By Ezinwanne Onwuka
I am smitten with nostalgia when I remember the ‘good old days’. The days when N5,000 could buy a big fowl that would feed a family of six. How much did you buy a fowl last Christmas?
Oh! How could I have forgotten that Nigeria’s economy dealt with the majority of us last year so much so that we had no option but to be grateful for life and good health, and watch the clock tick away the minutes?
By Ikechukwu Amaechi
Since the Supreme Court reversed the Appeal Court judgements that sacked Kano State Governor, Kabiru Yusuf; Caleb Mutfwang of Plateau State; and Zamfara’s Lawal Dauda, many Nigerians, characteristically, have been ululating about how the judiciary has redeemed itself. Those wishing to cut the apex court a bigger slack talk about how the Supreme Court has redeemed the image of the judiciary.
Some have even stretched the inane adulation by claiming, rather ludicrously, that the verdicts are a veritable proof of President Bola Tinubu’s democratic credentials because it must take the non-interference of the president for the judiciary, a supposedly independent arm of government, to do the needful.
By Olu Fasan
Few things confer greater honour and privilege than being a minister in the government of one’s country. From a wider population, you are one of the select few called upon to run your nation. But a ministerial office is not a source of personal wealth, power or prestige.
Rather, it’s a call to service,
an opportunity to use your talent to advance your nation’s progress and the
wellbeing of its people.
Therefore, it’s an unpardonable betrayal for any minister or officeholder to abuse his or her office and put private gain above public good. Sadly, in Nigeria, private gain triumphs over public good.
By Tonnie Iredia
In many developing societies where the government of the day is unable to provide basic facilities to improve living standards the way out is usually to resort to the tokenism of distributing palliatives to citizens.
Nigeria adopted the option in 2015 – an option which from inception has been unable to wear a transparent and credible toga. No one including those in government had faith in Sadiya Farouq, pioneer minister of humanitarian affairs, disaster management and social development as well as her officials who were mandated to superintend the subject during President Muhammadu Buhari’s administration.
By Aishat Abisola
Over the years, Nigeria has dealt with a profound crisis plaguing its healthcare system, exacerbated by the alarming rate of brain drain among its highly-skilled medical professionals. Nigeria’s health sector is in a precarious state as doctors, nurses, and other essential healthcare personnel depart the country for greener pasture abroad.
A closer look at the issue reveals a critical factor that fuels brain drain, which is harming our health sector. The consequences of this phenomenon are dire, and have led to a shortage of healthcare professionals, compromising the overall quality of healthcare services in Nigeria.
By Kekemeke Gboloibai
Quite frankly, the telltale scars of general delusions caused by the volatility in the economy in 2023 earnestly need a presidential healing balm to give soothing relief to the many Nigerians whose means of livelihood have disappeared with the times, their self-worth undervalued, and their manliness of mind continually eviscerated. Thankfully, help may be on the way as President Bola Tinubu, in his New Year address to Nigerians, said he feels the pulse and the groaning of Nigerians across the country.
Regrettably, the average Nigerian cannot meet his family’s expectations as current food and general inflation rates hit an all-time high of 33.93 per cent and 28.92 per cent respectively.
By Debo Akinyemi
Having related closely, though for a short time, with TB Joshua as a journalist, I feel a compelling need to weigh in on the controversy trailing the recent expose released on him by BBC.
The argument in favour and against the BBC documentary shows that opinion is divided as to whether he was a genuine man of God or not. Let me submit that from my personal view he was neither here nor there. It was difficult to place him because of his almost perfect outward posturing and inner suspicious conduct. Those who judged TB by his looks and humility fail to draw from the biblical saying that outward appearance could be deceptive.
By Justus Nwakanma
Whatever you are going to read in this piece happened. I am putting this up in a very simple narrative that people will understand. I am not publishing this to condemn anybody or to praise anybody.
.jpeg)
Every child of God owes it a duty to narrate his experiences to encourage others on this pilgrimage called life.
I will keep the names of some of my senior editors and colleagues secret as I have no permission to use their names here. But many of them are my friends on Facebook and may be reading this piece.
By Adekunle Adekoya
A fortnight ago, I started this column lamenting that we always have one issue to contend with all the time. I had wanted to vent my anger on power supply providers, the ones we call DisCos here, following weeks of uninterrupted blackout in many parts of the country.
