2023 Poll And Lessons From The Masters Of Journalism

 By Banji Ojewale

I have in front of me the 396-page book, SEGUN OSOBA: The Newspaper Years. It is the 2011 work by the pair of Mike Awoyinfa and Dimgba Igwe on former newspaperman Osoba who went on to become the elected governor of Ogun State in Nigeria’s southwest. Osoba himself is silent in the biography.

But he is present everywhere, garlanded chapter after chapter by those who knew him as a friend, professional colleague, community figure, politician etc. Both those who mentored him and the young ones he trained are allowed to straddle the pages to say a word. That the eponymous personality of the work isn’t brought in to say something about himself doesn’t enfeeble the book. The writers’ approach, somehow, glamorizes their delivery.

We can also count on the relative objectivity of the witnesses summoned by the duo of Igwe and Awoyinfa to tell Osoba’s story on account of their proven candour.

Nigerians Can’t Breathe!

 By Owei Lakemfa

Bayelsa State was for weeks submerged by floods which damaged or washed away bridges and roads, homes and farms, power transformers, and hospitals, and displaced 99 percent of its over 2.5 million people. Some deaths were recorded with the living clinging to life while the buried could not safely remain in their abode as the floods covered or washed away graves. The only means of reaching the state was either by air or water.

State Governor Douye Diri, a fortnight ago, cried out that despite international concerns and desperate pleas, neither the Federal Government nor its agencies had sent relief materials. He was specific that although the Minister of Humanitarian Affairs and Disaster Management, Hajiya Sadiya Umar-Farouk claimed to have sent relief materials, these had not been received.

Nigerian Media Must Reject Political Intimidation

 By Tonnie Iredia

This year’s convocation lecture of the fast growing Edo State University, Uzairue, the 4th since its inception has been held at the university campus in Uzairue, Etsako local government area of Edo State. The topic was ‘Rethinking the role of mainstream and social media in national development’- a topic which aptly suited the times coming some 48 hours after this year’s International day to end impunity for crimes against journalists.

The occasion gave me the opportunity as the convocation lecturer to make the point that in spite of hostility towards the media by politicians using the law enforcement agencies, Nigerian journalists must continue to push for more development in their country. They must reject political intimidation while remaining steadfast in meeting the obligation of their chosen profession.  They did it before under a more severe and tense atmosphere and can do it better now if they are strategic and organized.

Flood Prevention Is The Beginning Of Wisdom!

 By Ayo Oyoze Baje

“The time to start taking concrete, pro-active measures is now. Not tomorrow. Not when the dams have overflowed their capacity and the rivers have swelled their banks, swallowing up the pothole-riddled roads, homes, offices and shops. Not when casualty figures have risen to thousands before half-hearted, panicky measures are embarked upon by top government officials” – Ayo Oyoze Baje (‘The Rage of floods’, opinion essay published in 2013)

Nowhere To Run is the title of the mind-riveting, thought-provoking and multiple-award-winning film, as part of the noble and patriotic efforts of the Shehu Musa Yar’Ardua Foundation.

Meant to sensitize the public on the deleterious effects of global warming, it was screened to a jam-packed audience, made up of the management, staff and students, at the multi-purpose hall of Bells University of Technology, Ota, Ogun state, on 24th November 2016. That was some six years ago.

How apt! How timely and thematically relevant the film by the Foundation has proved, more so considered against the dark background of the current devastating floods in the country. For instance, more than 600 Nigerians have been confirmed to have died as a result of the floods in two months.

About 1.3 million people have been displaced. And more than 200,000 homes have been destroyed in the worst flooding the country has witnessed in over a decade. So, as the film rightly noted, hundreds of thousands of Nigerians have currently nowhere to run!

The painful aspect of it all is that the earlier warning signals given by the Nigerian Meteorological Agency (NiMet) were dismissed with a wave of the hand by many citizens as well as their state governments. All because we have refused to learn from the hands of history, the ugly decimal keeps recurring, and worsening by the day from 2008, through 2012, 2018 till the moment.

