

The Entrapment of a Nation

The Entrapment of a Nation

Adeola Omotayo Aderounmu

© Adeola Aderounmu, 2007

Printed by Författares Bokmaskin

Stockholm 2007

ISBN: 978-91-633-1577-0

Dedicated to my mother Janet Doyinsola Aderounmu

CONTENTS

Introduction 9

Chapter 1 The Country and People 11

Chapter 2 Dirty Politics and Insanity in Government 14

Chapter 3 The attributes of Nigeria: a weak and sleeping giant 42

Chapter 4 The Diaspora 79

Chapter 5 The Future of Nigeria 88

Appendix 105

INTRODUCTION

This book is a commentary on contemporary issues plaguing a nation that is probably one of the richest countries in the world but which ironically is also home to some of the poorest people on the surface of the earth. Here, I have attempted to draw the needed attention to a country that many refers to as the giant of Africa but whose leadership role has been called into deep questioning since independence in 1960. Nigeria is not yet a true giant, or maybe it was once a giant but now asleep.

The issues affecting Nigeria are numerous and convoluted. Recent occurrences in the country have stirred up debates here and there on some of these issues. Honestly speaking, the issues cannot be overflogged. How to get out of the dilemma is a debacle that millions of Nigerians live with daily. They are entangled in a web created by the wicked, mean and heartless leaders and politicians. It seems that Nigerians are also trapped in a deadly vicious cycle. Again, there are many dimensions to this vicious cycle. The elimination of this deadly cycle will be a difficult task and in reality it looks like Nigerians will live with this dilemma for a long time to come. I could arguably state that things will never change in Nigeria in as much as the circumstances to warrant those changes are missing. Take the case of stealing and looting by politicians as criminal examples. In addition, the role of the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) in the 2007 scam called elections shows that Nigeria has a long way to go regarding election reform processes.

The disappointing thing is that politicians as criminals usually get away with their crimes due to lack of investigations and prosecution. Is it not amazing also that armed robbers are still finding their trade lucrative and attractive? How can we dissuade them to stop and would they concede considering that everyday in Nigeria, millions are been stolen from the National treasury. Pen robbers who called themselves politicians steal money and share loots without a drop of sweat. This is a big inspiration for the men with masks and guns. They are seriously inspired that it is very right to steal from whoever, wherever and whenever. Stealing is stealing regardless of how it is carried out. The additional pain though is that the armed robbers sometimes get merciless and many in recent years have taken the lives of their innocent victims. They have become more brutal; usually their victims have no definition boundaries. All they need is money just like the thieves in government. It is sad and painful but like many other vices in the Nigerian society, we live with these painful things and go on with the next day as another day of our religiously God-given lives.

To fix a vicious cycle, the people will have to resolve to a collective will. This is one virtue that does not exist in the Nigerian life. People grew up of course in community settings and mutual environments but unfortunately it is all man for himself at the end of the day. This expression (all man for himself) is a popular slang in Nigeria that has rendered the citizenry powerless. The society is full of envy, hatred and bad belly. The bad belly syndrome means that you don't what your neighbours to succeed more than you. In modern societies, which are also found in neighbouring African states anyway, the aim of collective will is to move a nation forward by standing up against anything that doesn't seem right. Nigerians don't stand up against wrong things because they hope to benefit from these wrong things themselves when the opportunity comes directly or when they have a known person in a position to steal, loot or influence things. This is definitely a vicious entrapment. It is pathetic and it is not the kind of a legacy that should pass from one generation to another. However, that is just the way I have known it all of my life such that I am beginning to have serious doubts about the country of my birth attaining true greatness in my life time.

Still, sincerely, I remain hopeful that the Glory of Nigeria will come, soon!
CHAPTER ONE

The Country and People

Nigeria is a country in West Africa. The total area covered by Nigeria is over 900 000 km2. Nigeria is currently made up of 36 states and a federal capital called Abuja. Lagos State in the South West which is very close to the Atlantic Ocean ceased to be the federal capital since December 12 1991. Many of us still regard Lagos as the economic capital of Nigeria. Lagos is a highly congested city with an area of 3,475.1 km² and a population of over 12 million people. It is difficult to know exactly how many people live in Nigeria. Census figures are always controversial and highly unreliable. However, it is possible that there are over 150m Nigerians worldwide. The ethnic groups in Nigeria are very diverse. There are probably up to 300 ethnic groups. There is also richness of languages; more than 450. Generally, this is a country with several tales regarding the combination of people and the different cultures and languages that have been blended together. It is still a mystery that such diversities and cultures exist in one entity. The resultant formation of Nigeria in 1914 despite this diversity is partly a product of the colonial rule by the British.

Three ethnic groups are more prominent than the rest. These three groups dominate the other groups especially in Politics. Hausa, Igbo and Yoruba are recognized as the three main ethnic groups in Nigeria. Among the other groups are Fulani, Ijaw, Edo, Ibibio, Nupe, Tiv, Goemai, Kofyar and Kanuri to mention just a few. In addition, religion in Nigeria is another aspect that comes with interesting tales. Muslims are concentrated in the North while the Christians are mostly found in the South (including western and Eastern Parts). It should be noted however that there are many Christians in the North of Nigeria as much as there are Muslims also in the other parts. The country, despite its pockets of violent religious intolerance, has Muslims and Christians living together in almost every part of the country. There are traditional worships too, those who worship their ancestors and idols.

Religion has actually become a major issue in Nigeria. Twelve states in the northern part of Nigeria have adopted the Sharia Law. This runs contrary to the constitution of Nigeria being a secular country. It also endangers Christians who live in these Sharia state. To show that religion is a volatile issue in Nigeria, the Federal Government has not been able to instruct these erring states to return to status quo. The fear is that fundamentalists will indulge in violence to preserve the Sharia Law. This also means that there is a blend between politics and religion in Nigeria. The mix is dangerous and volatile. Living together with people of different ideology can be very tasking and sensitive. Nigerians have fought a civil war to keep together as a country. On the face value, it seems that using the diversity of Nigeria as strength is the best option, but so far, the collective implications are not only chaotic but very disheartening. Today, Nigerians live together as people of one country more with their mouths than their actions and deeds. There is much distrust and dishonesty in the polity and societal settings that leaves much to be desired.

It will be in the interest of peace, progress and economic vibrancy for Nigerians to see themselves as one family and act like it. If it is true that one out of every four Africans is Nigeria, then Nigeria does not deserve what she has done to herself: been classified among the league of poorest people on earth. The human resources should have been used to numerous advantages. The government should have been faithful to the people and there should be been harmony from the onset. There should not have been a neglect of our agricultural and mineral resources. As a country, we should have acted wisely and purposefully. What we have done, and still doing, since independence in 1960 is parading our ineptitude and allowing sycophancy to rule over our collective intelligence.

Nigerians are generally hardworking people. We always say no food for lazy man. We are always determined and we don't like to fail. It must therefore be ridiculous that we didn't transform these individual qualities into national ideals. It seems that something always go wrong at the centre. How we have dangerously powered the centre to the detriment of the peripherals remains a mystery. How we started to glorify mysteriously wealthy people in our midst is uncertain but these attitudes contributed to the urge to acquire riches at whatever cost and pain. The side effects include among others, the spread and acceptance of corruption as a way of life.

The civil war lasted for 30 months (July 1967-January1970) and left bitter experiences for all and sundry. The direct dire consequences of the war are forever indelible. The aftermath of the war was simply catastrophic as well. Hatred, selfishness, suspiciousness and betrayal became fully established after the war. The use of guns for violent robbery remains one of the painful fallouts of the war as well. Somehow, despite all the problems in Nigeria and the level of poverty, the people always have a reason to celebrate almost every other day. The birth rate is high yet the arrival of a new child is celebrated ostentatiously. The burial ceremony of a departed beloved one could last for days or weeks especially in the southern states. People celebrate regularly in churches, in mosques, at home, in towns and in villages. I was not shocked by the report that Nigerians were the happiest people alive in 2002. Nigerians may be poor but they never fail to support one another to celebrate life and death. Celebrations, mingling and communal existence are part and parcel of our culture heritage in Nigeria. Again, where are these traits when it comes to utilizing them for the good of all? How corruption, greediness and barbarism held forth in the governance in Nigeria is inexplicable. The consequences are unpalatable. The implications spell doom for more than 140m people who will go to sleep tonight not knowing what tomorrow holds.
CHAPTER TWO

Dirty Politics and Insanity in Government

Politics in Nigeria is a deadly affair. One of the past presidents Olusegun Obasanjo described it as a do-or-die affair. He made the remarks as the 2007 elections drew nearer. That the elections that followed were characterized by gross irregularities and violence simply confirmed the negative importance of the statement. The Nigerian civil governance is modeled after the American system but the efficiency is far less than 30%. Nothing is working right in Nigerian Politics. A politician in Nigeria must have a godfather or he would not succeed. The politics is more about money than ideals and principles. Visionary manifestos and plans are not integral parts of the Political Parties. For many of the parties, the leaders have no clear concept of what is at stake, except personal egos.

The prime motive of a typical Nigerian Politician is to steal money as soon as he comes into office. There is distrust in governance and the hustling to the House of Representatives and the Senate is clearly an indication that the winner takes all. Military interventions in Nigeria have helped to give corruption a deep root. While they claim to be saints who have come to clear the mess of Politicians, the military have actually stolen more money from the treasury than the civilians. One amazing and dirty aspect of Politics and governance in Nigeria is the ease with which military men transform into civilians to continue the looting process under civil regimes. Ordinary Nigerians do not see the difference between a man who wears uniform to steal and the one who wears mufti to carry out the same criminal activities. This thinking or attitude has led to the majority of the helpless masses acting indifferently to any government of the day. They don't care who leads them. They are so worried about the uncertainty of the next meal and the vagueness of the future.

Mad people in power and Ignorant people in Backseat

The voices and action of the people constitute the strongest influence in governance.

I can state arguably that two major problems stand out distinctively in Nigeria. All the other avalanches of problems are either products or offshoots of these two major problems. Greed and corruption (taken as a unit) is the first major problem in Nigeria. The second problem with Nigeria is that as Nigerians, we do not know our fundamental human rights. Since we do not know our rights, we have not requested for them.

As I grew up in Lagos, poverty stared at me in the face daily. It was difficult to know why my father worked so hard but found it difficult to put enough food on the table. My mother is a petty trader and sewing mistress at the same time. Her efforts were of immense help as she came to the rescue often. The system is Nigeria almost turned me against my father. Sometimes, I would think that he didn't care much. But now, I know better and I love him again as much as I love my mother all the time. The best thing that my father gave me was education; I will never be able to pay him back no matter how much l give him.

At the time that my understanding of Nigeria matured, I saw the reasons why poverty was a way of life for millions of Nigeria. As I write this essay, it is likely than more than 75% of Nigerians live in absolute poverty. This means they are not sure of the next meal or when it will come. They do not have water in their homes and have to buy from water vendors. Many Nigerians will go to bed tonight without electricity. Many babies will cry all night from suffocating heat. Many unemployed youth and graduates will sit under the tree tonight discussing the menace called Nigeria. In Nigeria, the less privilege people must devised way to escape poverty or live and die with it. Indeed, this is very sad.

In Nigeria, greed and corruption have formed a common unit: a deadly and fearful combination that has become the LOGO of successive governments in Nigeria. So far, and to my knowledge, I have not seen a single difference between civilian and military governments in Nigeria in terms of serving the people. For the sake of normalcy, I do not want military to lead Nigeria again. They are beasts to say the least about them. The civilians or politicians are as guilty as the military in destroying the lives of majority of Nigerians. The crazy people who rule in Nigeria only want to make money and be rich forever. They want to live in twenty mansions at the same time around the world. They want to display insanity of the highest order. For the most, they have succeeded. In contrast, the entity called Nigeria has retrogressed exceedingly sharply.

Without succumbing to fear or prejudice, it is true that Nigerian politicians are the greedy and corrupt people that have destroyed Nigeria. Nigeria is a rich country and it has been calculated that the wealth from Nigeria can sustain the whole of Africa. But the wealth of Nigeria has ended up in private accounts around the world. I do not blame the countries that are helping Nigeria's rich thieves to save our money! It is our problem, not theirs, no matter how you look at it. There are thieves who have stolen our wealth, they live among us, they live with us and we worship them. The consequence is that majority of the masses are suffering and living in extreme penury. If we are 150m people and up to 75% are wretched, then we are probably living with one of the worst tragedies of modern era.

In uniform or mufti, they have and are still carting our wealth away. The Babangidas, Buharis, Shagaris, Umaru Dikkos, Uba Ahmeds, Akinloyes, Sonekans, Obasanjos, Kingibes, Akalas, Adedibus, David Marks, James Iboris, Patricia Ettehs, Odilis, Orji Kalus, Andy Ubas, all the past and immediate past governors, legislators, senators, local government chairmen, personal assistants, and ministers. You can name them from 1960 to 2007. They have one thing in common. They are all thieves. They live in houses that their salaries of 100 years cannot build. They also have cars and businesses spread across the world and they live like Lords. A politician can spend just two weeks in office in Nigeria and be rich for life. This is not an exaggeration, it is a fact. All he needs is to look into the treasury and divert some millions of naira to some private accounts, he is made for life.

The second problem with Nigeria is that somehow, despite our level of education and academic achievements around the world, we do not know our fundamental human rights. If we know our rights for example, we will on a daily basis remove all these thieves one by one and over time establish a government of trustworthy people. We would have need for the Economic and Financial Crime Commission (EFCC) for criminal investigations and prosecution only. The voices and actions of the people constitute the strongest influence in governance.

If we say that someone is corrupt and we know that he has not done what he ought to do, we can demand never to see such a face in public again. It is after this that investigation and imprisonment for stealing and looting can proceed. Remove first and prosecute later. In Nigeria, the voices of the people are not heard or are extremely powerless when heard. We have adjusted disastrously to siddon look syndrome (sitting down and doing nothing). Over the years, we have allowed the thieves and pen robbers called politicians to suppress our voices; we have allowed them to use the rule of minority juntas to override our collective good wishes. The most shameful thing that I have seen in my entire life is the last charade called elections in April 2007.

It is equally shameful that Maurice Iwu, the electoral chairman and General Obasanjo, the immediate past president of Nigeria are not in jail as you read this story. This is messy and we are actually like fools in Nigeria, altogether. As far as I am concerned, there were no elections in Nigeria in 2007. What we saw were simply arrangements and selections of certain people to fill political positions. It is hard to believe that the likes of Wole Soyinka, Chinua Achebe and Philip Emeagwali are Nigerians! Soyinka won the Nobel Prize in Literature in 1986; Achebe is one of the most widely read authors of the 20th century and author of Things Fall Apart which has been translated into more than 50 languages while Emeagwali has been credited as the inventor of the world's fastest computer. There will be no explanation or measurement to fathom why a country of intellectuals is ruled by nonentities and morons. Some called it politics and they emphasized the word, dirty. Is it only in Nigeria that we have politics or are there no dirty politics in other places?

The truth is we do not know our rights and so we have allowed ourselves to be pushed to the walls. Instead of fighting back, we have made holes in the walls and sought imaginary refuge that does not exist. This is why we have condemned millions of people to an existence such that they will know nothing but poverty in their entire life time. They will think poverty, they will live it and some will exclaim miracle if in their unnecessary desperations, they manage to spend more than 1 dollar a day, even as a family. I still don't know why thieves are living free among good people. I will never come to understand for example, why David Mark is the Senate President in Nigeria in 2007. As a former minister of communication, this man said that telephone will never be for the poor in Nigeria. But the more serious issue is that David Mark is a thief like Ibrahim Babangida, a former dictator whom he served. They are both free men and directly and indirectly, they continue to loot or enjoy stolen loots. It is difficult to come to terms with this sort of madness.

I will never come to terms with the fact that no one is explaining why billions of naira was spent on the National Electric Power Authority-NEPA (now Power Holding Company of Nigeria-PHCN) but this black-out company has more darkness now than in 1999. Where are the billions of naira supposedly spent and who is keeping them? The same situation occurred with the Ministry of Transport. More money was given for the construction and maintenance of roads, but what we got were more canyons and more pot holes on our roads. Obasanjo fought corruption with his lips and propagated it with his actions. He sold almost everything that belongs to the government including houses to his friends and well wishers. Is this not madness?

Why are these thieves still seen among us? This is because the people of Nigeria are so damn soft. In private conversations, we talked about the possibility of starting afresh (more like a revolution) and doing away with all the fools we have known all of our lives, yet Kingibe (a former vice-presidential candidate who once denounced democracy) is notoriously back in the government and we just looked the other way. Nigerians are the greatest enemies of Nigeria. Nigerians are always looking forward to a day when they or someone close to them will serve in any capacity and at any level of government. They are waiting for that opportunity to enjoy the loots one way or the other. But not everyone will get this undesirable chance. Some of us will continue the rest of our lives without hope and political influence. We will be confirmed to the premises of the church every Sunday seeking miracle. It will not come. Others will hit their heads on the floor of the mosque every Friday; the floor will break for nothing sake.

In the past, precisely in 1998, Nigerians got a golden chance, vigils and prayers probably knocked down General Abacha, a brutal dictator; he died mysteriously. What did Nigerians do with that chance? We accepted a new dictator called General Abdulsalami instead of spending the next vigil at the prison where an elected president was unjustly locked up. God is not silly and he is not a Nigerian. As far as I know, the best job that God does is to let Heaven help those who help themselves. Until we learn to claim and exercise our rights, we will continue to have greedy and corrupt politicians like the ones that are now receiving monthly federal and state allocations for onward transfer to their personal accounts. Like some idiots that have been awarded between 48 to 54 million naira for doing nothing but rigging their ways in elections that exist only in their imaginations. If the civil society does not stand up against evil or possibly revolt against the gang of thieves called politicians, there may be no progress in Nigeria. That is the way I see it!

The Disloyalty of a Vice-President

For the records, General Olusegun Obasanjo was Nigeria's civilian president from 1999 to 2007 while Mr. Atiku Abubakar was his vice-president for these eight wasteful years. From my own opinion, both men share joint and equal blames for the entire events that occurred during their terms in office. As the third term agenda of Obasanjo brewed, Atiku became opposed to the same government which he helped to come to power in 1999 and 2003. If there was no third term agenda and if Obasanjo did not plan to perpetuate himself in power, Atiku would not have seen anything wrong with his master's attitudes until the latter half of their joint mis-governance. Thanks to the third term agenda, we saw most of the rots (not all of it), corruption and mismanagement of these two men who swore to defend our constitution. The third term agenda of General Obasanjo was the wind that blew which enabled us to see the anus of the chicken.

Regarding the agenda of Obasanjo and the Peoples' Democratic Party (PDP) which Atiku also belonged to, before he defected to the Action Congress (AC), Atiku was indeed a disloyal vice-president. Atiku as the vice-president of Nigeria could not have been blind when the PDP rigged elections in 1999 and 2003. He played along diligently and he was waiting for his turn to be president in 2007. Some school of thoughts regarded Atiku as the mastermind behind the successes of the PDP at the polls in 1999 and 2003. If that was true, he must be a master rigger of elections! That does not justify the show of shame in April 2007 anyway. Instead it goes to show further that we have fools in power. In addition, Atiku did not tell us what Obasanjo and his friends have been doing with the treasury. The Nigerian treasury is our commonwealth which became their blessings and our nightmares. How could we have known that they both connived with other people, families and friends to loot our common treasury? How could we have known how much money they both spent in bribing the dishonourable members of the National Assembly? If there was no third term agenda, would Atiku have remained forever silent? By the way, I think the EFCC should be scolded since these two men have not been prosecuted yet. Someone suggested that Obasanjo should be investigated and prosecuted for corruption so that it would be easy to try all the ex-governors that are now hiding or on the run. The days of political immunity are over for these men with big pockets.

I am not in support of the misdemeanor of Obasanjo and I am also against a vice president who could not resign from a corrupt government in the hope of reaping from the same garden of betrayal. The people of Nigeria, more than 140 million were betrayed by Obasanjo and Atiku. While they looted and made merry, the people languish in poverty, pain and frustrations. In 1999, the people embraced democracy and received hopes for better days ahead. All the hopes became hopelessness after more than 2, 900 days. They were promised that there will be no sacred cows (untouchable corrupt politicians) but Atiku and Obasanjo left the presidential palace with more sacred cows than any other previous administration in Nigeria. The EFCC that should have been non-partisan became a tool in the hands of one man (Obasanjo) and chased one of its own (Atiku). What did mamma tell us about those who live in glass houses?

These men are gone now and the evil and disloyalty that they portrayed will live with them for the rest of their lives. In the end what we are reading about is Obasanjo's legacy-most of it evil and anti-progress. Highly unpalatable! There were a lot of imaginary progresses that were never felt by the common people. Atiku does not want to be associated with Obasanjo after parading himself as vice-president to Obasanjo for eight years. That is very laughable. How then shall we write Atiku's legacy or how does Atiku wants to be remembered? It will never be enough to say that he fought third term to a standstill because millions of Nigerians were already tired of Obasanjo and Atiku himself. It will instead also be emphasized that he betrayed Obasanjo's plan to be president for life as typical of African dictators.

The issue beyond betrayal is the disloyalty of our leaders to the will of the people. For the common people, over 70% still begging or living from hand to mouth, these are all distractions and irrelevancies. Nigerians will continue to hope for better days. History has revealed that what successful societies are reaping today was a collective will that promotes the good of all. This is the bane of our progress. I am as guilty as the next person; we are not standing up for our rights. When we do, we will make progress and secure the glory of this great country for our children and grandchildren. We are already wasted, no doubts.

The real burden of governance in Nigeria

I love Nigeria and I think Nigeria is one of the greatest countries in the world. But I am still perplexed how Nigeria has refused to find her bearing 47 years after independence.

Nigeria as stated earlier is a country of 36 states and a federal capital territory called Abuja. It is no longer news that Nigeria is a country lacking in quality leadership and progressive visions. In addition, the low standard of living and the desperate means of survival in Nigeria reveals much about the inefficiency of the federal, state and local government tiers of governance.

With a population of over 140million people spread over a substantial land mass (more than 500 000 square miles), Nigeria is yet to seek the strengths in her diversities as a unified nation. What has been lacking over the decades especially after independence in 1960 is proper planning and selfless service. Greed and corruption had eaten deep into the system that it became difficult to see the beauty and glory of this country and the heights that it could have attained if the proper brains had been in power. Over the years, what we have seen at the federal level have been complete idiots running shameless shows and recycling themselves in a cycle of idiocy. What we have also failed to point out over the years is that we have governance that is actually closer to the people than the federal government. In Nigeria, we have state governments and local governments. What has been the overall impact of the local governments especially as it is the closest to the people?