.jpeg)
Then news of the well-choreographed killings in Plateau State broke. We all
lamented the failures of a reactive, rather than proactive security
architecture that failed, time and again, to anticipate and prevent the
marauders from achieving their evil objectives.
As our leaders were mouthing the
usual rhetoric about the Plateau killings, convincing very few of us that
action will be taken to prevent recurrences, Betta Edu happened to Nigeria.
A memo,
said to have been signed by the suspended minister directing payment of more
than N585 million into a private account ruled the internet for days and
dominated conversations on many platforms. Earlier, as we all know, the CEO of
the National Social Intervention Programme, Halima Shehu had been suspended to
pave way for investigations into how N44 billion of the agency’s funds found
its way into private accounts.
To complete the picture, former
Minister of Humanitarian Affairs, Poverty Alleviation and Disaster Management,
Sadiyya Umar Farouq became a guest of the EFCC over some N37 billion of the
ministry’s money that had vanished.
My commentary will begin from
the demographic angle. Please take note that Sadiyya Umar Farouq is the eldest
of the trio, born in 1974. Halima Shehu was born in 1978, while Betta Edu was
born in 1986, a confirmed millennial. By the way, millennials are people born
between 1981 and 1996. None of the three is 50 years old yet, though Sadiyya
will hit that milestone next November. By their conduct in office, they have
sent the wrong signals and did incalculable damage to the school of thought
that believes that Nigeria’s problems have to do with the old and ageing class
of leaders that have refused to let go.
Once now and then, a president
incubates a magician that is presented to the rest of us as a minister. Buhari
had at least two of them. One tried to conjure a national carrier for us out of
the thinnest air in Nigeria. The other, of course, is Sadiyya. If she isn’t a
magician, how did she spend more than N500 million to feed schoolchildren who
were in their parents’ houses during the COVID-19 lockdown? Another magical
feat was how her ministry trained 177 youths on smartphone repairs, and spent
N5.9 billion on that. I thought that N5.9 billion could be spent to open a
factory or two that will manufacture smartphones!
It is somewhat surprising that Betta Edu could commit the offence she was accused of. What happened to her mind if education is what remained after one has forgotten what was learnt? She had been a cabinet commissioner in Cross River State, and must have been conversant with the proper procedures when it comes to spending government money.
Or she was freewheeling on Cross River money and blind eyes were turned?
Beats me how a beautiful, trained medical doctor could self-destruct this way.
She could as well be one of Tinubu’s magicians, afterall she was said to have
approved N2.5 million as air travel expenses for an aide to a state that has no
airport. Was she trying to conjure an airport for the state?
I am equally disturbed by Halima
Shehu’s predicament, given her educational background and work experience as a
banker. At Inter-City Bank where she worked for about a decade, she
served as Audit and Internal Control officer, among other duties. What
happened to her experience when she came to work for government?
From their backgrounds, these
women knew the right things to do, just simply opted to do what they wanted.
To the Federal Government and President Bola Tinubu, it’s reforms time. I propose that the Ministry of Humanitarian Affairs, Poverty Alleviation and Disaster Management be scrapped without delay. My reasons are simple: there has been nothing humanitarian about that ministry since Buhari created it.
The conditional cash transfer programme of the ministry was a failure, even from conception. What can N5,000 do for anybody in Nigeria, even before subsidy removal, not to talk of now. It is simply wasteful, and besides, unjust as nobody knows the criteria by which beneficiaries were chosen.
What is worse is that the ministry seems to have
become the ATM machine of some vested interests. Want some millions? So a
proposal and take there. In addition, the ministry has failed to alleviate
poverty; there is no initiative of this ministry that has the interest of masses
at heart. But it has generated the disasters that these women have become. The
ministry should be scrapped before it generates more disasters.
*Adekoya is a commentator on public issues
By Ikechukwu Amaechi
Dr Betta Edu, the vivacious and chirpy politician from Cross River State, must be introspecting now. Just yesterday, she had the world at her feet, literally, and Nigeria was her oyster, where, it seemed, she could achieve anything she wished.