How terribly sad!
As previously highlighted by yours truly, the menace of flood has become a global phenomenon and challenge. From China through India to Indonesia, Malaysia, European countries and the United States, flooding shoots its ugly head in the twinkle of an eye. The difference, however, is that in those listed countries there are more proactive, prompt and practical mechanisms for stemming the tide of flood on the part of their Emergency Management teams, to assist the victims. But it is a far cry from that here in Nigeria. Now, a scary scenario of food insecurity caused by the floods looms at our doorstep.

For instance, it would be recalled that in November 2008 the United Nation’s sponsored Summit on Sustainable Development held in Johannesburg, South Africa gave the warning that within a few years Nigeria would be amongst the 14 countries listed as vulnerable to food insecurity courtesy of climate change, including the flood menace. But our political helmsmen took it with a pinch of salt.

In fact, during the 2021 flood outlook presentation, the Nigeria Hydrological Services Agency (NIHSA) made public the vital information that 28 states, including the FCT, were most likely to experience flooding in the year.

In a similar vein, the Nigeria Meteorological Agency (NMA) stated that the signals monitored by the agency in the last seven years show that things are changing on the climate front and that Nigeria was expected to experience unprecedented heavy downpours. That came in its 2021 Seasonal Climate Forecast.

But it was not taken seriously.

So, on 20th October 2020, the Nigeria Red Cross had to meet the emergency needs of 12,000 people (2,000 households) affected by floods in the five states namely Jigawa, Kebbi, Kwara, Sokoto and Zamfara. According to Famine Early Warning System Network (FEWS NET) the food security emergency worsened in areas of the Northeastern part of Nigeria as access to food was further constrained.

According to the International Organization for Migration (IOM), over 20,000 were displaced between late July and mid-August 2018, in the Northwest and North-Central States. The death toll rose to 52, with 90 houses destroyed, over 260 livestock confirmed dead and several people declared missing. Property worth millions of naira was destroyed as flood wreaked havoc in 10 communities of Jibia Local Government area of Katsina state.

Before then the sweeping tide of the devastating flood claimed 12 lives and overwhelmed 3,800 houses in Ogun State. Vice President Yemi Osinbajo promised then that the Federal Government, along with the two states will look into the root causes of the flash flood with a view to providing a lasting solution so that such an incident does not happen again! But as usual, we must have heard this swansong years before, haven’t we? That is Nigeria for you.

That was in 2018. As usual, the Nigerian Meteorological Agency (NMA) warned that many parts of the country were likely to experience flooding. According to the Director-General, Prof. Sani Mashi, this was due to a shift in rainfall patterns caused by climate change. Back then, yours truly advised that the main political actors should put their 2019 ambitions on the back burner and prepare for the climatic onslaught. But did they?

Currently, in 2022, as another pre-election year, some 27 out of the 36 states and the Federal Capital Territory(FCT) are affected by the flood disaster. These include Adamawa, Anambra, Gombe, Jigawa, parts of Kaduna, Kogi, Niger, Delta, Benue, Nasarawa and Bayelsa, to name but a few. There, farmers suffered huge losses, of plantations and livestock while some even lost their precious lives.

Unfortunately, we – both the leaders and the led majority- have refused to learn from history. So, we keep grappling with the sweeping floods. But the questions remain: What have some state governors done with the huge ecological funds collected? Why do we, as Nigerians turn deaf ears to the warning signals given by NiMeT, NIHSA and NMA every blessed year? How prepared are members of the National Emergency Management Agency (NEMA) to deal with flood-related emergency situations in the country? Why do some political leaders refuse to take responsibility for their gross failures but exhibit great pleasure in blaming others, including God for not taking preventive measures when due?

As the Vice Chancellor of Bells University of Technology, Ota, Prof. Jeremiah Ojediran rightly noted back in 2016, Nigerians need to key into the Climate Change-themed film project of the Yar’Ardua Foundation, with a commitment to environmental protection, good governance and a democratic society for all Nigerians.

