Nigeria is what it is today because we want it so, we can change it if we choose. Change requires action and it starts with changing oneself. We can change the whole world, if we all change ourselves. We need to change from being indifferent. According to Albert Einstein, “the world is a dangerous place, not because of those who do evil, but because of those who look on and do nothing.” When good men do nothing, evil shall surely prevail.
In order to achieve a desired change, we need to move from talking to acting. A talk cannot move an object, only an action can do. An action is a finished product of a dream. We need to dream dreams, we need to plan, we need to believe and we need to act in order to have a ‘change we can believe’. There can be no plan without a dream as there can never be a successful action without believing.
A dream gives a clear vision of the future. As yesterday was the birthplace of today, a dream is the birthplace of the future and a dream is the mother of an action. Benjamin Disraeli asserted that “action may not always bring happiness, but there is no happiness without action.”
In about three months, Nigeria will 49 years old as an independent nation. Many years with very little to show economically, politically and otherwise. In these years, the landscape of our history has been dominated mostly by challenging stories like corruption, civil war, wasted resources, military coup, ethnic violence, leadership failure, lack of infrastructure, brain drain, 419, Niger Delta palaver, indolent leaders etc.
Our potential remains only a potential. Our challenges endure but fail to paralyse us, they're supposed to help us discover who we are. According to Harriet Beecher “when you get into a tight place and everything goes against you, till it seems as though you could not hang on a minute longer, never give up then, for that is just the place and time that the tide will turn,”
Through it all, we have kept our sanity, we see life the way it should be and not the way it is. In our defeat, we dream victory. In our despair, we chose hope which make every good thing possible. Our God-given inner strength gives us courage to carry on and continue to be hopeful. Our dream is fast becoming a reality, we can see it at the corner, we can smell her fragrance, we can hear the elegant steps of her feet in quiet and we are nostalgic of the arrival. Even when all seemed bleak, we chose to overcome fear, overcome uncertainty, overcome peril, overcome injustice, overcome threat while continuing to avow to ourselves that life with all its troubles can be good hence ‘suffering and smiling’ that everything is meaningful even if in a sense beyond our understanding; and that there is always a bright tomorrow to cover the sad yesterday.
In the midst of these negativities, I still have positive dream for fatherland. I have a dream that my fellow countrymen will rise to defend the country of their fathers to give reasons for hope to their children as Nigeria shall stand tall, rise and be reckoned with in the comity of great nations.
I have a dream that my people shall coexist harmoniously; communal rivalry, religious intolerance and clash shall belong to the past, Niger Delta shall see peace and prosperity again and the Hausas, Ibos, Yorubas, Ijaws and all other tribes shall be one another’s keepers.
I have a dream that my country shall no longer depend on what is under the feet of her people but what is up in their heads. Natural resources shall no longer be the mainstay but agriculture, industrial production and services.
I have a dream that our sons and daughters will leave the countries of their birth in Europe and America and ask after the country of their ancestors which they shall be proud to call theirs.
I have a dream that every vote of the electorate shall count; from the half-naked woman protesting in Ekiti, to the covered Purdah in Sokoto, from the powerful in Abuja to the ordinary man in Zaria, from the market man in Aba to the businessman in Yola, from the student in Ibadan to the professor in Nsukka and from the urban man in Lagos to the ‘natural woman’ in Koma.
I have a dream that our Moses shall lead us out of the wilderness of poverty and from the Red Sea of corruption, our David shall slain Goliath who is feeding fat on the nation’s commonwealth, our Elijah will command fire on all the prophets of Baal holding the nation down and our Samson shall cause havoc in the camp of those squandering and pilfering our resources and the marauders we see today, we shall see them no more.
I have a dream that Nigeria will be ruled by men of noble character who are prepared to take us to the promised land and no more animals in human skin (apology to Fela Anikulapo Kuti), no more by the dumbest, no more by the weakest, no more by the sick and no more by the reluctant presidents. The days of the indecisive government are numbered.
I have a dream that our democracy will be democratic, our constitution will be constitutional and our Aso Rock Presidential Villa shall cease to be Ass hol* Rock Villa.
I have a dream that our leaders shall know that leadership is a call to service and not a call to be bosses, our executive will no longer be executhief, they will not only wield power but also generate power such that everyone of us can turn to the corner of our rooms and say let there be light and there shall be light.
I have a dream that the legislature shall make laws for the benefit and protection of the all and not only to increase their own salaries and allowances. The shall know the difference between constituency allowance and personal allowance.
I have a dream that the judiciary shall be judicious and no more pervert the law, they shall look unto the constitution and laws of the land to judge cases and not towards Aso Rock Villa and they shall prosecute and not persecute.
I have a dream that INEC will be truly independent of the executive, The Police shall not be agent of the oppressor but friend of the people. They shall gracefully perform their duties without asking for ‘egunje.’The military shall defend and not invade our fatherland, the civil and public servants shall serve their fatherland wholeheartedly without filching the public funds and Attorney General shall no more assault the constitution.
I have a dream that the poor masses shall no more be guilty until proven innocent, they shall join the high-ranking to be innocent until proven guilty. The prisons shall no more be filled with petty offenders while the major thieves are power brokers who dine and wine in the seats of the government.
This is my dream for fatherland, it is your dream and our dream for motherland. If it is our dream, then we must sustain it to reality. This change’s real! Dreaming may be easy, action may be difficult but putting a dream into an action is the most complicated thing in the world but with God on our side, our dream shall come to be.
Now is the accepted time, not tomorrow, not some more convenient season. It is today that our best work can be done and not some future day or future year. It is today that we fit ourselves for the greater usefulness of tomorrow. Today is the seed time, now are the hours of work, and tomorrow comes the harvest and the playtime. W.E.B. Du Bois
The time to act is no other but now. We do not need to wait a single moment before starting to improve the world. If we fail, our dream shall be dream and our vision shall be vision and our world shall remain the same. Certainly, the cost of our action shall be huge but the cost of inaction shall even be more. There can never be any gain without pain.
Those who profess to favour freedom and yet depreciate agitation, are people who want crops without ploughing the ground; they want rain without thunder and lightning; they want the ocean without the roar of its many waters. The struggle may be a moral one, or it may be a physical one, or it may be both. But it must be a struggle. Power concedes nothing without a demand; it never has and it never will. Frederick Douglass
As charity starts from home, our action shall start with the people closest to us. Let us educate the people in our families, neighbourhood and grassroots of their inalienable rights. No one shall sell his voting right for a bowl of porridge.
We shall encourage and support the good people among us especially the youth to go into politics and for elective positions, if they fail, the bad ones whose affinity for power is inexhaustible will continue to dominate the political climate. Voting and being voted for; are not only our civil duties but also our constitutional rights.
"The ball is now in your court...Election is still two years away...What is wrong in identifying now your candidates and beginning to mobilise support for them...Why can't you invade your homeland...Use your mobile telephones now to mobilise the people and guard democracy... the way Barrack Obama used the Internet technology to mobilise the youths to strengthen democracy... Mobilise the youths to guard the ballot boxes from start to finish...Defend the vote, nobody is going to do it for you..." Prof. Wole Soyinka.
We shall foster the unity of all progressive groups and protect our destiny against the ‘do or die’ policy of the incumbent, organise mass action against any breach of our collective will. No passive people can expect a change. We have talked, we have praised, we have criticized, we have waited but we haven’t acted. We must act and now is the time.
This is a call on all good people of this great Nation! A thousand words are not as effective as one action. A thousand good intentions are not as good as one action. In recent time, the power in mass action or protest has been more revolutionary than any bloody guerrilla. No government can stand against the power of the masses. Demonstrations by the nationalist group in 2006 caused the ousting of the corrupt prime minister Thaksin Shinawatra of Thailand. The 1989 Tiananmen Square protests resulted in the opening up of China though much is still left to be desired especially in the area of human rights. A mass protest that started from a remote village led to the end of the repressive communist leader Nikolai Ceausescu of Romania and after the assassination of Benigno Aquino, a political opponent and a tainted presidential election The People Power Revolution in February 1986 removed the authoritarian Ferdinand Marcos of Philippines. The recent event in Madagascar and the current protest in Iran are other testimonies to the power of the people. All these shall amount to nothing compared to what shall happen in motherland.
Our dream will take us on a journey for which we do not know the end but certainly, we shall not return to the starting point. Our action shall take us to war with the enemy but our weapons shall not be guns and matchets but all from our intellectual arsenal. Our action shall be like a road in the countryside where there was never a road but when many people walk on it, the road comes into existence. A change has come!
If you share the dream, spread it.
God Bless Nigeria!
Nigeria Go Better!
Rufus Kayode Oteniya (oteniyark@hotmail.com) is the founder of Nigeria Think Tank a Facebook discussion forum created to confront problems confronting us as a people.
This article is also published on the following links:
http://www.facebook.com/group.php?gid=58221486905&ref=mf#/topic.php?uid=58221486905&topic=9655
http://nigeriathinktank.blogspot.com/
http://pointblanknews.com/artopn1457.html
http://www.nigeriavillagesquare.com/articles/rufus-kayode-oteniya/a-dream-for-my-fatherland.html
http://huhuonline.com/specialletter49.html
http://www.modernghana.com/news2/223471/1/a-dream-for-my-fatherland-.html
Tuesday, June 23, 2009
Thursday, June 11, 2009
Nigerians And The Title Craze; Proud To Be Called Mr.
Scene1 (Outside the office)
Oteniyark: Good morning Mr. Nwachukwu
Nwachukwu: Point of correction please! I’m Chief Engineer Nwachukwu.
Oteniyark: Can’t an engineer be addressed as a Mister?
Nwachukwu: I don’t know but as far as I am concerned, as the Chief Engineer of our company where you also work, the members of staff must call me Chief Engineer Nwachukwu otherwise I will ignore their calls.
Scene 2 (On the telephone)
Oteniyark: Hello good afternoon, could you allow me speak with Mr. A. Bello?
Yakubu: You mean my dad, Ambassador A. Bello?
Oteniyark: No, Mr. Bello is a pensioner.
Yakubu: Yes, It’s my dad, he was a Nigerian ambassador 18 years ago.
Scene 3 (At a public function)
Oteniyark: It is my pleasure to introduce the guest speaker Mr. Tony Bamgbose who was a member of the State House of Assembly.
Tony: Beg your pardon! I am honourable Bamgbose.
Oteniyark: I also have the privilege of inviting to the high table, the wife of the state governor, Mrs. T. A. Agbabiaka.
An aid of the governor’s wife hurriedly jumped to the podium
Governor’s wife’s aid (whispering): Madam is First Lady and must be addressed as Her Excellency, the First Lady, Alhaja Chief Dr. Mrs. T. A. Agbabiaka LL.D. Please quickly make the correction!
The above scenes are a demonstration of the title craze that is endemic in Nigeria. Everywhere you turn your face in the society, this craziness is conspicuous and cuts across all segments of the society. It is evident in the workplace and business environment as well as political and religious circles.
We may not be the best in many things but not in inventing titles. If we can bring a bit of the ingenuity with which we invent or combine titles to other positive areas of lives, Nigeria will certainly be a better place and will surely rank among the best places in terms of positive development. Nigerians generate new titles almost with the same frequency Microsoft comes up with security updates for the Vista operating system. I have seen people adding to their names, strange titles like ‘Akobi’ a Yoruba word meaning first born and ‘Aremo’ another Yoruba word meaning next in line for a king’s throne.
Some good people of this great nation seem to extremely abhor being addressed as Mr. or Mrs. It may be out of sheer ignorance of thinking that the titles are for people of little importance and scarce achievement in the society or out of the ever increasing zeal to flamboyantly exhibit all the achievements and identities at any given opportunity or to cover some deficiencies. Mister may not after all be as insignificant as our dear people think and in fact it is the mother of all titles which can be applicable to any highly regarded man. Mister (Mr.) is a conventional title of respect for a man, prefixed to his name and to certain official designations or positions e.g. Mr. Chairman. Likewise, Mrs. or Ms is a title of honour for a woman. Regardless of other titles somebody possesses, the person can still be addressed as Mr. or Mrs without any disparaging feeling. In a place like America, the president is officially regarded as Mr. President but you dare not add the Mr. to the title of our President in order to save yourself of the Abuja wrath, the president must be introduced as His Excellency President Whoever.
A title, according to the American heritage dictionary of the English language, is a formal designation attached to the name of a person or family by virtue of office, rank, hereditary privilege, noble birth, or attainment or used as a mark of respect. A title can be a prefix or a suffix or in some cases embedded in between the names. Prefix titles are pre-nominal letters which are placed before the name of a person as distinct from a suffix titles which are post-nominal placed after the name. A prefix is used in direct address as in Mr., Dr., Chief, Alhaji, Barrister, etc while a suffix is used more in descriptive form and placed after the name of a person to indicate that the individual holds a position, educational degree, accreditation, office, award or honour. An individual may use several different sets of post-nominal letters. The order in which these are listed after a name is based on the order of precedence and category of the order. Examples include CEO, SAN, CFR, PhD, MBA, ACCA, retired General, former Senator, Editor in Chief, Commander in Chief, MP etc.
A title can be permanent or temporary. Funny enough most temporary titles have been made permanent in Nigeria. A former senator wants to be eternally addressed as senator. A former legislator will never give up the title of honourable and all of retired generals still bear their formal titles. A permanent title can be relevant throughout one’s lifetime after attaining it while a temporary title may be relevant only for a certain period of time.
A permanent title is a title attained by virtue of one’s gender as in Mr. or Mrs., hereditary privilege or noble birth as in Chief, Prince or Princess, Eze, King, Emir, Obi, Oba or a permanently attainment such as in Pastor, Imam or Alhaji (which is a term of respect used to address a Muslim who has completed one of the Five Pillars of Islam by going on the Hajj, or religious pilgrimage to Mecca). A woman who has completed the pilgrimage is addressed as Alhaja. Whoever has any of these titles is very unlikely to lose the title rather may acquire further titles. A prince may eventually become a king. Titles resulting from academic and professional qualifications are other forms of permanent title as in Eng, Arch, Barrister and Dr. which is usually used in calling a medical doctors or somebody who has doctorate degree in any other field.
Save for Dr, almost all other professional titles are regarded as workplace titles which are officially applicable in the workplace and related environment. Such titles like Engineer, Justice, Architect and Barrister are used in addressing people at the workplace. Outside the workplace, they are more commonly used in describing people. As demonstrated in Scene 1 of the conversation above, at the place of work, somebody can be called Eng. Nwachukwu while outside the workplace, he is called Mr. Nwachukwu, an engineer but an average Nigerian wants to be addressed everywhere he/she goes with the professional title especially those in the professions regarded as noble. No wonder one hears people addressed as Banker Jide, Accountant Emeka, Surveyor Ahmed, Manager Bala, Pharmacist James, Journalist Segun and other inconceivable Nigerian made titles. The earned degrees and qualification and other awarded titles that suffixed a name can also be permanent. Titles like BSc, MSc, MBA, AMNIM, ACA, FCCA, SAN, LL.D, MON, CFR, GCON, RIP etc. These titles always come behind a name. They may or may not be written after a name. In the Western world, these titles are written only when necessary.
