaths in National Service, caught in the cross fire of ethnic, religious, or political disturbances. The recent killing of some corps members in the northern part of the country during the last election in April 2011 is still fresh in our memories.

Armed with, their first degrees and  NYSC discharge certificates, these graduates quickly construct their CVs, and eagerly circulate them online and in hard copies to as many friends, family members and associates; as well as going from door to door of offices. They are that determined!

A few of these graduates manage to secure placement with some companies, but for the vast majority of Nigerian graduates, the harsh realities begin to set in. what they had thought would only take a couple of months before getting jobs soon start dragging on endlessly.

The jobless situation in the country has become so pathetic that the very insulting commission sales jobs for mostly needless products are now being brandished everywhere by budding entrepreneurs. Have you ever noticed those small squares in the pages of various newspapers advertising these commission based jobs?

Since the government has shied away from the responsibility of job creation, all manner of people who have highly exploitative capitalist tendencies, some of whom do not have any business being entrepreneurs are daily humiliating Nigerian graduates. With the way we are going, before long refuse collectors and septic tank evacuators would soon be recruiting graduates to do sales and marketing for them (God forbid!).



Nigerian Graduates during the one year compulsory
 National Service (NYSC

The proliferation of all manner of reality TV shows, talent hunts and pageants in Nigeria is a reflection of a careful target at the vulnerable unemployed graduates in Nigeria. Often time, applicants are required to register with substantial sums to become contestants.

There is no control whatsoever on the activities of these showbiz people. Sometimes, after collecting registration fees from unsuspecting candidates, the organizers simply vanish!

It is here that graduates of a discipline end up working in unrelated fields. I had joked with a friend who studied civil engineering but now works in a bank that, I think he is doing ‘financial engineering’ (maybe this practice is acceptable to the government that is why it is reflected in the ministerial appointments. Or what logical explanation can anyone proffer about the very lopsided portfolios given to our ministers?)

The Nigerian government has a striking resemblance to an uncaring father in respect of its policies towards its graduates. It has never shown any realistic interest in the welfare of the myriads of graduates churned out annually.

Not employing, it has not made the necessary enabling environment possible to bring about the much needed industrialization to cater for the millions of unemployed people milling about the country.



Queuing for non-existent jobs

Regime after regime has instead shown an uncanny proclivity for bleeding government funds white for personal gains. There don’t seem to be any hope in sight for the unemployed Nigerian graduate. It is simply a fait accompli as he seems to stand a better chance of escaping an apparition in a house of mirrors than relying on the government for jobs.

Disillusioned, these individuals are thrown out in the cold by the State that they have loved and served with diligence. They are mocked and humiliated by the state, stripped of any dignity and consigned among the heap of those who live below the poverty line in the country.

I once stopped a commercial bike operator at Victoria Island in Lagos, sometime in 2006 to take a ride to some other part of the vicinity. To my surprise, the fellow told me that he was a HND holder who had come to the Island to drop his unsolicited credentials in expectation for a job with companies around, and that he does the bike business to survive in the interim. While self help is encouraged, this fellow’s situation is a reflection of the experiences of many graduates of this country.



Any reward for this effort?

Surely, the Nigerian graduate deserves a better deal than these bone crushing experiences he is getting from successive governments of Nigeria. Whether it is clear to the powers that be or not, beyond the physical impoverishment these people face daily, is the mental degeneration that comes with not being able to put to use knowledge so painstakingly acquired in tertiary institutions.

For each working day they remain unemployed, they get further devalued and diminished, and ironically the nation gets diminished too. For as long as nothing is done to improve the situation of the unemployed, there is a systemic breakdown of the souls of these individuals who are supposed to be tomorrow’s leaders.

And the government should be more wary because most scary is the fact that there is no prosthetic for the broken soul.

-------------------

Mr. Obroku, a legal practitioner, contributed this piece to this blog from Abuja. Email:mosesobroku@yahoo.com

African People And Review Mechanism

By Moses Obroku

Following the adoption of the memorandum of understanding (MOU) by the NEPAD Heads of State and Government Implementation Committee in March 2003, the African Peer Review Mechanism (APRM) was instituted. The APRM is a mutually agreed instrument voluntarily acceded to by the member States of the African Union (AU) as a self-monitoring mechanism.

Like all other policies informing the institution of various treaties in the plethora of regional, sub-regional and global organizations in the world, the APRM has lofty ideas that make it look promising on the paper it is couched in its secretariat.

Muammar Gaddafi of Libya and Robert Mugabe of Zimbabwe

Essentially, the APRM is meant to operate based on self-assessment questionnaire developed by its secretariat. Here, Governments that have subjected themselves to the review mechanism will assess their performances in the areas of democracy and political governance and socio-economic development, as well as checking their compliance with wide range of African and international human rights treaties.

As at the end of 2010, interestingly about 20 countries have signed the MOU agreeing to come under peer review. It would appear African leaders are leaning towards the idea of credible governance by this gesture, even though a number of them are sit-tight undemocratic despots.

But the APRM is not going to solve the problems of the African people. That is why they are beginning to look for a way out in recent times. What people hitherto had not thought possible is becoming very popular. The African people are beginning to realize that true power and political will reside in them, and results are being recorded promptly.