Similarly, Nigerians should shift focus to finding lasting solutions to the worsening environmental disaster. With Nigeria’s population expected to rise to 250 million by 2050, the awareness created by the film should be extended right to the grassroots. Their activities such as tree felling, over-cultivation and bush burning, come out of extreme poverty which needs to be addressed

No effort should, therefore, be spared by various governments, their related Agencies, the private sector and concerned individuals to enlighten the public and more so, put in motion pragmatic measures to mitigate the scourge of climate change on man. A stitch in time would save nine.

*Baje, President of Guild of Public Affairs Analysts (GPAN), is a commentator on public issues 

 

 

What Does Psychiatry Say To Nigerians?

 By Tunji Olaopa

Psychiatry as a discipline and a metaphor might, indeed, be more relevant to the understanding of some psycho-social dimensions and being-ness of the postcolonial context we call Nigeria than might be obvious. Indeed, the Nigerian post-colony is filled with lots of terrible pathologies occasioned by a state that is existing in denial of its significant responsibilities. 

And in that denial lies the emergence of all the tragic symptoms of poverty, unemployment, infrastructural decay, underdevelopment, impunity, criminality, religiosity without spirituality and humanity, and bad governance, that have together turned Nigerians into angry and bitter citizens always demanding for better quality of life without getting it. 

The Girl Child: Our Future And Hope

 By Ifeyinwa Chime

International Day of the Girl 2022 has come and gone. Should we simply tick done and move on? I say no. Let’s us continue celebrating and working for the good of our female children. 

This year the International day of the girl child was celebrated on Tuesday 11th October 2022. Its theme was “Our time is now- our rights, our future.” 2022 commemorates the 10th anniversary of the International Day of the Girl (IDG).

The Girl-child is a biological human female offspring from birth to eighteen years of age. Recently, we have seen a surge of Girl-child education debates surrounding the primary, secondary, tertiary and health/safety education in particular for girls and young women.

2nd Niger Bridge: Boon, Bait And Boondoggle

 By Isidore Emeka Uzoatu

Amidst prevailing weeping, wailing and gnashing of teeth, news of the ‘completion’ of the 2nd Niger Bridge was received with elation nationwide; nay the Southeast. As announced by the works and housing minister Babatunde Fashola, the edifice lately equipped with lighting will soon be released to the public for use.

According to him, the only factor delaying its commissioning remains the construction of the 4-kilometre link road on the Asaba end of the bridge. Part of this delay has been blamed on the latest incidents of flooding in the general area housing the bridge. Already, a 7-kilometre road links the Onitsha end of the bridge and the awe-inspiring Onitsha-Owerri interchange.

The Politics Of Naira Redesign

 By Robert Obioha

The plan to redesign the naira by the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) has, like any other issue in Nigeria, been riddled with controversy and even politics. Ordinarily, the redesign of the naira for the envisaged benefits, which many Nigerians are interrogating, would not have generated the needless acrimony if adequate consultations were made and major stakeholders carried along. 

The differing opinions on the issue from those serving in this government is unnecessary. It is an avoidable distraction. It also shows the level of incoherence among ministers and officials of President Muhammadu Buhari’s administration. It is unthinkable that such a change in redesign of the naira is being contemplated without the knowledge of the minister of finance even if the law establishing the CBN did not expressly stipulate so.

The Value Of Peter Obi

 By Abiodun Awolaja

As I begin these lines, I remember 1998 like yesterday. An old man on the street where I lived in Ondo town, exasperated by General Sani Abacha’s bloodthirsty rule, shrugged and said the following: “Well, at least he will leave the position in his old age.” Those were the days when it was almost an anathema to think of democracy. 

*Peter Obi 

Had God Almighty not taken Abacha out of the way just a few days after the man I have just referenced made his doleful comment, there would have been no democracy in 1999. The way Abacha and his colleagues carried on, it was as if they owned this world. They could kill and jail people at will. They looted the country dry and, in the words of the poet Tanure Ojaide, “threw questioners to hyenas.”