I remembered when Obasanjo's militarised and autocratic government started in 1999. Very early in the day, we could see with our eyes how new local governments chairmen, councilors and other officials became rich overnight. They quickly bought or built houses in the choicest part of the town. In no time, some of them have stolen enough money that they began to target higher political posts in their tribal homelands. Suddenly, some greedy politicians remembered that they have another place called home aside the places where they held sway. This shows that integration in Nigeria is unfortunately, incomplete. This is true also for state level of governance; politicians became rich and important in the twinkle of an eye as soon as they got into government. But the people who voted for them (the votes were rigged in many instances) became poorer and insignificant.

Over the years, attention has been focused on the government at the centre because of the excess power concentrated at that point. Many of our parents and grandparents are still convinced that Nigeria did better when there were no states but regions. Many people from western Nigerian thought they fared better under the old western region. The civil war has been used as an excuse for the formation of states after states and then local government after local government. What do we have now? We have proliferations that cannot be supported by statistics and logic. They call it Nigerian Politics or Home-Grown Democracy. There was influence of too much politics in the proliferation of local councils. What bothers me is how to draw the lines between what to expect from the local, state and the federal government when it comes to reaching the expectations of the citizens.

For example, we have seen where roads became deteriorated and absolutely impassable while these tiers of government continue to wait for another to fix the roads. In Nigeria today, the common people don't know who is responsible for what road, all they know is that many roads have become death traps. Trunk A, Trunk B and Trunk C road are all jargons in the ears of the helpless masses. One Mr. Anenih cannot tell Nigerians what he did with billions of naira allocated for road construction under his stewardship as a Minister for Works and Housing from 1999 to 2003. The road that leads from Lagos to this man's village in the Mid-West region of Nigeria is probably the worst highway in the world in 2007. Similarly, I am still wondering who should have taken care of the National stadium in Lagos. I am confused if the Federal Government left it in care of the Lagos State Government or if the Lagos State Government left it in care of Surulere Local Government. What we know of this formerly glorious edifice is that it is now like a den of robbers. It is desolate and it lies in ruins. This type of thing shows the recklessness of our administrators. They are simply bad managers. Maintenance culture does not exist in the Nigerian dictionary of politics.

Another obvious thing with the local government especially is that it seems that many of them have been created, just like Nigeria herself, without the thought of how they can run themselves. Their economic viabilities were not given considerations when they were created. In how many ways can the thoughtlessness of our leaders be expressed? Everything in Nigeria is politicized including the number of people that we are. No one knows exactly how many people live in Nigeria. Lagos State Government has a different census figure for how many people that live in Lagos compared to the figures released by the Federal Government. Isn't it logical that Kano State in the north cannot have more people than Lagos State after another state was carved out of Kano State? People in the south of Nigeria believe that cattle and goats are counted in the north during census exercises. I think there are more people at Oshodi area of Lagos at 6pm than all the people and cattle in Kano put together. Has anyone tried to stand on Oshodi Bridge and count the oceans of human heads from all corners? There is also a joke that humans and ghosts trade together at Oshodi market. Maybe that is why Lagos has less people than Kano. There are probably more ghosts but less people in Lagos!

But seriously, local governments are created in Nigeria for different funny reasons: for example, the first lady is living in that area, powerful godfather wanted it so, funny millionaires wanted to show off, influential politicians will have their ways, important thugs threatened some actions, ex-military administrator desired it and other crazy reasons. There are no administrative plans or functional models to look up to. Just like all the states government, the local governments are also like beggars picking up the scraps and pieces that stray from the almighty administrative Aso Rock Table in Abuja. In very bad revenue generation approaches, the poor masses are unnecessarily levied for almost everything except the air they breathe. The state and local government see this as a survival strategy. It is good that the people should pay for the services that are rendered by the state and local governments but the manner and approaches should take into consideration the economic realities that stare the people in their faces. Indeed with the money that are been squeezed out of traders annually, they deserve better stalls or shopping malls rather than the ugly environments in which many businesses are transacted.

I was shocked to my marrow concerning the so called generator charges in Lagos for entrepreneurs who use generators to power their businesses. I hope this will turn out to be a joke to feel the pulse of the people. I think the state government should take its power generation mechanisms more seriously and end the blackout in Lagos first before tackling people who are using generators to generate power for their businesses? Why are the politicians so senseless and heartless because they want to loot money to build their own mansions? I will not be surprised that they have already decided how to share this expected income from this malicious task. Generators do pollute the environment for sure but why not take away the need to use it in the first place? Does the Lagos State Government think that anyone likes to use generators? If they cannot provide electricity to the people, they should ask Obasanjo to refund all the money that he spent on NEPA for 8 years without any slight improvement. Obasanjo left NEPA as PHCN and made it worse than he met it notwithstanding that he allocated more money to it perhaps more than anyone else in the history of Nigeria. If we get that money back, we can give it to people who have the brains to fix our electricity problem and then there will be no more generators.

In Nigeria, the burden of governance is huge. We have spent too much time to blame the federal government but I think all the tiers of government are to be blame. Worse still, in the absence of a neutral regulatory body to monitor corruption and prevent it, nobody seems to care! Many people think that the EFCC is a partial body because it seems to select those to nail. EFCC has not told anyone why past head of states are still enjoying stolen loots! The legislative arm of government is also corrupt. They always cry for one allowance or the other and they think the governor, president or council chairmen as the case may be are stingy when they don't get a car each as presents. The Judiciary is one of our hopes but with such lukewarm attitude and indecisiveness sometimes, the stake for our hopes revealed by the burden of governance in Nigeria is not only hanging, it is swinging as well.

June 12 1993: A wasted opportunity

I thought about when my parents used to talk on how life was in the 1950s and 1960s. Then I used to imagine how they could possibly remember so vividly, things that happened long time ago. Now that I am an adult, I think I understand better how time can fly and then 14 years can be like 4 months! This is the way that the time that had passed since June 12 1993 to this moment seemed to me. In fact, June 12 1993 seemed to me like yesterday. It's all so fresh in my memory. I was studying for my first degree at the University of Lagos at that time.

As I remember June 12 1993, I recollect the two main presidential candidates; MKO Abiola of the Social Democratic Party (SDP) and Bashir Tofa of the National Republican Convention (NRC). The moral issue that has trailed June 12 1993 leaves a lot to be desired in the annals of the Nigerian history. June 12 1993 was about the squandering of both democratic principles and the rule of law. On that day, more than 14m Nigerians voted in the best election ever conducted in the history of Nigeria. It was possible for the people to vote right because the elections were properly planned and well conducted. There were pre-election debates and it was easy to know who was ready for the office of the president. The people voted and the results were rolling in more to the favour of MKO Abiola. When it became evident that Abiola had won, Bashir Tofa (the opponent) was said to have sent congratulatory messages to him. Now, that is a good man when it comes to the spirit of politics without bitterness. Records have it that as the results were been announced, the prices of goods and services were falling. There was a tailor who refused to be paid for the services he had rendered. He was so overjoyed that at last hope has come to the people.

That was the spirit and mood until Nigerians received a rude shock from the nonentity called General Babangida. This useless man cancelled or annulled the best election in our history. There were many theories to this annulment including that Abiola is a creditor of the government, or that a few idiots did not want him to be the president of Nigeria. Some people said it was because of what he did when he was in National Party of Nigeria (NPN) that he betrayed Awolowo, a fellow yoruba man, who was then the presidential candidate of the Unity Party of Nigeria (UPN). As far as democratic principles are concerned, such arguments are baseless. The fundamental thing about June 12 1993 was that a presidential election took place and Abiola won. The crime about it was that some cabal secretly plotted against Abiola and eternally denied him of the mandate that the Nigerian masses gave to him. He was asked by the people to give them hope, but a few disgruntled elements, some of whom unfortunately are still around the corridors of power in 2007 Nigeria, decided otherwise.

The annulment was resisted by many true democrats, some were killed and a few went into exile. Some people chickened out and were back in subsequent governments because they were simply thieves and opportunists originally. The vice-president-to-be for that annulled election is now in the new illegitimate government that was inaugurated in 2007. He had also served as the Minister for Internal Affairs under the military government that aborted both the successful election and the interim civilian government that followed. This will show any reasonable person that such a person has no shame for his misdeeds and I doubt that this man was not once a looter of our treasury. They never get enough, do they? They always stage a return to our lives and the implication is that since 1960, we have had a system of recycling sycophants in our government houses. Those that cannot be recycled stay out as useless godfathers-destroying the system to selfish ends.

Many civilians died in the struggle to actualize that mandate popularly called JUNE 12. May their souls find peace. They are more honourable than Babangida and his hopeless cabal put together. It remains to be proved if there were no foreign interference in the death of MKO Abiola himself, the man widely believed to have won the 1993 elections. It is not understandable why he died under questionable circumstances while a delegate from the United States was visiting him. How did a cup of tea become poisonous? Historians have their hands full there and those who know the truth but cannot say it will always be judged by their conscience. MKO Abiola died when many thought he would be released to claim his mandate after the death of one of the notorious generals called Abacha. The implication is that he was up against an evil cabal who will not mind travelling to hell just to deny him. Indeed the cabal succeeded in their wicked plots.

One thing is sure, in as much as we have refused to take the right steps and as long as we have not resisted those who are manipulating our country to a selfish end, millions of people in Nigeria will continue to live in poverty. This is not a curse, I lived through this dilemma and my family and friends do not deserve my curse. It is just what I call the unarguable reality of our lives. Nigerians are very religious people but one wonders if they know the truth that will set them free. So far, only a few people are enjoying the fruits of the land while the helpless and resilient majorities are wallowing in abject poverty. The way to glory for Nigeria will be a struggle on all aspects of our lives, social, economic and so on. The way to prosperity and the good of all will be to seek the men and women who will be ready to serve selflessly and dedicatedly. In Nigeria, we need the rule of law above the rule of men. With each June 12 that comes and go, the minds of the wicked remained unsettled. They are wary of the blood of the innocents that they have spilled. Our hope will surely lie in the return of a mandate similar to what June 12 signifies. Only such can bring milk and honey back to the Nigerians who are weak and poor, living desperately on less than 1 dollar a day.

Nigerian 2007 Election: Did evil triumph again?

It may perhaps be true that there is a new president in Nigeria. Who knows how long the legality tussle for the new government will last? In the end, the new man at the helm of affairs, Mr. Yar'Adua will continue as the president because all things are possible in Nigeria: name your price! Yar'Adua is said to be a kind man. He has also been described a simple and humble man. Many Nigerians belong to the school of thought that if the criminalized elections are re-conducted, Yar'Adua will probably still win in the absence of rigging and cheating. That is a good point and there is nothing wrong when people expressed their opinions. It is fundamental that we can all state our views and argue about issues. This is the beauty of democracy if allowed to thrive as it should.

Yar'Adua has the right to be Nigeria's president. However, without any hatred for the person of the so called new President, I think his ascension to the throne is very objectionable. What happened in Nigeria on April 21 2007 symbolically represents the enslavement of Nigerians. Under the present circumstances however, one of our own (with the help of his fair-weather friends) succeeded in imposing his will on the rest of us. Slavery means many things to many people but in all, oppression is a common feature. Another prominent aspect of slavery is the silencing of the voice of the oppressed through a do-or-die approach of the slave masters. If Yar'Adua is the best candidate as some people have claimed, why was it not possible to get him in through the votes? Many shameful things happen on that bloody Election Day. Some of those things are comparable to abominable daylight rape.

In the 21st century and incidentally on the 21st day of April 2007, falsehood triumphed in Nigeria. Indeed, we have not succeeded until now to transfer power from one civilian government to another. This is one strong argument on the part of those who supported Obasanjo and Yar'Adua. In my opinion, this is a sheer recklessness of thoughts. What is wrong if Obasanjo tells the electoral chairman, Maurice Iwu to conduct a credible election and transfer power in the proper way? Would it have been wrong to do things the right way? Why do we always have to do things the wrong way and pretend like everything is alright? What haven't corruption and greed begot in Nigeria? Evil is not only on the rise in Nigeria, it may actually be triumphing. Look around! From the semi-illiterates who are running the political show of shame in Oyo state to the funny millionaires who temporarily seized control in Anambra state (thanks to the Judiciary for letting good prevail for once in Anambra state). Those who transport raw dollars in presidential jets are obviously friends of Mr. Ribadu, the EFCC boss. They are the anointed and the untouchables. Really, I pity Oyo state just like I pity the rest of Nigeria. Just imagine that one man is always holding the entire Oyo state to ransom. He has done that for ages and in virtually all political dispensations in Nigeria. That Mr. Adedibu, a promoter of violence, is walking and living a free man in Oyo state is one of the greatest threats to democracy in Nigeria. In Adedibu (a shameless octogenarian) and people like Alao-Akala (his corrupt godson), evil has triumphed. You may also begin to wonder why some people are above the law in Nigeria. Indeed, it is hard to comprehend.

No doubt, the burden of governance in Nigeria remains huge. Notwithstanding, if one man can impose his wish on us and there is nothing we can do about it or we did nothing about it, there may be no greater slavery in human history. One man conquering about 150 million others! This reaches equivalence with whatever form of previous slavery you want to compare it to. Mr. Fela, the late afro beat King who remains more famous (even in death) than all Nigerian slaves' masters dead or alive, was very prophetic with his afro-beat style of music. His music and voice lingers. He described Nigerians as suffering and smiling people. Suffering and smiling is a para-phrase for resiliency. This single trait (resiliency) is the shade for the concealment of enslavement in Nigeria. Nigerians may be lucky though, the so called new president may use his kindness to the good of all. We don't know how things or events will play out. It will be unkind to crucify our new president. If he persists in power under the illegitimacy that surrounds his ill-gotten mandate, the people will continue to hope that better days will come. But if it doesn't work out, the people will be quick to re-collect that he was forced down their throats. If the evil continues to persist, the people will remember how they have once again been sold into slavery, pretty much against their will. After all, they were up against a former general who told them to do his wish or die doing the contrary. Head or tail, the Nigerian masses lose.

Nigerian Politics: A tragedy of Modern times

The most important thing about been a politician in Nigeria is that you must know how to steal from the public treasury from the moment that you assume office. Presidents, senators, governors, local government chairmen and so on, they are all literally pen robbers. You may find it easier to pass a camel through the eye of a needle than to find one honest politician in Nigeria. Almost all of them have stolen and made do with public funds for themselves, their families and friends. To be in any of the above positions in Nigeria does not require your intellectuality. In general, politicians as a group of people in Nigeria would probably represent the group that displays the least IQ among the populace. The terrain of the Nigeria politics require thugs and nonentities whose best skill is the do-or-die mentality and ability. If you are smart or intelligent, you chances of succeeding as a politician are very remote unless you have combined your smartness with thuggery.

Generally in Nigeria, elections always resulted in deaths, vandalism, assassinations, intimidations and massive rigging. The 2007 elections in Nigeria produced an illegitimate government as a result of the complete disenfranchisement of the populace. Yet, the lobby for ministerial positions was very competitive and unassuming. Is it bad if we make progress and set good standards for ourselves? Nigeria is ranked among the poorest countries in the world. Similarly, Nigeria is still one of the most corrupt countries in the world as well. The problem of corruption is a big hindrance to real governance and progress in Nigeria. The politicians steal Nigeria's oil money and they lie to the people! It is a burdensome shame that EFCC does not prosecute these thieves the way that ordinary Nigerian men and women seriously desired. Who will cure who?

Politics as it is in Nigeria is a tragedy of modern times. People always fight over political appointments because it is a time for reward for all the thuggery and insanity of the pre-election and Election Day madness. It is a time to reap from the Nigeria Nation! Some people are always rewarded because they put together more thugs than the others. Nigeria is now the laughingstock of Africa, a weak and sleeping giant. Shame to the politicians and all the people that have not allowed any ray of hope to beam on the future of Nigerian children!

Why Politicians Steal*

The problems in Nigeria are numerous and their elucidation remains a mirage. An encounter with a typical Nigerian shows that many have resigned to fate for the solutions to Nigeria's problems if they will ever come. I have not stopped telling people that we can pray from now till eternity and Nigeria will get worse. We can have more churches than the Vatican City and more mosques than the Kingdom of Arabia and the standard of our lives will continue to drop and our worries multiply. It is not enough to pray, nay, but to act and take positive steps that will show that we are serious to help ourselves as a people and then heaven will help those who help themselves. Perhaps we are yet to realize that religion is one of our weaknesses, not because of upheavals or riots attached to it, but because we always turn to God for help rather than demand our rights and privileges from those who rule us unjustly either by force or by deceiving us to get our votes. They are aware that we will not ask them, so they always take us for a ride. Despite all that has been over-flogged on the issue of corruption, is it not amazing that there are still sacred cows (the untouchables) in the past and present dispensations?

One of the things that have constantly exposed us to the politicians and ex-military public office holders who constantly parade themselves around the corridors of power to loot and steal, is the inability of a neutral and genuine regulatory body to expose corruption and probe such when they are in or out of office. As a matter of fact, in advanced countries and in places where democracy is conventional, it is a matter of honour for a man or woman to resign or serve suspension when faced with speculations or allegations of impropriety in whatever form. The subsequent inquiry will make or mar such a soul. His or her image may be dented forever.

In Nigeria and maybe in our part of the world, people steal from us, we know it and they still come back to steal again. Hardly does anyone quit office even in the face of alleged or obvious financial misappropriation of funds and exaggeration of estacodes (allowances). This baffles me. Is there no way we can arraign all the former military and civilian public officers to come and give an account of their stewardship in office? Is it too late? Could there be so much silence and cover-ups because everybody who goes there steals? Is it a way to keep Nigeria one at the expense of the suffering masses? Is there no law against stealing, self-enrichment through public funds and corruption? Are there no provisions for these in our constitution? Those who are the custodians of our constitution owe us an explanation if we are not to take them as accomplices.

Besides, because we have refused to ask them, some have summoned the courage to stage a return to our lives. Someone looted for eight years and even refused till date to tell us where the windfall of the 1991 gulf war is. Almost invariably, these rogues don't act alone; they use our money to confuse a few accomplices who clear the terrain for them when the need arises. Some of us directly and indirectly are beneficiaries of these looted funds and therefore prefer to keep mute and act as if everything is in order. If we must discourage looting of public funds or tax-payer's money, then offenders should not only be removed or impeached from offices but also be made to refund until the last kobo (units of the Nigerian currency) and serve appropriate jail terms as dictated by the constitution. Some people should not be above the law. It is not right to carry on with selective prosecution: what is worth doing at all is worth doing well.

Are some human beings in Nigeria more equal than the others? No one knows what happened to the funds recovered from the family of Abacha, a late former dictator, maybe it also ended in a new private account. Such money should have been dedicated to obvious public utility for posterity to see. The unarguable reality on ground is that the path to glory for Nigeria would mean a collective fight on all frontiers of our lives. We cannot afford to leave any stone unturned all in the name of national reconciliation; this will be a license to continuous looting of our treasury be it at the local or national level.

The handwritings on the walls are always legible with the hustling and racing to government houses during every election year. We have seen councilors who built houses in a few months after stepping into elective offices. We know those who used their positions as opportunities to travel to holy lands using taxpayers' money. We know that representatives of the people usually disappeared and stay out of reach of the people who voted for him. Unless we check the abusive use of public money and privileges, politicians in Nigeria will never know what it means to serve the people. It is about time the judiciary took its rightful diligent place and a well-oriented police force will be a useful tool in this regard. The essence of our lives has been eroded for too long, it must stop and we must start from somewhere.

*The original article, Why Politicians steal was first published in the Nigerian Guardian Newspaper on September 9 2002

Wanted: Functional Election Models for Nigeria

The 2007 election remained a nightmare that was forcefully brought to our diurnal lives yet we permitted it. Therefore the situation in Nigeria still requires a very serious appraisal. There is an urgent need for Nigeria to move forward progressively. It is very unfortunate that Nigeria continues to have unintelligent inputs from those who run the country. There are hardly implementations in Nigeria and so words and promises have never been met with due actions. What happened in the 2007 criminalized election in Nigeria did not meet the lowest or minimum requirements for such to be called an election. The elections of April 14 and 21 2007 were scandalous, to say the least. General Obasanjo (the immediate past fraudulent president) and Mr. Iwu (the incompetent electoral chairman) are two individuals who lack the basic comprehension of what happened at the polls and other places in Nigeria in connection with the voting exercises on these two dates. Perhaps, they knew but acted like all is well. Why are some leaders and politicians so thoughtless?

Obasanjo and Iwu are not only incompetent; they are also incorrigible and obstinate. They have failed to reason with intelligent minds that what they delivered in April 2007 is not acceptable in the 21st century. It is a monumental shame and an insult to millions of Nigerians at home and abroad. As a matter of fact, in a civil society, these are men would be standing trial at this time in connection to murder, arson, underage voting, assault, molestation, deceit, lies, fraud, wastages and negligence of duties among other grave atrocities and vices committed before, during and after the elections. With the passing time, one just got tired to read about the reckless defensive statements of the custodians of the worthless elections that took place in Nigeria.

I think it is a duck excuse to uphold the results of the last election simply because some people agreed that there are no such things as perfect elections. Some elections are actually almost perfect if not perfect in the real sense of it. In my own opinion, if an election has some shortcomings that may perhaps not have any effect on the final outcome, I think that it has the attributes of a model election. Furthermore if there are adequate regulatory mechanisms to detect errors or shortcomings, then an imperfect election can be made perfect by fixing the problem or simply calling for re-election.

For instance, in Sweden you can cast your vote at some designated centers like the post office before the Election Day. There is also the use of voting by messenger for disabled people. In the 2002 elections in Sweden, there were only 3 known instances of irregularities. The first was misuse of voting by messenger where two social democratic election workers acted as messengers/witnesses for some voters. The witnesses are supposed to be neutral persons. The total number of votes affected by this was just 18. The second instance was at a home for elderly people where some social democratic election workers presented a voting place for advanced voting, but only ballot papers for the Social Democratic Party were available. The third instance was one polling station where one of the tables had voting envelopes already containing ballots for the Social Democratic party. None of these instances were initiated by the Social Democratic Party. They were solitary decisions or carelessness of the individual election workers.