(L-R) President Yoweri Museveni of Uganda, his wife, Janet,
Queen Elizabeth II Of England, her husband, Prince Philip,
The Duke of Edinburgh, at a State banquet at State  House
on November 22, 2007 in Entebbe, Uganda, before the opening
of the CHOGM hosted by Uganda.


A new APRM (African People Review Mechanism) was established when the Tunisian people told erstwhile dictator Ben Ali that they had had enough and he quickly tucked his tail and fled into exile after massive protests and demonstrations. The review has started and it is spreading.

The youths of Egypt, embracing this rude awakening started demonstrating against the dictatorship of Hosni Mubarak whom no one could stand up to formerly.


Before our eyes their numbers swelled and daily they thronged the streets of Cairo, converging on the Liberation Square  telling Mubarak that time was up. It is worthy of note that it took only eighteen days for this Egyptian revolution to mature. The heat became too much for Mubarak to handle.



Former President Hosni Mubarak of Egypt

The African Peer Review is segmented into four namely: Base Review, Periodic Review, Requested Review, and Crises Review. However, it has been suspected that it is only the Base Review that may be practicable for now and the least time this has taken for the first four countries to go through it is eighteen months!


It is therefore apparent that the People Review Mechanism yields result with the speed of light. This movement has no patience for cheap talk and intergovernmental bureaucracies. With one strong voice the people shouted and the despots were forced to oblige.

If the African Union, NEPAD, and even the APRM were serious about good governance, what business do they have condoning the many dictators that parade themselves as leaders in Africa? As I look at the list of countries that have submitted themselves for review in APRM from 2003-2010, I thought the joke is on the leadership of the AU that set up the APRM. Surely, Algeria, Gabon, Uganda, Egypt, Sudan are a laughing stock on any kind of ‘good governance review’.




Algeria’s Abdelaziz Bouteflika

It is apparent that this People Review Mechanism will not stop with Tunisia and Egypt. It has quickly crossed to the Middle Eastern monarchical Bahrain where they are calling for widespread political reforms and I have no doubt they will get what they want.

And now it is back in Africa and Libya is under review. Muammar Gaddafi has turned Libya to a fiefdom. For forty two years now he has ruled the country with an iron fist. But like his counterparts he did not see this coming, and his best response was to station mercenaries and snipers with automatic weapons to take down protesters. Gaddafi does not understand that this type of movement has only one outcome, and that is victory! He also does not understand the Arabs. The people just don’t give up.

While, the protesters get gunned down, and Gaddafi is spitting fire and hailstone that he would rather die in power(as the villain that he is not a martyr), it is certainly only a matter of time before he gets kicked out of power or killed in the process according to his utterances.

It is profound when one thinks of the happenings in leadership in Africa. There seems to be that inherent tendency to want to remain in power for life like any monarchy.



Africa, My Africa

Perhaps, Africans are wired genetically to do so. Or else, how does one explain the shameless clinging onto office endlessly in a charade of democracy by African leaders?

 Forty two years and Gaddafi is still holding onto power. And he is not alone nor the first African to do so. Yoweri Museveni of Uganda, Abdullaziz Bouteflika of Algeria, Yahya Jammeh of Gambia, Theodore Nguema of Equatorial Guinea, Robert Mugabe of Zimbabwe, Paul Biya of Cameroon, Blaise Campore of Burkina Faso, Hassan Omar al-Bashir of Sudan, Jose De Santos of Angola, Idris Derby of Chad, Isaias Afewerki of Eritrea, Meles Zenawi of Ethiopia, Pakalitha Mosisli of Lesotho, Ismail Oma Guelleh of Djibouti, are all kindred spirits.

The saying that all it takes for ill intentioned people  to take over society and poison it is for good people to stand aloof and do nothing is now tested in these societies under review. Only in Tunisia, Egypt, Libya and other climes, the people had stood aloof for too long.

But this current review has come to stay. It is reminiscent of the renaissance movement in the late 1950s and early 1960s that swept the whole of Africa heralding the independence of many African states from colonialism.

President George W. Bush shakes hands with Burkina Faso
President Blaise Compaore,  during a meeting Wednesday,
July 16, 2008, in the Oval Office of the White House.
(White House photo by Joyce N. Boghosian)

As this piece is written, Libya is still under review by the same people who have groaned under the heavy hand of its leader and who has now turned the weapons he purchased with the money of tax payers on those same tax payers. The rest of North Africa and indeed the rest of Africa , the Middle East and every cranny of the world where dictators have held sway should warm up for their own review. African people are simply fed up with bad governance.

In the case of Algeria, it was the rising cost of food items that sparked off the riots in 2010 that eventually ousted the president. In Nigeria, the people would have  myriads of reasons to choose to protest about- electricity, bad roads, unemployment, rising prices of food commodities, fuel of all description, health care issues, housing , as well as the general hijacking of decent living conditions by a callous few.

As this revolution sweeps through Libya, we can only watch with bated breaths, anticipating which country will take it up until ultimately the whole of Africa will be free from economic and political oppression.

Enough is enough!

-------------------------------------------

Moses Obroku, a legal practitioner, contributed this piece to this blog from Abuja, Nigeria. (Email: mosesobroku@yahoo.com)