Nigeria: The Warnings From Sanusi And Danjuma

 By Lasisi Olagunju  

The Washington Post of May 29, 1979 reported an exchange between President Idi Amin Dada of Uganda and an agent of a British money-printing firm. The Ugandan dictator asked the man to help him print two million Ugandan shillings worth of 100 shilling notes. The Briton accepted the offer but "gingerly" asked Idi Amin how he was going to be paid for his services. "Print three million and take one million for yourself" was Amin's answer. 

*Danjuma 

The Ugandan leader had a minister of foreign exchange. Before Idi Amin's engagement with the Briton, the minister had informed the president that “the government coffers are empty.” Amin looked deeply at him and retorted: “Why (do) you ministers always come nagging to President Amin? You are stupid. If we have no money, the solution is very simple: you should print more money.”

Nigeria: Tackling The Menace Of ‘The Great Flood’

 By Harrison Eromosele

The annual ritual flooding which every  so often besieged and submerged communities, suburbs, towns, and certain metropolises across several states and countrywide has degenerated from being a recurring decimal problem to a recurring death crisis. The havoc wreaked by this year’s deadly flooding is overwhelmingly unprecedented.

Indeed, it has earned for itself, a catastrophic history. This is the great flood of 2022. There are frightening grapevine hypotheses, suggesting that the devastating scale of this year’s (2022) flood condition in relation to 2012 would possibly imply a repeat, once every decade.

Buhari, Aso Rock’s Non-Essential Staff, Evacuated To London

 By Ikechukwu Amaechi

In his kairotic moment at the dispatch box in the British House of Commons on January 31, 2022, Sir Keir Starmer, leader of the Labour Party since 2020, gave the then British Prime Minister, Boris Johnson, a full dressing down. It was a remarkable speech. Johnson “is a man without shame… damaging everyone and everything around him along the way,” Sir Starmer said. What was Boris Johnson’s crime?

*Buhari

At the peak of the COVID-19 pandemic when British people were asked to make the most heart wrenching sacrifices, which Starmer described as “a terrible collective trauma, endured by all, enjoyed by none,” a time during which funerals were missed and dying relatives were left unvisited, Johnson, whose administration made the rules and who should lead by the force of personal example, routinely broke the rules.

Monkeypox: Africa Faces Another Vaccine Apartheid

 By Echey Ijezie

Even after the novel coronavirus exposed glaring flaws in the world’s collective ability to respond to infectious disease outbreaks, we are seemingly back to the old ways, as evidenced by the global response to the now endemic monkeypox. 

The world may once again lose a chance to control a pandemic. The zoonotic viral disease, which is already endemic in 10 countries in West and Central Africa, only drew the world’s attention after affecting people in rich countries in the Global North.

Even after the disruption caused by Covid-19, wealthy countries’ self-destructive unwillingness to cooperate for the benefit of the entire global population is evident again. 

This year, there have been dozens of monkeypox cases in Cameroon, Nigeria, and the Central African Republic (CAR), with the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) reporting the highest number of infections with over 2,938 cases and 110 deaths.

The Fall Of Liz Truss

 By Abdu Rafiu

For the ringside observers the fall of Mary Elizabeth Truss was dramatic and too soon. For financial experts and economic gurus it was seen coming and with speed. It all had to do with her tax reforms. What had hitherto prevailed was to tax corporations and companies heavily. The generality of people would clap for that everywhere. 

Liz Truss

Taking from the rich for the poor or the society as a whole is considered normal and the argument for it unassailable. What the wealthy have is usually regarded as common patrimony from which a handful out of smartness cornered a huge chunk. But to finance public bills, there are other forms of taxes. VAT is one of them. Whether one is endowed materially or one is in the middle class or is poor, VAT does not discriminate: VAT is VAT.

Nigeria’s Worst Floods And What Must Be Done

 By Banke Oniru

This year’s flooding came like a thief in the night unexpectedly and left a devastating effect on the land.

Bayelsa is among 33 of 36 Nigerian states grappling with the devastation effect of the country’s worst flooding in a decade. More than 600 lives have been lost in the floods across the affected region and a projection that almost 1.5 million people have been displaced while almost 3.5 million people had been affected, according to the humanitarian ministry.