These anomalies of the 2002 elections have been analyzed by the Swedish Election Review Board and it has been unequivocally stated that they had no effect on the final outcome of the general elections. The Election Review Board in Sweden may declare an election void and order a new election, either nationally or in a specific constituency, if an irregularity may be presumed to have affected the outcome of the election. Even the rival parties acknowledged that the incidents did not have any significant effects on the outcomes. The control mechanism in the Swedish electoral systems detected the faults, and they were dealt with according to predefined procedures. I hold the view that these minor occurrences cannot take away the perfection of that election because the control mechanisms detected the faults and the situations were promptly addressed as necessary. Comparatively, where are the control mechanisms in the Nigerian Electoral System? We surely need them!

To my knowledge also, in the 2006 elections in Sweden which I had the opportunity to participate in, I have not heard of any serious shortcomings. In the buildup to the election however, the Liberal Youth Association (the youth organization associated with the Liberal Party-Folkpartiet) was discovered to have hacked into the computer system of the ruling Social Democratic Party. This is merely an issue of misuse of technological advancements and criminal investigations have since been conducted on the incident. The youth acted on their own accord and their delinquent activities have no bearing whatsoever on the wish or mindsets of the electorates and the FolkPartiet regarding the electoral issues at stake in 2006. This unexpected intrusion had no significance on the manifestos of the various parties. In 2006, as a result of the coalition of the rival parties, the Social Democratic Party was voted out of power in Sweden. The election was clean and accepted by all.

Unarguably, minor human errors do occur during elections. Such errors do not take away the validity or the integrity of the elections. The anomalies of the Nigerian elections were not minor anyway. It has been adjudged as the worst election in the history of mankind. This means that it was meant to be a do-or-die battle right from the onset. Why would a country that posits itself as the giant of Africa conduct the worst election ever in history?

Nigeria needs functional election models. What we have today does not exist anywhere else on this planet earth! We have a complete charade. Our election days are performances and shows for riggings, fighting, killings, intimidations, late voting, absenteeism for electoral officers, stuffing of ballot bags, delay in arrival of electoral materials, stealing of ballot bags, underage voting, threats to human lives and parading of police and other armed personnel on the streets. Ballot bags showing up in the home of a lawless citizen like Mr. Adedibu was the climax of the madness that we called elections. The world has moved on and Nigeria cannot afford to stay behind in what Obasanjo called the electoral culture of Nigeria since 1959.

That Nigerians have not decided by their collective will to step away from the useless election rigging legacy of 1959 in 2007 is ridiculous and very unacceptable. So many countries around the world are enjoying the benefits of democracy; being able to entrust their future and that of their children in competent hands while they participate in other areas of nation building. Even some countries that became independent recently are enjoying the true dividends of democracy. Nigeria became an independent country in 1960 yet many claimed that we are still learning. How long does it take to learn what is right or wrong? A model election (which we seriously need in Nigeria) will be that whose results reflect the wish of the people and the losers have no grudges in congratulating the winners. It will be characterized by peaceful display of voters' lists, peaceful voting and respects for the rights of everyone. In some countries the foundations of democratic principles are almost entirely unshakeable. On what foundations is Nigeria building her democratic principles when corruption and greed are our common dual national traits?

Nigeria is a country that many Africans looked up to on the African continent and beyond and therefore she needs restoration to that enviable position as a true giant. The annulled 1993 election in Nigeria was a success while the 2007 selection was a charade. In the future, one looks forward to an election that will further portray decency and civility. Nigerians need to be able to choose their own leaders without being under threat. There is a need for the proper enfranchisement of the populace. The hope for Nigeria also lies in the evolution of individuals who will discuss issues rather than personality and individual egos. Eternally, one hopes that a time will come in Nigeria when all Nigerians can describe elections as free, fair, successful and acceptable. This is the 21st century! Nigeria, the sleeping giant of Africa should wake up with the heartbeat and conscience of a true role model.

Revisiting the controversial 2006 Census in Nigeria

_That census enumerators trek short or long distances to count people is a shame in the 21st century_.

The National Population Commission (NPC) in Nigeria does not seem to have the final results of the 2006 census as at the time this book is going into print in 2007. So, maybe the eventual figures will tell us that we are more than 140m people in Nigeria. It seems that policy executors in Nigeria do not know the pace at which the world is advancing every other day. It is now possible to count how many people live within a defined geographical region anywhere in the world without much hullabaloo. To count Nigerians is not a 5-day project. It is not even a 50-day project. Counting in every country should be a routine work revealing how many people live in that country at a particular point in time. It should also involve close monitoring of the number of births or deaths that are recorded daily or periodically.

It is the work of some people to keep track of population flow. The first step is to make an attainment to the technological level when you can click on the computer and enter a database where the appropriate authorities are storing records of registration of all citizens within the country. Similarly, immigration and emigration of persons should be noted. Unless certain individuals have decided to live illegally within a country, we now know that all the people living in that country are registered on a database system. Taken simply in the Nigerian context, what we need in terms of knowing the population of Nigerians is a long term plan. It is a process that will start gradually, remain focused and eventually reach a _stabile_. Nigeria needs a system where her citizens are recognized by social security numbers (SSN) or what in other places is known as personal numbers (PN). This number which should be imprinted on our national IDs and passports is a tag that should not be changeable whatever happens! Everything that affects a person (good or bad) should always be recorded against this SSN or PN on a computer database.

These SSNs should be with all public institutions under strict conditions of confidentiality and trust regarding the personnel that work in such offices. Some private institutions may have special access too depending on the nature of their assignments. It should not be possible for a person to have double SSNs because fingerprints will go along with them. However, that does not rule out that identities cannot be stolen but if the law catches up with such people, they should face the music directly. An individual's SSN should be connected to records at the Police, the Hospitals, Tax offices, unemployment offices, Insurance companies, Motor Vehicle Licensing offices, Bank records, Statistics bureau, and so on and so forth. Where do we start from in Nigeria? The problem in Nigeria is that counting is not done with sincerity of purpose. Politicians meddle with everything that is of National interest for selfish gains and personal reasons. This is the debacle that must be removed. A public institution like the NPC has to be re-engineered to catch up with modern realities. The way we count ourselves must change.

Nigeria needs to focus on the task of her census with long term considerations. A 5-10 year plan to count all Nigerians coupled with daily observations of changes from the start will be a good approach. This will make good planning possible. We should monitor daily population growth and periodic influx or out-flux. Where you reside in the country should not be a factor, the point is that we should know that you exist and live within a certain region in the country. If you leave the country, it should be possible to detect that. We should also be aware when you return as long as you have taken the legal approaches to do these things. In crime situations, people can beat some of the checks or controls mechanisms but the essence of knowing the estimated number of people will remain.

It is not ideal to count people in Nigeria using a deadline. This will leave room for panic and people will be rushing or running around aimlessly because they want to be counted in their homelands. There is no need to create chaos just because you want to meet a deadline. It is not necessary to count Nigerians in a hurry. It is also not a matter of life and death that a particular administration should be saddled with the task. Knowing the population is not a job for a particular regime, it is the reason that the NPC is in existence. This Commission, in the future and after good planning, should be able to send out population figures at a click! Nigeria must look into the future; make concrete plans for things that work forever, not temporarily.

What about the NPC registering every Nigerian at its local offices, giving out SSN and taking fingerprints? All the local offices should be connected to a central computer network at the headquarters. State of the art technology must be in place to detect multiple fingerprints. Let us look at this scenario, a young man sought asylum in Greece and somehow surfaced in Sweden for the same purpose. He was told that his fingerprint has been previously recorded on the central European asylum seekers machine! This is the stage that the world has reached. A person need to be identified with his name, SSN, address, fingerprints, photograph, occupation, marital status, children (or not) and so on. A change of address should be immediately reported so that the state or local government knows who has moved in or out. People moved for many reasons; to be with family, change of job and so on.

Having a lengthy time to take care of population figures will be the appropriate prerequisite to let the people know how population flow is observed and what is expected of everyone concerning their registration on the database. When a child is born for example, the hospital should have the means (either by the computer network) or otherwise to inform the local NPC of a delivery. Obviously, the families of newborns know that they are obliged to get SSNs for their children. Representatives of the local authorities would only need to see the baby and the information that they have received from the hospital about the sex, weight at birth, date of delivery and so on. The connection between the local authorities or local governments and the NPC should be paramount as the number of people in the locality should correlates with financial/economic implications.

In essence, taking care of population figures or census is not supposed to be a big deal. It should become a way of life. With time, all Nigerians will be registered. The operations of the NPC must be completely computerized with appropriate backups. The number of foreigners living among us should also be noted. They should also have SSNs that can be coded so that once they appear on the system, it becomes obvious that they are foreigners and the exact country they come from appears. The nature of their businesses in Nigeria should also be revealed by the same SSN.

It is unnecessary and a waste of time and resources to count people before, during and after elections. We should be able to click on the NPC database in the next 10 years and say there are maybe 150m people in Nigeria. We should be able to say things like, 2 000 foreigners live in Ikeja and that 30 000 Nigerians have migrated to Europe in the last 2 years for example. The Nigerian embassies all over the world should have the responsibilities of the NPC in their various locations.

One hopes that in 2017, NPC will find it easy to look into its database system and tell us how many we are as Nigerians. One of their statisticians should be able to have a cup of coffee or tea by his side and still make a first click to find out the latest entry on the database network and a second click to give the total number of people that are Nigerians. By then it should be possible to stop counting cows, goats, chickens and sheep as humans. If Nigeria is also truly the heartbeat of Africa, then we need to set the pace not only in population or census aspects but in other areas that affect the quality of our lives. The 2006 census should be the last time we count ourselves using paper and _biro_ _(pen)_. It should also be the last time the government sent people to our homes for the purpose of census. We deserve our privacy!

CHAPTER THREE

The attributes of Nigeria: a weak and sleeping giant

Absence of common good*

One of the biggest challenges in Nigeria is the absence of for the good of all since the day that Nigerians took their future in their hands by bidding farewell to the colonial masters from Britain. There are only a few good men in the Nigerian public life. In Nigeria, if you are not a thug or ruffian, you may not be well adapted to survive on the political terrain. Our democracy is not for decent people. This is one of the biggest obstacles facing the few good men among us: how they can get to that vantage position where their good intentions can be tested nationally. Are we viciously entrapped? How many people in Nigeria can dedicate their lives to the struggle of our emancipation?

In our part of the world, we are involved in the selection of public office holders and an arrangement called kangaroo elections where we may or may not need to vote. It doesn't make a difference what we do on polling days. I am still very amazed that we have Nigerians who vote on election days. Why do you vote when the winner of an election could be someone who is not even a candidate? You are 20,000 in your community and a total vote tally of 100,000 could emerge. So, why are you as a normal (or abnormal person maybe) still heading for the polls at the next selection? Nobody has given you a guarantee that it will not be business as usual. Do Nigerians know the meaning of boycott? You could even lose your life trying to cast a vote for some lunatic attempting to reach a certain political status! Why take such a risk? There are more than fifty reasons not to vote in Nigeria. The number is correlated with the number of ways that do-or-die politicians achieve their objectives. The 2007 elections in Nigeria is a new world record for cheating possibilities. All other African countries should never allow the Nigerian government to give them advice anymore on democracy or how to chose or run their government. The example of Nigeria can ruin Africa and the entire world.

The reason for all these catastrophes and retrogression in Nigeria is simply because there is absence of the common good. The politicians are selfish and an average business adventure is set out to milk the populace. The blame is cyclic and the cycle itself is idiotism. The reason for politics in Nigeria is not to improve the state but for some nonentities to earn a living and siphon riches for personal gains. The Nigerian state is not set up to run itself like all modern systems are. Over the years, Nigerians generally have resorted to any means possible to be rich and live comfortably. This started with the rapid collapse of the infrastructure, non-maintenance of anything public or government-owned. In a short time, all social amenities hit the rock and the basic necessities of life became elusive. Eventually, only a few people live comfortably relative to the 140m inhabitants. Lack of common good bred by a fearful combination of both greed and corruption has ruined Nigeria. It is reported as one of the poorest countries in the world while on the contrary and in reality, Nigeria is arguably one of the richest countries in the world. There is abundance of natural resources in the country. If you study the geography of Nigeria, you will end up being confused since you will not be able to understand why average Nigerians should not be able to live on more than USD 100 per day if they so choose.

This is attainable since the intelligent minds have calculated that the wealth from the Niger Delta of Nigeria alone can sustain the entire Africa. If this is true, then it is extremely ridiculous that the people in the Niger Delta of Nigeria are among the poorest in the world. They are poor socially and ruined environmentally. Ask the foreign oil companies about that and how they have been aided by succeeding governments in Nigeria to trample on the local indigenes. Indeed, what I call mass poverty prevails in Nigeria. Ask yourself, where does all the income from the oil goes to? Why are there no refineries in Nigeria, the sixth largest producer of oil in the world? Why is Agriculture no longer the main foreign exchange earner in Nigeria? Where are all the cocoa farms in Western Nigeria? Where are the groundnut pyramids in the North? Where is the Cassava from the East? Where are the products of the Ajaokuta Steel factory? Where lies the coal industry? What happened to the Hydro-Electric Power Generation system? Where are the graduate employment schemes of old? Do not attempt a full list of these potentials and don't even think about the human resources in terms of intelligence and availability! You will be more confused and disillusioned.

So what went wrong? Many things went wrong. The bottom line is the absence of the common good. The politicians are the worst culprits and the civil service was not left out as well. Nobody believed in the government any longer and people did what they liked. The results: prevalence of hunger, increase in road accidents, increase in general morbidity and mortality-due to diseases and a non-functional health system. Absolute collapse of social order, disappearance of public infrastructure, bad roads, lack of water, non-functional drainages, pensioners maltreatment, delayed salaries, public treasury looting, rage of armed robberies, police brutality, sports facilities disappearance, injustice to the poor and less privileged, examination malpractice across all strata, lack of electricity, relegation of educational values, tribalism, nepotism, anger, lack of planning, unemployment and frustration. Name any vice, it may be present in Nigeria, possibly on a large scale and acceptable (anything goes). Don't look too far back, just ask the organizers of the last criminalized election. Ask them how they conducted the last exercise. Ask them how the results were pre-determined as in all previous selections in Nigeria. Ask them how they have learned the tricks that further revealed the absence of common good. In Nigeria, the absence of common good has helped evil to prevail. Where evil prevails, sorrows abound and suffering will never end. So the questions remain: who can be sincere in Nigeria? How many sincere people do we need to take Nigeria forward progressively? Shall we have the honest men and women to stand up in the fight to save Nigeria? Nigeria is collapsing and what she needs are the voice and actions of the people with common good.

*The absence of common good was published on the Nigerian Guardian Newspaper (May 21, 2007), the Nigerian Champion Newspaper (July 18 2007) and Allafrica.com (July 182007)

Nigerian Police: Kill and Go

Mr. Ehindero was the former boss of the Nigeria Police and in May 2007, he literarily ordered his men to kill people who dare demonstrate or protest against the useless elections that took place in Nigeria. The people were also demanding for better conditions for their various occupational statuses. He didn't use the word kill but he doesn't have to use it either. If a police boss in Nigeria orders his men to use tear gas on people who are protesting or if he gives them the order to stop the protests by whichever means possible, then we know that the missing phrase is kill them! You can discuss the Nigeria Police from many perspectives: shameless bribe takers, ill-equipped force, gun trotting, trigger happy, mischievous, negligent, underpaid, 21st century non-compliant and so on and so forth.

There could be many factors why Nigerians allow evil to prevail in the society. The kill and go principle of the security forces is one of the factors. It is possible for policemen or other armed forces in Nigeria to kill anyone at anytime and never be brought to justice. Instead, lies are cooked up and fables are told to cover up for the killers. Sometimes there are no investigations and the victims die for nothing or for fun as they used to say. This in my opinion is one of the reasons why people have resolved not to take confrontational positions when it comes to opposition to the states even when it is obvious that what the state is doing is evil. When discussing about mounting resistance to oppression and suppression, someone may ask you are you ready to lead a protest march and be in the front? Some may even remind you like this, why don't you come back to Nigeria and help with the opposition?

But the real issue is this, why is it possible for the police to act in violation to the law and never face the consequences? This is not for the police only but all military and para-military institutions that have been used over the years by the government and persons in influential positions to oppress other helpless people. Sometimes, people lose their lives as a result of senseless killings by these agents. The reckless pronouncement by the stupid police boss in Nigeria should have been totally condemned. Obviously he was trying to please his masters in the government house who have killed thousands of people in the last decade. We have not seen anything worse since the civil war ended more than 35 years ago.

Someone needs to tell the Nigerian police that they should stop killing people who are protesting peacefully on the streets. In fact, they should stop killing suspected armed robbers locked up in their prison cells. We know that they are not well paid. Many people are underpaid in Nigeria. The police cannot continue to pour their frustrations on innocent citizens for demanding a better society for the collective good of all. They should stop filling their masters' cup with the blood of the blameless. The police should not get tired of the people-their fellow citizens; instead they should offer the necessary protection to demonstrators and ensure that the process is peaceful and orderly. They should also allow suspects in their custodies to go through normal legal prosecutions. It is not enough to change the police uniform from black to blue but to also demonstrate clear understanding to the fundamentals of human rights, to appreciate such and to do things within the frame of the law especially as law enforcement agents.

Festac Town and its 419 reputation*+

*Advance fee fraud or '419' fraud (named after the relevant section of the Nigerian Criminal Code)

I lived in Festac Town from 1977 to 2002. I attended Central Primary School on 5th Avenue in Festac Town and later Festac Grammar School, 41 Road. From 1978 to 1989, I had my primary and secondary education in this once beautiful village called Festac Town. Festac Town is now a rotten place. Like every other thing in Nigeria, it was not maintained! There is a lot of history behind Festac and there is a lot that can be highlighted regarding the rise and fall of Festac Town. One thing that struck me recently is the local and international reputation of Festac Town as a 419 town.

In 2006, I was driving my 1986 Honda Civic along the streets of Festac with some friends and they were quick to point out that I didn't get stopped by the police because of the number plate of my car. How is that, I queried? They told me that if my car plate number was FST and if the car looked very new, the police would have stopped me on the suspicion that I was a 419 perpetrator. FST as I came to know was the preference for the yahoo-yahoo boys (young men who perpetrate 419 fraud) to show that they live in Festac Town, hence FST. Actually, I had seen images of Festac Town and yahoo-yahoo boys on the internet in connection to a TV programme that ran on ABC television in the United States. So, in a way, getting on ground in Festac myself and having live confirmation from my friends was not absolutely shocking.

I realized before I travelled to Europe in 2002 that while I'd spent many years studying at the University of Lagos and labouring afterwards as a humble teacher to lead a normal life, many young people around me were taking the fast lane. Many young boys and girls did unthinkable things to acquire wealth. 419 was the non-violent part of these unthinkable things.

...There was a radio programme in Sweden sometime in June 2007 that was focused on life in Lagos-Nigeria. Lagos was described Lagos as one of the most dangerous cities in the world and Festac Town as the headquarters for 419 activities. Lagos is an issue on its own and the okada (small motorcycles used as public transport) and the crazy transport system in Lagos really needs to be treated. 419 is not a good thing but it has actually solved the problems of many unemployed graduates! It may have disrupted the future of many youth as well. I know a boy who dropped out of University to concentrate on 419 activities but I heard he is really broke now: business is low.

The underlying issue really is that the Nigerian government has neglected the issue of state welfarism and many Nigerians just devised whatever desperate means of survival that they can pull together. In a society where corruption is tolerated and public servants enrich themselves to the detriment of the society at large, what do you expect? People have resorted to self-help and then, anything goes. Imagine the recent indictment of two former police bosses as very bad examples for the youth. This shows that the entire system called Nigeria needs cleansing. What about the politicians, senators and legislators who bought houses that belong to the government of Nigeria? How did they have so much money in about 4 years? Did they save all of their salaries? Is that a possibility? Didn't they spend that on something to keep life going?

Festac is my base in Nigeria and I feel so defenceless on this 419 issue because I know it is true. But what has the local, state or federal government done in the last 20 years for example to prepare for the future of this generation of internet rats? What have they done or what are they still doing other than stealing, looting and gallivanting like nonentities?

+Festac Town and its 419 reputation was published in the Nigerian Guardian Newspaper on June 20 2007

Mass Poverty in Nigeria

Millions of Nigerians live below the poverty line despite the vast oil wealth of the country. Many are in a state of almost complete absence of material comforts. In general, mass poverty is an expression with broad implications that goes beyond the limitations of the amount of money or material possessions that the people have. A quick trip round Nigeria can buttress one's view and perception of Nigeria as a poverty stricken nation. It is very annoying actually to see the reality of life in everyday Nigeria in contrast to the deceitful jingles and praise singings that the government and sycophants orchestrate. What we see and what we get as Nigerians is not what we deserve. We deserve a better life.

Poverty in Nigeria has many indices. Nigeria is a country with over 140 million people therefore the dimension of mass poverty in Nigeria is both dreadful and shocking. Many citizens of Nigeria cannot afford to live a decent life. Several millions of Nigerians do not have the usual or socially acceptable amount of money or materials possessions. Indeed, only a few people are comfortable. The situation is made worse because of the absence or dearth of basic infrastructure of life. It doesn't seem that successive governments in Nigeria are involved in providing houses for masses in Nigeria after the 1970s. Some states governments have been involved in building houses that are affordable by the few and more privileged persons-the elites. The masses are invariably always out of the poverty alleviation or eradication question. Beyond the textbook editions or verbal policy, what are the roles of the Ministry of Housing?

Commonly, drinking water does not flow in Nigerian homes. People have to buy water as nearly all the public taps have virtually disappeared or dried up. You begin to wonder what the functions of the Water Corporation are. Even a city like Lagos that is lineated by the Atlantic Ocean plus a number of internal lagoons cannot get water to its inhabitants. Yet, every election year the people receive promises from desperate politicians that they will be provided with water. Lies upon deceits you may say. There is nothing more serious to express the physical mass poverty in Nigeria than the prevalence of hunger. Food substances are the cheapest things you can lay your hands on in some other countries. In Nigeria, common and staple foods are now very expensive and many people have devised different formula to survive daily, weekly or monthly. Surviving into a new year is seen as a miracle in Nigeria. What is the significance of the Agriculture Ministry when there are no clear policies on how to put food on the (dining) table of the masses? To what use are the vast fertile lands across the length and breadth of Nigeria?