On the other hand, temporary titles are earned by virtue of one’s official position, rank, appointment or election and as soon as somebody seizes to be in the position, the titles should seize to exist. It can only exist in a descriptive way referring to the fact that the person once occupied the position. Titles like President, Governor, Senator, Chairman, Honourable, Professor, Bishop, General Overseer, Chief Imam, CEO, COO, CFO, Director, Chief Engineer, Chief Accountant, Attorney General, Minister, Commissioner, General, Brigadier, Colonel, Major, and IG are in this category. Once the title stops to be relevant, all salutation and protocols associated with the position and titles should automatically end. As seen in scene 2, Mr. A. Bello shouldn’t have been addressed as Ambassador A. Bello. It would have been right to say Mr. A. Bello, a former Ambassador. Because we are a people who would not let go of old titles, we believe once a senator is always a senator and most be addressed forever as one, once a general is always a general. Little wonder some governors and ministers are still addressed with the title of senator even after many years of being absent from the Senate. Hilary Clinton will never again be called Sen. Clinton unless she goes back to the Senate rather she can be addressed as Mrs. Clinton, a former senator. All our retired generals still clutch the title like General (rtd) Bala instead of Mr. Bala, a retired General as people like Mr. Collin Powell, a retired US Army General does.
Our desire for titles knows no bound as our people keep the endless invention growing and turning out ‘combined honours’ even when the combinations are senseless. I used to think that this craze about titles are a way of making up for some deficiencies of the protagonist until I found that those who have really achieved in life and who should know much about this are also into it. It is a rat race thing and we know that whoever wins in a rat race still remains a rat. How do you explain the official title of most company heads being referred to as CEO/MD? Is Chief Executive Officer not the same thing as Managing Director? Is this not a tautology? This combination is only meaningful in a company with subsidiaries like the consolidated banks where an individual is the Managing Director of the parent company as well as the Group Managing Director (GMD) of the consolidated group which is directly the same as CEO. Virtually all our banks consciously duplicate their helmsmen’s title as CEO/GMD which makes no sense.
The yearning propensity for titles other than Mr. has created a surge in the number of people going on yearly pilgrimage to the holy lands. While most people do out of genuine desire to fulfil the requirement of the tenets of their faith, some are motivated by the new attributable title and status or class. As the Moslem become Alhaji and Alhaja, some Christians who would not want to be outdone also suffixed their names with JP meaning Jerusalem Pilgrim. Funny as it may be, I have read the profile of somebody being referred to as 3 times Alhaji to show he has gone to Mecca 3 times. The quest for titles has created a boom business for our traditional rulers who are flooded with the request of people seeking honorary chieftaincy title. The honorary title used to be offered by the rulers as rewards to well meaning and deserving indigenes who have or are expected to contribute positively to the community but it is now being commercialized. Once you have the price, you will take the prize. The very smart ones don’t even wait to be awarded the titles by any ruler, they fabricate titles and award them to themselves. I have an uncle who became a chief overnight. These titles are being bastardized as some many ‘unchiefly’ people of questionable personality are becoming chiefs by the day. The same thing can be said of honorary doctorate degree where money plays a major role especially in the private universities. Every Tom, Dick and Harry can now buy such titles in the country and also with a few thousands of dollars same can be obtained from a private university in the US or India.
The way people want to outdo one another with titles reminds me of 3 popular Yoruba Fuji musicians in the 70’s and 80’s when the started the title competition. When one became an Alhaji, the others went to Mecca to equal him, when one added Chief, others also went for chieftaincy titles, then one called himself Brigadier General, another called himself full General and the third called himself Marshall meaning Field Marshal and then one went for honorary doctorate to add Dr. to his already vast collection, then another added Professor to his already overblown collection and it went on like that until one of them became a king without a territory.
After acquiring these titles, you’ll see my fellow countrymen displaying their stuff. A single man can combine about 4 or 5 or more titles. A typical Nigerian will be elated to be introduced, addressed or write his own title profile as Honourable Alhaji Chief Dr. Musa Taiwo PhD, AMNIM, MON & CEO/MD. It sounds incredible but take your time to see business cards of some of your friends to understand what I’m writing. Some are not done with common titles anymore and the invent theirs. It is not uncommon to hear titles like High Chief, Otunba, Ozo, Eze, Eze Ego, King (without Kingdom), Yeye meaning mother, Balogun, Iyalode, Akobi, Special Adviser, Consultant, Diplomat, Chief Press Officer, Commissioner etc.
This title wave has not spared the religious circles. It has blown into the Churches and Mosque to the extent that some clergies take offences if their full titles are not precisely mentioned in introducing them to the podium to deliver God's message. The title of Pastor is not even trendy to many anymore. Titles like Reverend, Apostle, Bishop, General Overseer - GO, President etc are more preferred and mostly pastors have the unofficial title of Daddy and their wives are usually Mummy. In some extreme cases, the daddy is qualified such as Big Daddy to differentiate the office and the anointing or sometimes combined with the official title as in Daddy GO. This goes for other officers who want accurate appellation as in Deacon(ess), Elder, Choirmaster etc. The story is the same in the Islamic circle as Chief Imam will never settle for Imam and all titles must be completely spelt out.
In the political circle, the more dishonourable the Legislators become, the more they crave to be called Honourable, the more mediocre the Executives are, the more they lust for His Excellency, the more unchiefly they become, the more they long to be called Chiefs. The title must be extended to their family members as well. The Governor’s wife become the First Lady of the State (as seen in scene 3 of the conversation above) while the local government Chairman’s wife is the First Lady at the local government level as Councillor’s wife is FL at the council level. All States’ First ladies have offices in the State government secretariat with full staff and official protocols notwithstanding that our Constitution recognizes only the national First Lady. All first lady offices at the state level are illegal and an abuse of office by government supporting the office.
Even with this title craze, I am still proud to be Mr. R.K. Oteniya.
God Bless Nigeria!
Nigeria Go Better!
Rufus Kayode Oteniya (oteniyark@hotmail.com) is the founder and the administrator of Nigeria Think Tank a Facebook discussion forum created to confront problems confronting us as a people.
This article is also published on the following links:
http://www.nigeriavillagesquare.com/index.php/content/view/12488/55
http://nigeriathinktank.blogspot.com
http://www.pointblanknews.com/artopn1419.html
http://www.huhuonline.com/article128.html
http://www.championsfornigeria.org/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=360&Itemid=35
http://www.afrora.com/site/news/index.php?id=233892&cursor=0&blogs=0&loc=en_US
http://www.facebook.com/group.php?gid=58221486905&ref=mf#/topic.php?uid=58221486905&topic=9494
Oteniyark: Good morning Mr. Nwachukwu
Nwachukwu: Point of correction please! I’m Chief Engineer Nwachukwu.
Oteniyark: Can’t an engineer be addressed as a Mister?
Nwachukwu: I don’t know but as far as I am concerned, as the Chief Engineer of our company where you also work, the members of staff must call me Chief Engineer Nwachukwu otherwise I will ignore their calls.
Scene 2 (On the telephone)
Oteniyark: Hello good afternoon, could you allow me speak with Mr. A. Bello?
Yakubu: You mean my dad, Ambassador A. Bello?
Oteniyark: No, Mr. Bello is a pensioner.
Yakubu: Yes, It’s my dad, he was a Nigerian ambassador 18 years ago.
Scene 3 (At a public function)
Oteniyark: It is my pleasure to introduce the guest speaker Mr. Tony Bamgbose who was a member of the State House of Assembly.
Tony: Beg your pardon! I am honourable Bamgbose.
Oteniyark: I also have the privilege of inviting to the high table, the wife of the state governor, Mrs. T. A. Agbabiaka.
An aid of the governor’s wife hurriedly jumped to the podium
Governor’s wife’s aid (whispering): Madam is First Lady and must be addressed as Her Excellency, the First Lady, Alhaja Chief Dr. Mrs. T. A. Agbabiaka LL.D. Please quickly make the correction!
The above scenes are a demonstration of the title craze that is endemic in Nigeria. Everywhere you turn your face in the society, this craziness is conspicuous and cuts across all segments of the society. It is evident in the workplace and business environment as well as political and religious circles.
We may not be the best in many things but not in inventing titles. If we can bring a bit of the ingenuity with which we invent or combine titles to other positive areas of lives, Nigeria will certainly be a better place and will surely rank among the best places in terms of positive development. Nigerians generate new titles almost with the same frequency Microsoft comes up with security updates for the Vista operating system. I have seen people adding to their names, strange titles like ‘Akobi’ a Yoruba word meaning first born and ‘Aremo’ another Yoruba word meaning next in line for a king’s throne.
Some good people of this great nation seem to extremely abhor being addressed as Mr. or Mrs. It may be out of sheer ignorance of thinking that the titles are for people of little importance and scarce achievement in the society or out of the ever increasing zeal to flamboyantly exhibit all the achievements and identities at any given opportunity or to cover some deficiencies. Mister may not after all be as insignificant as our dear people think and in fact it is the mother of all titles which can be applicable to any highly regarded man. Mister (Mr.) is a conventional title of respect for a man, prefixed to his name and to certain official designations or positions e.g. Mr. Chairman. Likewise, Mrs. or Ms is a title of honour for a woman. Regardless of other titles somebody possesses, the person can still be addressed as Mr. or Mrs without any disparaging feeling. In a place like America, the president is officially regarded as Mr. President but you dare not add the Mr. to the title of our President in order to save yourself of the Abuja wrath, the president must be introduced as His Excellency President Whoever.
A title, according to the American heritage dictionary of the English language, is a formal designation attached to the name of a person or family by virtue of office, rank, hereditary privilege, noble birth, or attainment or used as a mark of respect. A title can be a prefix or a suffix or in some cases embedded in between the names. Prefix titles are pre-nominal letters which are placed before the name of a person as distinct from a suffix titles which are post-nominal placed after the name. A prefix is used in direct address as in Mr., Dr., Chief, Alhaji, Barrister, etc while a suffix is used more in descriptive form and placed after the name of a person to indicate that the individual holds a position, educational degree, accreditation, office, award or honour. An individual may use several different sets of post-nominal letters. The order in which these are listed after a name is based on the order of precedence and category of the order. Examples include CEO, SAN, CFR, PhD, MBA, ACCA, retired General, former Senator, Editor in Chief, Commander in Chief, MP etc.
A title can be permanent or temporary. Funny enough most temporary titles have been made permanent in Nigeria. A former senator wants to be eternally addressed as senator. A former legislator will never give up the title of honourable and all of retired generals still bear their formal titles. A permanent title can be relevant throughout one’s lifetime after attaining it while a temporary title may be relevant only for a certain period of time.
A permanent title is a title attained by virtue of one’s gender as in Mr. or Mrs., hereditary privilege or noble birth as in Chief, Prince or Princess, Eze, King, Emir, Obi, Oba or a permanently attainment such as in Pastor, Imam or Alhaji (which is a term of respect used to address a Muslim who has completed one of the Five Pillars of Islam by going on the Hajj, or religious pilgrimage to Mecca). A woman who has completed the pilgrimage is addressed as Alhaja. Whoever has any of these titles is very unlikely to lose the title rather may acquire further titles. A prince may eventually become a king. Titles resulting from academic and professional qualifications are other forms of permanent title as in Eng, Arch, Barrister and Dr. which is usually used in calling a medical doctors or somebody who has doctorate degree in any other field.
Save for Dr, almost all other professional titles are regarded as workplace titles which are officially applicable in the workplace and related environment. Such titles like Engineer, Justice, Architect and Barrister are used in addressing people at the workplace. Outside the workplace, they are more commonly used in describing people. As demonstrated in Scene 1 of the conversation above, at the place of work, somebody can be called Eng. Nwachukwu while outside the workplace, he is called Mr. Nwachukwu, an engineer but an average Nigerian wants to be addressed everywhere he/she goes with the professional title especially those in the professions regarded as noble. No wonder one hears people addressed as Banker Jide, Accountant Emeka, Surveyor Ahmed, Manager Bala, Pharmacist James, Journalist Segun and other inconceivable Nigerian made titles. The earned degrees and qualification and other awarded titles that suffixed a name can also be permanent. Titles like BSc, MSc, MBA, AMNIM, ACA, FCCA, SAN, LL.D, MON, CFR, GCON, RIP etc. These titles always come behind a name. They may or may not be written after a name. In the Western world, these titles are written only when necessary.
On the other hand, temporary titles are earned by virtue of one’s official position, rank, appointment or election and as soon as somebody seizes to be in the position, the titles should seize to exist. It can only exist in a descriptive way referring to the fact that the person once occupied the position. Titles like President, Governor, Senator, Chairman, Honourable, Professor, Bishop, General Overseer, Chief Imam, CEO, COO, CFO, Director, Chief Engineer, Chief Accountant, Attorney General, Minister, Commissioner, General, Brigadier, Colonel, Major, and IG are in this category. Once the title stops to be relevant, all salutation and protocols associated with the position and titles should automatically end. As seen in scene 2, Mr. A. Bello shouldn’t have been addressed as Ambassador A. Bello. It would have been right to say Mr. A. Bello, a former Ambassador. Because we are a people who would not let go of old titles, we believe once a senator is always a senator and most be addressed forever as one, once a general is always a general. Little wonder some governors and ministers are still addressed with the title of senator even after many years of being absent from the Senate. Hilary Clinton will never again be called Sen. Clinton unless she goes back to the Senate rather she can be addressed as Mrs. Clinton, a former senator. All our retired generals still clutch the title like General (rtd) Bala instead of Mr. Bala, a retired General as people like Mr. Collin Powell, a retired US Army General does.
Our desire for titles knows no bound as our people keep the endless invention growing and turning out ‘combined honours’ even when the combinations are senseless. I used to think that this craze about titles are a way of making up for some deficiencies of the protagonist until I found that those who have really achieved in life and who should know much about this are also into it. It is a rat race thing and we know that whoever wins in a rat race still remains a rat. How do you explain the official title of most company heads being referred to as CEO/MD? Is Chief Executive Officer not the same thing as Managing Director? Is this not a tautology? This combination is only meaningful in a company with subsidiaries like the consolidated banks where an individual is the Managing Director of the parent company as well as the Group Managing Director (GMD) of the consolidated group which is directly the same as CEO. Virtually all our banks consciously duplicate their helmsmen’s title as CEO/GMD which makes no sense.
The yearning propensity for titles other than Mr. has created a surge in the number of people going on yearly pilgrimage to the holy lands. While most people do out of genuine desire to fulfil the requirement of the tenets of their faith, some are motivated by the new attributable title and status or class. As the Moslem become Alhaji and Alhaja, some Christians who would not want to be outdone also suffixed their names with JP meaning Jerusalem Pilgrim. Funny as it may be, I have read the profile of somebody being referred to as 3 times Alhaji to show he has gone to Mecca 3 times. The quest for titles has created a boom business for our traditional rulers who are flooded with the request of people seeking honorary chieftaincy title. The honorary title used to be offered by the rulers as rewards to well meaning and deserving indigenes who have or are expected to contribute positively to the community but it is now being commercialized. Once you have the price, you will take the prize. The very smart ones don’t even wait to be awarded the titles by any ruler, they fabricate titles and award them to themselves. I have an uncle who became a chief overnight. These titles are being bastardized as some many ‘unchiefly’ people of questionable personality are becoming chiefs by the day. The same thing can be said of honorary doctorate degree where money plays a major role especially in the private universities. Every Tom, Dick and Harry can now buy such titles in the country and also with a few thousands of dollars same can be obtained from a private university in the US or India.
The way people want to outdo one another with titles reminds me of 3 popular Yoruba Fuji musicians in the 70’s and 80’s when the started the title competition. When one became an Alhaji, the others went to Mecca to equal him, when one added Chief, others also went for chieftaincy titles, then one called himself Brigadier General, another called himself full General and the third called himself Marshall meaning Field Marshal and then one went for honorary doctorate to add Dr. to his already vast collection, then another added Professor to his already overblown collection and it went on like that until one of them became a king without a territory.