And she achieved a lot. Born October 27, 1986, Betta chalked up incredible attainments in only 37 years. Right from the time she completed her secondary education in 2001 at the Federal Government Girls College, Calabar and obtained her first degree in medicine and surgery from the University of Calabar in 2009, her rise to super stardom has been incredible.
By Olu Fasan
Nigerians, it seems, have moved on from the political events of 2023. Some are already talking about, others planning for, 2027. But the thoughtful and perceptive will not easily forget 2023. For the events of that year will have far-reaching consequences that could unsettle Nigeria for decades. As someone who is heavily invested in Nigeria’s political development, my concern here is how the events of 2023 could deepen Nigeria’s instability, while hoping an alternative aftermath would avert that dreadful political trajectory.
For a start, following the Supreme Court verdict, Bola Tinubu is now the de facto and de jure president of Nigeria, leaving aside the philosophical question about the nature of his mandate. However, his presidency sets Nigeria on an unstable political future on two key fronts, both regarding the management of Nigeria’s diversity. This may not matter now, it will at some point. But before we come to that, there’s the more imminent problem of the 2027 presidential election. In one sense, 2027 will be like 2015; in another, it won’t. In both senses, 2027 will be acutely challenging. Here’s why.
By Dele Sobowale
“All political parties die at last of swallowing
their own lies” – Dr
John Arbuthnot, 1667-1735.
By Owei Lakemfa
In the 2023 Christmas
period running from December 23-25, armed assailants in co-ordinated
attacks wiped out 20 communities in Magu, Bokkos and Bakin areas of
Plateau State. They killed over 200, injured a minimum 500 and put over 10,000
in flight.
The headlines expressing ‘Outrage over Plateau killings’ are tragically, familiar and might have as well been cast ten, fifteen years ago. The perpetrators are same; a trained, vicious, co-ordinated bunch, some assembled from West and Central Africa states.
By Chuks Iloegbunam
“From all indications,” said Jika Attöh. He was dark, and dapper. He spoke English with an uncommon fluency. We also communicated in Igbo, which made me wonder if he was of the ethnic group. It was in answer to my question that he said, “From all indications.” I failed to see the indications, for neither Jika nor Attöh was Igbo. The year was 1976. We were standing in line inside a hall at the Faculty of Arts building of the University of Ife (Obafemi Awolowo University), all freshmen, waiting to register for our courses in the English Department. Jika told me he was from Onitsha, which was about 15 kilometres from my hometown of Abatete. His full name was Ifejika Michael Elvis Attöh. Of the Attöh surname, he explained that the origin was Ghanaian. He warned that it wasn’t spelt correctly unless two dots hung over the ö in it! Our friendship started on that day.
When on October 25, 2023, Ikeddy Isiguzo called for my confirmation of the terrible news, I instantly told him to perish the thought. “I tagged Jika to a WhatsApp message I posted this morning,” I said. Then I spoke more sensibly: “Who told you?” The story had appeared on a WhatsApp forum. I advised that he played no part in spreading it without confirmation. I dialled Jika’s number, expecting to hear the usual Babandidi or Misti Shooks, but it rang out. The prospect of calling his wife carpeted me. I tried a mutual friend’s number in Enugu without connecting. Less than ten minutes later, Oseloka Zikora called. “Terrible news,” he said in a subdued voice. He was in Namibia. Jika’s wife had got him by WhatsApp and, could he please pass the message on to Babandidi? Suddenly, calls started pouring in from all over, to ask if it was true, or to express condolences.
By Ray Ekpu
It was an unmitigated disaster. As Christians were preparing to mark the anniversary of the birth of Jesus Christ, tragedy struck in three local government areas of Plateau State. Over 20 villages in Bokkos, Mangu and Barkin Ladi Local Government Areas of the State were attacked, almost 200 persons, men, women and children, massacred and 1300 houses set aflame while at least 88 persons were rushed to hospitals with varying degrees of injuries. About 10, 000 of the survivors have been displaced. They are now refugees in their own country, uncertain where their next meal will come from or whether the attackers will come to where they are to complete their devious assignment.
Those who survived the pogrom can thank Mother Luck but most of them lost their relations. Here are the wailings of some of the survivors. One of them said: “My entire 21 relatives were wiped out.” Another said that as they attacked “We pretended to be dead but as my son tried to crawl away the Fulani attackers noticed that he was not dead, they killed him.” One woman said: “While escaping with matchete cuts I didn’t know that my baby had fallen from my back.”