Food, water and housing are three important parameters to measure the values of our lives and these things have become elusive to the masses in Nigerians. However, mass poverty in Nigeria has other ugly dimensions. For example, the purchasing power of the Naira is extremely weak. In some very bad situations, some people do not have money at all. Power supply or electricity has not been efficient or functional even if you can conveniently pay for it. Lack of power supply has aided the mass poverty as thousands of people have been put out of job since many companies can no longer sustain their operations in the absence of electric power. There may be no fuel to run the noisy and environmentally unfriendly generators. Nigerians have no known options to blackouts. These are some of the realities of our lives and the general situation depicts cruelty.

The situation is in fact very demoralizing and still there are worse things that define the intensity and seriousness of mass poverty in Nigeria. The Nigerian masses and elites cannot travel on safe roads. The masses are more affected because there is constant chaos in the public transportation system. The conditions are extremely dehumanizing to say the least. Mass poverty in Nigeria is further aggravated by the poor state of health infrastructure. There are no clear cut health care policies to care for the population especially babies, pregnant women and old people who are more helpless than other groups of people. The cost of getting good treatment at the hospital is prohibitive and the access of modern health facilities is greatly hindered. I am not sure if there are handicap friendly facilities in public places in Nigeria. The poor and helpless masses are always at the receiving end of all the misgivings of the politicians and policy makers.

The overall consequences of poverty are diverse. Some of these things have spiral effects and these have obviously spun down to the upcoming generations. For example as a result of the range of extreme want of necessities and the absence of material comforts, the children of the masses no longer have access to quality education. They do not have adequate recreational facilities and their social orientations are falsely modified by various things around them and those that they are unduly exposed to. What is going on daily in Nigeria as a way of life shows very sad states of things. It was not even that bad a decade ago.

Mass poverty in Nigeria is interwoven with the high rate of unemployment. There has been an upsurge in armed robbery in recent years. It is not uncommon to find school drop-outs and unemployed graduates among the criminals who have become very merciless in their operations. True stories have been told how some young people have been killed by what seemed like cults activities in broad day lights. Many young people have been shot dead while on unsuccessful robbery operations. Things have really gone from bad to worse. Many years ago in Nigeria, the emphasis was on academic excellence and sporting activities at leisure. Indeed, things have changed and very worryingly too. Could all these be due to the spiral effect of poverty? What role does poverty play in other neglected aspects of our lives in Nigeria?

My personal experiences and observations showed that mass poverty accelerated by absolute rot of governance over the years may have taken its toll on virtually all aspects of the Nigerian life. It will be interesting to see how the issue of mass poverty will be tackle by a new and legitimate government in Nigeria. Ordinary Nigerians (especially those who cannot treat their leg ache, head ache and stomach ache abroad like our influential thieving politicians) have gone through a lot of life excruciating and traumatic experiences especially in the last decade when all the hopes raised at the onset of the new found democracy were suddenly and completely dashed. The Nigerian masses are obviously suffering from poverty inflicted on them mainly by very bad governance but they are not dimmed. Their longsuffering is a way of keeping their hopes alive. They want a brighter day and a better tomorrow.

How to kill a pensioner in Nigeria

Are you kidding me? I was just 35 years old on July 12 and you have been freaking me out with details of my pension for more than 3 years. Every other month you send me updates on my pension. Please stop bugging me! I am still a very active man and you are weighing me down with how much that I will get paid for the rest of my life if I stop working now. You have calculated how much my daughter or wife will get if I die now. Are you inviting homicide on me? These insurance and pension companies in Sweden are jokers. Do they not know that I am a Nigerian? Why are they being so nice to me? Don't I deserve to be treated like Baba Railway or Baba P&T or even worse than them? I haven't worked as much as these old men did in their heydays yet these jobless companies have summed up my life at 65. Where were these companies when Baba P&T worked for 34 years? Baba P&T was left a confused man when Post and Telecommunications (P&T) changed name to become Nigerian Postal Service (NIPOST). That didn't bring any progress to him at all. Has anyone observed the differences between National Electric Power Authority (NEPA) and Power Holding Company of Nigeria (PHCN) in terms of performance or efficiency? It's the same old company with the same bad reputation. When an institution changes name in Nigeria, it means nothing other than a nomenclature jigsaw.

I don't know why Baba P&T retired voluntarily after 34 years in service. That was about 20 years ago. If I ask him that question now, in his old age, I may bring tears to his eyes. He doesn't deserve any more of that. I can only imagine his pain and anxiety in taking that unusual decision. Just one more year to that golden number 35! The chant of thirty fives in service makes that expression sound like the unwritten third stanza of the Nigerian National anthem. Why would a man not want to be retired by the government? Baba P&T was lucky anyway. He spent his last kobo of his meagre wages on the education of his children. Baba has fondly described one of his sons as highly dependable. But the other children are doing the best they can as well. Everyone of them now has a family too. I am quite sure that this situation of getting some help from his children, no matter how imperfect, has helped Baba to survive to this day. How many pensioners in Nigeria can go for 20 years after voluntarily retiring from active service?

I will not be surprised if the problems in Nigeria are worsened by the curses of the pensioners, especially those that have died without successfully getting their complete or befitting gratuity and entitlements. Afterall some of us believe in witchcraft. How can we redeem ourselves from these kinds of curses? Post and Telecommunications (P&T) and the Nigerian Railways are two examples of government institutions that really used people and dump them later in life. There are other institutions where men and women gave their time, energy and abilities to keep the nation working. Many of these people gave 35 years of their lives. They stole nothing. They didn't display disloyalty to the government. They obeyed their superiors. They are men and women of honour in the service to the nation. They kept fate with the system. The system simply turned around and offered them stones. Many of these men and woman waited in vain for bread. It never came. Some died like lepers.

Isn't it appalling for the government as an institution to carry out endless verification exercise on an old, helpless pensioner who served his country for 35 years or more? Isn't it injustice and betrayal of the highest order to hold back this man's gratuity and pension? Isn't it also amazing that the face of public service has changed for the worse? Tell me, who wants to die on a queue waiting for his/her pension? Workers of nowadays in Nigeria do not have the excellent occupational traits that our fathers and mothers displayed. Stealing and distrust in governance has rapidly permeated every sector of the Nigerian life. What we find nowadays are successful public servants. Even junior officers have discovered how to build houses and marry more than one wife. Since it is useless to depend on the government for affordable mortgage houses or provisions for their future, these men and women found the short cuts. Only a few honest people are left in public and private services in Nigeria.

Unfortunately, the efforts of the evil people have completely overshadowed the diligence of the remaining honest ones among us. The results are staring at us in the face. The failure of governance, the insincerity of the pensions board (does it exist?), the self enrichment of the politicians and the melancholy tales of our pensioners (like Baba P&T) are parts of the reasons people have taken desperate but corrupt measures to salvage their future. It is a sad situation. It will take more than a miracle to wipe corruption away from government, places of public services and private enterprises. It will be a collective effort on the parts of all and sundry. It is not a job for the Economic and Financial Crime Commission (EFCC) only. It is something all Nigerians must all work for and try to achieve. It will take time but it is not an impossible task.

What is fire brigade approach?*

Fire is burning down your house! You are so lucky not to be in the house. None of the members of your family was at home too. You do not know the cause of the fire and at this moment, you don't care about the cause. As you watched helplessly, your house burning, you remembered that there are fire service stations in your locality and you have been so fortunate to have entered the numbers to these stations on your mobile phone. You called the fire station and got through after 15 minutes. The response was good and the fire brigade arrived three hours after you make the call. They could not come earlier than that as all the trucks in their possession are without petrol. They have stopped by at the nearby gas station but due to scarcity of fuel, they had to drive around a while before they were able to finally find a station that has petrol.

You thought arriving late was better than never; perhaps they could salvage a few things that haven't burn. You are dead wrong! Two fire brigade trucks had arrived but the firemen came by to ask you a few questions only. When did the fire start? Do you know where it started from? What could have been the cause of the fire? Are there people inside the house or is it empty? Do you have a kerosene stove or a gas cooker? You got tired of the questions and asked then when they will start to work before the fire spread to the next building. Neighbours have gathered and started pouring buckets of water from a distance. The water got nowhere near the burning flames. Some children were getting sand as people wailed in loud voices. Some people were thanking God that there was no one in the house as the whole family gathered nearby. The family in the next house got out in good time. They were lucky with their house; the fire could not penetrate further.

Eventually, the firemen declared their inability to help you in any way as everyone including you watched your house burn to mere ashes. They have brought two trucks but there is no water in either truck. They didn't have the time to verify or check if there was water in the truck or not as the call was an emergency one. They became more confused as there was no petrol in the trucks and even one of the vehicles had three tyres in place when the call came. The first one hour after the call was spent looking for a road side mechanic who had not finished the fixing of the tires the day before. The second hour was spent looking for gas (or petrol as we used to say) and it took another one hour to drive to the burning house. We are so sorry Mr. Lagbaja. You can bear us witness that we took your phone call and acted promptly but since our reservoir dried up two weeks ago, we had simply forgotten to refill the tanks on the trucks with water until your emergency call came. Fire Brigade approach is a common expression in Nigeria. Simply put it means that in Nigeria, people (especially when it comes to public services) always wait until the last minute before they take action on something that they should have done a long, long time ago. In the end, we always try to do things when it is almost late. We rally round, try a few urgent steps and we end up messing up the job.

Typically, the fire brigade or firemen will arrive when everything is already in ruins. Sometimes, families are trapped in the fire. This could result in death or serious burns. In Nigerian football, fire brigade approach is the norm. Our footballers are usually not well blended before each game or tournament. Some of them will arrive a few hours before crucial games. Fire brigade approach is used in virtually all spheres of Nigerian life and the result is that things are done shabbily and results are unexpected outcomes. We usually express surprise or dismay at each outcome most especially when they are unfavourable. But it is amazing how Nigerians forget and move on with their lives. Our failures in certain areas or endeavours have not stopped us in any way from adopting the same fire brigade approach time and time over. Fire brigade approach is complex and intrinsic. It is like a web that has formed part of our evil entanglement in Nigeria. You can see it in governance, in sports, in music, in academic endeavours, in our dressing sometimes, in our jobs and other aspects of our lives. We cannot always be prepared for everything but when a larger percentage of our actions are incoherent, the results are bound to be negative.

The fire brigade approach emanates from the unconventional working ethics of the fire stations. Basically, this is their attitude to work. It is their thing. They are always late and never prepared. They are seriously ill equipped. You can compare this attitude to the Nigerian Police in many ways. Sadly, their sick syndrome has infected many other things in Nigeria and you commonly hear people say fire brigade approach. It means they are spending last minutes efforts in trying to solve a problem that has been there forever. * What is fire brigade approach was published by the Nigerian Guardian Newspaper on June 27 2007

How dangerous is Lagos?

Lagos is the former capital of Nigeria. Many uninformed foreigners still considered Lagos to be the capital of Nigeria. To this category of people, Abuja is relatively unknown. I have encountered many people and young students in Europe who expressed surprise that Lagos was no longer the capital of Nigeria. The implication of this is that Lagos is a popular city. How do the governor of Lagos and the Oba (King) of Lagos feel about their domain right now? Among the rest of us, I am very convinced that these two important men are true Lagosians. It is possible to ask them more than 21 questions on the ills and evils in Lagos. One additional question would be: Is this the Lagos of your dreams? An adept mind can quickly add, is this the Nigeria of our dreams?

The uncertainties that confront a foreigner in Lagos are emphasized in a number of Travel Guides to Africa that I have read myself. Sometimes in the bookshops, I read so much about Nigeria that I feared the shopkeepers could ask me to pay for the reading or buy a copy of those travel books. Who comes to Lagos or not may not be important to the Oba or to the governor of Lagos. But I am sure that the economic fortunes of certain countries are enhanced, no matter how little, by the number of visitors they receive annually from abroad. With important towns like Badagry, Ikorodu, Epe and Lagos Island itself, I can imagine what Lagos state stands to gain supposing it chooses to be a tourist attraction city. There are several tourist hotspots wasting away in Lagos. The problem of security of lives is important to visitors from outside.

Apart from foreign workers who have no choice but to adapt to our system, it may be difficult to imagine why other foreigners come to Lagos. I found the answer to that puzzle recently. One more reason why some foreigners actually come to Lagos is to verify what they have read or heard about Lagos. They are curious and are in search of the real situation-the truth. I actually felt Lagos in the air when the sounds of Lagos came on, on a radio programme in Stockholm. Instantly, I visualized market and traffic scenes at Oshodi, Mushin, Yaba, Palmgroove, Onipanu, Bariga, Okokomaiko, Mile 2, Obalende, Iyana Iba and Ojuelegba among other busy places in Lagos. Some reporters from Sweden went to Lagos to see things for themselves and to interview a number of people. I think this is called investigative journalism. One man who was interviewed thanked God for saving his life in the several okada (small motorcycles used as public transport) accidents that he had been involved in the last 5 years. He talked about many who have died and others who are still lying in the hospitals as a result of okada and other types of road accidents. Is anyone taking records of the souls that are lost daily in Lagos due to reckless driving with rickety molues, danfo buses, kabukabus and okadas as our popular but undignified means of transportation?

The radio programme was like a corroborative report of what I have read in travel books about Africa, Lagos was ranked as one of the most dangerous cities in the world. In a way, they concluded that Lagos is the most dangerous city. I don't know if I should assume that this assertion is another way of painting Nigeria in a bad image or if I should agree that it is the reality. Lagos is my city! I lived in Lagos all of my life time in Nigeria. I refused to study outside Lagos and I almost succeeded in doing my National Service in Lagos but I landed in nearby city of Ibadan for that purpose. Despite my love for Lagos, it is not clear to me how robbers operate for hours unchallenged at Ladipo Market, Alaba International Market and Flour Mill at Apapa? Is it because they are armed? In my own opinion, despite the fact that Lagos is my city, I can say that Lagos is indeed a dangerous city but I don't know if it one of the most dangerous cities in the world.

People who have travelled round the world to seek the truth, like these reporters from Sweden, may probably have a fair opinion. Afterall, what will reporters from Sweden benefit if they described Lagos as the most dangerous city even though we don't have gun shops like New York? We have cult activities in Lagos but they are yet to be described as massacres that we have seen in other countries. Indeed we don't have gun shops, but has anyone read the descriptions of the guns and weapons that are routinely used by armed robbers across Lagos? Some of the guns can be used under water! To what end will a common armed robber acquire such a sophisticated weapon? Are there treasuries or gold to be carted away from under the Lagos lagoon or bar beach?

In how many other ways do we want to qualify living and experiences in Lagos before we can determine if truly Lagos is among the most dangerous places to live in? Indeed, apart from deadly armed robberies which is present all over the country, Lagos transport is an accident on its own. A lot of people live in fear either on the streets or in their homes. Many houses in Lagos have security that the famous Kirikiri Maximum Prison cannot even boast of. Why?

I have visited a few cities around the world but I have never in my life seen where people run to catch a danfo or molue kind of bus and run to get off it like they do in Lagos. The Swedish reporters were also dazed that Lagos has more than 11 million people (the Lagos State government believed that there are more than 15 million people in Lagos alone) when the entire Sweden, as big as it is, has only about 9 million people. The population of Lagos had outstripped the available dilapidating facilities even at the time that Lagos was still the capital of Nigeria. Urban town planners were definitely out of the picture as most parts of Lagos degenerated into absolute jungles. Surely, Nigeria is unevenly developed and this presents an existence that can subtly be described as haphazard. Those who make and execute policies in Lagos have a lot to do not only to improve its local and international reputation but also the quality and standard of the lives that the people there lead. I still love Lagos. It used to be my home. It will be nice to see what the governor of Lagos State and the Oba of Lagos can do about the embarrassing status of their common domain, our dearest Lagos.

What if you can drive in Lagos?

They always say: if you can drive in Lagos, then you can drive anywhere in the world. I have heard this expression a million times before. But what I know now makes me underscore this statement as highly fallible. Call that statement a thrash if you like. Lagos driving, which is more similar to a contest of speed, is just absolute rubbish. It is a risky and dangerous adventure. It seems that there are only a few sane drivers (as differentiated from people) in Lagos. Some people actually believe that you have to be crazy to drive on major roads in Lagos. When I was a teenager, I was told that many drivers in Lagos are mad. It was difficult for me to comprehend how mad people can be behind the wheels. Essentially, the implication as I came to understand was that people hardly followed the rules of driving. They still do not anyway. To worsen the non-compliance of the reckless drivers in Nigeria generally is the near absence of road directions and signs on major streets and highways.

It is a common knowledge that a lot of people behind the wheels in Lagos didn't attend any driving school. Many people in Lagos learned how to drive by themselves. There is also a popular and accepted opinion that you must have crashed into many other cars before you can have strong hands to hold the steering wheel of your car and drive well. This is simply a malformation of attitude that has caused many unnecessary accidents and destructions. I know at least one true story of some teenagers behind the steering wheel of a car that killed another child on 5th Avenue in Festac Town sometime in the mid 80s. Perhaps there are many other unreported incidents.

Learning to drive by yourself is an example of the kinds of thrashes that we were fed with as we grew up in Lagos. This is what happens when the society is disorganized. For sure, there are driving schools in Lagos but how many people are taking the opportunity of attending the schools? Are we sure that the driving schools are competent? What kinds of collaborations exist between the driving schools and the Federal Road Safety Commission? Where does the Ministry of Transport come into the picture? What role is left for the police in ensuring the safety of lives on our roads? It may be okay if your friend or dad teaches you how to drive but there ought to be a superior or authoritative supervising body.

Have we not succeeded in creating confusion with too many organisations and duplication of roles, such that nobody is doing the job that somebody expects someone to be doing? Road safety in many places that I have seen is a function of the Ministry of Transport in collaboration with the Police. In Lagos, everything is so unclear and you don't know who is taking care of what. Nowadays, every local government seems to have strangely clothed men and women on the streets doing almost nothing but creating confusion. Even the Lagos state government has its own fair share of these people in complicated outfits. Anyway, my advice to those who think that Lagos driving can be adopted in other countries is to perish that thought once and for all. First, Lagos driving license may not serve you for more than 1-2 years in many countries outside Africa. If you do not have a license yet, you may want to be very selective as per the places to go so that you can drive without a license (but with a permit). In that case, try London and stay far from the Scandinavian Islands and Germany.

Whichever way you get tilted, remember that you cannot fully implement Lagos driving abroad. If you do, you will come face to face with the full wrath of the law. Over speeding is strictly forbidden and adherence to speed limits is a necessity especially around residential and congested industrial areas. If you drive with Lagos license and you disregard these simple rules, you may find it difficult to smell a driving license in a long time. You may forfeit your European driver's license or other temporary driving permits as well if you go against these rules. I know a handful of Nigerians who have been in soup over driving issues in Europe. Their offences: over speeding, ignoring road signs, ignoring the traffic lights and even driving on bus lanes!

Going against a red light is enough single reason to lose your driving license in Sweden. Maybe you can begin the process of re-applying after 2-5 years depending on how the determination of the severity of the offence turned out. If you are coming from Lagos, please make sure you don't drink and drive here. You constitute a danger to yourself and other road users. Perhaps you haven't thought that this could be a serious offence as ordinary 20 naira will bail you from the police anytime in Lagos. Here, other people will ring the police on your behalf if they suspect that you are going behind the wheels after a drink. It is that serious! Who are you?

In Lagos, people drive against the normal flow of traffic. They call it driving on a one-way road. It is very common among the drivers of public transport buses popularly called danfo drivers. Bullion vans for carrying money and police vehicles are the next in line of serious offenders. This crazy aspect of Lagos driving has led to many road accidents. Many lives have been lost due to recklessness of this nature. Sometimes, unsuspecting pedestrians and road-side hawkers have been sent to their early graves. This type of bad habit does not exist anywhere outside Nigeria. No sane person drives against the normal flow of traffic. Even ambulances don't do that because the other road users have been instructed to pave the way for them. The police can have their way only when they have the siren blaring. When vehicular traffic is low, there is no need for the blaring siren of the police, just the blue spinning overhead lamps on the car will do.

Lagos driving is made more arduous with the bad states of roads. I know that in Festac Town (that rotten government forsaken town), they are now using cement to tar the roads. Somebody help me! Who is supervising this type of crazy job? I wonder the millions that went into that? Is it okay to use cement to fix roads? Without dragging on forever, I will strongly advice the Lagos State government to embark on a series of citizen oriented programs to save the traffic situation in Lagos. First, they need to orientate all the crazy drivers and would-be drivers on the need to adhere to the regulations that govern safe driving. To this end, they must encourage attendance at accredited driving schools. They should make sure that prospective drivers take theory and practical courses. They should also have eye test that must be supported by documents and which can be verified.

Imperatively, the issuance of a valid driver's license should be standardized and uniform so that the culture of safe driving is imbibed across the country. In the nearest future, it is left for Nigeria to develop to the extent that will allow the Police to honestly and sincerely take care of traffic offenders. How this puzzles into the task of the Road Safety Commission is an experiment left for the concerned authorities to discern. It is up to the Ministry of Transport both at the federal, state and local government levels to wake up to their task of providing good roads because bad roads invariably will lead to bad driving in the first place. If only our power supply will be boosted, then the concept of traffic light returning to our roads after decades of absence will not be a bad idea. Indeed, fixing one problem in Nigeria means fixing many other problems simultaneously. We really have a long way to go but we can make it shorter if we put all our hands on deck at the same time. We must talk less and act more these days.

Who Planned our Lives in Nigeria?

Quite understandably, Africa in general is not yet as developed as the so called Western Countries but to use this criterion or excuse is not adequate in explaining the quality or standard of life that we live in Nigeria. Sometimes when I think of how I am living now and how I'd lived before I left Nigeria, I just cannot help asking myself: who planned our lives in Nigeria?

Imagine if I'd bought a bicycle to ride to work in Nigeria, people would think that I've actually gone crazy. They would treat me like an outcast because they expect me to buy a car and not a bicycle. But there is nothing wrong with driving to work in a car or taking the train or bus depending on what means of transportation that is convenient for you. Your choice may also depend on your consciousness of environmental issues. In the last two years in Sweden, I have gone to work many times riding my bicycle. I do ride my bicycle with utmost delight even with my tie and suit on. There are bicycles tracks with clear signals to follow and I know how many kilometers I have ahead. I only have to tuck the ends of my pair of trousers inside my stockings. Off I go!