After acquiring these titles, you’ll see my fellow countrymen displaying their stuff. A single man can combine about 4 or 5 or more titles. A typical Nigerian will be elated to be introduced, addressed or write his own title profile as Honourable Alhaji Chief Dr. Musa Taiwo PhD, AMNIM, MON & CEO/MD. It sounds incredible but take your time to see business cards of some of your friends to understand what I’m writing. Some are not done with common titles anymore and the invent theirs. It is not uncommon to hear titles like High Chief, Otunba, Ozo, Eze, Eze Ego, King (without Kingdom), Yeye meaning mother, Balogun, Iyalode, Akobi, Special Adviser, Consultant, Diplomat, Chief Press Officer, Commissioner etc.
This title wave has not spared the religious circles. It has blown into the Churches and Mosque to the extent that some clergies take offences if their full titles are not precisely mentioned in introducing them to the podium to deliver God's message. The title of Pastor is not even trendy to many anymore. Titles like Reverend, Apostle, Bishop, General Overseer - GO, President etc are more preferred and mostly pastors have the unofficial title of Daddy and their wives are usually Mummy. In some extreme cases, the daddy is qualified such as Big Daddy to differentiate the office and the anointing or sometimes combined with the official title as in Daddy GO. This goes for other officers who want accurate appellation as in Deacon(ess), Elder, Choirmaster etc. The story is the same in the Islamic circle as Chief Imam will never settle for Imam and all titles must be completely spelt out.
In the political circle, the more dishonourable the Legislators become, the more they crave to be called Honourable, the more mediocre the Executives are, the more they lust for His Excellency, the more unchiefly they become, the more they long to be called Chiefs. The title must be extended to their family members as well. The Governor’s wife become the First Lady of the State (as seen in scene 3 of the conversation above) while the local government Chairman’s wife is the First Lady at the local government level as Councillor’s wife is FL at the council level. All States’ First ladies have offices in the State government secretariat with full staff and official protocols notwithstanding that our Constitution recognizes only the national First Lady. All first lady offices at the state level are illegal and an abuse of office by government supporting the office.
Even with this title craze, I am still proud to be Mr. R.K. Oteniya.
God Bless Nigeria!
Nigeria Go Better!
Rufus Kayode Oteniya (oteniyark@hotmail.com) is the founder and the administrator of Nigeria Think Tank a Facebook discussion forum created to confront problems confronting us as a people.
This article is also published on the following links:
http://www.nigeriavillagesquare.com/index.php/content/view/12488/55
http://nigeriathinktank.blogspot.com
http://www.pointblanknews.com/artopn1419.html
http://www.huhuonline.com/article128.html
http://www.championsfornigeria.org/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=360&Itemid=35
http://www.afrora.com/site/news/index.php?id=233892&cursor=0&blogs=0&loc=en_US
http://www.facebook.com/group.php?gid=58221486905&ref=mf#/topic.php?uid=58221486905&topic=9494
Thursday, June 4, 2009
Between 2000 and 2020, A call to rise up
The years 2000 and 2020 are almost a generation apart but they have a thing in common for Nigerians. The are years of unlimited promises by succeeding governments for the people and the country.
Long before the globe started to think about the millennium bug, millennium development goals and the millennium euphoria, Nigerians had had the year 2000 in mind. Shortly after General Ibrahim Babangida took over the government of Nigeria on 27 August 1985, the military government started talking about the goals for year 2000. It seemed we had a major development plan toward 2000.
Every serious nation, has short, medium and long term development plans. They have plans for the next one year, plans for the next five years, plans for the next 10, 15, 20, 30 and 50 years. So it was not an exception that our governments seemed to have such plans.
The government talked of great project and incredible promises that seemed to be endless. There was a promise of free and qualitative education for all by the year 2000. Free health for all by the year 2000. Qualitative railway services by the year 2000. Portable water for all by the 2000, electricity for all, telephone for all, good roads for all by the year 2000, affordable houses for all…….. The list was endless. The governments were virtually saying everything for all by the year 2000 as the year appeared to be eternally away.
As the year draws nigh, the enthusiasm started diminishing and frustration started setting in as there was nothing to suggest that the governments were serious to deliver on the promises. And finally 2000 came and there was nothing for all by the year 2000. Our only consolation was ‘militocracy’ - a government by the military in civilian dress which the incumbent government just celebrated its 10 years of existence.
We are all living witnesses of the spoken and broken promises. They gave nothing to the people but took everything. We heard, we read, we saw, we talked but we didn’t act. The values we had in 1985 before the promises started were gone in 2000 and we acted not. The infrastructures of 1985 were no more in 2000 but we kept mute. The good roads of the ’80’s have turned to death traps in 2000 and we accepted. The standard of education nosedived and public schools became exclusive for the poor and we were indifferent. All our universities lost out from the global ranking and radar and we folded our arms. Our hospital and health centres became death centres and we were tolerant. Our aircrafts became flying coffins and we did not cry foul. Nigeria turned out to be a weak woman that every man was taking an advantage of as every administration was indifferent about our collective psyche taking advantage of us by looting our treasury at will and we failed to stand up for our rights.
No passive people can expect a change. The status quo will remain. For Nigeria to change, we must act and now is the time. Rosa Parks acted when she refused to stand for the white in the bus, this gave the dream to Martin Luther King Jnr and this brought Obama to the White house. Without Rosa Parks acting, there would be no dream for MLK jnr and there would be no Obama. If Mandela and other apartheid fighters did not act, South Africa would not be free today.
“The future will have no pity for those men who have the exceptional privilege of speaking the word of truth to their own oppressors but who have taken attitude of passivity, mute indifference and sometimes of cold complicity”. Frantz Fannon
After the failure of the 2000 project and in a typical Nigerian way which is never in want of promises but actualization , the administration of Obasanjo initiated another plan and declared the intention to pursue the vision of placing our beloved nation among the 20 largest economies in the world by 2020. What a great goal! It is the dream of all to see our country become a great nation but greatness is never achieved through only wishful thoughts. An idea must be supported with good plans and strategic actions in order to be achievable and this is exactly what our leaders lack. If wishes were horses, a beggar would ride.
Almost halfway into 2020, how far have we gone towards the realization of this objective. With only 10 years and 7 months to go, can Nigeria still generate the energy required to propel the economy to this level? Are the other infrastructures in place? Can we have a consistent and sustainable double digit GDP growth that is required?
While speaking at the commissioning of the Olorunsogo Gas Turbine Power Station Phase One Project in Papalanto, in Owode Local Government Area of Ogun State in early 2007, the former president promised the nation 10,000 MW of electricity by the end of 2007 and projected 40,000 MW before 2020., Chief Olusegun Obasanjo said that his government had taken a bold step in ensuring that power became the cornerstone of his regime, adding that very soon Nigerians would start feeling the impact of regular power supply in their household and business environment, according to him a country without an adequate supply of power cannot attain economic enhancement while also stating that posterity would judge the tenure of his regime.
More than 2 years after saying this, posterity has started judging him. We are still struggling to sustain a power supply that fluctuates between 1,000 MW and 3,000 MW. Little did we know when he promised us an uninterrupted power supply that he didn’t mean electric power but political power and so he gave us Yar’Adua so that he could prolong his power. "Really, Obasanjo did not disappoint or lie to anybody about his promise on power...He delivered... He (Obasanjo) promised 'uninterrupted power,' which is the manifesto of PDP (People Democratic Party)...." Prof 'Wole Soyinka at Nigeria Liberty Forum London Event, May 29, 2009.
South Africa, the 32nd biggest economy in the world according to both IMF and CIA but 28th according to the World Bank is working seriously to double her energy production to 80,000 MW within the next two decades. If a nation that is not even among the big 20 has this plan, is there any chance for us concerning vision 2020? May be if the other nations would borrow from us in taking retrogressive movements. Nigeria is currently ranked as 39th, 40th and 41st respectively by CIA, World Bank and IMF.
Between 2000 and 2020 is 2015, the year when the millennium development goals (MDGs) must be met. The MDGs were a UN initiative that were officially established at the Millennium Summit in 2000. They are eight international development goals that 192 United Nations member states and at least 23 international organizations have agreed to achieve by the year 2015. They include reducing extreme poverty, reducing child mortality rates, fighting disease epidemics such as AIDS, and developing a global partnership for development. With about 5 years to go, Nigeria can not be said to be on the path of compliance with these goals.
Our expectations were high when President Umaru Yar’Adua came up with his 7 point agenda that has since turned to a zero point agenda. The programmes were ingenious, but the execution has so far has been disastrous. On power, he has consistently re-affirmed his target of generating 6,000 MW of electricity by December 2009 and 10,000 MW by 2011.
It is time we take on the government on its promises. Unfortunately, the Executives have pocketed the Legislative arm of government who are supposed to be in the function of check and balance.
This is a call on all good people of this great Nation! A thousand words are not as effective as one action. A thousand good intentions are not as good as one action. In recent time, the power in mass action or protest has been more revolutionary than any bloody guerrilla. No government can stand against the power of the masses.
Demonstrations by the nationalist group in 2006 caused the ousting of the corrupt prime minister Thaksin Shinawatra of Thailand. The 1989 Tiananmen Square protests resulted in the opening up of China though much is still left to be desired especially in the area of human rights. A mass protest that started from a remote village led to the end of the repressive communist leader Nikolai Ceausescu of Romania and after the assassination of Benigno Aquino, a political opponent and a tainted presidential election The People Power Revolution in February 1986 removed the authoritarian Ferdinand Marcos of Philippines. The recent event in Madagascar is another testimony to the power of the people.
Even in Nigeria, General Ibrahim Babangida was forced out of power on August 26, 1993 amidst different rounds of strikes and protests that brought all economic activities in the country to a halt and more recently, the third term ‘wahala’ of Chief Olusegun Obasanjo was defeated due to a massive outcry of the people that caused the legislators to vote against it.
Fellow countrymen, let us start sending clear warnings to Aso Rock and let the government know that if it fails to deliver the 6,000 MW of electricity and other promises by the end of the year, there will be no hiding place for any of them. We should start warming up and mobilizing because this is a task before all and for all.
We have talked, we have praised, we have criticized, we have had patience but we haven’t acted. Now we will act.
Seeing Nigeria liberated from these marauders to become a great nation is a cause I want to live for and if there is need, die for. It is better to die for something than to live for nothing.
God Bless Nigeria!
Nigeria Go Better!
Rufus Kayode Oteniya (oteniyark@hotmail.com) is the founder and the administrator of Nigeria Think Tank a Facebook discussion forum created to confront problems confronting us as a people.
This article is also published on the following links:
http://www.facebook.com/group.php?gid=58221486905&ref=mf#/topic.php?uid=58221486905&topic=9393
http://www.nigeriavillagesquare.com/articles/rufus-kayode-oteniya/between-2000-and-2020-a-call-to-ri.html
http://www.huhuonline.com/column_Between2000.html
http://www.pointblanknews.com/artopn1395.html
http://www.championsfornigeria.org/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=351&Itemid=35
http://www.afrora.com/index.php?id=230808&cursor=0&blogs=0&loc=en_US
http://article.wn.com/view/2009/06/04/Between_2000_and_2020_A_call_to_rise_up_by_Rufus_Kayode_Oten/ http://www.modernghana.com/news/219964/1/between-2000-and-2020-a-call-to-rise-up-by-rufus-k.html
Long before the globe started to think about the millennium bug, millennium development goals and the millennium euphoria, Nigerians had had the year 2000 in mind. Shortly after General Ibrahim Babangida took over the government of Nigeria on 27 August 1985, the military government started talking about the goals for year 2000. It seemed we had a major development plan toward 2000.
Every serious nation, has short, medium and long term development plans. They have plans for the next one year, plans for the next five years, plans for the next 10, 15, 20, 30 and 50 years. So it was not an exception that our governments seemed to have such plans.
The government talked of great project and incredible promises that seemed to be endless. There was a promise of free and qualitative education for all by the year 2000. Free health for all by the year 2000. Qualitative railway services by the year 2000. Portable water for all by the 2000, electricity for all, telephone for all, good roads for all by the year 2000, affordable houses for all…….. The list was endless. The governments were virtually saying everything for all by the year 2000 as the year appeared to be eternally away.
As the year draws nigh, the enthusiasm started diminishing and frustration started setting in as there was nothing to suggest that the governments were serious to deliver on the promises. And finally 2000 came and there was nothing for all by the year 2000. Our only consolation was ‘militocracy’ - a government by the military in civilian dress which the incumbent government just celebrated its 10 years of existence.
We are all living witnesses of the spoken and broken promises. They gave nothing to the people but took everything. We heard, we read, we saw, we talked but we didn’t act. The values we had in 1985 before the promises started were gone in 2000 and we acted not. The infrastructures of 1985 were no more in 2000 but we kept mute. The good roads of the ’80’s have turned to death traps in 2000 and we accepted. The standard of education nosedived and public schools became exclusive for the poor and we were indifferent. All our universities lost out from the global ranking and radar and we folded our arms. Our hospital and health centres became death centres and we were tolerant. Our aircrafts became flying coffins and we did not cry foul. Nigeria turned out to be a weak woman that every man was taking an advantage of as every administration was indifferent about our collective psyche taking advantage of us by looting our treasury at will and we failed to stand up for our rights.
No passive people can expect a change. The status quo will remain. For Nigeria to change, we must act and now is the time. Rosa Parks acted when she refused to stand for the white in the bus, this gave the dream to Martin Luther King Jnr and this brought Obama to the White house. Without Rosa Parks acting, there would be no dream for MLK jnr and there would be no Obama. If Mandela and other apartheid fighters did not act, South Africa would not be free today.
“The future will have no pity for those men who have the exceptional privilege of speaking the word of truth to their own oppressors but who have taken attitude of passivity, mute indifference and sometimes of cold complicity”. Frantz Fannon
After the failure of the 2000 project and in a typical Nigerian way which is never in want of promises but actualization , the administration of Obasanjo initiated another plan and declared the intention to pursue the vision of placing our beloved nation among the 20 largest economies in the world by 2020. What a great goal! It is the dream of all to see our country become a great nation but greatness is never achieved through only wishful thoughts. An idea must be supported with good plans and strategic actions in order to be achievable and this is exactly what our leaders lack. If wishes were horses, a beggar would ride.
Almost halfway into 2020, how far have we gone towards the realization of this objective. With only 10 years and 7 months to go, can Nigeria still generate the energy required to propel the economy to this level? Are the other infrastructures in place? Can we have a consistent and sustainable double digit GDP growth that is required?
While speaking at the commissioning of the Olorunsogo Gas Turbine Power Station Phase One Project in Papalanto, in Owode Local Government Area of Ogun State in early 2007, the former president promised the nation 10,000 MW of electricity by the end of 2007 and projected 40,000 MW before 2020., Chief Olusegun Obasanjo said that his government had taken a bold step in ensuring that power became the cornerstone of his regime, adding that very soon Nigerians would start feeling the impact of regular power supply in their household and business environment, according to him a country without an adequate supply of power cannot attain economic enhancement while also stating that posterity would judge the tenure of his regime.
More than 2 years after saying this, posterity has started judging him. We are still struggling to sustain a power supply that fluctuates between 1,000 MW and 3,000 MW. Little did we know when he promised us an uninterrupted power supply that he didn’t mean electric power but political power and so he gave us Yar’Adua so that he could prolong his power. "Really, Obasanjo did not disappoint or lie to anybody about his promise on power...He delivered... He (Obasanjo) promised 'uninterrupted power,' which is the manifesto of PDP (People Democratic Party)...." Prof 'Wole Soyinka at Nigeria Liberty Forum London Event, May 29, 2009.
South Africa, the 32nd biggest economy in the world according to both IMF and CIA but 28th according to the World Bank is working seriously to double her energy production to 80,000 MW within the next two decades. If a nation that is not even among the big 20 has this plan, is there any chance for us concerning vision 2020? May be if the other nations would borrow from us in taking retrogressive movements. Nigeria is currently ranked as 39th, 40th and 41st respectively by CIA, World Bank and IMF.