By Ugo Onuoha
A happy new year wish will be in order though it is certainly obvious this will be a thoroughly unhappy and extremely troubling year for a majority of Nigerians. From the 1960s, and especially since the return of democracy [read rule by civilians], governments at all levels, have steadily proved themselves to be enemies of the people.
At least since 1999, the expectation has been that we will experience government of the people, by the people and for the people. No. That has remained an illusion. What we have had has been government of the rulers, by the rulers and for the rulers. The government as a force for good does not apply in our clime.
By Etim Etim
The brutal killings of over 160 Nigerians in three local councils in Plateau State on Christmas eve and Christmas Day by terrorists have once again illustrated the failure of the Nigerian State to protect its citizens. Over 20 villages across Barkin Ladi, Bokkos and Mangu LGAs were attacked in what has become a pattern of a failed or a fast-failing state.
I am sad, pained and aggrieved by the flagrant failure of the security agencies to thwart the terrorists’ plots or arrest them after their heinous crimes. Many Nigerians, including a retired general who had once served as the Commander of Operation Safe Heaven on the Plateau, Gen. Henry Ayoola, believe that there are elements in the security agencies that collude with the terrorists and are complicit in these killings.
By Alade Rotimi-John
The provocative and obscene celebration of birthdays by public personages is fast becoming a rude national pastime. The general Nigerian audience has bemusedly endured a siege of insults for quite some time now respecting the intolerable mischief of a lewd and soulless parade of stunts. There is a total extinction of all taste even as the celebrants are vulgar, gross and illiberal.
Aside from the moral contamination incident on the celebrations, their lessons are morbidly and intellectually degrading as they generally present a distorted or superficial view of the sordid Nigerian condition. Many of the ceremonies have laid bare the social insensitivity of the celebrants who are reputedly of high estate. Even as their object is to covet general praise and admiration, they have ironically received in large measure a backlash in contempt and in a free-flowing gnashing imprecations from their fellow men and women.
By Owei Lakemfa
The year 2023 held a lot of hope for Nigerians as the Buhari administration which had put the country on autopilot, was programmed to end its tenure by mid-year. Indeed, the past year had begun as a traumatic one with a currency change which impoverished the people as they could not readily access their bank accounts or money.
The Naira, rather than be a means of exchange became a commodity traded in the streets. The local currency was so scarce that people paid as high as 15-20 per-cent as commission for Naira notes. Unfortunately, in the first seven months of the Tinubu administration, governance has not changed in a fundamental way. If anything, the economy for the people got worse with the ill-advised and ruinous increases in PMS prices and the water boarding of the of the Naira. These are the major factors that pushed inflation to 28.2 per-cent. Also in 2023, the Tinubu government was unable to end the scarcity of the Naira leading to it being traded in the streets, sometimes at rates as high as 10 per-cent.
By Banji Ojewale
Art is a lie which makes us
see the truth—Pablo Ruiz Picasso (1881-1973) Spanish artist
To prepare for this short essay on the short story, I have had to rescue from my home library two old local magazines that, in an earlier generation, sought to offer vibrant voice to this literary genre. First pushed out as a monthly in March 1985, one of the publications was simply called Mc.Quick Short Stories, with a cover price of N2. If you were willing to part with that ‘pittance’ for that product, you were guaranteed an animating literary excursions with some of the greats in the industry.
So, I have in front of me Vol. 1 No. 1 1985 edition of Mc.Quick Short Stories. Wale Adeniran is the Publisher. Kole Omotoso is the Editor-in-Chief, and Femi Omowumi, Odia Ofeimun, Seun Ige and Labo Yari, in tow as Associate Editors. Graphic arts and illustrations are handled by Abiodun Araba, Victor Olusa and Akin Adejuwon. As you close-up on Mc.Quick, you run into the inner world of some of the eminent short story exponents of the age. Leban Erapu, the Ugandan intellectual, has an entry he calls, Guns and Books. He looks at Africa’s political scene, and intrigued by its internal rumblings, wonders why the problems they mischievously engineer remain unresolved.