Really, how is life supposed to be? I know a popular Swedish expression that goes like this: "Livet går aldrig i repris". In English, this means you cannot live your life over again. Many people believe we can only live once. Others have hopes of another life that their religion brings to them. I would strongly think that the concept of living once guides the people who are living life as it should be, not only as individuals but also as a nation. For instance, it is in perfect order if you can book your summer holiday six months in advance. You can do the same with your Christmas holiday. Your wife can stay at home for one year after the delivery of your child. The state welfare built on functional tax system ensures that she does not go hungry or over-depend on you. The family bond is further promoted by ensuring that as a father, based on the same welfare or insurance scheme, you can also take paternity leave if you don't want to send your child to daycare so early. The interests and rights of a child are paramount. Things like these are alien to the Nigerian culture where you cannot plan very much in advance. A mother in Nigeria is also overburden with the care of babies and children.

In developed countries, as an employee or employer, you pay your taxes and sometimes you get a little refund annually from the tax office. Obviously, you know the consequences of tax evasion. You have never worried about power supply; instead you keep a store of electric light bulbs and fluorescent lamps. You have no stress to call the house caretaker if there are things you cannot fix yourself. You know well in advance that you may not have water for 2 hours on Wednesday of week 45 because of a major repair in your area. You have many choices when it comes to electric companies, TV companies, Internet Service Providers and Telephony. In Nigeria, tax evasion is easy and documents can be forged to that effect instead. As a developing country, the technological advancements still present with very limited choices. With electricity in Nigeria, there is no choice and the services provided are extremely bad.

...I have never been afraid to travel on the roads in Europe knowing well that almost everyone on the road went to a driving school. Though accidents do occur, I have been instructed at the driving school to show understanding or adjust when others make mistakes on the road. There are rules but no one has rights on the road. I know when/how to drive. The signs are clear. The Atlas of road maps in my car is perfect. The streets and motorways are well laid out. I can drive whenever, wherever and at anytime. My 24 hours is at my disposal. No restrictions! But I am always afraid to exceed the speed limits because of Police routine checks or hidden cameras. Something by the road side could even flash at me: DU KÖR FORT! (You are driving too fast!). Lagos driving which partially typifies the larger part of the Nigerian society has been discussed earlier. Basically there are no rules, just get the keys of the car and face the road. The world is under your feet!

In Sweden, you shop for food under hygienic conditions in supermarkets. You know and appreciate the importance of fruits and vegetables in your daily diet. You don't buy expired food items as they are well labeled with production and expiry dates. Your rights as a consumer are well catered for and over pampered. You have never worried about your salary been delayed: it comes in on the 25th of every month. It has to be in your salary bank account on the 24th or 23rd if 25th is a Saturday or Sunday respectively. This will hardly change because you have also automatically instructed your bank (through secured internet banking) to pay your bills on that same day or the next day every month. Your employer is liable to the resulting debts if any delay in the payment of your salary affects the deadlines for your bills. In Nigeria on the other hand, a civil servant may go on for several months without salaries in his/her bank account. Conditions under which food are displayed or sold are not very hygienic and diseases are very common.

In the developed countries generally, you have a life that is well planned or organized. You strive to balance work, family, play and exercise. However, you are aware that certain circumstances are going to be out of your control. But again, the system has regulatory mechanisms in place. Your fears are considerably lessened. You have confidence in almost everything around you including your personal and life insurance packages. Is this how life should be? This is one constant question that keeps bugging me each time I take my usual walk under the shades of trees near where I live. Quite often as I approach the shopping complex, walking alone or sometimes pushing my little angel in her baby wagon, tears swell in my eyes. The images of Nigerian hustling, bustling and struggles are stuck to my cerebral hemispheres. The shame of April 2007 has not helped matters. Sometimes, I let go and the tears flow just to ease my soul.

For a few years now, I have not been able to find the answer to the question: Who planned our lives in Nigeria? Instead of finding the answers, more questions and problems have since emerged. Would it be possible someday (or in the nearest future) for all Nigerians to live a well planned life especially with children, nature and the environment in view? Shall we have a system that is regulated (or even self-regulatory) and coordinated? What would it take? How long to reach there? Where is the future even? Where is our hope considering the constant selfish attitudes of our leaders and politicians? To this moment, their disappointing prime interest is the so called National Cake-how it can be looted. Too obviously, they are unbelievably corrupt and greedy. The masses and the environment are inconsequential to them. One day, the cake will start choking them.

Christmas in Hell

In 2006, I decided it was time to visit Lagos again. I have been away for three whole years, the longest period of time to be absent from motherland since I relocated to Sweden almost 6 years ago. I have planned for this vacation for more than 6 months and since Nigeria is our country, this was a trip that was really dear to my heart. My intention was to stay for at least 4 weeks. This will also be the shortest stay ever. My other two previous visits lasted 2 months each. Anyway, we reached Lagos after flying 6 hours on the connecting flight from Frankfurt with my good childhood friend Okechukwu Okafor. I started the journey from Stockholm-Arlanda. Okechukwu joined me at Frankfurt. It is very usual that we go home together except that he goes home annually and has been living in Germany for more than 10 years.

We arrived in Lagos at the near peak of the fuel scarcity on 15th December. It was also during this period that armed robbers intensified their scary activities. Apparently, they have been on the loose for a long time and what I'd read online before embarking on this trip was nothing close to the real situation. To be on ground and witness these things was even more dreadful. There is always something happening on a daily basis: the threat that armed robbers pose will always make you look behind everywhere you go, day or night. I have read about the raid on the Ladipo area of Mushin that lasted several hours. I was only a few days shy of the robbery at Alaba international market that also lasted several hours. However, I was sitting in a car with a friend, driving along 24 Road, Festac Town area of Lagos when a live phone call informed us that a robbery is on at Flour Mill area of Apapa. The girl that called abandoned her car only to come back to see corpses all around the place. Few days after I left Lagos, one of my very close friends in Festac (Ogbo Chris) woke up in the Hospital after he had been attacked and shot at close range by armed robbers who initially posed as Policemen. He wrote to me from his Hospital Bed in Igbobi, Lagos.

As I was saying: There was no drop of fuel at the gas stations but the black market opposite a gas station on 22 Road in Festac Town was selling fast. I will never understand how ordinary teenage boys can have petrol to sell on a street that is just less than 20 meters away from a gas station. It is not possible to understand many things in Nigeria. The more you see, the less you understand. The nights are always dark. Electricity supply was at an all time low. I had been misled by a friend on internet chat. Perhaps trying to impress me that things are better with power supply, Foluso gave me a false impression of the situation. Power supply in Festac Town last Christmas cannot be described as epileptic; it was something far worse than that. There was no way our noisy generator could help us. We didn't have fuel to run it. The fuel in the car was fast running out too after my double trips to Tejuosho market at Ojuelegba there in Lagos. What if my dad had not given me back the car fully tanked? Anyway, it was only a matter of time before I succumbed to the black market concept. It was obvious that I cannot run the car on my urine so I bought petrol from hawkers along the street.

It was also impossible to drive from around 1930hr. The oncoming cars all had full lights and I get blinded all the time. You can tell that I am not used to Lagos driving because in most places, there are no signs, no road marks, no lanes and no speed limits. It took about 3 days to get in the rough mood of Lagos drivers but still I was scared to my marrows. It was almost useless looking in my mirrors or using signals for change of lanes. Who is looking at your signals? Definitely, no one is looking in Lagos. I thought we were all involved in car racing competition without umpires. My entire encounters were unpalatable. Once I spent 4½ hours on the queue to buy petrol at a gas station. It didn't help that I woke up at 6am. This was the day that I sat in my car and wept loud like a baby. I wept for Nigeria! I was alone and there was no chance of consolations. I will never forget. I got home later that day and received a phone call from Sweden. My Swedish family wanted to know if I was alright. Unknown to me but very well known to them, there had been a deadly petroleum pipeline explosion in Lagos! Hundreds of people have died that morning! It was impossible to follow the news since there was no power supply.

That night, on the 26th of December, as a result of my luck at the gas station (after spending more than 4 hours), we had fuel in the car and in a 10litre keg. So, for the first time in about 10 days, we powered the generator and listened to the news. It was at that point that I saw images from the explosion as shown on Channels Television, a popular and reliable TV station in Nigeria. Another thing that struck me was the high cost of goods and services. How do people sustain and maintain with their salaries? It beats my imagination. People now pay more for everything including transport, houses and food. On the contrary, the standard of living has continued on a sharp decline. It is also of concern that there are several gathering spots for young cultists or gangs. A lot of young people now smoke and drink dangerously, and openly too. When did this mess become a part of our accepted or acquired culture in Nigeria? I couldn't believe my eyes with all that I saw. What I saw in Festac Town and Lagos State were eyesores of unimaginable magnitudes. They probably depicted the larger society and how hopelessness has crept into the existence of many. People live now like there is no governance in Nigeria. They have speedily lost faith in the system that should protect and care for them.

Imagine that the pipeline explosion victims are mainly poor people scooping petrol illegally. They are aware that there have been past deadly incidents, they know the risk but they also thought scooping was worth dying for. This is the level that the value of the Nigerian life has depreciated to. Almost nothing! There is another question on my mind. In Nigeria, who is taking care of what? In less than 2 weeks, I began to wonder if this is the same place that I'd been educated and lived for 29 years until the end of 2001. Of course, life wasn't a bed of roses for me. It was very hard to get through school financially. It was not easy either getting food on the table. For me and millions of Nigerians, it has always been a life of hard struggle but I'd never imagined that it will not get better for us as a people and country.

The climax of my worries was when I took ill. I was knocked down by diarrhoea. I cannot tell if it was from the suya (roasted meat commonly sold in open places) that I ate or from the bottled water (counterfeits are common) that I drank or a combination of both. But it was a serious illness and I was leaning fast in a matter of hours. What luck that there was a pharmacist in the house where I bunked! Sometimes it is good when a house is sublet with different kinds of tenants in all angles of the house. You will end up with different combination of accomplished Nigerians, each in his/her own way. I was in the Boys Quarters (smaller detached house at the back of the main house). The Pharmacist became my friend and he took me round chemists (Nigerian name for medicine stores) that are opened during the yuletide.

It was difficult to cope again with the tempo and struggles of life for the Christmas season that I came back to. It took more than 6 months to prepare for this trip to Lagos but it took only a couple of hours before I knew I wanted to see my family in Sweden again. With a 100 Euro bill, my return trip date was recoiled. I landed in Stockholm again on the early morning of 30th December. A new chapter had since emerged in the life of Nigeria. Nigerians have placed their new found hope on a government that has serious problem of legitimacy. The resilient people of Nigeria have been made to do-or-die with the worst election in human history. They are anxiously waiting for manna from heaven but they need a quick reminder that heaven help those who help themselves.

How your fathers looted and ruined Nigeria

Your father was appointed a Minister by the come and chop party. It was not quite easy to discern how he got to this favourable position of knowing the powers that be in the ruling People Destroying People Party. But he had been prominent in using his (up till now) unquestionable financial resources to help the party that came to power. He also got the approval of the Stealing Senate anyway. In less than 6 months, your father became so rich that he bought a house in North London. He paid cash and didn't even go for a begging mortgage. Everyone in your family felt so elated. At last! You can now pack away from the Okota Layout in Lagos where you have lived for the past 10 years. You will no longer just visit London; you now have the privilege to be a resident.

In no time, you and your siblings have relocated to London. Since you like to pose, you show your face every 3 to 6 months in Lagos and Abuja. In your absence, your friends talked a lot about you. Do you know that Jide has moved to London? He is living there now with his younger sisters. They all go to school in London now; their father bought a house there. They have made it! The news that filtered into your ears made you feel bloated like an overblown balloon. Your shoulders are high and bent. Your tastes for cars have changed in Nigeria and in London. The change is for the better and to show class. You like to show yourself more now. In fact, you are getting tired of London and sharing a house with your siblings in the UK is no longer interesting. You ensured that in the next couple of months, your father secured a new apartment for you in Yankee. You have changed school to the US so that you can live near Musa and Gideon.

Musa's father, Alhaji Sabo, is a top man in the Finance Ministry. He works closely with the central bank. Gideon's uncle, Mr. Okoromadu, is in the oil and gas business. He is well known to the president. The president has the Petroleum Ministry's portfolio under his stinking armpit. You have something in common with Musa and Gideon and you regularly and mutually rub shoulders at fora made possible by endless minglings of the rogues and thieves in power which the Nigerian system provides for and nurtured in fact. If your father didn't become richer during and after his Ministerial service, I am sure that you would have disowned him as your father. You would have told him to his face to go to hell! You would ask him what he was doing when his mates were succeeding. You would tell him to pack out of the house that your father built and that he should go to his own father's house. You would let him know how he blew the chance of a life time: to own bank accounts, houses and cars in Switzerland, the UK and in the US.

You would tell your father the history of Africa and Nigeria. You would have asked him if there is any poor man in the families of the Yar'Aduas, the Azikwes and the Awolowos (men who have been top politicians in Nigeria). You would have asked him if he was blind and cannot see the houses that ordinary National Party of Nigeria (NPN) members built in the 1980s. You will recite names of your heroes, Uba Ahmed, Umaru Dikko, Akinloye, Akinjide, Shagari, Babangida, David Mark and Gbenga Daniels. You would have quoted that Jakande (a former governor of Lagos) said that you can eat (embezzle public funds) and still let the people enjoy your tenure because Nigeria is very rich. You would even tell your dad to visit Obasanjo's Farm again. At least he was there in 1998 before Obasanjo became the president. You would mention the names of all these people and much more. The only thing you would not do is to call your heroes by their real name: looters. This is the only name that is resonated in your conscience because your concept of a Nigerian politician is typical-that all politicians must loot.

So, now you are so happy and contented. Your father had stolen parts of our commonwealth. He has taken his share of the National Cake that belongs to your family. Your friends and former neighbours are still talking big about your family. You are so happy to be settled in the United States. Provisions have been made so that you will live there permanently and your bank accounts are so fat that you can go on for many years or all of your life time without doing so much work. Your father is a wise thief, he now has profitable investments and he is on the board of a number of companies. He owns much of the shares in these companies too. What is your concern with the unfortunate people who cannot place themselves in strategic positions to get good postings in government? Your father was actually the Minister for Planning and Housing. He planned very well for you giving you houses at home and abroad. Your father is an accomplished man. He is the father of your dreams.

In your opinion, those who are complaining about corruption in Nigeria are people with bad belly-the never do wells. You are almost certain that they will also steal when or if they have the chance to serve the people. So, now that it is the turn of your family; you must excel. You have sat down with your father on many occasions and strategize how you can carry out all his nefarious activities without been detected by the Financial Crime Commission. As the eldest child, your father trusted you and you have helped him to cover all his tracks. As a principle, your cycle of friends is very selective and your discussions are very unrevealing. Even as your father settles to life again outside the realm of governance, he still has your trust. You have organized everything for him. Only your mother is living in Nigeria now, the rest of you preferred to live abroad. Soon, she will have no choice. Your father wasn't bothered about the new government, legitimate or not, he had enough: he is made for life. No need to lobby.

Well, this is Nigeria and we have seen these things for more than 47 years: self-enrichment to the detriment of the larger society. Many people have escaped to enjoy their loots. Some are very courageous, they tried to come back and some actually succeeded in their comebacks. Some of them even denounced democracy at the most important point of their life history. But again, as you are well aware, this is Nigeria. We forget and forgive easily. You can slap us as a country and walk free. We don't mind how much you steal. Our hope is in God and we know that the oil will never finish. One day perhaps, EFCC will remember you and your father.

The Betrayal of the Baptist Boys

Femi had a clear goal of what he wanted in life. He had never hidden his intentions and his abilities as a leader are not in doubts. He is versed in books and practical knowledge. It was not a surprise that he lent his voice to the independence of Nigeria. He was very distinguished as a regional leader. He was convinced that he could lead the country if given the chance. He never got the chance. One of the main reasons that Femi never got the chance was because of two boys who had graduated from the Baptist High School. These boys are Moshoodi and Aremu. Aremu was a senior to Moshoodi in the school those days in the 1930s. By a stroke of fate in 1978, Aremu was leading the country but he was not a wanted fellow. He was an army officer, barely learned. His level of education was not a barrier anyway as the system tolerated illiterates around the realms of power. This once prosperous Nation has recently nosedived economically and it is heading for the abyss. There are many reasons for this and expectedly the people are looking for a messiah. No one knows what actually transpired between Aremu, Moshoodi and Femi as they were growing up. The three of them incidentally are from the same Ogun State in Western Nigeria. How hard can it be for people who speak the same language to understand one another?

Moshoodi and Aremu worked against Femi and ensured that the boys from the North cheated in the 1979 elections. The boys from the North came back to power: something they have always cherished as their birthrights. The Eastern boys are not close. Their own palaver (trouble) is a different story entirely especially after they fought an unsuccessful war to secede from Nigeria. There is a rumour that an unwritten pact exists that the boys from the East will never get the chance to lead Nigeria. This has worked so far, at least since the war ended. Femi was bitter but he went on with his life. His involvement in Politics was a huge blessing to the people from the West. I am sure I went to elementary school and secondary school almost free because of his policies regarding education. One of my friends told me that Femi's family gets 1 kobo for every bottle of coca-cola that is sold in Nigeria. How do people come about this kind of story? Riliwan my friend told me many things that inspired him into Politics but he has not been successful. If he goes about with this kind of coca-cola stories, he may need another profession soon.

Femi died an honorable man a few years after his unsuccessful attempt to be the president of Nigeria. It doesn't matter the shortcomings that he had. His name is forever written in Gold. He was betrayed by the Baptist Boys. After his death, Femi was described by friends and folks as the best president Nigeria never had. A University in western Nigeria was named after him. One of his daughters became an ambassador and the other children, though successful, didn't achieve much in Politics. Moshoodi and Aremu carried on with their lives. Moshoodi benefitted a lot from the fraudulent government and he was very sure that the boys from the North would break their codes for him: they will let him be president too. This expectation never came to past and Moshoodi was bitter: he must have had the same feelings Femi had 4 years earlier. It was a clear feeling of betrayal, no doubts. For the first time in his life, Moshoodi realized that there are certain things in life that money cannot buy. One of them is happiness and another is satisfaction.

Aremu tendered his chickens and pigs in a farm, Obasanjo Farms Nigeria (OFN). He showed a little response to Politics. No one knows if this farm was built originally for him or for Nigeria. OFN can mean many things to many people. Nigerians never knew how the real Operation Feed the Nation (OFN) disappeared into thin air. Aremu tried hard to be a statesman, yet this was something that came to Femi naturally. Femi didn't have to try. By 1993, it had been some years since Femi died. Moshoodi was still successful with business (anyhow that came) and his participation in Politics is now fully fledged. Unfortunately, he still had to contend with the boys from the North if he must become a president. These boys now wear khaki uniforms; they are now back to the days of barracks ruling. They must keep this birthright at all cost.

Moshoodi won the hearts of Nigerians and won a landslide victory at the presidential polls in 1993. But he never became the president (June 12 1993: a wasted opportunity) He died in jail while his mandate stared at him in the face. As a matter of basic principles of life, this was injustice of the highest order. Many things however plagued his longings for this mandate. One was the repercussion of working against Femi about 15 years earlier. Another important thing that stood in the way of his mandate was the clear betrayal of another Baptist boy-the one he knows so well. Aremu declared to the world that Moshoodi was not the messiah that Nigeria longed for. With that, Moshoodi's coffin was nailed forever. He died in jail under questionable circumstances. Some people believe that Moshoodi was killed by the Americans. A cup of tea was the undoing of this great millionaire, a Baptist boy. Since the death of this Baptist boy, aided by the betrayal of a fellow Baptist boy, Nigeria stood at a crossroad, making no real progress. Interestingly, Aremu is still alive. He could have died in jail when Sani (another rascal boy from the North) put him in jail. Nigerians raised their voices to the whole world and to the high Heavens. The hand of fate rescued Aremu.

Another superficial hand of fate ensured that Aremu ruled Nigeria for the second time after returning as a convict. But final act of betrayal of this Baptist boy came when he pushed more than 70% of Nigerians below the poverty line while pursuing economic reforms that were basically abstract to the ordinary citizens. Aremu fought corruption with by speeches only while one of his boys from the East regularly used the presidential jet to fly women and dollars out of the country. One of the boys from the North predicted that Nigerians will eat from the dustbin. In a few years, millions of Nigerians cannot even eat from the dustbin, there is nothing to scrap. Today, a boy from the North enjoys the outcome of the ultimate betrayal in the history of mankind. Aremu singlehandedly worked against 150m Nigerians by using a boy from the East called Maurice to install a boy called Umar who is from the North. It is not clear when the boys from the East will wake up to see how they are used and dumped. The extent that these betrayals have ruined Nigeria is difficult to fathom. This is because of the complications that the boys from the North brought into the matter. To the boys from the North, power is theirs and this cannot be compromised. They have undersigned this pact with the blood of their patriarchs and the colonialists. They will go to the ends of the world to retain this power. They will achieve it subtly or by force. The wolves and doves among them cannot be seen as birds of the same feather but they have executed the same agenda so far. The betrayals of the Baptist boys cannot be easily understood. It is more complex than a labyrinth. The Historians in Nigeria have their hands full. Posterity awaits their contributions.

Nigeria, What More to Write?

Like more than 50m Nigerians who will probably go to bed tonight without a decent meal or with no food at all, I have sat late many times not only to write this book or other articles, but also wondering and looking deep into the situation in Nigeria. It gives me great concerns and it troubles my soul. I have families and friends in Nigeria, so my heart is always with them. Indeed there is no place like home! Yet, I know there are millions of Nigerians that would also have loved to leave Nigeria if they have the opportunity. I remember those days on Eleke Crescent at Victoria Island in Lagos where many of the embassies where located. Many of the embassies have relocated to Abuja. You could see thousands of Nigerians on a daily basis struggling and besieging the embassies, seeking travel visas to escape from Nigeria. There are some genuine travelers planning to go to school abroad while some will only visit as tourists. Most Nigerians will travel abroad to seek economic refuge.