Between 2000 and 2020 is 2015, the year when the millennium development goals (MDGs) must be met. The MDGs were a UN initiative that were officially established at the Millennium Summit in 2000. They are eight international development goals that 192 United Nations member states and at least 23 international organizations have agreed to achieve by the year 2015. They include reducing extreme poverty, reducing child mortality rates, fighting disease epidemics such as AIDS, and developing a global partnership for development. With about 5 years to go, Nigeria can not be said to be on the path of compliance with these goals.
Our expectations were high when President Umaru Yar’Adua came up with his 7 point agenda that has since turned to a zero point agenda. The programmes were ingenious, but the execution has so far has been disastrous. On power, he has consistently re-affirmed his target of generating 6,000 MW of electricity by December 2009 and 10,000 MW by 2011.
It is time we take on the government on its promises. Unfortunately, the Executives have pocketed the Legislative arm of government who are supposed to be in the function of check and balance.
This is a call on all good people of this great Nation! A thousand words are not as effective as one action. A thousand good intentions are not as good as one action. In recent time, the power in mass action or protest has been more revolutionary than any bloody guerrilla. No government can stand against the power of the masses.
Demonstrations by the nationalist group in 2006 caused the ousting of the corrupt prime minister Thaksin Shinawatra of Thailand. The 1989 Tiananmen Square protests resulted in the opening up of China though much is still left to be desired especially in the area of human rights. A mass protest that started from a remote village led to the end of the repressive communist leader Nikolai Ceausescu of Romania and after the assassination of Benigno Aquino, a political opponent and a tainted presidential election The People Power Revolution in February 1986 removed the authoritarian Ferdinand Marcos of Philippines. The recent event in Madagascar is another testimony to the power of the people.
Even in Nigeria, General Ibrahim Babangida was forced out of power on August 26, 1993 amidst different rounds of strikes and protests that brought all economic activities in the country to a halt and more recently, the third term ‘wahala’ of Chief Olusegun Obasanjo was defeated due to a massive outcry of the people that caused the legislators to vote against it.
Fellow countrymen, let us start sending clear warnings to Aso Rock and let the government know that if it fails to deliver the 6,000 MW of electricity and other promises by the end of the year, there will be no hiding place for any of them. We should start warming up and mobilizing because this is a task before all and for all.
We have talked, we have praised, we have criticized, we have had patience but we haven’t acted. Now we will act.
Seeing Nigeria liberated from these marauders to become a great nation is a cause I want to live for and if there is need, die for. It is better to die for something than to live for nothing.
God Bless Nigeria!
Nigeria Go Better!
Rufus Kayode Oteniya (oteniyark@hotmail.com) is the founder and the administrator of Nigeria Think Tank a Facebook discussion forum created to confront problems confronting us as a people.
This article is also published on the following links:
http://www.facebook.com/group.php?gid=58221486905&ref=mf#/topic.php?uid=58221486905&topic=9393
http://www.nigeriavillagesquare.com/articles/rufus-kayode-oteniya/between-2000-and-2020-a-call-to-ri.html
http://www.huhuonline.com/column_Between2000.html
http://www.pointblanknews.com/artopn1395.html
http://www.championsfornigeria.org/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=351&Itemid=35
http://www.afrora.com/index.php?id=230808&cursor=0&blogs=0&loc=en_US
http://article.wn.com/view/2009/06/04/Between_2000_and_2020_A_call_to_rise_up_by_Rufus_Kayode_Oten/ http://www.modernghana.com/news/219964/1/between-2000-and-2020-a-call-to-rise-up-by-rufus-k.html
Beat Them! If You Cannot Join Them, A Tribute To A Hero
This is a tribute to a hero. A true hero in a land where they are scarce like essential commodities especially among the ruling class. True heroes are rare and hard to find. They are very few and very many among the very few slip daily from ‘hero to zero’ succumbing the lust of power, the lure of materialism, the tempting of ‘Ghana must go’ and bandwagon syndrome. Some yield to the forces of power to act against the dictates of their God-given conscience in killing the hero or heroine in them. Yesterday, they were worthy of hosanna but today, they are worthless in character. Whenever we find a hero, we cannot but celebrate him in live or even in death.
A hero is a man of distinguished courage and ability, admired for his brave deeds and noble qualities. He is a model. A hero wants to leave this world a better place than he met it. He wants to leave his good marks to be judged by posterity.
A hero lives, eats, drinks, meets and talk with the corrupt but he is not corrupted. His sincerity sets him far apart and makes him stand tall among his mates. He associate with the power drunk but remain sober. He is unshakeably principled. He does not care to belong to the popular side as long as he is on the right side. He does not join them if he can not beat them rather he beats them if he can not join them.
We have lost another hero. He left us to meet his Creator in a journey he knew long ago was inevitable and for which he had spent his whole life here planning. He left behind his wife of 42 years who would later join him in the journey only after 30 days, two weeks short of her 69th birthday. Even death could not separate them for too long. What a love! What a bond!! What a re-union!!! He left behind what he understood as his ‘chain of businesses’. His Children were the only business he had, no wonder he invested heavily in them giving the best in formal and informal education. He had seven of them.
Our hero left us at a ripe age of 75 with very little money can buy because he had a very few of them. He was not very rich in material but in character. He was abundantly affluent in integrity and his words were his bond. His name was his biggest asset. He left a house, the only one he had. He left no car because that was the many he had but he left us a reason not to give up on this project called Nigerian and a reason to be hopeful that heroes and indeed real heroes do exist among us contrary to the popular opinion that they are an endangered specie entirely up for extinction. They live with us and the heroes are right inside of us. Everyone has a hero inside of him. Mariah Carey said it all that ‘the hero lies in you’.
Our hero was an uncompromisingly honest man. His transparency and frankness in a land that distastes truth brought him fewer friends than enemies. Known and avoided by many of his colleagues in the Army for his incorruptibility and zero intolerance towards all ‘unheroic’ men whose shameless love of money knows no bound. He led a crusade against corruption in his time. Sometimes a lone ranger on the right side of truth.
His profile may fool one to believe he was a common man, he was not. His material possessions and legacies may suggest he was an everyday Nigerian, No! He still wasn’t. He belonged to the ruling class. He tasted power without yielding to be arrested by it. He handled money but remembered quite well that the love of it is the beginning of all evil. Unlike most of his contemporaries, Brigadier General (Rtd) Harris Otadafewera Diodemese Eghagha (1934 - 2009) knew long ago the difference between a private and a public fund. Private fund was his to live-on legitimately and the public fund was for the good of the populace, it was meant to carry out public projects and not personal aggrandisement. His belief was anchored on the scripture that says “What shall it profit a man if he gains the whole world, yet loses his soul?”
Late General H.O.D Eghagha has gone to sleep in the Lord his Creator. Gone also was his wife, late Mrs Florence Eghagha (1941 - 2009). He would be remembered as a public officer who served the nation selflessly and meritoriously in the wartime and the time of peace without any stain against his personality, conduct and character. His life and record of service to the nation is worthy of emulation.
He was one of Nigeria’s finest second generation military officers. As a career military man, he occupied many important positions within and outside the military. He once served as the Quarter Master General of the army i.e. the chief procurement and supply officer, a position many consider a goldmine in our military service. He was also the Corps commander of Engineers where he inspired many young officers in the force through his demonstration of leadership qualities and professionalism.
As the first Military Administrator of Ogun state and before he handed over to the first civilian governor of the state, Chief Olabisi Onabanjo in 1979, he did his best by contributing valiantly with patriotism (not withstanding that he was not an indigene) to the building of the foundation of the modern Ogun State. His milestone achievements included the establishment of the College of Education in 1978 by then, the first tertiary institution in the state. He built the legislative quarters and a road network in Abeokuta, the state capital.
He was also at different times of his career, the acting governor of Kwara and Sokoto states. And he retired from the force in 1985 while serving as the Nigerian Ambassador to Ghana.
After retirement, while most of his colleagues started their second careers as politicians, power brokers, government contractors and oil and gas dealers in order to support their insatiable opulent lifestyle , he chose the more serene life of retirement spending more time with his family and dedicate the remaining time to community service especially at the grassroots which he did till the end.
Knowing Trevor (the first son of the deceased) about 10 years ago, then a chemical engineer who was a budding IT guru whose twin brother, Lester, also an engineer was then an officer in the Nigeria Custom, I couldn’t but marvel that this former governor’s son had to work hard to pay his bills just like me, a son of the governed and sometimes had to ‘western union’ his parents just like me. Most other governors’ children that I know live in houses they would never pay the mortgage and draw from accounts they never made deposits. Lester later left the Custom for an obvious reason, the reason that has adhered many to the Custom. The Custom is ‘too corrupt for Comfort!’
I couldn’t help tears rolling down my eyes when I read the testimony of our hero about the hardship faced by pensioners in our nation. According to him, save for the efforts of some good meaning Nigerians like Otunba (Dr.) Michael Adenuga Jnr. and Governor Gbenga Daniels who do come to his aid sometimes, life would have been very unbearable.
His life is an indication that public service does not necessary have to turn somebody into an overnight millionaire or billionaire. We have seen it happen in other places. After years as Attorney-general of Arkansas state, 12 years as governor of the same state and 8 years as the President of the richest and the most powerful country in the world, Bill Clinton took a mortgage in the year 2000 to buy his only house then. After many years as a MP regardless of the recent scandal in the UK parliament and 10 years as the Prime Minister of this wealthy and powerful nation, Tony Blair took up paid consultancy job with an American bank in order to sustain his living. How many of our civil servant and politicians have legitimate income to substantiate what they control in material assets? How do you explain a middle class civil servant sponsoring two children in colleges simultaneously in the UK?
There is nothing wrong in getting rich legitimately, I also pray and aspire to be as I am leaving no stone unturned in succeeding even financially. I do know some rich Nigerians who conscientiously served the nation yet made their money without joining the bandwagon in diverting public funds. I am very proud of them. Nigeria is proud of them and Nigerians are proud of them.
May the Lord grant the Eghagha’s family the fortitude to bear the double loss of both the patriarch and matriarch of the family.
And to our hero, as you continue the journey with your wife , I wish you a peaceful rest in the Lord. "The beauty of life is that it goes on even after it had ended. For a great many though, it has ended even while it goes on" May your soul rest in perfect peace. Amen
God Bless Nigeria!
Nigeria Go Better!
Rufus Kayode Oteniya (oteniyark@hotmail.com) is the founder and the administrator of Nigeria Think Tank a Facebook discussion forum created to confront problems confronting us as a people.
This article is also published on the following links:
http://www.huhuonline.com/column_BeatThem.html
http://www.facebook.com/group.php?gid=58221486905&ref=mf#/topic.php?uid=58221486905&topic=9200.
http://www.nigeriavillagesquare.com/articles/rufus-kayode-oteniya/beat-them-if-you-cannot-join-them-a-tribute-to-a.html
http://www.saharareporters.com/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=2768:beat-them-if-you-cannot-join-them-a-tribute-to-a-hero&catid=84:statehood&Itemid=201
http://www.afrora.com/index.php?id=226105&cursor=0&blogs=1&loc=en_US
http://www.pointblanknews.com/artopn1330.html
http://www.modernghana.com/news/217022/1/beat-them-if-you-cannot-join-them-a-tribute-to-a-h.html
http://www.championsfornigeria.org/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=339&Itemid=35
http://archive.wn.com/2009/05/19/childrenspost/index.html
A hero is a man of distinguished courage and ability, admired for his brave deeds and noble qualities. He is a model. A hero wants to leave this world a better place than he met it. He wants to leave his good marks to be judged by posterity.
A hero lives, eats, drinks, meets and talk with the corrupt but he is not corrupted. His sincerity sets him far apart and makes him stand tall among his mates. He associate with the power drunk but remain sober. He is unshakeably principled. He does not care to belong to the popular side as long as he is on the right side. He does not join them if he can not beat them rather he beats them if he can not join them.
We have lost another hero. He left us to meet his Creator in a journey he knew long ago was inevitable and for which he had spent his whole life here planning. He left behind his wife of 42 years who would later join him in the journey only after 30 days, two weeks short of her 69th birthday. Even death could not separate them for too long. What a love! What a bond!! What a re-union!!! He left behind what he understood as his ‘chain of businesses’. His Children were the only business he had, no wonder he invested heavily in them giving the best in formal and informal education. He had seven of them.
Our hero left us at a ripe age of 75 with very little money can buy because he had a very few of them. He was not very rich in material but in character. He was abundantly affluent in integrity and his words were his bond. His name was his biggest asset. He left a house, the only one he had. He left no car because that was the many he had but he left us a reason not to give up on this project called Nigerian and a reason to be hopeful that heroes and indeed real heroes do exist among us contrary to the popular opinion that they are an endangered specie entirely up for extinction. They live with us and the heroes are right inside of us. Everyone has a hero inside of him. Mariah Carey said it all that ‘the hero lies in you’.
Our hero was an uncompromisingly honest man. His transparency and frankness in a land that distastes truth brought him fewer friends than enemies. Known and avoided by many of his colleagues in the Army for his incorruptibility and zero intolerance towards all ‘unheroic’ men whose shameless love of money knows no bound. He led a crusade against corruption in his time. Sometimes a lone ranger on the right side of truth.
His profile may fool one to believe he was a common man, he was not. His material possessions and legacies may suggest he was an everyday Nigerian, No! He still wasn’t. He belonged to the ruling class. He tasted power without yielding to be arrested by it. He handled money but remembered quite well that the love of it is the beginning of all evil. Unlike most of his contemporaries, Brigadier General (Rtd) Harris Otadafewera Diodemese Eghagha (1934 - 2009) knew long ago the difference between a private and a public fund. Private fund was his to live-on legitimately and the public fund was for the good of the populace, it was meant to carry out public projects and not personal aggrandisement. His belief was anchored on the scripture that says “What shall it profit a man if he gains the whole world, yet loses his soul?”
Late General H.O.D Eghagha has gone to sleep in the Lord his Creator. Gone also was his wife, late Mrs Florence Eghagha (1941 - 2009). He would be remembered as a public officer who served the nation selflessly and meritoriously in the wartime and the time of peace without any stain against his personality, conduct and character. His life and record of service to the nation is worthy of emulation.
He was one of Nigeria’s finest second generation military officers. As a career military man, he occupied many important positions within and outside the military. He once served as the Quarter Master General of the army i.e. the chief procurement and supply officer, a position many consider a goldmine in our military service. He was also the Corps commander of Engineers where he inspired many young officers in the force through his demonstration of leadership qualities and professionalism.
As the first Military Administrator of Ogun state and before he handed over to the first civilian governor of the state, Chief Olabisi Onabanjo in 1979, he did his best by contributing valiantly with patriotism (not withstanding that he was not an indigene) to the building of the foundation of the modern Ogun State. His milestone achievements included the establishment of the College of Education in 1978 by then, the first tertiary institution in the state. He built the legislative quarters and a road network in Abeokuta, the state capital.
He was also at different times of his career, the acting governor of Kwara and Sokoto states. And he retired from the force in 1985 while serving as the Nigerian Ambassador to Ghana.
After retirement, while most of his colleagues started their second careers as politicians, power brokers, government contractors and oil and gas dealers in order to support their insatiable opulent lifestyle , he chose the more serene life of retirement spending more time with his family and dedicate the remaining time to community service especially at the grassroots which he did till the end.