Are we saying that the ministry responsible for the monitoring of the weather didn’t get the wind that such a disaster was lurking? And if they did, what did they do, and what was done to notify or evacuate people from the right of way of the long shadow of the flood?

The Greater Horn Of Africa’s Climate-Related Health Crisis Worsens As Disease Outbreaks Surge

WHO Regional Office For Africa 

Press Release

New analysis by the World Health Organization (WHO) has found that the number of reported disease outbreaks and climate-related health emergencies in the greater Horn Africa have reached their highest-ever level this century, deepening a health crisis in a region where 47 million people are already facing acute hunger. Most parts of the region are battling the worst drought in at least 40 years, with an unprecedented fifth rainy season failure now anticipated, while other parts face flooding and conflict. 

Petition To Profs Olu Obafemi And Akachi Ezeigbo On FGN

 By Tony Afejuku

Professors Olu Obafemi and Akachi Ezeigbo need no introduction to anyone who belongs to the profession of scholastic or literary or critical studies. In fact, the two of them – scholastic gentleman and learned lady respectively – do not need this column’s validation of their academic learning and significantly significant literary-cum-creative standing in our clime and beyond. 

*Prof Akachi Ezeigbo 

I have more than considerable respect for both of them not because they are voluminous as scholar-writers or as scholar-thinkers. But because of what each one of them individually means to me – even though they seemingly are two of a kind. But let me explain myself better without peeling each one’s scholastic or literary potato. That is not the goal of this enterprise now. What do I mean to say without keeping you in any cage of suspense a little longer than necessary? 

Professors Olu Obafemi and Akachi Ezeigbo are two of the monumental admirers of this column. Deliberately, I have withheld the harmonious exchanges of ideas and praises relating to this column (and other matters) that we have shared – and are still sharing. The pictures they share with me, among others, help to constitute the pedal points of this column. What have we shared and what have we not shared? 

Stealing The Nation!

 By Nnimmo Bassey

To say that Nigeria is being stolen is an understatement. It is a sordid situation. Shocking stories from the oil and gas sector continue to hit the news. Rather than being numbed by the monstrous pillaging of the nation, Nigerians should wake up to the wake-up call, especially in an election season.

By some deft choreography, the blame for the stealing and pollution in the oil field communities of the Niger Delta has been deflected to the poor communities.

This devious deflection has been so successful that the Petroleum Industry Act (PIA), which has the fingerprints of multinational oil companies all over it, criminalizes communities and holds them up as being responsible for interferences that may occur on oil facilities in their territories. 

Living With Lagos Agberos

 By Ochereome Nnanna

Touting at the motor parks is a nationwide phenomenon. It was originally a group of largely uneducated young ruffians who clustered around the motor garages to work as commercial vehicle drivers, loaders and conductors. They later formed unions, notably the National Union of Road Transport Workers, NURTW, and the Road Transport Employers Association of Nigeria, RTEAN.

Fired up by drugs and alcohol, these hoodlums can do anything to make money. In Nigeria, the fiercest touts are found in Lagos, Oyo and Anambra states, which are great centres of road transport distributions. They are mostly known as agbero(“passenger carriers”, in Yoruba). Igbo also call them agboro which is just a corruption of the Yoruba word.

The Disgraceful Partnership Between Nigeria And Ethiopian Airlines

 By Rotimi Fasan

A nation just as the peoples that constitute its being should have a healthy sense of self-worth. There is a kind of behaviour it must not be seen to engage in if it would not destroy the dignity of its people. Thus, even if it’s only for reasons of national pride, the proposed partnership between the Federal Government and Ethiopian Airlines, one that would see Nigeria outsourcing the management of its soon-to-be revived national carrier to Ethiopian Airlines, ought not to be followed through.

As with a relationship between a leader and their advisers, it is the prerogative of the leader to choose which piece of advice to take but the duty of their advisers is to offer honest advice that is neither tainted with fear nor favour. In this instance, many, if not most Nigerians, who have anything to say on the matter are opposed to the partnership.