How can I ever stop thinking about Nigeria? Home is always home and a river that forgets its source will surely dry. Always remember the son of whom you are! This is a daily expression that my father sang into my ears in Nigeria while advising me on friends, morals and academic matters. As I have refused to forget the son of whom I am, my mind has also not departed from my dear country of birth-Nigeria. I have been asking many questions in my life including this one: what more is there to write about Nigeria? Nigerians at home and those in the Diaspora have added voices to press for the return of sanity in governance in Nigeria. Yet, to this moment, what we see in Nigeria as governance is pure madness. How can a country of more than 140m people be ruled by an illegitimate government? This is one of the realities in present day Nigeria that is difficult to comprehend. It is hard to understand why the Chief Justice or the Attorney General in Nigeria could swear-in an illegitimate government in 2007.

Anyway, what problem in Nigeria has not been overflogged? Is it NEPA/PHCN-the electric company? How it is impossible to have a 24hr uninterrupted power supply in Nigeria. Is it that probably the worst road in the world is in Nigeria? Is it that the politicians just want to steal and loot? Is it that EFCC is a toothless bulldog? Haven't we waited endlessly for our past leaders and politicians to return the monies that they stole so that we can start planning for our children? Have we not complained about the recycling of all these corrupt faces in government? What about recovered loots also disappearing? Is it lack of refinery for a country rated as the largest producer of oil in Africa? Are all these the meaning of a weak, sleeping giant? How many times have we complained about housing, water, unemployment and schools? What about the rise in the cost of living running parallel to low standard of living? Hasn't it been said and written that the Niger Delta is rich with oil deposits while its inhabitants are among the poorest people globally? What about the pollution problem? Have we not complained about negligence of Agriculture to the detriment of our economy?

Have we not asked for our constitution to be reviewed or rewritten? Haven't we asked for the jobs to be given to the best person on pure merit and knowhow instead of using National character? Do we not know why our higher institutions are frequently under lock and keys? Haven't we asked for functional health system? Are we not tired of governors running on two terms and still going abroad to treat headache and stomach ache? Didn't we tell them to build hospitals in their states? Is there anything adversely affecting the Nigerian society that we have not discussed openly or in print media? So, when will the job be given to the best people who will start the process that will begin to transform our existence so that we and our children can return home in the nearest future? Doing things the right way will not only bring us back home to motherland, it will also prevent future mass emigration.

The bottom line of all the criticisms of the Nigeria government is that we all want a place to call our home; a place where we can always be appreciated. We want a place where our lives mean something to other people. It is difficult to know when or how Nigeria will take that turning point back to the glorious days. Some of us were born after the glorious days and all of our experiences of living in Nigeria were a life of bad to worse. For example, I still had milk, egg and Bournvita (a popular beverage drink) when I was very little. These things became luxury to me in my teens. Sardine fish, Geisha fish and Uncle Ben's rice went away forever! Egg is available abroad at a giveaway price, yet something in Nigeria made it a rich man's food. Or is it just a case of one man's meat is another man's poison? What more can we write about Nigeria? It seems that things are bound to be the same for a long time to come. Are there individuals, groups or associations that are seeking the common good of Nigeria? This is the time for them to show up and act to save Nigeria for the generations that are yet unborn.

CHAPTER FOUR

The Diaspora

There are many successful Nigerians living in the Diaspora. Several of these successful Nigerians have directly or indirectly contributed to the development of the countries in which they found themselves. From the Middle East to the United States, from Canada to Australia and other places from the north to the south of Africa, you will find Nigerians. Nigerians are helping the economy of other countries to grow and contributing meaningfully to the improved standard of living. At home in Nigeria, we have equally intelligent people. But they have limited or no tools to work with. There are not enough materials and resources to display their skills. This is why brain drain is persistent. More and more Nigerians are seeking greener pastures abroad. To escape from the hardship in Nigeria is a lofty ambition of a typical Nigerian youth. Unfortunately, not everyone who dreams of a life abroad will fulfill this dream in their lifetime. It cost a fortune to travel out of Nigeria and the embassies have stringent visa regulations nowadays.

## Nigerians in the Diaspora: Why they write

Over the years, the concept of writing from abroad has increased tremendously. One major aspect of these writings is the act of criticizing the government. The emergence and spread of blog writing has availed much. Many Nigerian scholars abroad are inspired by the contrast of the new world that they found themselves in comparison to the life that they had known until the time that they sought greener pastures overseas. After settling to life abroad, the distinctions between the general low standard of living in Nigeria and life as it should be become so clear and an adept mind cannot help but seek ways to impact knowledge and hope into a sick country like Nigeria. This is probably one of the lines of inspiration for writings that emanate from Nigerians in the Diaspora.

Nigerians abroad are very visible on the web, no doubts, but that does not make them more knowledgeable than their compatriots back home. Certainly, it makes them more exposed and it creates in them a better awareness of the other physical worlds. Their experiences go beyond academic or literature inclinations. It is now also a function of participatory experiences. In the last decade, we have seen an aggregate of a pool of knowledge and ideas. Indeed, these knowledge and ideas are expressed daily in Nigeria as well. So, what is driving this new found love of writing and criticizing from abroad? The answers are many folds. Those who have settled to life abroad have seen how human life is valued and treated as it should be. They have suddenly experience a new life that they could not have previously thought was possible. They now live in a world where power failure is historic or archaic, for example. In some countries power failures occur only as a result of disasters like storm or earthquake. Even then, the problem is fixed within hours or a few days. It does not linger.

Living abroad does come with challenges, shortcomings and sometimes failure. Surely, such things are inevitable and bad things do happen in the developed world of course. But generally, living abroad reveals a more acceptable way of life than what millions of people go through daily in Nigeria. Around us here in the Diaspora, we see how people live decently. Water runs in homes and the electric heaters are always functioning especially in the winter months. We travel on good roads and the accidents and dangers on the roads are minimal. Imagine the strenuous process of acquiring a Swedish driver's license. The concept of driving in Sweden is a pursuit towards what they have called ZERO accidents. It is very easy to drive in Nigeria without a license. We can see the result with the number of accidents daily. In advanced countries, you will lose your license if you drive under the influence. In Nigeria, many bus drivers drink _ogogoro_ _(_ _a popular local gin that is strongly intoxicating)_. They have other funny names for other concoctions.

Still on road and transportation, we see here in the developed world how the public transportations are organized. There are bus time tables! If you go to the bus stop near your home at the wrong time, you will soon learn your lessons. Basically, the bus and trains run on a schedule that will almost not fail save for snow storm or other circumstances based on local situations. There are adequate buses and additional preparations are made for rush hours in the morning and after work time. In some countries, there are underground trains to take away pressure and congestion from the surface roads. The Swedish underground (tunnelbana) has been described as the longest work of art. Personally, I have never had the opportunity or privilege to travel on a train in Nigeria. The train system in Nigeria is a **relic of the outgoing wasted generation**. It does not exist anymore. The road transportation is extremely disorganized in Nigeria. It is dangerous and operated haphazardly. It is difficult to know who runs what in the Nigeria transport industry. It is unregulated and chaotic. You can describe what I know of Lagos transport as being a menace to the society. It was not that bad in 1977 when Lagos State Transport Corporation (LSTC) buses were fully operational. It seems that anything that is good is historic in Nigeria. They are gone with the wind!

There are several other reasons why we write as Nigerians in the Diaspora. Many of the reasons are associated with our **pains and frustrations** with the way things are going on in Nigeria. Based on our new (or old) experiences and encounters out here, we are quick to draw comparisons with what we see. We make jokes of most of these things but in reality, we are disappointed and hurt by the system in Nigeria. Sometimes though, we wished we were back in Nigeria but the decision to return is one of the hardest to make. Despite some shortcomings and a few humiliating moments that Nigerians suffer abroad, I doubt if anyone is in a hurry to return back to Nigeria. It is quite worrying that many Nigerian politicians and policy makers have spent some parts of their lives abroad at one time or the other. Some of them studied abroad while some of them have been travelling abroad since they got into influential positions. Many of them have children studying abroad or just squandering away stolen wealth! But their encounters abroad have not been used to transform Nigeria positively. But of course, the impact is obvious in their personal selfish lives. We can see that.

I have not stopped wondering what happened to the Nigerian Telecommunication outfit (NITEL). All of a sudden, telephone lines in many parts of Lagos especially the analogue lines stopped working since 2002. If they will be replaced by digital lines, maybe the project will commence tomorrow. More than 5 years on, no one has given us any explanation why the home telephones suddenly became dead boxes. All the ills of NITEL were swept under the carpet as soon as General Street Madness (GSM phones) crept in. It is still a big shame for NITEL! There are 4th generations of mobile phones in the world now and the use of analogue telephone lines have not diminished. Why is Nigeria so different and special?

**Writing from the Diaspora will continue to indicate that in Nigeria:**

  * The people are not properly housed as government has become negligent of this function for several years.

  * A lot of infrastructures are missing. Infrastructure with a broad meaning!

  * There is no social security for the unemployed and there are no provisions for old people or pensioners. In some parts of the world, pensioners drive the best cars and lived in the best houses.

  * Our health delivery system is very faulty; Nigeria has one of the highest infant mortality rates worldwide. The incidences of killers like malaria and respiratory diseases should be a source of concern to the Ministry of Health.

  * We have not fully utilized the strength of our enormous work force to a positive end. Hence some idle minds have taken to robbery and assassination as occupations. They are not justified but the system created these heartless citizens.

  * In a similar vein, we have not used our natural resources to the fullest. All eyes are on the Niger Delta to get the oil to lubricate Nigeria. This is not fair to the Niger Deltans at all! We are destroying their environment and giving them little or nothing back

  * There are myriads of problems in our country but Nigerian leaders buy or build mansions abroad and cart away billions of dollars for themselves, their friends and families.

On a different note, it is possible and **quite easy** to highlight the thousands of problems that face Nigerians. But how can we begin to make a difference and change things for the better so that we can pull back all the brains that have been drained and encourage progress and success under the conditions in Nigeria? The first step towards progress in Nigeria is a change of the prevailing conditions; we need a purposeful leadership. What Nigeria needs is leadership that can show good examples and positive actions and not just empty words. We need **complete abolition of the dreadful combination of greed and corruption in both public and private places**. Until we take this first step, we may not be able to move Nigeria forward.

There is a need to sit down and draft a purpose for the entity called Nigeria. What I have learned about Nigeria is that nothing has worked for good so far. Babangida's Structural Adjustment Programme (SAP) just like Shagari's Austerity Measures left Nigerians poorer. The purchasing power of the naira is very low and this has made a mess of our lives. But I would say maybe if Babangida and his likes have not been corrupt, perhaps things could have worked. If they hadn't stolen the money that Nigeria made especially during the gulf war, maybe we would have succeeded. I am still looking forward to Babangida returning more than 10 billion dollars of the money that he stole so that we can build Malaria Research Institute at the College of Medicine of the University of Lagos, for a start at least.

The need to sit down and talk in Nigeria is again reverberated by the failure of Obasanjo's administration. We were told that we have foreign reserve and less debt. Yet, the level of suffering in Nigeria today is worse than in 1999. The implication is that we still need the right brains that will discuss and move the country forward. It is an exigency! It is not optional because we need to discuss about our lives without relying on the opportunists and thieves in power. Nigerian writers at home and abroad and the real civil society should continue to emphasize the need for proper governance, adherence to the rule of law and the promotion of the welfare of the states for the benefits of all and sundry.

The Ugly Face of Nigeria in the Diaspora

It is not all rosy for Nigerians living abroad. The situation at home has pushed many people out against their will. Many Nigerians live abroad illegally no doubt. The harsh economic reality in Nigeria is usually hard to return to after a spell abroad. There is an ever present tempting urge to remain abroad even under humiliating circumstances. Who shall we blame?

Slained Osamuyia and the Rest of us

What is the value of an African life? Aikpitanhi Osamuyia died in the hands of the Spanish police on the 9th of June 2007. He died while been deported on an Iberia Lagos-bound flight. The Spanish Police discharged their duties beyond the limits of normal human undertakings and with serious errors. Some Concerned Nigerians Worldwide (CNW) protested the killing of this Nigerian to the Spanish government and staged a global demonstration on the 29th of June 2007. Many Spanish embassies around the world were besieged on that day. The protest letter and the demonstrations though well thought and necessary will not bring Osamuyia back to life. Beyond these exercises, Nigerians must begin to look at their existence from a broader perspective.

Truly, home is the best! But Osamuyia was not willing to go back home to Nigeria. He was deported for a third and eternal time. It will be difficult to see the views of Osamuyia but I would only imagine that, like me, he has seen the obvious disparity between living in Europe and living in modern day Nigeria. He was not willing to return home no matter the odds. His travails ended in an untimely and unnecessary death, perhaps murder. That was one more Nigerian dream terminated prematurely. In 2006, the Norwegian Police killed another Nigerian, Obiora Eugene and the killers are still going about their abnormal duties. Every year around the world, people of African origin are killed senselessly and for nothing. In Russia, in the US, in the UK and other places, we have seen and read true life stories of unnecessary tortures and killings. Globally, does anyone have the statistics of the number of harassments that people from Africa encounter daily?

Back home, the Nigerian government has a responsibility to create the environment that will discourage her youth from running away without the thoughts of ever returning home. Something serious must be wrong with Nigeria if Nigerians are still not willing to return home despite the fact that there is no war in Nigeria. Definitely, unemployment and wanton hopelessness are major problems that scare many youths away. One wonders what Osamuyia escaped from in Nigeria, but we know that he didn't want to return to it. He preferred another life, another chance. He was not lucky. He didn't get much of the other chance, not for long in any case. Today is the tomorrow we worried about yesterday yet our cyclic and aimless politicians are still sharing loots as usual. Wherewithal our eternal hope?

The Spain of my thoughts

The first time I met a Spanish person was in 2003 in a student corridor apartments. Raul is a fine young man, very friendly and always social. If you are attending a University in Sweden and you happen to have a Spanish friend, you have just boosted your social life. With Raul and his other Spanish friends around in the common room, my weekend was always spiced up. They made good parties and they enjoyed getting tipsy from drinks. The merry making of the Spanish students is a clear departure from the boring attitudes of the other students in my corridor. Raul returned to Spain after a few months of studying in Stockholm and I left the student corridor apartments sometime around April 2004.

In August 2005, I met another Spanish guy called Pedro. He is the funniest guy among my colleagues at work. He teaches Spanish language and I was teaching computer science at that time. In August 2006, we found ourselves at a new school together again as colleagues. This time I am teaching science. Pedro and I have been at great parties, we have shared a room on a cruise ship. At some points doing our parties and activities, Pedro wore my Nigerian clothes (Buba and Sokoto). He is a delightful person. I can speak well of him always.

My additional knowledge of Spain comes from what I'd read mostly on the internet and what my friend Paul told me. Paul is my good friend, a Nigerian who had lived in Spain, Luxembourg and now in England. Paul lived in Sweden for some time before moving to England. As a matter of fact, Paul met Raul and then Pedro while he was still living in Stockholm. I read that there are many immigrants of African origin living in Spain. This is mainly because of the closeness of Spain to Africa and the relative ease to explore the small islands associated or connected with Spain. I have read about the difficulties that the Spanish authorities have in controlling the influx of migrants into her territories. I have also read about hundreds of migrants that have died trying to reach Spain through the turbulent sea or desert. There are some migrants who get to Spain but they are sent back to Africa one way or the other. The western world news services seem to dedicate extraordinary attention to the pitiful plights of migrants trying to reach Europe.

Paul told me great things about Spain and Spanish girls. He told me the ease with which he spoke Spanish in comparison to the Swedish that I am still struggling with 6 years on. So, with my personal contacts with two friendly Spanish guys, discussions with Paul and the online news, my thoughts of Spain were formed. For the most, I love Spain. I like the Spanish men (and women that I later met and interacted with). I had thought of visiting Spain many times but I haven't. I should do that someday. The lure to visit Spain is still there but this time, with the additional responsibility to make it a family trip. But instead of thinking of a flight to Spain now, I feel deeply appalled by the killing of citizen Osamuyia. The Spanish Police described him as a criminal as if that was the license they needed to kill him. Did they inject him with poisonous chemicals? Why did they gag his mouth and covered his face on that deadly fateful flight? All at once, my respect for the Spanish people disappeared with these unspeakable attitudes of some idiots in uniform.

The government of Nigeria responded to the notorious killing of Osamuyia as a direct fallout of the worldwide protests that greeted his death. Above all apologies and compensations, the Spanish police as an organization should lecture its officers on the principles and fundamentals of human rights. The teaching should also entail the applications of these principles so that never again should this type of ugly incident happen.

CHAPTER SIX

The Future of Nigeria

A lot has been written and said on how Nigeria can move forward but still nothing has happened especially in the last decade. The implication is that any legitimate administration that presides in Nigeria will still be saddled with abundance of criticisms for some time to come. The next few years, say 10 to 15, will be crucial to the future of Nigeria and whatever happens at the next real elections whenever they are conducted will be a very interesting milestone in the history of Nigeria. The future of Nigeria will also depend a lot on the success or failure of the so-called home grown democracy. One thing is certain; the road to greatness is not very near. A lot of damage has been done and for too long as well. The hope is there, it has always been. But the commitment never surfaced. It will be a long hard journey but success can be earned.

It is very easy to lead Nigerians but they will always want to know what is going on at the top. The leadership therefore, has a prime role in setting the pace. There is a general awareness now that Nigeria landed in this messy situation (entrapment) as a result of corruption, greed and insincerity of the part of the government. This recklessness was tolerated for too long. The present and future leaderships that will emerge in Nigeria will face uphill tasks. Prime is how to clean up the mess of corruption. The utilization of the anti-corruption arms of government will tell a lot. Nigerians will like to know how corrupt politicians will be prosecuted without fear or prejudice. They will like to see that the indictments and prosecution of thieves in the government is not selective, but total. It would be nice to see how the likes of Babangida and David Mark can defend their wealth with their income as military men. Millions of Nigerians look forward to the day that the laws in Nigeria will not be a respecter of persons. For example, why would an ex-governor such as Orji Kalu of Abia State be standing trials for corruption while the likes of the ex-president Obasanjo, are walking around as free men. Without the total eradication of corruption and the punishment of all living offenders, Nigeria will never be great.

Poverty remains a big problem in Nigeria. There is no way it can be addressed unless corruption is eradicated in the first place. When corruption is gone, or reduced to the barest minimum, it would become easier to look inward and begin to take steps that will shield the Nigerian economy away from total dependence on oil industry. Nigeria needs to go back to the days when Agriculture was the main foreign exchange earner. Nigeria needs to utilize all the other mineral deposits on her soil and explore them for the sake of prosperity and posterity. She must also begin to take advantage of the versatile human resources available at her begging disposal.

War on corruption in Nigeria: Whose fight really?

Nigeria pretends to borrow her form of democracy from the Western world but most of what is displayed as our home-grown democracy is actually a demonstration of craze. In advanced countries and giant nations, politicians are open to investigation at anytime depending on whether they have a case to answer or not. In Nigeria, our politicians are protected from investigation and prosecution by what is known as the immunity clause in the constitution. This is absolute nonsense. It is a means to steal and loot. Sometimes, the military men staged coups and pretend to be cleaning things up but in a fortnight, they are on the loose themselves, stealing and looting. I don't understand why coup plotters in Nigeria like Babangida and Buhari are not guilty of treasonable felony. They took over government with the use of force and subdued democratic processes.

Shamefully too, we have not been able to develop to the extent of providing autonomy to the Police in Nigeria in order for them to be able to deal with corruption as an investigative aspect of their obligations. It took forever to have a body such as the EFCC and it took a short while to make it become a puppet. This is an arguable statement depending of course on how extensively we want to pursue our objectiveness on the manner that the EFCC has gone about its duties and obligations. It is true that we need something like the EFCC as a branch of the Police to investigate corruption and bring culprits to the reach of the arm of the law. Good point! But what we saw under the regime of Obasanjo was simply rubbish. The EFCC was used to suppress opposition voices and perceived enemies of the president. It was too obvious not to see.

Summarily, the heat of the EFCC was turned on against all those who opposed Obasanjo's third term secret, and later open campaigns. The EFCC was used to sniff the corrupt vice-president Atiku and all his friends. The war of words between two thoughtless leaders, Obasanjo and Atiku, brought governance in Nigeria to a permanent halt for more than a year. They provided Nigeria with the hidden exclusive details of how they emptied the national treasury. These two men then used the issue of corruption and betrayal to drive home their silly points on the third term agenda imbroglio. If the EFCC or police wants to be taken seriously, they should please start by investigating Obasanjo and Atiku, the key players in Nigerian Politics from 1999 to 2007. After that, they should go after the money that Nigeria made during the gulf war and give us a public report on their findings. Unless every corrupt person or politician in Nigeria is subjected to the long arm of the law, then EFCC will remain an untrustworthy organisation that is pursuing partial dreams and relishing less than a quarter of a midnight moon. Even if the power to prosecute erring politicians or other fraudsters is vested on the office of the Attorney General of Nigeria, the question of sincerity of purpose will remain as a huge mark of performance.

I think that we should leave the era behind where the President will give out orders that something should be investigated. It sounds really very annoying to read for instance that the president orders the probe...or the president orders the investigation....This is nonsense! Is that the job of the president? The Police are there, they should not be told what their jobs are and they do not need orders from anyone. I am beginning to wonder if a day will come that someone like the police boss in Nigeria will ask any serving or ex-president to report to the Police for questioning. The presidency in Nigeria has a role to play on who becomes the Inspector General of Police but I don't think that is the right thing to do. The police are an institution that should allow officers to move or rise through the ranks through hardwork, dedication and selfless service to people and country. If we continue to choose or appoint the Inspector General of Police because of their tribe and alliance, I am sorry that we are rolling fast into deep valleys.

Whichever way you look at it, Nigeria has a long way to go. First, we need to do a lot of work on our Police Force. We need to upgrade their mentality, mission and visions. We need to give them the environment to provide us with the security that the government has always promised. We need a police force with modern gadgets and functional patrol cars. We need to revert our police stations from their status as banks (bribe collectors) to a place where real investigations and research are going on. We need a police force that is well educated and tutored to meet the challenges of modern day world, not just Nigeria. We need a police force that will earn far more than 10, 000 naira (this is less than 100USD) as the basic salary for its lowest paid officers. We need to take their eyes away from other people's wallets or pockets. We need police-men and women who will have their lives and properties adequately insured. We need a police force that we can give due respect. Of course, we need that aspect for other professionals too, teachers especially. We need an independent police force that will be the watchdog of our society in security issues and investigating crimes including assassinations. We will like to have Police officers who would investigate corruption and hand over thieves who called themselves politicians to the Judiciary. In Nigeria, if we don't put thieves behind the bars or in jails where they belong, they will continue to multiply and disguise as our saviours.