Knowing Trevor (the first son of the deceased) about 10 years ago, then a chemical engineer who was a budding IT guru whose twin brother, Lester, also an engineer was then an officer in the Nigeria Custom, I couldn’t but marvel that this former governor’s son had to work hard to pay his bills just like me, a son of the governed and sometimes had to ‘western union’ his parents just like me. Most other governors’ children that I know live in houses they would never pay the mortgage and draw from accounts they never made deposits. Lester later left the Custom for an obvious reason, the reason that has adhered many to the Custom. The Custom is ‘too corrupt for Comfort!’
I couldn’t help tears rolling down my eyes when I read the testimony of our hero about the hardship faced by pensioners in our nation. According to him, save for the efforts of some good meaning Nigerians like Otunba (Dr.) Michael Adenuga Jnr. and Governor Gbenga Daniels who do come to his aid sometimes, life would have been very unbearable.
His life is an indication that public service does not necessary have to turn somebody into an overnight millionaire or billionaire. We have seen it happen in other places. After years as Attorney-general of Arkansas state, 12 years as governor of the same state and 8 years as the President of the richest and the most powerful country in the world, Bill Clinton took a mortgage in the year 2000 to buy his only house then. After many years as a MP regardless of the recent scandal in the UK parliament and 10 years as the Prime Minister of this wealthy and powerful nation, Tony Blair took up paid consultancy job with an American bank in order to sustain his living. How many of our civil servant and politicians have legitimate income to substantiate what they control in material assets? How do you explain a middle class civil servant sponsoring two children in colleges simultaneously in the UK?
There is nothing wrong in getting rich legitimately, I also pray and aspire to be as I am leaving no stone unturned in succeeding even financially. I do know some rich Nigerians who conscientiously served the nation yet made their money without joining the bandwagon in diverting public funds. I am very proud of them. Nigeria is proud of them and Nigerians are proud of them.
May the Lord grant the Eghagha’s family the fortitude to bear the double loss of both the patriarch and matriarch of the family.
And to our hero, as you continue the journey with your wife , I wish you a peaceful rest in the Lord. "The beauty of life is that it goes on even after it had ended. For a great many though, it has ended even while it goes on" May your soul rest in perfect peace. Amen
God Bless Nigeria!
Nigeria Go Better!
Rufus Kayode Oteniya (oteniyark@hotmail.com) is the founder and the administrator of Nigeria Think Tank a Facebook discussion forum created to confront problems confronting us as a people.
This article is also published on the following links:
http://www.huhuonline.com/column_BeatThem.html
http://www.facebook.com/group.php?gid=58221486905&ref=mf#/topic.php?uid=58221486905&topic=9200.
http://www.nigeriavillagesquare.com/articles/rufus-kayode-oteniya/beat-them-if-you-cannot-join-them-a-tribute-to-a.html
http://www.saharareporters.com/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=2768:beat-them-if-you-cannot-join-them-a-tribute-to-a-hero&catid=84:statehood&Itemid=201
http://www.afrora.com/index.php?id=226105&cursor=0&blogs=1&loc=en_US
http://www.pointblanknews.com/artopn1330.html
http://www.modernghana.com/news/217022/1/beat-them-if-you-cannot-join-them-a-tribute-to-a-h.html
http://www.championsfornigeria.org/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=339&Itemid=35
http://archive.wn.com/2009/05/19/childrenspost/index.html
The Forbidden Fruit: A warning to Aso Rock
Denise is a 6 year old who does not in anyway look like a typical girl of her age. She seems to have lost almost 2 years in physical stature taking after her diminutive mum. Nature has generously compensated her with the power in her tongue. Her mouth is sharper than a two edged sword. She can talk and even over-talk to make one wonder if it is a blessing or otherwise.
She is the second daughter of Michel, our Cameroonian friend and Nicole, his wife who is an Ivorian. We used to live in the same neighbourhood before we moved to our current location. After a long time of only telephone conversations between the two families and no see, we were able to arrange a dinner in our house on a Saturday evening.
While the dinner was being served, I switched on the television in the dinning to watch the AIT international news. Michel is from the Bamileke tribe in the English speaking part of Cameroon so I was sure he would enjoy watching an Africa news channel in English. No sooner the TV was switched on that Denise quizzed in Italian language “chi è questo uomo?” Meaning who is this man? I pretended I didn’t hear her but she pressed further pointing to the TV asking “why does he look like this? He looks sick……..” I could see that her father was a little bit embarrassed about the utterances of his daughter but the mother seemed to be indifferent even though it was obvious that I wasn’t comfortable with her comments.
How could a child talk like this? How could a child be so unkind in her remark towards another being? Do her parents help tame her razor-sharp tongue? A tongue, like a rudder in a ship is a small part controlling a big body, the power of life and death is in it. These are some of the questions running riot in my head. I began to wonder if they ever taught their daughter what our children call African education. Do they plan to send her to a finishing school later in life? We have taught our children never to make any nasty comments about anybody. They are to respect elders and call elderly Africans ‘uncles’ or ‘aunts’ in a country where everybody is called by his or her first name regardless of the age or status. We have taught them how to comport inside and outside home; and even to do some household work. Does it mean some African parents don’t bother about all the social and moral values in our African informal education? Our African education also includes what the scripture intends when it says “spare the rod and spoil the child”
The little girl almost spoilt my evening until my wife helped me come back to my senses and then I realised that Denise was just saying the truth in her innocence. Absolute truth! Nothing but the truth! Truth can be truly bitter. She must have a discerning spirit. So how could a little girl spot a sick person within a few seconds? So a girl this young can quickly know what 140 million good people of our great Nation are being told is not real. No! No! No! Flesh and blood have not revealed this to her.
How come madam doesn’t know that Oga is sick or is she pretending? How come she doesn’t know we see the same thing she sees, the same thing Oga sees in the mirror. We see the fading and skeletal figure. It is not inhuman to be sick rather it’s inhuman to deny this fact. We all know he is sick. Hardly can a day go by without my family praying that God will strengthen him to complete his term so that he can have enough time to attend to his health. Even though he is not desirable at Aso rock, we pray that he will live long enough to see our own Obama and a nation of our dreams. A nation the founding fathers had in mind when the fought for independence. A nation where the law will rule, not his hypocritical rule of law. An egalitarian society where the people in government will also know the difference between private and government funds. A nation we will all be proud to call ours.
Just while we continued in our fervent prayer and occasional fasting for his survival, stories started to filter out of a second term. Second ‘wetin’? It can’t believe this. No it can’t be true. It’s surely a forbidden fruit that must not be eaten. So Shakespeare was right when he said that “there is no art to find the mind construction on the face”
In an Obasanjo’s style of third-term leak, people started reading the scripts out loud and clear. Chief Tony Anenih and the FCT Minister, Alhaji Muhammadu Adamu Aliero were the first persons to disclose this. As I was still contending with the sanity of both men, then Dr. Bukola Saraki, the Kwara State governor also confirmed this while speaking on behalf of all PDP governors…… It can never be true. All the PDP governors can not lose their minds simultaneously. Was it another April fool? No. What could have motivated him and even them? I know cancer do spread, has it got to the faculty? Can the devils who deceived Obasanjo to go for a third shot be at work again? Or the sprites of the Abacha era? Or is it the innocently looking ‘uninnocent’ Madam? They cannot mean it. We cannot take it. “You can fool some people sometimes but you cannot fool all the people all the time” – apology to Bob Marley.
After taking more than his fair share of the booty and contributing more than most of his corrupt old politicians in dragging Nigeria down, common sense would have expected Chief Anenih to fade off from the scene but his greed seems to be insatiable. Has he squandered the tens of billions of Naira he made during Obasanjo’s era as the Minister of Work, PDP’s BOT Chairman and as ‘Mr. Fix it’ or he just wanted a few more billions acting as a ‘fix it’ consultant. If not psychosis, how could someone who owns more than 100 houses in Abuja alone still be interested in filching public fund. God is watching and we will all have to account to Him someday. A wise man of his age should be factoring eternity in his thoughts.
Nothing better could have been expected from Alhaji Adamu Aliero who in spite of his infamous past as a governor in Kebbi State was still made the FCT Minister only for arranging his successor in Kebbi State House, Governor Saidu Usman Nasamu Dakin Gari to take Zainab a first daughter as a third wife. If this is your own way of saying thank you, you have really taken it too far. How can you recommend a slumbering head to a nation that is fast awake? Foul!
Governor Bukola Saraki is the son of the the Senate Majority leader in the second republic Olusola Saraki. This medical doctor turned banker and ultimately politician will for ever be remembered as the Damaging Director of Societe General bank in Nigeria for single-handedly running dry the bank while he was the CEO and his father was the Chairman. Our memory is not shallow. As a good people, we only have a big heart to forgive and give a second chance otherwise, you would have been lynched for the pains you caused depositors and investor of SGB. Now you want to replicate what you did to the bank to the entire nation. How can a knowledgeable human being claim that the Oga needs 2 years to study the problem of this country and 6 years to act. The statement confirms what is believed in some quarters that our political office aspirant should go for psychiatric evaluation. Any one who needs 2 years to study a problem, will certainly need eternity to solve it. How many years will be required to study the problems of China or India. Obama knew what he wanted to do and started doing it from the first day of his presidency.
A First lady’s love of power is not peculiar to Turai but I think she is taking it to another level. Since her husband’s disability is gradually turning to inability, she is craftily trying to be in charge and turn Umaru to the nations ‘First gentleman’. Nigerians (rather Obasanjo and Iwu) did not vote Turai to Aso Rock but Umaru. Common sense would have suggested that a loving wife in your shoes would have advised the husband to stand down on the account of ill health. Your action has brought back the memory of ‘Mamangida’ who believed it was more glorious to be a late president than a former president. What difference does it make if someone dies as a former president or a sitting president? If you are motivated by your search for more gubernatorial suitors for your other daughters, you still have about 2 years to put your acts together. Nigerians are tired of reading about your illegal deals and financial escapades littering the pages of our online news sites. You can be more honourable!
Mr. President, if truly you have thought about a second term, it must have been at best, a poor decision, bad judgment and gross insensitivity from your side. My advice is that it is good you seek help when you can, get yourself some attention while you can and get some treatments which you can as only the wise see danger around the corner and take appropriate action. A word is enough for the wise! Nigeria is no North Korea where an obviously dying Kim II-Sung was nominated for another term. We have many capable and able people to lead us to the promised land. We can not wait to see you leave Aso Rock Villa. It is our prayer that you would be the last old order politician to stay in the Villa. We desperately need a break and a change. We can make it! Yes we can!! Yes we will!!!
The only Constance in life is change. People can change. Was the President not the seemingly meek Governor of Katsina? May be the fear of Obasanjo and Nuhu Ribadu was the beginning of his meekness and wisdom then. Was he not the reluctant presidential candidate? How come he doesn’t want to leave even in spite of all odds against him? Was he not the one who left about 6 billion Naira in the coffer of his state while his colleagues left billions in debt or did he just lack idea of what to do with government’s money? At least he could have built a world-class hospital in Katsina to take care of his ailment to save Nigeria the cost and foreign exchange to fly him to Germany and Saudi Arabia.
What have you done in your almost two years free-for-all corruption plagued government? What have we gained from our patience? What dividend of democracy have you delivered? Nothing! You embrace the corrupt and run after the corruption fighters. You befriend Ibori, Odili, Turaki, Lucky, Kalu etc and chase Nuhu Ribadu. Is that your way of fighting corruption?
Your allies say you need 2 years to study the problems. Which problems? National or personal problems? Nigeria has no other problems than to fight corruption, generate electricity, provide good roads and other infrastructures, provide quality education, heathcare………….. and most of all rebrand you politicians and other public office holders.
You have 2 more years to prove sceptics wrong and let them know that slow and steady win the race. Please don’t renege on your promise of 6000 KW by the end of the year.
God Bless Nigeria!
Nigeria Go Better!
Rufus Kayode Oteniya (oteniyark@hotmail.com) is the founder and the administrator of Nigeria Think Tank a Facebook discussion forum created to confront problems confronting us as a people.
This article is also published on the following links:
http://www.nigeriavillagesquare.com/articles/guest-articles/the-forbidden-fruit-a-warning-to-aso.html
http://www.saharareporters.com/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=2717:the-forbidden-fruit-a-warning-to-aso-rock&catid=84:statehood&Itemid=201
http://www.afrora.com/site/news/index.php?id=223516&cursor=0&blogs=0&sort=tv&loc=en_US
http://www.huhuonline.com/specialletter35.html
http://www.facebook.com/group.php?gid=58221486905&ref=mf#/topic.php?uid=58221486905&topic=9104
http://www.pointblanknews.com/artopn1314.html
She is the second daughter of Michel, our Cameroonian friend and Nicole, his wife who is an Ivorian. We used to live in the same neighbourhood before we moved to our current location. After a long time of only telephone conversations between the two families and no see, we were able to arrange a dinner in our house on a Saturday evening.
While the dinner was being served, I switched on the television in the dinning to watch the AIT international news. Michel is from the Bamileke tribe in the English speaking part of Cameroon so I was sure he would enjoy watching an Africa news channel in English. No sooner the TV was switched on that Denise quizzed in Italian language “chi è questo uomo?” Meaning who is this man? I pretended I didn’t hear her but she pressed further pointing to the TV asking “why does he look like this? He looks sick……..” I could see that her father was a little bit embarrassed about the utterances of his daughter but the mother seemed to be indifferent even though it was obvious that I wasn’t comfortable with her comments.
How could a child talk like this? How could a child be so unkind in her remark towards another being? Do her parents help tame her razor-sharp tongue? A tongue, like a rudder in a ship is a small part controlling a big body, the power of life and death is in it. These are some of the questions running riot in my head. I began to wonder if they ever taught their daughter what our children call African education. Do they plan to send her to a finishing school later in life? We have taught our children never to make any nasty comments about anybody. They are to respect elders and call elderly Africans ‘uncles’ or ‘aunts’ in a country where everybody is called by his or her first name regardless of the age or status. We have taught them how to comport inside and outside home; and even to do some household work. Does it mean some African parents don’t bother about all the social and moral values in our African informal education? Our African education also includes what the scripture intends when it says “spare the rod and spoil the child”
The little girl almost spoilt my evening until my wife helped me come back to my senses and then I realised that Denise was just saying the truth in her innocence. Absolute truth! Nothing but the truth! Truth can be truly bitter. She must have a discerning spirit. So how could a little girl spot a sick person within a few seconds? So a girl this young can quickly know what 140 million good people of our great Nation are being told is not real. No! No! No! Flesh and blood have not revealed this to her.
How come madam doesn’t know that Oga is sick or is she pretending? How come she doesn’t know we see the same thing she sees, the same thing Oga sees in the mirror. We see the fading and skeletal figure. It is not inhuman to be sick rather it’s inhuman to deny this fact. We all know he is sick. Hardly can a day go by without my family praying that God will strengthen him to complete his term so that he can have enough time to attend to his health. Even though he is not desirable at Aso rock, we pray that he will live long enough to see our own Obama and a nation of our dreams. A nation the founding fathers had in mind when the fought for independence. A nation where the law will rule, not his hypocritical rule of law. An egalitarian society where the people in government will also know the difference between private and government funds. A nation we will all be proud to call ours.
Just while we continued in our fervent prayer and occasional fasting for his survival, stories started to filter out of a second term. Second ‘wetin’? It can’t believe this. No it can’t be true. It’s surely a forbidden fruit that must not be eaten. So Shakespeare was right when he said that “there is no art to find the mind construction on the face”
In an Obasanjo’s style of third-term leak, people started reading the scripts out loud and clear. Chief Tony Anenih and the FCT Minister, Alhaji Muhammadu Adamu Aliero were the first persons to disclose this. As I was still contending with the sanity of both men, then Dr. Bukola Saraki, the Kwara State governor also confirmed this while speaking on behalf of all PDP governors…… It can never be true. All the PDP governors can not lose their minds simultaneously. Was it another April fool? No. What could have motivated him and even them? I know cancer do spread, has it got to the faculty? Can the devils who deceived Obasanjo to go for a third shot be at work again? Or the sprites of the Abacha era? Or is it the innocently looking ‘uninnocent’ Madam? They cannot mean it. We cannot take it. “You can fool some people sometimes but you cannot fool all the people all the time” – apology to Bob Marley.
After taking more than his fair share of the booty and contributing more than most of his corrupt old politicians in dragging Nigeria down, common sense would have expected Chief Anenih to fade off from the scene but his greed seems to be insatiable. Has he squandered the tens of billions of Naira he made during Obasanjo’s era as the Minister of Work, PDP’s BOT Chairman and as ‘Mr. Fix it’ or he just wanted a few more billions acting as a ‘fix it’ consultant. If not psychosis, how could someone who owns more than 100 houses in Abuja alone still be interested in filching public fund. God is watching and we will all have to account to Him someday. A wise man of his age should be factoring eternity in his thoughts.
Nothing better could have been expected from Alhaji Adamu Aliero who in spite of his infamous past as a governor in Kebbi State was still made the FCT Minister only for arranging his successor in Kebbi State House, Governor Saidu Usman Nasamu Dakin Gari to take Zainab a first daughter as a third wife. If this is your own way of saying thank you, you have really taken it too far. How can you recommend a slumbering head to a nation that is fast awake? Foul!
Governor Bukola Saraki is the son of the the Senate Majority leader in the second republic Olusola Saraki. This medical doctor turned banker and ultimately politician will for ever be remembered as the Damaging Director of Societe General bank in Nigeria for single-handedly running dry the bank while he was the CEO and his father was the Chairman. Our memory is not shallow. As a good people, we only have a big heart to forgive and give a second chance otherwise, you would have been lynched for the pains you caused depositors and investor of SGB. Now you want to replicate what you did to the bank to the entire nation. How can a knowledgeable human being claim that the Oga needs 2 years to study the problem of this country and 6 years to act. The statement confirms what is believed in some quarters that our political office aspirant should go for psychiatric evaluation. Any one who needs 2 years to study a problem, will certainly need eternity to solve it. How many years will be required to study the problems of China or India. Obama knew what he wanted to do and started doing it from the first day of his presidency.
A First lady’s love of power is not peculiar to Turai but I think she is taking it to another level. Since her husband’s disability is gradually turning to inability, she is craftily trying to be in charge and turn Umaru to the nations ‘First gentleman’. Nigerians (rather Obasanjo and Iwu) did not vote Turai to Aso Rock but Umaru. Common sense would have suggested that a loving wife in your shoes would have advised the husband to stand down on the account of ill health. Your action has brought back the memory of ‘Mamangida’ who believed it was more glorious to be a late president than a former president. What difference does it make if someone dies as a former president or a sitting president? If you are motivated by your search for more gubernatorial suitors for your other daughters, you still have about 2 years to put your acts together. Nigerians are tired of reading about your illegal deals and financial escapades littering the pages of our online news sites. You can be more honourable!
Mr. President, if truly you have thought about a second term, it must have been at best, a poor decision, bad judgment and gross insensitivity from your side. My advice is that it is good you seek help when you can, get yourself some attention while you can and get some treatments which you can as only the wise see danger around the corner and take appropriate action. A word is enough for the wise! Nigeria is no North Korea where an obviously dying Kim II-Sung was nominated for another term. We have many capable and able people to lead us to the promised land. We can not wait to see you leave Aso Rock Villa. It is our prayer that you would be the last old order politician to stay in the Villa. We desperately need a break and a change. We can make it! Yes we can!! Yes we will!!!
The only Constance in life is change. People can change. Was the President not the seemingly meek Governor of Katsina? May be the fear of Obasanjo and Nuhu Ribadu was the beginning of his meekness and wisdom then. Was he not the reluctant presidential candidate? How come he doesn’t want to leave even in spite of all odds against him? Was he not the one who left about 6 billion Naira in the coffer of his state while his colleagues left billions in debt or did he just lack idea of what to do with government’s money? At least he could have built a world-class hospital in Katsina to take care of his ailment to save Nigeria the cost and foreign exchange to fly him to Germany and Saudi Arabia.
What have you done in your almost two years free-for-all corruption plagued government? What have we gained from our patience? What dividend of democracy have you delivered? Nothing! You embrace the corrupt and run after the corruption fighters. You befriend Ibori, Odili, Turaki, Lucky, Kalu etc and chase Nuhu Ribadu. Is that your way of fighting corruption?
Your allies say you need 2 years to study the problems. Which problems? National or personal problems? Nigeria has no other problems than to fight corruption, generate electricity, provide good roads and other infrastructures, provide quality education, heathcare………….. and most of all rebrand you politicians and other public office holders.
You have 2 more years to prove sceptics wrong and let them know that slow and steady win the race. Please don’t renege on your promise of 6000 KW by the end of the year.
God Bless Nigeria!
Nigeria Go Better!
Rufus Kayode Oteniya (oteniyark@hotmail.com) is the founder and the administrator of Nigeria Think Tank a Facebook discussion forum created to confront problems confronting us as a people.
This article is also published on the following links:
http://www.nigeriavillagesquare.com/articles/guest-articles/the-forbidden-fruit-a-warning-to-aso.html
http://www.saharareporters.com/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=2717:the-forbidden-fruit-a-warning-to-aso-rock&catid=84:statehood&Itemid=201
http://www.afrora.com/site/news/index.php?id=223516&cursor=0&blogs=0&sort=tv&loc=en_US
http://www.huhuonline.com/specialletter35.html
http://www.facebook.com/group.php?gid=58221486905&ref=mf#/topic.php?uid=58221486905&topic=9104
http://www.pointblanknews.com/artopn1314.html
Corruption: How did we get this low? And which way out? – An open letter to a great Nation
My dear fellow countrymen,
This is the first of what I hope will be a series of regular letters to the 140 million Good People of this Great Nation. Being my first letter, I would like to deal with an issue of utmost concern to all, something that touches every life in the nation. Corruption is a menace that is posing a great challenge to our development, a torn in the flesh of our national conscience compromising the rule of law and becoming an undesirable way of life and governance that is undermining our democratic values. I would spend much energy and time addressing what I think should be lasting solutions to this somewhat incurable disease that is more dangerous than the notorious Swine flu.
Many have talked passionately and elaborately about this problem with only a few suggesting the ways out. Lamentation will not effect any change unless we get to the root cause, cure it and remove all the signs and symptoms. I would be using this space to do exactly that. We have to come together to end this problem even though we did not create it but we have all contributed to project it to the current level.
Very often, when we talk about corruption, we all tend to look at the other side, it something others do. Someone else is corrupt. It’s what the politicians do, it’s what the bosses do in Aso Rock and all the federal, state and local government houses; and the parliaments. Yes they do but if they are the only corrupt beings, then only an insignificant fraction of our society is corrupt. We are all quick to judge as corrupt, the NNPC and all organizations that have N stuck in them such as PHCN, NERC, NPA, NA, NN, NAF, NPF, NI, NC, NFA, FAAN, CBN, NDIC, NDCC, INEC…. Yes! You are right. They are all corrupt but corruption is not limited to them. If corruption is only limited to what we see in Ibori, Aondoakaa, the hairdresser Etteh, Lucky, Tafa, Alam, Edem, Alaibe, Dariye, Odili, Turaki, Atiku, Yar’Adua, Obasanjo, Abacha, Babangida, Abdulsalam, Siemens, Willbros, Halliburton and African Petroleum, I would be the first to thrown stone at them in the open. No! It is far beyond this.
So what is corruption? Nice question! Who is corrupt? Still a good question!! How did we get there? A better question!!! And how do we get out of this mess? Wow! You’ve just ask the best question!!!! My letter will deal with all these questions.
According to Oxford English dictionary, corruption is dishonest or illegal behaviour or the willingness to act dishonestly in return for money or personal gain. If I have to expand this and bring it home, then corruption is a dysfunctional system or institution in which government officials, political officials and private employers or employees seek illegitimate personal gains through actions such as bribery, extortion, nepotism, graft, embezzlement and abuse of corporate power by managers against the shareholders or consumers. Corruption usually facilitate organized crime and criminal activities such as money laundering, fraud or 419, drug trafficking and all other forms of trafficking.
A government is susceptible to political corruption where access to politics is organized with limited transparency, limited competition and directed towards promoting narrow interests featuring stuffs like kleptocracy – rule by thieves inflating contracts and electoral process manipulation and rigging.
Who is corrupt?
This is a practical question that I would like to answer practically. In answering this question, I would like to ask you a few personal questions based on your past experiences. You’ll need to do some personal appraisal. If you answer YES to any of the questions, it can not be said that your are totally immune to corruption. If you answer is NO to all the question, I may have to bring a lie-detector to run the test on you by myself and if you still get a perfect NO, be sure that I’d recommend you to Transparency International (TI) in Berlin, Germany for a special anti-corruption award.
· Have you ever embezzled i.e. wrongfully taken, stolen or misappropriated a fund or office entrusted in your care. This include sending an official employee e.g. your official driver on a private errand? YES/NO
· Have you ever favoured or received favour from relatives, friends and associates in employment, judgement, award of contract or admission? YES/NO
· Have you ever made an illegitimate gain in employing someone or given a contract to a person other than the most competent candidate? YES/NO
· Have you ever been ‘settled’, taken a graft or a kickback i.e. a share of misappropriated funds from overpriced purchases or allocated from an organization involved in inflated contract? YES/NO
· Have you ever rigged an election or accepted an elected office through a fraudulent election? YES/NO
· Have you ever inflated the price of an item purchased in your official capacity or inflated the price of a contract?
· Have you ever used your official power illegitimately as means to an end, to punish or promote a person or to trump-up charges against enemies? YES/NO
If your answer is outright NO, congratulation! You have not contributed to corruption in the country but wait! Before you start uncorking the Champagne or giving testimony in your local church of your incorruptibility, let me ask you the last question.
· Have you ever given any form of bribe to any one or taken one. YES/NO
The answer to this may require a real soul-searching. Think of the popular N100 at the checkpoint substituting vehicle documents, N1000 at the airport for easy passage, N10,000 to the Immigration officer for quick passport, N100,000 at Idi-Iroko and Seme border to make the Custom men blind, N1,000,000 at Tin-Can to have a reduced tariff or duty, N10,000,000 to the Senate Committee, N100,000,000 to INEC to change the will of the people, N1,000,000,000 to the Presidency for the Oil block……………. Wow! Everything has a price.
Really, corruption can be graded. Some are more harmful than the others but every bit of it is detrimental to our system. We are where we are today as a result of all the forms of corruption at all level and we are all have to take responsibility and flush it out of our national life.
How did we get this low?
No nation is perfect. No country is 100% protected from corruption. In all great nations, corruption is not visible and acceptable. It goes on underground and perpetrated by only an infinitesimal fraction of the society and who are brought to book whenever they are caught. Nigeria was like this until the mid ‘60 when we had our first shot at electoral corruption.
In 1965 elections, the Action Group (AG), a party led by late Chief Obafemi Awolowo was outmanoeuvred for control of Nigeria's Western Region by the Nigerian National Democratic Party, an amalgamation of conservative Yoruba elements backed heavily by the Federal Government amid dubious electoral circumstances. This perceived corruption of the electoral and political process as well as other forms of corruption were cited as the factors leading in 1966 to back-to-back military coups.
Ever since the mid ‘60s, corruption has been dwelling with us and all successive governments made the fight against corruption a core point of their policies. We never really had a large scale corruption until the civilian regime of Alhaji Shehu Shagari, a grade 2 teacher turned president. The Shagari government was viewed as very corrupt and incompetent by virtually all sectors of Nigerian society. Are teachers incompetent to put their teaching experiences and skills to ruling a nation? Yar’Adua is a former teacher.
Under Shagari’s government between 1979 to 1983, politicians like Alhaji Umaru Dikko, the then minister of transport was said to be corruptly making up to a million naira (then a naira was more than a dollar) daily from importation of rice and other commodities; and import duties fraud. The government was also re-elected through a massively fraudulent election that caused a lot of unrest in some south west states.
Most of the Shagari era’s deep corrupt practices were reversed by Mohammadu Buhari/Idi-Agbon’s government through the War Against Indiscipline programme (WAI). It was the only government on record apart from the short-lived Murtala Mohammed’s government that showed seriousness in fighting corruption. Other governments played only lip service. This high-handed government that came in January 1984 was overthrown in 1985 by Ibrahim Babangida to the relieve of many.
Most people believe that the Babangida’s government should be credited with institutionalizing corruption in our system. Babangida himself was the architect of the present miserable state of the nation and some call him the author and the finisher of corruption in the country. It can be correctly said that “the seed of corruption was planted by Babangida, watered by Abacha, nurtured to maturity by Abdulsalam, consolidated by Obasanjo and harvested by Yar’Adua”. The successive governments keep building on the brawny foundation of corruption Babangida laid and this explains why the situation progressively get worse. The zenith of this government’s corrupt practices was Babangida’s annulment of June 12, 1993 election which was adjudged by most people as the most free and fair election in the history of Nigeria and presumably won by Alhaji Moshood Abiola a philanthropic business mogul and government contractor.
So how do we get out of this mess called corruption?
Whatever has a beginning must definitely have an end. Life always present us with choices. We have two choices in ending this endemic vice that has apparently caused us to live a discounted life with an ever diminishing standard of living. It has eroded our national pride and sense of belongingness leaving us with nothing other than a collapsed system with brain drain and unemployment as main features and now threatening to completely mortgage our future.
Much sooner than later, we will be left with a violent change is we fail to make a peaceful change now! Abuja should know that those who make peaceful changes impossible, make violent changes inevitable.
Most Nigerians hope and pray to live in a country that will be free from corruption and many of us believe that a cause worth living for is worth dying for. We will be left with no alternative than this bloody revolution if we fail to act on a peaceful resolution.
The peace resolution will require a collective effort by all and sundry to be spearheaded by the government. Needless to say that with this depth of corruption, no single person or organisation has the moral ability and capability to fight it because when you do a background check, you will find out that those empowered by law to fight corruption are more deeply involved in corruption than those they want to check. The government has to provide an enabling environment by making zero tolerant policies (that must be strictly adhered to) against corruption and by leading through example that will flow down the ladder.
President Yar’Adua must show that he is serious about fighting this corruption and if he succeeds in just only this, posterity will place him on the right side of history.
Everyone has to give up all corrupt practices or be brought to book and whenever we see something, we have to say something as demanded by EFCC.
Nigeria also need to get back all the stolen money and looted treasures especially considering the present economic situation. We thereby need to set up a recovery commission using the South African model of Truth and Reconciliatory Commission (TRC) in order to get the loots back so that we can have a fresh start.
TRC was a court-like body assembled in South Africa after the abolition of apartheid. Anyone who felt that he or she was a victim of its violence was invited to come forward and be heard. Perpetrators of violence could also give testimony and request amnesty from prosecution. Despite some flaws, it is generally thought to have been successful. It was seen by many as a crucial component of the transition to full and free democracy in South Africa.
A recovery commission will enable people to come out voluntary and return back their loots in exchange for amnesty and only those who refuse to cooperate will be brought to justice.
If we fail to act now, the good people of this great nation are becoming impatient and the forceful change is imminent. A word is enough for the wise and the fact remains that “The future will have no pity for those men who have the exceptional privilege of speaking the word of truth to their own oppressors but who have taken attitude of passivity, mute indifference and sometimes of cold complicity”. Frantz Fannon
God Bless Nigeria!
Nigeria Go Better!