The troubled Niger Delta of Nigeria

The discussion on the future of Nigeria will be incomplete without a mention of the predicament of the indigenes of the Niger Delta Areas of Nigeria. The troubled Niger Delta area of Nigeria holds most of the oil that is found in Nigeria. In present day Nigeria, the main foreign exchange earner is the oil that is explored in this region. Niger delta is ironically home to some of the poorest people on earth. Environmentally, some parts of the Niger Delta have been described as disasters due to pollution/oil spillage. The poorest people in the world should not be living in the oil producing regions of Nigeria where millions of dollars exchange hands daily.

As a result of frustration arising from the lack of basic necessities of life in this oil producing region of Nigeria, militants have emerged and they are demanding autonomy or resource control for the oil that comes from this region. The militants claimed that they want to bring good life to their people. That is not their job. It is a duty that every government owns the citizenry: to see to the welfare of the states and the inhabitants. Whatever happens, the Federal Government of Nigeria will never concede to the demands of the militants (except paying ransoms to kidnappers). Rather than concede, the Nigerian government will go to war with the militants if the need arises. History will repeat itself, fatally. Concerned Nigerians and leaders of thoughts have expressed interests in the plights of the people of the Niger Delta such that resolving to arm conflicts should definitely not be an option.

Oil exploration has been going on in the Niger Delta for some decades now. It is still a mystery therefore that despite the fact that the Federal Government of Nigeria has been promising to help the Delta people for many years, the progress made have been very little. Perhaps as a result of corruption and insincerity on the part of the states and federal government there are only a few pockets of progress here and there. What is actually needed in the Niger Delta and indeed Nigeria is a total transformation of lives into that which is worth living.The targets should include to let clean water run in every home, to provide decent schools for the children, good roads and modern hospitals. These are provisions that should have been made without demands. Where serious environmental damage have occurred, the communities should be compensated depending on the degree of damage. The oil companies in the Niger Delta should clean up their mess and pollute no more. The Environmental Protection Agency must ensure strict compliance.

In the Niger Delta especially, the concerned states and the federal government need to take drastic measures to correct the anomaly of many years. It has been said that some leaders of the Niger Delta area have contributed to the woes of the region. This is justifiable going by the failures of Oil Mineral Producing Area Development Commission (OMPADEC), Niger Delta Development Commission (NDDC) and the recent prosecution of the likes of Alamieyeseigha, a former governor from the Niger Delta area. Here are some of the properties that Alamieyeseigha forfeited after his prosecution in July 2007:

The companies:

  * Herbage Global Services,

  * Pesal Nig. Ltd,

  * Jetty Properties,

  * Solomon & Peters Ltd Kpedefa Nig. Ltd and Santolina Investment Corporation.

Other properties:

  * The prestigious Chelsea Hotel in Abuja,

  * Plot 26, Dalhatu Close, Abacha Estate, Ikoyi Lagos,

  * No 1, Community Road, off Allen Avenue Ikeja, Lagos,

  * 68-70 Regent Park, Park Road, London,

  * 247, Water Gardens, London W2 2DG, London,

  * 14 Mapesbury Road, London,

  * Flat 202, Jubilee Heights, Shootuphill, London NW2 3UQ,

  * V8A Waterfront, Cape Town South Africa,

  * N1 billion worth of shares at Bond Bank and millions of pounds sterling lodged in various accounts in the UK.

This is an example of how madness is displayed by Nigerian politicians. How can only one man loot this much in the Niger delta area where some of the poorest people in the world lives? Still, by Nigeria standard, this guy is not even a very corrupt politician yet. He had only been a state governor. These assets are nothing close to what the likes of Babangida and David Mark (former communications minister and present senate leader!) have stashed away. But now that everyone seemed to be enlightened and keen, it will be nice to see what can be done to restore the hope of the people in the Niger Delta area. We will all like to see what has been put in place to protect the environment as well. The Federal government and the various oil companies operating in the Niger Delta have a lot to do to change the region from a killing field to a place where sanity reigns.

One thing that has played out in the Niger Delta also is that the militants have actually constituted themselves into public nuisances as well. The extent to which the militants have pursued their claims and demands has attracted condemnations. They should not have ever kidnapped children or women. They have become greedily used to the ransoms that have sustained their big mouths over the years and now and it seems that they will not know when to call it quit despite the fact that one of them is now the vice president of Nigeria as a result of the fraudulent and criminalized elections of 2007. Even the arrogant militant leader incarcerated by Obasanjo has been released.

A quick reminder to the militants: as far as Nigeria is concerned, there is frustration and oppression almost everywhere and we cannot all resolve to carrying arms to right all the wrongs we have lived with for all of our lifetime. As we work towards out targets in the Niger Delta, we will not forget the Nigerian people who live close to or in the desert regions. The commitments of a sincere and legitimate government will cover all and sundry with justice and fairness as the motives. For the future, we need to find the answers to some nagging security questions: Why should militants operating in the creeks be more sophisticated than the Nigerian Army, Police and Navy put together? Why are the coastal areas not properly guarded? Will our enemies not utilize this weakness someday to invade us if necessary? Are the militants the only group of people who understand the convoluted creeks? When will the Nigerian Police be really ready to tackle the problem of safety of the citizens in our common neighborhoods? For now, urgent steps are needed to disarm the various factions of militants. Some of them are simply a group of petty thieves picking up easy preys and looting on fishing boats. Unemployment problems should be addressed with immediate effect to dissuade criminals from kidnapping more innocent citizens. The problem of pollution should be tackled without hesitation. The local indigenes should be able to live, swim, fish and farm in safe and unpolluted environment. Above all, patience will remain a virtue in Nigeria even if the leadership still lacks the will and visions that are necessary.

Can Nigeria be great soon?

Nigeria calls herself the giant of Africa. But she has been relegated from this position and someone must tell Nigeria and Nigerians to wake up! Nigerians should stop living under the illusions of the 1960s and early 70s. The population of Nigeria is not a criterion to pronounce giant as a title. The events that have played out recently in Nigeria have precipitated the country to the lowest level of pity. Indeed, no one can take away the influence that Nigeria cast on the Africa continent or worldwide especially in the crude oil market, but these influences do not count as greatness. Never! In great countries and in giant nations, election time represents the voice of the people. It is a time to keep fate with a performing government or seek a change when necessary. Public offices are designed as positions for servants who must be ready to give account of their performance at any point in time during or after serving. In great countries with functional democracies, the arms of government are functional and independent. Simply, the executives perform its constitutional duties, the senate makes laws and judiciary interprets the law and constitution. The people of a great country know their rights and they demand for it. In great countries, the independence of the Judiciary is not undermined.

Nigeria is one of the largest oil producers in the world. It has been said that if Nigeria stops producing oil, countries like the US will be worst hit. Does anyone know that Nigeria has no functional refinery to make the oil available for the use of Nigerians? How can anyone explain that Nigerians import oil to use in their own country? How can we correlate this to the status of a great country or self-acclaimed giant? Nigeria is not a giant! Let her sit down somewhere and weep. People die regularly in Nigeria because of petroleum pipeline explosions. They try to steal or scoop oil because someone is not doing his job. There are many other reasons why people die prematurely in Nigeria; diseases, lack of basic health infrastructure, religious violence, road accidents, collapse buildings, armed robbery and so on. Nigeria has one the highest child and pregnancy-related maternal mortalities in the world. There is polio is Nigeria and malaria related morbidity and mortality is high. Nigerian politicians do not know the essence of public service and how relevant that is to the greatness of a country. Normally, public servants are accountable to the people and are liable under the laws. This is not so in Nigeria. You are not accountable to anyone! As a public servant or politician in Nigeria, your primary duty is to become rich. The other thing you need to ensure is that you award contracts with favour and get your returns (kickbacks) in private bank accounts spread all over the world. If you leave office as a politician and you are poor or your condition remains the same, the people will laugh at you. This is the paradox of corruption in the country of my birth.

There may be a few honest men in Nigeria and there may have been a few dividends of democracy but in general, there is mass poverty. The implications of civilian rule from 1999 to 2007 are catastrophic. The indelible marks of military regime before then were similarly melancholic. Austerity measures and Structural adjustments of the 80s were suicidal. This is why it is still very annoying that some things never changed in Nigeria. For example, why is it impossible for the people to demand accountability from the elected or selected politicians? Why is it impossible to imprison corrupt politicians and other persons? Why are the politicians stealing money and saving them for their own future and family? Why are idiots been elected or selected to rule Nigeria? Why are the people disenfranchised during elections? Why do politicians use thugs as security officers? Why is it not possible to have a revolt in Nigeria and bring men of honour to power? Why do people expect politicians to be richer than they were after service? Why does the will of a few men in Nigeria take pre-eminence over the will of the many suffering masses? Why do a few men give Nigeria such a bad and unpalatable image abroad? Why is it impossible to have a government that will use the vast human and natural resources in the country to achieve greatness?

One can go on and on to ask many questions why the country so blessed still remains in the doldrums despite proclaiming independence in 1960. Indeed, Nigeria has what it takes to be great but Nigeria is not great yet. The politicians have made a mess of the country. There is no functional electricity, the roads are bad, the schools are poorly equipped (many Nigerian academic live and work abroad), the hospitals are bad (Nigerian doctors and nurses prefer to work abroad), the unemployment rate is very high (with no plans for graduating students and other people in the workforce category), lawlessness abound, clean water must be sold to the people and insecurity is a major problem as armed robbers and militants operate freely. Despite all these problems and hopelessness, it is still impossible for Nigerians to take their future in their hands as elections are usually not a reflection of what the people want. On the eve of the last presidential election, Nigerians were informed that voting materials are arriving from South Africa. So, who is the giant? Is it a country that cannot print ordinary election papers? Nigeria imports almost everything under the surface of the sun including fruits, handkerchiefs and refined petrol!

The 2007 elections are nothing short of a farce. It is a slap on the face of the intelligent minds that abound in Nigeria. Nigeria is fond of setting bad examples to other African countries and it is a big shame. It appears to me that Nigeria has not made any progress democratically despite the mistakes and shortcomings of the past. We repeat history and never learn from them. It was very stupid of us all as Nigerians to accept the outcome of the useless 2007 elections in the name of civilian to civilian transition. The significance of any election is not in the transfer of power; it is in the meaning that it adds to life. The significance is in the wish of the people, the need for a proper and appropriate change and the hope for a greater tomorrow. After the 29th of May 2007, we still couldn't bundle into jails all those who squandered our future. I am really disappointed that people like Obasanjo, Atiku, Iwu and the others who have contributed to the demeaning of Nigeria are not placed on trial. We need to take control of our lives, our destinies and our future. It must start from someone, from somewhere. Yet we wasted another opportunity. If we don't probe and try the previous and serving administrations and their key players, we will be taking steps that will only reveal that we are not destined for greatness.

We need to stop thieves in high and low places and put everybody on alert for national revamping. Making Nigeria great is not going to be a day's job. It will be a collective duty on virtually on frontiers of our lives. But Nigeria will never be great if we don't resolve to take the first step. Many more generations will be wasted and people will continue to wallow in poverty despite the wealth of the nation. My heart bleeds for Nigeria, a rich country where values are not placed on human existence and where sycophants are glorified.

May the Glory of Nigeria come, soon!

STOP PRESS!

Just as this book was heading for the printing press, a new scandal surfaced in Nigeria. Patricia Etteh is the Speaker in the Lower House of Assembly. She approved over N628 million to renovate her house and that of her deputy. This woman is just following the footprints that she sees ahead of her. What more can we say about the thieves and illegitimate people that are ruling Nigeria? This is classical madness. Nigerian leaders are still fools and idiots.

Some people don't even have 10 naira or 100 naira to eat snacks or decent meals at the road side canteen or at home, yet someone is spending such a ridiculous amount to renovate 2 newly built houses. How much will she use to build a new house then? Six hundred and twenty eight million naira is like 6 million dollars and intelligent minds have calculated that this is enough to build an estate of 200 units of bungalows from scratch! If you convert that into blocks of apartments, you could end up building an estate for a small community of people.

Wonders will never cease in Nigeria, a den of political robbers. Patricia has been indicted by the panel that investigated this scandal and one hopes that she will be impeached as she has not seen any reason to resign despite the shame staring at her in the face.

One Speaker too many!

Keen watchers and commentators on Nigerian political spheres will find the outcome of Patricia's case intriguing. To those of us who have never fancied the present governing administration (some say caretaker govt.) and the never-ceasing corrupt office holders in Nigeria, the events surrounding the dilemma of the Speaker of the Lower House is one more reason to seek the long overdue positive changes that continue to elude us as a nation. Indeed, the travails of Patricia cannot be overflogged just as Nigerians will not be justified if they ever stop highlighting the problems in our peculiar political landscape. There is a school of thought that does not encourage highlighting our problems. They believed that all have been said already when it comes to that aspect. Instead, they want us to come up with solutions or suggestions that will help us solve these problems.

Many of the problems in Nigeria are traceable to failure of the political class or governance in general. Some of the problems are due to our actions or inactions as fellow citizens of Nigeria. In far away Burma, we have seen monks who not only prayed for their fellow citizens but also led the way to show how not to tolerate bad governance or wrong policies. The uprisings in Burma in 2007 have since been crushed (as usual in their history) by the repressive military regime but the message that came with the protests stands. No amount of oppression can crush the message and the reminder that the leader of the political party that won an election in that country in 1990 was denied her mandate and she is still under house arrest. Here, we have a case that is very similar to our situation in 1993. Perhaps our own Babangida learnt from the Burmese junta when he annulled the best election in our history.

Then, in a twist of fate, our own Gambari was sent to appeal to the military government in Burma. Can anyone guess the conversations that would have taken place? Gambari, an outstanding UN special envoy notwithstanding, would have been reminded (supposing he has short memories) of the history of real and fathom coups and military rule in Nigeria. He would have been reminded of various treasonable felony trials, the corruption in our system, the failure of governance, the unnecessary killings of thousands of people over the years and the spread of poverty in Nigeria. To avoid any unnecessary argument and to cut his stay short, the military government in Burma would have asked Gambari if there were real elections in Nigerian in 2007. The last card I would imagine must have been the travails of our speaker, Madam Patricia. The Burmese government could have asked Gambari to tell Yar Adua (the fake president) that they need 6 million dollars in Burma to build more estates or monasteries for the protesting monks. They would not have cared that Gambari was representing the United Nations. The 2007 demonstration in Burma was crushed even at the time that Gambari was visiting; a hallmark for absolute disdain for either the presumed character of his person or the constituency he represents.

Back to Nigeria! There is no way we can start finding solutions to our problems since we have not started doing things the right way. Solutions will come with the right people in governance emerging from the right process. What is the difference between Yar Adua, David Mark and Patricia Etteh? Yar Adua accepted a mandate that he knew was faulty. On that basis, he sold his conscience on the platter of power. David Mark has refused to declare his assets or his source of wealth but we know he is ashamed because almost everyone in Nigeria now has a mobile phone. This man had suggested a few years ago that telephone should be only for the rich people. Patricia misappropriated 628 million naira and she is clinging on to the seat of the speaker. Has anyone stopped to ask why or how she has gut to say that she has not been indicted?

The truth is, there is a pattern in our political system such that shame is a virtue. It is highly recommended to be corrupt as that seems to be the only way to carry on politically in Nigeria. Corruption is the only thing that is organized in Nigeria. This is the reason David Mark supported Patricia and this is the reason Patricia may endure as the speaker in Nigeria. Here is where our inactions as a people continue to contribute to our woes. We are too timid as a people and we have no leader in the sense of it. We permitted the worst election in human history to stand. Are we going to allow the trend to continue? For how long? Will Patricia succeed in her quest to promote shame? The monks not only prayed in Burma, they put their prayers into actions. Imagine what will happen if 140 million people speak with one intellectual voice and followed that with necessary actions!

The entrapment: Is revolution the way out?

We have a country of an estimated 140 million people and a small group of people who have held us as hostages in our own country since independence in 1960. Self determination or self governance, if I understand it very well, should be a means by which the people who own a territory or a country will be able to advance the course of that entity for the benefit of all and sundry. In an elementary school, it would sound like: no child left behind. In reality, that is not a possibility, there will always be a child left behind but that would be a case of an anomaly and not intent.

In Nigeria, ordinary citizens have been left behind by intent for 47 years. This article will not do a recount of all the stupidity that has been displayed in governance over the past 4 decades. However, recent occurrences indicate that the hope of millions of Nigerians who are alive today is baseless. Just a little over 8 years ago, these millions of people heaved a sigh of relief when the military went back to the barracks. Little did they know that they were about to experience the reign of the callous one. The 2007 elections and the outcomes remain a monumental disaster that time and appeal cannot take away.

Early signs of the present illegitimate government have indicated that the more Nigerians continue to wait for the turning point, the farther away they are from the promise land. In a country where resiliency is the attribute of the general masses and siddon look a phenomenon that must be learnt and followed, the continuous abuse of political offices will never abate. Never! In the character of a self acclaimed righteous one who ascended to leadership through a bastardize presidential election and a ferocious Attorney General, modern Nigeria provides a classic example of a laughingstock.

If the reports linking the AG, Mike Aondoakaa as the helping hand that is now assisting looters to escape without prosecution, then we are in real soup. We are damned! When true patriots and real progressives were crying foul after the charade that took place in April 2007, sycophants reared their ugly heads and faces for the umpteenth time. Hear them, "...this is the first time we are transferring power from civilian to civilian rule, let us give this (illegitimate) government a chance in the name of moving the country forward". What actually happened was that, in our usual manner, power was transferred from one fraudulent administration to another and Nigeria continues to take giant strides backward. In the comity of nations, our present status is pathetic.

Now that the self acclaimed servant leader is beginning to show his real colours especially with the highly questionable characters of the tropical gangsters that surround him, those who advocated and fronted for them should please cover their heads in shame. Oh! I forgot, shame is a virtue in Nigerian politics. The so called president in Nigeria was never prepared for that office. He was bundled in to fulfill certain political arrangements all to the detriments of the nation at large. He was never prepared for the office and will never be. Those who radiated signs of born-leaders have never ascended to the number one position in Nigeria. How a cabal, either in uniform, mufti or transformed oversize khaki has succeeded to place us under a siege for more than 47 years remains inexplicable.

Anyone who could neither see nor understand the handwritings on the wall, and therefore still hoping for the better days ahead, should please wake up from her nightmare. Where are the better days ahead? We have been ruled by dictators who stole and emptied our national treasury. We have been ruled by civilians who gave us stones in place of the bread that they promised us. Nigerians have been deceived for more than 40 years by the same clique of dubious elements or their progeny who have done extremely very little to improve the lots of the country and exceedingly very much to improve their personal lots. How can we make progress when we have not started to do things the right ways? How can there be solutions to our problems when all that have been suggested as common good never saw the light of the day?

The Nigerian masses have now reached a point where they must salvage this beautiful country for their unborn children and children's children. No doubts, a handful of generations have been unnecessarily wasted. Nigerian intellectuals and hardworking people at home and abroad have not been able to impact positively on the mainstream of Nigerian life. Where we are today is an immeasurable negative nautical miles from where we took off in 1960. As a nation, Nigeria is not making progress at all. GSM phones and the emergence of foreign-style cinema houses are not indicators for progress.

Of course, despite the haphazard mode of life, there are people who are enjoying in Nigeria. Politicians are undoubtedly the champions. Those who have executed one dubious contract or another are lords. Many are living on advanced fee fraud and there are honest people who have worked hard to earn decent livelihoods. Still, the majority of Nigerians, several millions to be sure, are living in absolute penury (severe poverty). If anyone is hoping that Nigeria's course will be advance by a dubious chemist, that person has fallen into the expected political gimmick-trap.

In all, a new dawn of hopelessness seems to have crawled back into our daily existence. Great Nations of today took the steps towards greatness using different means. There were sacrifices made in the past that the generations of modern times are enjoying in such nations. France, America, Russia and China are classical examples of countries where revolutions took place. Sweden was a country plagued by poverty and misadventures until about a century ago. Almost a fifth of the people went abroad, to the US especially. The rest at home sat down and discussed the way forward for their lives. They discussed every aspect of their lives and to this day, public discussions, debates and true voting remain acceptable approaches to handling issues in Sweden which is one of the most developed countries in the world today.

In Nigeria, we will continue to deceive ourselves if we allow the status quo to persist. The Politicians are untrustworthy and they have no conscience. Non-participatory mentality of the people must change. The people must find a way to participate in governance instead of been forced to accept what a cabal dictated. The people must find a way to end for all time the corruption mentality that has not only destroyed our economy but also made a few greedy people wealthy at the expense of the majority. The good people and the teeming masses must stand up and request for a say in the running of Nigeria. All of these approaches to ending the reign of evil can be achieved through discussions or dialogues. There must be a way to bring the ordinary people into the mainstream of our politics so that they can decide what they want and how they want it. This country belongs to all of us and it is our right to participate in the matters that shape our lives. The last probable option will be to do it by force and we can start by borrowing a leaf from the orange revolution.

The people must utilize the best option that is open to them so that prosperity can be a bestowment to the yet unborn generations from this land flowing with milk and honey.

APPENDIX

The BBC story

Nigerian bloggers mount campaign

As Umaru Yar'Adua is ushered in as president of Nigeria, the BBC News website looks at a campaign mounted by Nigerian bloggers to express their disappointment at recent political events and the April elections.

Solomonsydelle on Nigerian Curiosity called on the Nigerian blogosphere to make a statement about Yar'Adua's inauguration.

"My people, let us join together to show our rulers and leaders that we are watching, that they are accountable to the people and that we will not let them forget."

She drafted "The Nigerian Proclamation" to reflect Nigerians' "disappointment over the recent polls and expressing expectations in the future" and urged bloggers to post it on their blogs on the day of Mr Yar'Adua's inauguration.

Solomonsydelle went on to say that while the proclamation might not achieve immediate change "it gives us all an opportunity to 'do something' and not just watch from the sidelines".