Rufus Kayode Oteniya (oteniyark@hotmail.com) is the founder and the administrator of Nigeria Think Tank a Facebook discussion forum created to confront problems confronting us as a people.
This article is also published on the following links:
http://www.nigeriavillagesquare.com/articles/guest-articles/corruption-how-did-we-get-this-low-and-which-way-out-an-open-letter-to-a-great-n.html
http://www.modernghana.com/news2/214337/1/corruption-how-did-we-get-this-low-and-which-way-o.html
http://www.afrora.com/site/news/index.php?id=221499&cursor=0&blogs=0&loc=en_US
http://www.facebook.com/group.php?gid=58221486905&ref=mf#/topic.php?uid=58221486905&topic=9004
http://www.saharareports.com/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=2655:corruption-how-did-we-get-this-low-and-which-way-out--an-open-letter-to-a-great-nation&catid=81:external-contrib&Itemid=300
http://www.pointblanknews.com/artopn1284.html
http://www.huhuonline.com/column_Corruption.html
This is the first of what I hope will be a series of regular letters to the 140 million Good People of this Great Nation. Being my first letter, I would like to deal with an issue of utmost concern to all, something that touches every life in the nation. Corruption is a menace that is posing a great challenge to our development, a torn in the flesh of our national conscience compromising the rule of law and becoming an undesirable way of life and governance that is undermining our democratic values. I would spend much energy and time addressing what I think should be lasting solutions to this somewhat incurable disease that is more dangerous than the notorious Swine flu.
Many have talked passionately and elaborately about this problem with only a few suggesting the ways out. Lamentation will not effect any change unless we get to the root cause, cure it and remove all the signs and symptoms. I would be using this space to do exactly that. We have to come together to end this problem even though we did not create it but we have all contributed to project it to the current level.
Very often, when we talk about corruption, we all tend to look at the other side, it something others do. Someone else is corrupt. It’s what the politicians do, it’s what the bosses do in Aso Rock and all the federal, state and local government houses; and the parliaments. Yes they do but if they are the only corrupt beings, then only an insignificant fraction of our society is corrupt. We are all quick to judge as corrupt, the NNPC and all organizations that have N stuck in them such as PHCN, NERC, NPA, NA, NN, NAF, NPF, NI, NC, NFA, FAAN, CBN, NDIC, NDCC, INEC…. Yes! You are right. They are all corrupt but corruption is not limited to them. If corruption is only limited to what we see in Ibori, Aondoakaa, the hairdresser Etteh, Lucky, Tafa, Alam, Edem, Alaibe, Dariye, Odili, Turaki, Atiku, Yar’Adua, Obasanjo, Abacha, Babangida, Abdulsalam, Siemens, Willbros, Halliburton and African Petroleum, I would be the first to thrown stone at them in the open. No! It is far beyond this.
So what is corruption? Nice question! Who is corrupt? Still a good question!! How did we get there? A better question!!! And how do we get out of this mess? Wow! You’ve just ask the best question!!!! My letter will deal with all these questions.
According to Oxford English dictionary, corruption is dishonest or illegal behaviour or the willingness to act dishonestly in return for money or personal gain. If I have to expand this and bring it home, then corruption is a dysfunctional system or institution in which government officials, political officials and private employers or employees seek illegitimate personal gains through actions such as bribery, extortion, nepotism, graft, embezzlement and abuse of corporate power by managers against the shareholders or consumers. Corruption usually facilitate organized crime and criminal activities such as money laundering, fraud or 419, drug trafficking and all other forms of trafficking.
A government is susceptible to political corruption where access to politics is organized with limited transparency, limited competition and directed towards promoting narrow interests featuring stuffs like kleptocracy – rule by thieves inflating contracts and electoral process manipulation and rigging.
Who is corrupt?
This is a practical question that I would like to answer practically. In answering this question, I would like to ask you a few personal questions based on your past experiences. You’ll need to do some personal appraisal. If you answer YES to any of the questions, it can not be said that your are totally immune to corruption. If you answer is NO to all the question, I may have to bring a lie-detector to run the test on you by myself and if you still get a perfect NO, be sure that I’d recommend you to Transparency International (TI) in Berlin, Germany for a special anti-corruption award.
· Have you ever embezzled i.e. wrongfully taken, stolen or misappropriated a fund or office entrusted in your care. This include sending an official employee e.g. your official driver on a private errand? YES/NO
· Have you ever favoured or received favour from relatives, friends and associates in employment, judgement, award of contract or admission? YES/NO
· Have you ever made an illegitimate gain in employing someone or given a contract to a person other than the most competent candidate? YES/NO
· Have you ever been ‘settled’, taken a graft or a kickback i.e. a share of misappropriated funds from overpriced purchases or allocated from an organization involved in inflated contract? YES/NO
· Have you ever rigged an election or accepted an elected office through a fraudulent election? YES/NO
· Have you ever inflated the price of an item purchased in your official capacity or inflated the price of a contract?
· Have you ever used your official power illegitimately as means to an end, to punish or promote a person or to trump-up charges against enemies? YES/NO
If your answer is outright NO, congratulation! You have not contributed to corruption in the country but wait! Before you start uncorking the Champagne or giving testimony in your local church of your incorruptibility, let me ask you the last question.
· Have you ever given any form of bribe to any one or taken one. YES/NO
The answer to this may require a real soul-searching. Think of the popular N100 at the checkpoint substituting vehicle documents, N1000 at the airport for easy passage, N10,000 to the Immigration officer for quick passport, N100,000 at Idi-Iroko and Seme border to make the Custom men blind, N1,000,000 at Tin-Can to have a reduced tariff or duty, N10,000,000 to the Senate Committee, N100,000,000 to INEC to change the will of the people, N1,000,000,000 to the Presidency for the Oil block……………. Wow! Everything has a price.
Really, corruption can be graded. Some are more harmful than the others but every bit of it is detrimental to our system. We are where we are today as a result of all the forms of corruption at all level and we are all have to take responsibility and flush it out of our national life.
How did we get this low?
No nation is perfect. No country is 100% protected from corruption. In all great nations, corruption is not visible and acceptable. It goes on underground and perpetrated by only an infinitesimal fraction of the society and who are brought to book whenever they are caught. Nigeria was like this until the mid ‘60 when we had our first shot at electoral corruption.
In 1965 elections, the Action Group (AG), a party led by late Chief Obafemi Awolowo was outmanoeuvred for control of Nigeria's Western Region by the Nigerian National Democratic Party, an amalgamation of conservative Yoruba elements backed heavily by the Federal Government amid dubious electoral circumstances. This perceived corruption of the electoral and political process as well as other forms of corruption were cited as the factors leading in 1966 to back-to-back military coups.
Ever since the mid ‘60s, corruption has been dwelling with us and all successive governments made the fight against corruption a core point of their policies. We never really had a large scale corruption until the civilian regime of Alhaji Shehu Shagari, a grade 2 teacher turned president. The Shagari government was viewed as very corrupt and incompetent by virtually all sectors of Nigerian society. Are teachers incompetent to put their teaching experiences and skills to ruling a nation? Yar’Adua is a former teacher.
Under Shagari’s government between 1979 to 1983, politicians like Alhaji Umaru Dikko, the then minister of transport was said to be corruptly making up to a million naira (then a naira was more than a dollar) daily from importation of rice and other commodities; and import duties fraud. The government was also re-elected through a massively fraudulent election that caused a lot of unrest in some south west states.
Most of the Shagari era’s deep corrupt practices were reversed by Mohammadu Buhari/Idi-Agbon’s government through the War Against Indiscipline programme (WAI). It was the only government on record apart from the short-lived Murtala Mohammed’s government that showed seriousness in fighting corruption. Other governments played only lip service. This high-handed government that came in January 1984 was overthrown in 1985 by Ibrahim Babangida to the relieve of many.
Most people believe that the Babangida’s government should be credited with institutionalizing corruption in our system. Babangida himself was the architect of the present miserable state of the nation and some call him the author and the finisher of corruption in the country. It can be correctly said that “the seed of corruption was planted by Babangida, watered by Abacha, nurtured to maturity by Abdulsalam, consolidated by Obasanjo and harvested by Yar’Adua”. The successive governments keep building on the brawny foundation of corruption Babangida laid and this explains why the situation progressively get worse. The zenith of this government’s corrupt practices was Babangida’s annulment of June 12, 1993 election which was adjudged by most people as the most free and fair election in the history of Nigeria and presumably won by Alhaji Moshood Abiola a philanthropic business mogul and government contractor.
So how do we get out of this mess called corruption?
Whatever has a beginning must definitely have an end. Life always present us with choices. We have two choices in ending this endemic vice that has apparently caused us to live a discounted life with an ever diminishing standard of living. It has eroded our national pride and sense of belongingness leaving us with nothing other than a collapsed system with brain drain and unemployment as main features and now threatening to completely mortgage our future.
Much sooner than later, we will be left with a violent change is we fail to make a peaceful change now! Abuja should know that those who make peaceful changes impossible, make violent changes inevitable.
Most Nigerians hope and pray to live in a country that will be free from corruption and many of us believe that a cause worth living for is worth dying for. We will be left with no alternative than this bloody revolution if we fail to act on a peaceful resolution.
The peace resolution will require a collective effort by all and sundry to be spearheaded by the government. Needless to say that with this depth of corruption, no single person or organisation has the moral ability and capability to fight it because when you do a background check, you will find out that those empowered by law to fight corruption are more deeply involved in corruption than those they want to check. The government has to provide an enabling environment by making zero tolerant policies (that must be strictly adhered to) against corruption and by leading through example that will flow down the ladder.
President Yar’Adua must show that he is serious about fighting this corruption and if he succeeds in just only this, posterity will place him on the right side of history.
Everyone has to give up all corrupt practices or be brought to book and whenever we see something, we have to say something as demanded by EFCC.
Nigeria also need to get back all the stolen money and looted treasures especially considering the present economic situation. We thereby need to set up a recovery commission using the South African model of Truth and Reconciliatory Commission (TRC) in order to get the loots back so that we can have a fresh start.
TRC was a court-like body assembled in South Africa after the abolition of apartheid. Anyone who felt that he or she was a victim of its violence was invited to come forward and be heard. Perpetrators of violence could also give testimony and request amnesty from prosecution. Despite some flaws, it is generally thought to have been successful. It was seen by many as a crucial component of the transition to full and free democracy in South Africa.
A recovery commission will enable people to come out voluntary and return back their loots in exchange for amnesty and only those who refuse to cooperate will be brought to justice.
If we fail to act now, the good people of this great nation are becoming impatient and the forceful change is imminent. A word is enough for the wise and the fact remains that “The future will have no pity for those men who have the exceptional privilege of speaking the word of truth to their own oppressors but who have taken attitude of passivity, mute indifference and sometimes of cold complicity”. Frantz Fannon
God Bless Nigeria!
Nigeria Go Better!
Rufus Kayode Oteniya (oteniyark@hotmail.com) is the founder and the administrator of Nigeria Think Tank a Facebook discussion forum created to confront problems confronting us as a people.
This article is also published on the following links:
http://www.nigeriavillagesquare.com/articles/guest-articles/corruption-how-did-we-get-this-low-and-which-way-out-an-open-letter-to-a-great-n.html
http://www.modernghana.com/news2/214337/1/corruption-how-did-we-get-this-low-and-which-way-o.html
http://www.afrora.com/site/news/index.php?id=221499&cursor=0&blogs=0&loc=en_US
http://www.facebook.com/group.php?gid=58221486905&ref=mf#/topic.php?uid=58221486905&topic=9004
http://www.saharareports.com/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=2655:corruption-how-did-we-get-this-low-and-which-way-out--an-open-letter-to-a-great-nation&catid=81:external-contrib&Itemid=300
http://www.pointblanknews.com/artopn1284.html
http://www.huhuonline.com/column_Corruption.html
Zacchaeus The Tallest Teacher
This piece is not a religious bigotry, it is about a moral issue that concerns Nigerians across the board.
Zacchaeus was one of the first bible character I knew. Even before I knew his whole story, I had known him as a man of little build. Back then in the 70’s, in my elementary school – Government demonstration School, Onitolo Street, Surulere, Lagos, there was a non academic staff member we used to sarcastically call Zacchaeus. We all knew it was derogatory, so we would hide or simply call him behind. Children can be mischievous! In a nutshell the name was synonymous to small height. Then every short man was a Zacchaeus.
Even after knowing his story, very often, we focus on his small stature without giving any thought to the tall aspect of him. We focus on the physical traits as if it is only the physique that makes a man. The story is incomplete and meaningless when you think only about his height. It was a story of a small man with huge endowment, a petite man with a great accomplishment, a tiny man with a giant dream, an undersized man with a great initiative, a small man with an enormous divine favour. A diminutive man with a large heart who was ready to re-write his sad past for a bright future. Even in the present day, many of the greatest men in the world are small-statured. President Arroyo of Philippines, Prime Minister Berlusconi of Italy (who also doubled as the country richest man) and many not ‘very tall’ Nigerians have contributed greatly to the development of the society.
For this piece to be understood, it is important to read the 10 verses dedicated to Zacchaeus in the Holy Book.
Luke 19:1-10
He entered Jericho and was passing through it. A man was there named Zacchaeus; he was a chief tax collector and was rich. He was trying to see who Jesus was, but on account of the crowd he could not, because he was short in stature. So he ran ahead and climbed a sycamore tree to see him, because he was going to pass that way. When Jesus came to the place, he looked up and said to him, "Zacchaeus, hurry and come down; for I must stay at your house today." So he hurried down and was happy to welcome him. All who saw it began to grumble and said, "He has gone to be the guest of one who is a sinner." Zacchaeus stood there and said to the Lord, "Look, half of my possessions, Lord, I will give to the poor; and if I have defrauded anyone of anything, I will pay back four times as much." Then Jesus said to him, "Today salvation has come to this house, because he too is a son of Abraham. For the Son of Man came to seek out and to save the lost."
Reading through the passage, there is no doubt about Zacchaeus’ stature. He was such a short man. He wanted to see Jesus but he couldn't see over the people in front of him. He didn't just give up and go home. No way, he looked for a way out to solve his problem. He had an idea. He would run ahead of the crowd and climb up the sycamore tree that was beside the path where Jesus would walk. What an excellent place! We could say he had a "front row seat".
As short as he was physically, he was tall and very tall in some areas of life. He was tall in riches, deeply tall indeed. He was tall in position and social class. He was a chief tax collector that can be likened to a Comptroller in the Nigeria Custom. He was tall in initiative. He knew what he needed to do to make up for his miniature size to beat the crowd. He was tall in his humility towards Christ because regardless of his elevated social status, he humbled himself to climb a tree just to see Jesus. And after climbing the tree, he was apparently taller than anyone. And most of all, he was tall in his lesson for Nigerians and probably the tallest teacher that has ever lived in this lesson for fellow countrymen.
As a chief tax collector, he was a wealthy man who was hated because he had cheated people by collecting more than he should. He would give part of the money to the government and keep the rest for himself just like a typical Nigerian.
Zacchaeus made so much money but apparently realized that life is not all about money. There is much more to life than money. Money is not everything. Money has power but also has limit. Money can bring people around but cannot buy love nor true friends, it can buy a house but not a home, it can bring smile but cannot buy joy nor happiness, it can buy the best medical care but cannot buy good health nor sanity, it can solve some problems but cannot buy peace, it can pay children fees in the best schools but cannot buy good children and above all it cannot buy life nor eternity. Materialism is all vanity.
After meeting with Jesus, Zacchaeus was so excited. The people who knew him to be a wicked and oppressive man began to murmur about His association with a sinner but Zacchaeus was sorry for the bad things he had done. As people began to criticize Jesus, Zacchaeus repented. He told the Lord that he would give half of his possessions to the poor, and if he had cheated anybody out of anything, he would give back four times that amount. Jesus was pleased with his excellent attitude of heart. He said, "Today salvation has come to this house."