The Nigeria Proclamation reads in part: "In recent history, Nigerians have been overwhelmingly betrayed by those charged with addressing their needs. Instead of serving the people, public servants have served themselves to the detriment of the masses. The result is a nation lacking adequate infrastructure, organization and security". "The ineffectiveness of Nigerian leaders indicates a lack of accountability to the constituents. Nigerians are no longer relevant to the leaders, thus, leaders do not feel responsible to them." -'One voice'

Several Nigerian bloggers took up Solomonsydelle's challenge.

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One of them - Omodudu \- describes himself as "an economist with Nigeria on the brain".

He praises Solomonsydelle's initiative as "a one of a kind opportunity for bloggers in the Nigerian blogspace to make a mark" and noted that blogs could one day become a voice for the Nigerian people. "Let us speak with one voice. Let us make demands," Omodudu implored.

..."A wise man once said that evil triumphs when good men do nothing," Olawunmi began a posting on his Silent Storms in an Ocean of One . Blogging from the UK, Olawunmi confessed that his first reaction to the Nigerian Proclamation was one of scepticism, but he soon realised its value. "It's not only to call for action, but to remind us (you and I), what is wrong, so that we can watch out for it in future and seize the opportunity to fight it any way we can," he wrote.

..."What this statement, this manifesto, represents, is a call for people to be vigilant to their rights as a nation," he said.

"We will achieve nothing if we sit still, if we hang our chins on our shoulders and complain quietly, while our 'leaders' drag our country to hell in a hand-basket." -'Cheating referee'

...Not all Nigerian bloggers are supportive of the campaign.

Commenting on Ugo's Nigerian Blogger in Cyprus, Donzman doubts the campaign will achieve much.

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"Pardon my cynicism, but if this rises to the top of Google search, then what? Google will evict Yar'Adua from Aso Rock with missiles painted in the different colours of the rainbow?," poses Donzman - a contributor to Lagos blog! .

"What exactly do you expect to achieve, for Yar'Adua to type 'Nigeria' into his Google search bar, see all the complaints and proceed to pack his bags?"

...Chxta of Chxta's World , also commenting on Ugo's blog, suggested that the campaign was coming a bit late in the day.

"Pardon my cynicism, but isn't it a little too late for this? Where were we when the events that led us to this pass were occurring?" Chxta wondered. "This kind of thing is a little like a football match in which the referee cheated. The best that would happen afterwards is that Fifa would acknowledge that the referee cheated (and maybe suspend the ref), but the result would still stand."

But some bloggers supported Mr Yar'Adua's victory and ascension to the presidency. Vera Ikeji was elated about Mr Yar'Adua's inauguration.

"Yay!!!!," she exclaimed. "We have a new president.

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..."The swearing in ceremony was done with all pomp and pageantry. There were some displays and stunts by the Nigerian Police Force." Although Thy Glory O Nigeria! took issue with the cost of the inauguration ceremony, which reports say will come to a some 820m naira ($6.2m). "Some idiots are planning to spend almost a billion naira to swear in an illegitimate government. Wonders shall never end in Nigeria. This country is run by mad men. This country is obviously sick," Adeola Aderounmu wrote in a post titled "Nigerian leaders are fools!"

...The blogger blames Nigerians for the conduct of politicians.

"One thing is sure, all Nigerians are to blame for this stupid acts played out by the useless leaders and politicians everyday. These politicians are just crazy, they are insane." The post ends by suggesting that the time has come for Nigerians to take matters into their own hands.

..."Nigeria needs nothing short of something similar to the Orange Revolution. The time is over-ripe."

Story from BBC NEWS:  
http://news.bbc.co.uk/go/pr/fr/-/2/hi/africa/6701559.stm

Published: 2007/05/29 16:34:44 GMT

© BBC MMVII

The Day Snow Fell in Lagos* (Comic Fiction)

It started to snow at about 2am and it didn't stop until 4am. Being a delicate (some say dangerous) city, no one was awake at that time except a few groups of people who must work overnight. Among these groups are the men in masks. In the believing minds of these masked men; they were sure that the God of the innocent people in bed was watching afterall. They could not withstand the cold and snowfall. So, for the first time in their tumultuous career, they retreated before it was too late for them. They would have frozen to death. The nurses at the various hospitals could not explain what was happening to the patients or to one another. Silence and panic ran simultaneously in their minds. The security guards on Marina road and elsewhere ran to get warmth and shelter.

That night, for the first time in a thousand nights, Lagosians unconsciously found a reason to close their windows. It was cold inside though there was no electricity to power the blades of the fans and ACs. It was unusually cold, yet many people did not even think about looking out through the windows while closing them. Instead, more blankets were retrieved from the closets here and there.

It was midweek: traders and civil servants must set out as early as 5am. Danfo (minibus) drivers and molue (long rickety buses) drivers must wake up; many of them only get about 4-5 hours of sleep daily. It is hard to make ends meet. Alas! Practically no one could get out of their homes that day. The snow measured 15cm from level surface. That was a lot! Many were shocked and confused. Some went back to bed hoping to wake up from their nightmares later. But it was not to be. It was for real, snow came down in Lagos: this odd occurrence defiles all geographical or meteorological explanations.

The homeless people could not escape this judgment that came to town unannounced. Painfully, they froze to death, all of them. Even many people inside their houses were freezing but they stayed alive using all the blankets and warm clothes at their disposal. For the first time in their lives, Lagosians appreciated the warmth that the sun brings yet they have always tried to shield themselves from it. The sun will not come to Lagos at midnight.

Everyone was certain that this was going to be a work free day. Lagosians have always believed that they must hustle everyday. They bustle through life daily, like it is normal. They are convinced that is how life should be. Apart from the occasional strikes called by the Labour Unions or announcements to stay at home for predetermined elections, Lagosians never believed in holidays. Getting an annual leave is difficult and some jobs do not even have off days.

That morning (with many strapped in 5 to 6 clothes) confusion reigned supreme in Lagos. Everything and everyone stood still. The whole of Lagos has been taken over by snow and there was no one to stand up to it. Television and radio stations were running of course; people who worked on night shifts would have to continue for as long as possible. No one could drive and there were no danfos on the roads. Additionally, there are no winter tyres to carry on and no one was sure of where the roads started or ended. This has been difficult even without snow. Even the bold danfo and molue drivers could not dare the steering wheels. Firstly, there are no passengers and secondly their knowledge of the canyons and pot holes was sufficient that they would be heading for a suicide mission. Emergency services were virtually absent as all flights into and out of the airport were suspended.

People could still move around in their neighborhoods but such movements were very restricted and were only undertaken when necessary. No food canteens were opened so people were forced to cook in their homes and those who have not been in that habit swore loudly. It was easy to trade blames when nobody has been paying attention to the needs at home. Today, no one could play busy. Some children cried for food as desperation set it in some homes. On a day like this, everyone appreciated the importance of having dry/stored food at home. However, not everyone could sustain that wish.

The midday sun that appeared was appreciated more than all the miracles in the churches and mosques since the 1980s when religion became a means to wealth and deceits. After 2 hours of intense sunlight, the unexpected snow was no match for the tropical heat. The ice melted and everywhere was wet but at least people heaved a sigh of relief. Lagosians are used to the resultant flood. There was no rapture and the world has not ended afterall. Gradually, life returned to normal but it was too late to start any hustling now. Millions of people including the area boys, the agberos, the under-age pure water hawkers and even the policemen at check points took that day off. Those on essential services went about their normal duties. Traffic was light (but clumsy due to the flood) and life was relatively easy on Lagos roads. The governor addressed the state around 6pm but many people didn't care about the speech.

Instead, Lagosians gathered at various spots. The temperature was perfect resulting from a blend of the midnight snow and midday sunshine. Smokers found good reasons to warm their internal organs. As they gather over drinks and under fumes from cigarettes, many elderly people worried and argued on theories that brought snow to Lagos. No one won the arguments but those who spoke loudest were people who have sojourned abroad especially those who have experienced snow. There was a particular man who was going around with a picture he had taken in 1975 when he visited the Soviet Union for a 2 weeks course and it had snowed on him then. He felt his time had come to explain more about his experiences then. He spoke about the trucks and tractors that are used to remove snow and that never had life stopped for a minute before in places where there is real winter. That man could have spoken forever but NEPA (the electric company) took light. People became discouraged and left the bar immediately. This is why the youth preferred the sports bar where they use generators. It cost a little more to be there but they cannot sacrifice the champions' league games for any kind of speech, be it from a governor or an excited pensioner.

*The day snow fell in Lagos turned out to be my most widely read article on the Nigerian village square. It was published online on September 22 2007.

Statistics Made Easy By Okiro

Mr. Okiro is the Inspector General of Police in October 2007. He will have to employ a statistician in his office very soon. Half truths and blatant lies have ruined this country beyond comprehensible imagination. According to Mike Okiro, here are some figures that make Nigeria one of the safest countries in the world.

In 3 months;

· 1 628 armed robbery suspects arrested

· 785 armed robbers killed in gun duels

· 62 Policemen died in the line of duty

· 1 582 arms recovered

· 6 514 ammunition recovered

· 242 stolen vehicles recovered

Mr. Okiro stated that his mission for the Nigerian Police is to bequeath to the country a people's police that is friendly in outlook, efficient in service delivery and nurtured by a well motivated and dedicated workforce. Nicely stated! Mr. Okiro, well done for reciting a famous line! By Nigerian context, it is arguable the figures presented by Okiro are unreal. Sixty-two officially dead policemen (ignoring women) can mean 620 for anyone who knows the difference between official figures and eye-witness accounts of incidents in Nigeria. Mr. Okiro cannot be blamed for the infamous reputation of the Nigerian Police; neither does the blame or buck for the wave of armed robbery stop at his doorstep. The problem with the Nigerian Police is very well connected to the Nigerian factor. Simply, the way we do many things in Nigeria is wrong. Our priorities are not well defined or they are simply misplaced.

Instead of coming to the public to awash the image of the Nigerian Police, Mr. Okiro would have done a better job by keeping quiet and then working behind the scene to re-structure the police in such a way that the public will see a motivated and dedicated police force in action (and not in empty words). The Nigerian Police should be well equipped to meet the challenges posed by the increase in crime in the country and the sophistication of the robbers. The police should upgrade with immediate effect. By all or any standard, the target should be to make the Police the most sophisticated security outfit within Nigeria. This is the only way to transfer the fear in the mind of the police to the armed robbers.

In order to help Okiro with his job, other aspects of our lives should be critically examined. Among others, the goal will include to create jobs and employment opportunities for the youth and graduates. In a system where thousands of people in the human resources category are jobless or misplaced, the fight against crime cannot be won. Until such a time that crime will be the pastime of the socially deficient or misfits only, these figures presented by Mike Okiro can only be expected to rise.

Finally, Mr. Okiro will have to earnestly employ a statistician in his office. The figures presented by Mr. Okiro are very significant statistically and they cannot be used to classify Nigeria as one of the safest countries in the world. Indeed, it will take more than a day's job to change the face of the Nigerian Police from the type that requires 20 naira as a proof of life.

An argument for parental leave   
(As Published by the Nigerian Guardian Newspaper on October 10 2007)

A FEW weeks ago, I was chatting over an internet messenger with my friend Duke. During the course of our chat, I told him that I am on paternity leave and that I am taking care of my daughter. She is just a little over one year and I don't want her in the daycare centre yet. So, I'm going to stay with her until January when she is a little bit older. Then she can start in daycare. One month before she was born and for the first 11 months of her life, her mother had been at home on maternity leave to take care of her. I got 14 days off work during this time to also be home with the two of them. Under the Swedish system, this is very permissible and encouraged.

During my on-going leave, I once received a Nigerian woman as a visitor to my home and she actually laughed at me. She asked if I would have accepted this status in Nigeria: that which allows me to stay at home while my wife is at work. Considering the ego of the Nigerian man and our cultural attributes (or is it attitudes?), she thought it would have been impossible for me to accept the situation. Maybe she is right - I have seen Nigerian men here in Sweden who gave all the parental leave days to their wives. To them perhaps, ego and cultural attitudes must be sustained everywhere. Duke was alarmed that it was possible for a man to get paternity leave to fulfill family obligations.

I could almost hear him through the chat! He had exclaimed that getting a regular annual leave in Nigeria is very difficult in some organisations. My chat with him on that fateful occasion was the first time that Duke, a man of about 36 years, would learn about the concept of paternity leave. Almost everyone that I'd discussed my present status with agrees that the concept of paternity leave is a good one. They all concurred that it is the best way to knit a family with children together. If one take a good analysis of this concept against the backdrop of family values, it will be well in order to suggest that we need such a positive system in Nigeria. In present-day Nigeria, many children are growing up in the bosoms of their mothers while their fathers are seen from a distance, or they are absent altogether.

Distance in the sense that a man usually regards himself as the main breadwinner of the family and therefore absents himself from home for most part of the day. In a country like Nigeria, working hard to put food on the table sounds like a reasonable excuse. Notwithstanding it would be nice if we can work things around and create a standard approach for would-be mothers, nursing mothers and fathers. The burden here is that in Nigeria, many things are in disarray such that setting up a proper family system regarding newborns may invariably amount to wishful thinking.

However, considering the importance of the family as the smallest and the fundamental unit of every society, no amount of attention or priority given to a family will be excessive. As a matter of fact, the attention should start from when a woman is pregnant. During those nine months and beyond, she and her baby are highly susceptible to diseases and infections because of their states of immunity which are compromised and immature respectively. They should be able to get special health care from qualified midwives and doctors on regular appointments. The percentage of mothers (including teenage mothers) who are single parents seems to be on the rise in Nigeria and this is a clear departure from the way things were in the olden days. In the absence of divorce and unwanted pregnancies, there are still other factors that are making men to be more and more absent in the family units. I can only imagine that these factors which would include economic reasons are varied and many.

In line with the discussion at hand, it will be useful to see clear governmental policies (that would apply also to the private enterprises) aimed at improving the relationship at home because the society at large is a reflection of different homes. It is absolutely wrong for children to see more of their mothers and less of their fathers or vice versa. It is criminal for both to be almost absent due to pressure from work or other obligations. Children are always innocent as they have no control over their immediate and remote surroundings. They are in this world because of two people who they imagine are responsible parents. The expectations of babies or small children is nothing short of being taken care of by two adults of separate sexes and a society that they hope to call theirs someday.

In Nigeria today, many working class women will not be entitled to annual leave if they have been at home for sometime taking care of their new-born babies. I knew of a friend in Nigeria whose wife had to resign her employment in order to take care of her baby. After nursing her baby for just five months, she was back in the unemployment market. Was five months too long to be off from work? I think that it is morally wrong for any organisation to expect a pregnant woman to tally her maternity leave with her annual leave. It sounds wicked indeed. In many ways, women as mothers are special. Hence their situations regarding work and family deserve special treatments.

Indeed, it will be difficult to create a standard approach that will fit all working and non-working mothers. Yet, it will not be wrong to promote a system that correlates remuneration for women in accordance with their level of income and a common rest period of up to one year is not an anomaly in our modern world. Babies are helpless and they need more time with their parents before they are sent to daycare centres or grandmothers. The first year of their lives is critical and no amount of care or nearness to their mothers and fathers is too much.

Fathers should stop hiding under the shade of work just to distance them from taking care of the baby or children at home. They should own up to their responsibilities and allow the children to grow up knowing that they are loved not just by their mothers but by their hardworking fathers too. Children should not be seeing their father as the wicked one, more like the terror whose approach causes trembling every time the sounds of his shoes are heard on the stairs. The sight of him should not bring fear and tears.

Government policies are overriding in many societies regarding family issues and the care of babies especially. Nigeria cannot afford to be left out for any reason at all. It is high time we created the enabling environment that will allow our children to grow up under the care of both mothers and fathers. The policies that suit our national situation, which would encourage family planning and discourage absent parents will be most useful.

A concise view on Africa

African Leadership and Development Hurdles

Many people will agree that it is time for Africa as a continent to begin to seek genuine initiatives that will help to create or accelerate the development processes in many African countries. It has become highly imperative for Africa to meet up with the challenges and standards of the 21st century. How we go about this road map to achieving the due moultings that will ensure that Africa emerges at the appropriate position on the global scene will largely be a function of the leadership that steers Africa in the next decade or thereabout.

But do Africans know that the bulk of the development of Africa beyond what it is today rest majorly on their own shoulders? It has become a ridicule really to see African leaders looking up to the developed countries for salvation of the ugly situations that they have put the African continent into. It is very unfortunate that African leaders have used their corrupt attitudes and ineptitudes to confine the continent to a lag growth phase of perpetual comatose. Now, they are stooping and begging for foreign aids to help eradicate poverty, malaria, HIV-AIDS and other problems on the continent. This is part of the ridicule. It is true that slave trade was not in the interest of Africa but how have African countries charted their own courses since their self-determinations were granted? Ethiopia (from which Eritrea broke away) was not colonized: are these countries better off in terms of stability and development?

The greatest single cause of underdevelopment in many African countries is probably lack of good governance. Africa is a continent dominated by sit-tight leaders. On the African continent, we have a system that turns ordinary men into wolves as soon as they get to the helm of power. At that point, reasoning seems to depart from these men. We have read true life stories and we have seen for ourselves how some men have fought for the independence of their countries only to turn around and enslave their own people. From Zimbabwe to Nigeria, to Chad, to Sudan, to Niger and many other places, we see anguish and despair. We see how hopelessness has taken over the lives of people.

Some African countries are devastated by war simply because of selfish interests, not for any moral or logic. Brothers killing brothers and neighbours eliminating neighbours in the name of tribes! There is a country in Africa that has been without any internal government for more than 10 years. Such a devastated country can ask: What difference does it make anyway? Nigeria is governed and yet more than 70% of her 140m population is confined to life time poverty. Nigeria, the role model, for more than 47 years has been a classic example of failure of governance. African leaders and politicians are the main obstacles to growth and development in Africa. Majority of them steal money and loot public treasury. Many of them are bad managers and they have no clear vision of where they are taking the people. Therefore it is morally wrong for Africa leaders to start looking for help from the G-8 or an imaginary organisation called the International Community.

The G-8 is not the solution to global problems. At least we know that the US (a member of the G-8) is a major contributor to global warming and the government of the United States does not take the initiative to address the problem. Instead the US is always foot-dragging or doing nothing at all whenever suggestions are made on how to tackle global warming. To solve the problems of Africa therefore, Africans must look inward and begin a soul-searching adventure for their nations. Many African countries have fertile land for agriculture; how well have they used this to promote food production and eliminate hunger from the continent? Are Africans not tired of seeing the dehumanizing photographs of their babies on Non-Governmental Organisations (NGOs) and SOS posters worldwide?

The abundance of minerals in Africa cannot be matched by any other continent in the world. How many of these natural deposits have been used for the optimum purpose? Instead African leaders are behind the concept of blood diamond, an evil act that is corroborated by the same international community and G-8 that they are running to. Are they too blind to see or too daft to reason? The only reason Wole Soyinka, Nigeria's Nobel laureate ran into a brick wall in the US congress (while protesting the criminalized election in Nigeria) was because the US is more concerned about the oil in the Niger Delta than the progress of Nigerians or our funny elections.

African intellectuals and craftsmen alike have continued to participate in the skilled migrant program and the visa lottery program of the developed countries. They have moved away in hundreds and thousands to continue to help the developed countries to develop further. Is it eternally impossible for Africa countries to create the enabling environment for the work force that they trained or begot to stay put in Africa? Why can't the Africa continent establish institutions that will match and compete with the ones that are used to lure their work force away under the disguise of research collaborations? Have African leaders not yet realized that the excellent workforce are in Africa but they are been utilized by the US and other fast-thinking nations? Why are African leaders so devilishly possessive materially? Why do they live in beautiful mansions and sentenced their fellow citizens to a life in slums? Why do they act like demigod? Why have most of them failed to use the resources of the continents to a good end?

In my opinion, I think that Africans should start looking for long term solutions to their man-made problems instead of seeking aids like beggars. The earlier we realized that help will not come from outside, the better for us. The sooner we realize that external help is receiving 10 dollars with the right hand through the front door and losing 50 dollars with the left hand through the back door, the better for our own good and that of our children. Africans should sit down and think positively. The world has moved into the 21st century and we need to hasten and meet up. We need a critical examination of our situations and clear cut approaches to our everlasting goals. Africa with the help of needed right thinking leaders and intellectuals must move away from too much talk to non-stop actions until we reach the goals and further.

Great Nations used their best brains to achieve greatness to the good of all. That is why real elections are a fundamental part of most developed countries. The masses use that democratic opportunity and their voting power to entrust their welfare and that of the state generally into the hands of the people that can deliver. African leaders should stop depending on the International community. The continent of Africa can be great on her own, but not in isolation from the rest of the world. What about aligning the system of governance to promote fairness and the emergence of issues instead of personal ego, character assassinations and violent physical assaults? What about promoting fair trade for our commodities? What about the oil rich countries in Africa using their oil resources and agriculture to boost their economy and standard of living? What about putting all the potential mineral deposits in Africa into positive use and not as weapons of war? What about putting a stop to looting and then coughing out all stolen wealth and dedicate that to development reforms? Can Africa leaders stop enriching the developed countries while spreading poverty and pain on the continent?

Has anyone been following keenly the bad leadership examples in Zimbabwe, Sudan and Nigeria? Zimbabwe is a delicate issue and it seems the problem is made complicated by the influence of the British. The issue of Land Ownership and the fallouts of all the power play is a tragic occurrence in Zimbabwe. The sympathy is to the ordinary people of Zimbabwe, they are trapped between the devil and the Dead Sea. All over Africa including countries recuperating from the devastations of war and those eternally plagued with internal rife and bitter struggles, we should all wake up. We need one another as citizens of the same country and as Africans generally.

Our leaders should stop thinking that we cannot develop without the help of the developed countries. We need them as much as they need us to buy our goods and services on a fair trade level. We need them and other developing countries too in respect of the concept of the benefits of international trades, for multilateral co-operations and so on. At the same time, African people must be bold to seek justice and fairness from those who misrule the continent. This is an imperative ingredient to growth and development. There may probably be no need for begging when we do our homework and stop our leaders from looting our treasuries. We may not need some famous musicians to sing into the ears of the so called G-8. Together, we can make Africa G50+ and make ourselves the envy of the world in no time if we define our purpose of existence with the concept of common good.

The development and the future of Africa depend on what we decide and what we allow our leaders to do or not to do. What we must not allow them to do is to continue to play into the deceitful and invisible hands of the international community. Our greater hope as Africans surely lies within!

Long live Nigeria! Long live Africa!

© Adeola Aderounmu, 2007