There are two great lessons for us here. The first is that Zacchaeus promised to give half of his possessions to the poor. Having realized that accumulating material wealth is all vanity, he decided to do something more profitable and more fulfilling with his wealth. His action can be likened to that of the billionaire investor and Berkshire Hathaway Chairman, Warren Buffett who in 2006, in one swoop gave $31 billion (60% of his net worth) to the Gates Foundation in supporting their philanthropic work. In my last article (http://www.facebook.com/topic.php?uid=58221486905&topic=8517) , I wrote so much about giving back.
The second lesson from Zacchaeus is his act of restitution. ‘and if I have defrauded anyone of anything, I will pay back four times as much’. From his words, we gather that
he had been guilty of defrauding people,
he was remorseful over his past actions, and
he was committed to making restitution.
He was sincere and had an immediate desire to make restitution. Here was a man who was penitent and contrite, and was ready to prove his conversion by his resolve to atone, as much as possible, for past sins. He desired to re-write his past and right his wrongs. Genuine repentance leads to a desire to redress wrongs. When someone is repentant, he will have a desire born of deep conviction to do good, and that includes making restoration whenever possible.
Let us bring this home. Statistics show that Nigeria has earned the equivalent in today’s terms of nearly $1.2 trillion from oil production over the past four decades. This sort of money has enabled oil-producing nations like Saudi Arabia, U.A.E, Bahrain, Qatar and even Libya to transform their economies. We do not have much to show for ours. Most of the earnings ended up in private pockets of individual and according to Mr. Memedu Andrew of ACTIONAID, in 48 years of Nigeria’s existence, more than 64 trillion naira (about Nigeria’s Federal Budget for 20 years) has disappeared into thin air.
There is no doubt that Nigeria is plagued by corruption in the high and low places. From the President to the Porter, from the Minister to the Messenger, from the Chief of staff to the least of staff, from the Inspector General to Constable, from General to Private, from CEO to the Gateman and from the General Overseer and Chief Imam to the Clerk.
Nuru Ribadu, the former EFCC boss claimed that about $2 billion had been recovered from Abacha’s family and cronies as at Dec. 2006. Was Abacha the only corrupt past President? How much such money is with Babangida? Are his hands so clean that he has no case to answer even up till today. What about Abdulsalam, a saint? And of course, Obasanjo and even Yar’Adua? What about the past and present Vice presidents, governors and other public office holders. The Legislators, the Civil Servants and the government contractors, the military men, Custom officers, Policemen, Immigration officials, Judiciary, CBN, all officials of government parastatals, local government officials, foreign mission, foreign contractors like Siemens, Halliburton etc. and even the private sector. Corruption has eaten deep into the system such that no sector is spared – not even the religious organizations.
With this depth of corruption, even a serious government that is serious about fighting it may not find it practicable to bring all culprits to book. The cost of prosecution will be too enormous and the time will be too overwhelming. Why can’t we learn from Zacchaeus and start returning the loots back to the system to please our creator even if not in four folds like he did? And why can’t the government use South African model of Truth and Reconciliatory Commission (TRC) to get the loots back so that we can have a fresh start.
TRC was a court-like body assembled in South Africa after the abolition of apartheid. Anyone who felt that he or she was a victim of its violence was invited to come forward and be heard. Perpetrators of violence could also give testimony and request amnesty from prosecution. Despite some flaws, it is generally thought to have been successful. It was seen by many as a crucial component of the transition to full and free democracy in South Africa.
In Nigeria, we can have a Restitution Commission where all who have stolen and defrauded the nation will remorsefully come and make restitution in exchange for amnesty. Only those who fail to cooperate will be prosecuted.
Most Nigerians professed Christianity and Islam. These two faiths require the practitioners to live in clear conscience. Why can’t we just live to the tenets of our faith and stop being hypocrites. Why do we fill the Mosques and the Churches on weekends as saints only to return to our posts on Monday as looters.
God Bless Nigeria!
Nigeria Go Better!
Rufus Kayode Oteniya (oteniyark@hotmail.com) is the founder and the administrator of Nigeria Think Tank a Facebook discussion forum created to confront problems confronting us as a people.
This article is also published on the following links:
http://www.pointblanknews.com/artopn1252.html
http://www.facebook.com/group.php?gid=58221486905&ref=mf#/topic.php?uid=58221486905&topic=8823
http://www.saharareporters.com/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=2545:zacchaeus-the-tallest-teacher&catid=84:statehood&Itemid=201
http://nigeriathinktank.blogspot.com/2009/05/zacchaeus-tallest-teacher.html
Zacchaeus was one of the first bible character I knew. Even before I knew his whole story, I had known him as a man of little build. Back then in the 70’s, in my elementary school – Government demonstration School, Onitolo Street, Surulere, Lagos, there was a non academic staff member we used to sarcastically call Zacchaeus. We all knew it was derogatory, so we would hide or simply call him behind. Children can be mischievous! In a nutshell the name was synonymous to small height. Then every short man was a Zacchaeus.
Even after knowing his story, very often, we focus on his small stature without giving any thought to the tall aspect of him. We focus on the physical traits as if it is only the physique that makes a man. The story is incomplete and meaningless when you think only about his height. It was a story of a small man with huge endowment, a petite man with a great accomplishment, a tiny man with a giant dream, an undersized man with a great initiative, a small man with an enormous divine favour. A diminutive man with a large heart who was ready to re-write his sad past for a bright future. Even in the present day, many of the greatest men in the world are small-statured. President Arroyo of Philippines, Prime Minister Berlusconi of Italy (who also doubled as the country richest man) and many not ‘very tall’ Nigerians have contributed greatly to the development of the society.
For this piece to be understood, it is important to read the 10 verses dedicated to Zacchaeus in the Holy Book.
Luke 19:1-10
He entered Jericho and was passing through it. A man was there named Zacchaeus; he was a chief tax collector and was rich. He was trying to see who Jesus was, but on account of the crowd he could not, because he was short in stature. So he ran ahead and climbed a sycamore tree to see him, because he was going to pass that way. When Jesus came to the place, he looked up and said to him, "Zacchaeus, hurry and come down; for I must stay at your house today." So he hurried down and was happy to welcome him. All who saw it began to grumble and said, "He has gone to be the guest of one who is a sinner." Zacchaeus stood there and said to the Lord, "Look, half of my possessions, Lord, I will give to the poor; and if I have defrauded anyone of anything, I will pay back four times as much." Then Jesus said to him, "Today salvation has come to this house, because he too is a son of Abraham. For the Son of Man came to seek out and to save the lost."
Reading through the passage, there is no doubt about Zacchaeus’ stature. He was such a short man. He wanted to see Jesus but he couldn't see over the people in front of him. He didn't just give up and go home. No way, he looked for a way out to solve his problem. He had an idea. He would run ahead of the crowd and climb up the sycamore tree that was beside the path where Jesus would walk. What an excellent place! We could say he had a "front row seat".
As short as he was physically, he was tall and very tall in some areas of life. He was tall in riches, deeply tall indeed. He was tall in position and social class. He was a chief tax collector that can be likened to a Comptroller in the Nigeria Custom. He was tall in initiative. He knew what he needed to do to make up for his miniature size to beat the crowd. He was tall in his humility towards Christ because regardless of his elevated social status, he humbled himself to climb a tree just to see Jesus. And after climbing the tree, he was apparently taller than anyone. And most of all, he was tall in his lesson for Nigerians and probably the tallest teacher that has ever lived in this lesson for fellow countrymen.
As a chief tax collector, he was a wealthy man who was hated because he had cheated people by collecting more than he should. He would give part of the money to the government and keep the rest for himself just like a typical Nigerian.
Zacchaeus made so much money but apparently realized that life is not all about money. There is much more to life than money. Money is not everything. Money has power but also has limit. Money can bring people around but cannot buy love nor true friends, it can buy a house but not a home, it can bring smile but cannot buy joy nor happiness, it can buy the best medical care but cannot buy good health nor sanity, it can solve some problems but cannot buy peace, it can pay children fees in the best schools but cannot buy good children and above all it cannot buy life nor eternity. Materialism is all vanity.
After meeting with Jesus, Zacchaeus was so excited. The people who knew him to be a wicked and oppressive man began to murmur about His association with a sinner but Zacchaeus was sorry for the bad things he had done. As people began to criticize Jesus, Zacchaeus repented. He told the Lord that he would give half of his possessions to the poor, and if he had cheated anybody out of anything, he would give back four times that amount. Jesus was pleased with his excellent attitude of heart. He said, "Today salvation has come to this house."
There are two great lessons for us here. The first is that Zacchaeus promised to give half of his possessions to the poor. Having realized that accumulating material wealth is all vanity, he decided to do something more profitable and more fulfilling with his wealth. His action can be likened to that of the billionaire investor and Berkshire Hathaway Chairman, Warren Buffett who in 2006, in one swoop gave $31 billion (60% of his net worth) to the Gates Foundation in supporting their philanthropic work. In my last article (http://www.facebook.com/topic.php?uid=58221486905&topic=8517) , I wrote so much about giving back.
The second lesson from Zacchaeus is his act of restitution. ‘and if I have defrauded anyone of anything, I will pay back four times as much’. From his words, we gather that
he had been guilty of defrauding people,
he was remorseful over his past actions, and
he was committed to making restitution.
He was sincere and had an immediate desire to make restitution. Here was a man who was penitent and contrite, and was ready to prove his conversion by his resolve to atone, as much as possible, for past sins. He desired to re-write his past and right his wrongs. Genuine repentance leads to a desire to redress wrongs. When someone is repentant, he will have a desire born of deep conviction to do good, and that includes making restoration whenever possible.
Let us bring this home. Statistics show that Nigeria has earned the equivalent in today’s terms of nearly $1.2 trillion from oil production over the past four decades. This sort of money has enabled oil-producing nations like Saudi Arabia, U.A.E, Bahrain, Qatar and even Libya to transform their economies. We do not have much to show for ours. Most of the earnings ended up in private pockets of individual and according to Mr. Memedu Andrew of ACTIONAID, in 48 years of Nigeria’s existence, more than 64 trillion naira (about Nigeria’s Federal Budget for 20 years) has disappeared into thin air.
There is no doubt that Nigeria is plagued by corruption in the high and low places. From the President to the Porter, from the Minister to the Messenger, from the Chief of staff to the least of staff, from the Inspector General to Constable, from General to Private, from CEO to the Gateman and from the General Overseer and Chief Imam to the Clerk.
Nuru Ribadu, the former EFCC boss claimed that about $2 billion had been recovered from Abacha’s family and cronies as at Dec. 2006. Was Abacha the only corrupt past President? How much such money is with Babangida? Are his hands so clean that he has no case to answer even up till today. What about Abdulsalam, a saint? And of course, Obasanjo and even Yar’Adua? What about the past and present Vice presidents, governors and other public office holders. The Legislators, the Civil Servants and the government contractors, the military men, Custom officers, Policemen, Immigration officials, Judiciary, CBN, all officials of government parastatals, local government officials, foreign mission, foreign contractors like Siemens, Halliburton etc. and even the private sector. Corruption has eaten deep into the system such that no sector is spared – not even the religious organizations.
With this depth of corruption, even a serious government that is serious about fighting it may not find it practicable to bring all culprits to book. The cost of prosecution will be too enormous and the time will be too overwhelming. Why can’t we learn from Zacchaeus and start returning the loots back to the system to please our creator even if not in four folds like he did? And why can’t the government use South African model of Truth and Reconciliatory Commission (TRC) to get the loots back so that we can have a fresh start.
TRC was a court-like body assembled in South Africa after the abolition of apartheid. Anyone who felt that he or she was a victim of its violence was invited to come forward and be heard. Perpetrators of violence could also give testimony and request amnesty from prosecution. Despite some flaws, it is generally thought to have been successful. It was seen by many as a crucial component of the transition to full and free democracy in South Africa.
In Nigeria, we can have a Restitution Commission where all who have stolen and defrauded the nation will remorsefully come and make restitution in exchange for amnesty. Only those who fail to cooperate will be prosecuted.
Most Nigerians professed Christianity and Islam. These two faiths require the practitioners to live in clear conscience. Why can’t we just live to the tenets of our faith and stop being hypocrites. Why do we fill the Mosques and the Churches on weekends as saints only to return to our posts on Monday as looters.
God Bless Nigeria!
Nigeria Go Better!
Rufus Kayode Oteniya (oteniyark@hotmail.com) is the founder and the administrator of Nigeria Think Tank a Facebook discussion forum created to confront problems confronting us as a people.
This article is also published on the following links:
http://www.pointblanknews.com/artopn1252.html
http://www.facebook.com/group.php?gid=58221486905&ref=mf#/topic.php?uid=58221486905&topic=8823
http://www.saharareporters.com/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=2545:zacchaeus-the-tallest-teacher&catid=84:statehood&Itemid=201
http://nigeriathinktank.blogspot.com/2009/05/zacchaeus-tallest-teacher.html
She Wants You, She Needs You, She can’t Do Without You
There is no time to waste, she’s on a life-support machine and she definitely needs help. If unaided, this may be the last phase of her challenging life.
I would like to warn that this not a usual romantic tale as you may have thought or as suggested by the title nor a thriller full of escapades, it is a story dedicated to finding possible solutions to some of the problems confronting us as a people. If you are still interested in reading further, here we go.
Many years ago, she was diagnosed of a rare form of cancer that was detected at such an early stage that would have made it curable. Contrary to expectation, chemotherapy and radiation were ineffective in her case and the only option would have been surgically removing the affected tissues or organ from her system just like her sister once did when she had a similar problem. The tumour has now ravaged some of her organs. It has weaken her kidney and she needs a transplant. She also needs bone marrow transplant to ensure her survival. Compatible donor are needed immediately. The donors are you and I, the patient is Nigeria and the cancer is corruption. It is unfortunate that corruption has become an integral part of the nation. A way of life and a way of governance.
While Nigeria lives with corruption and allows the corrupt officials to flaunt the proceeds of corruption to assail our collective intelligence, J.J. Rawlings knew long ago that it would neither serve his country nor his people any good to let the corrupt leaders be. He removed the malignant cells from their system and this makes the difference in these two countries today. As much as this is not the main focus of this write up and coupled with the fact that I would not like to support a bloody revolution yet in this country, I think we need to start discussing how to rescue our dear nation from this marauders who are only out to filch the nation to death.
As an optimist, I tried most possible not to sound a pessimist or an alarmist but the situations on ground prove me otherwise. The problems are visible everywhere you turn your face. Needless to start listing them. We need to speedily intervene in bringing back life into this system whose collapse is imminent. The good people of this great nation want you. The unfortunate lot who have been at the receiving end of the misrule of these heartless successive corrupt governments need you and the most fragile part of the society - the poor, particularly widows and orphans, and the sick and disabled need you. They need your aid. At the very least, everyone needs to do at least one thing every year to help these people. We all know that at best, the government has no welfare programme for struggling people save for the little window dressing the first ladies do in the eye of television cameras to deceive the world that they care. They cannot deceive God.
Under the present global financial conditions where unemployment are at an all-time high, Nigeria needs you much more than ever and we can not afford to fail. Her survival depends on what we give back to her in this crucial time. A nation is built on what individuals give back and not what they take it from it. We surely know that to whom much is given, much is expected but in this time of emergency, even though little or nothing was ever given, we still cannot close our eyes to the suffering of the populace.
We are a people who pride ourselves in our communal living ensuring the welfare of people who are connected to us as in the saying "Charity begins at home". We have our peculiar and informal way of giving back. We generously support our extended families and friends. We take good care of our parents and grandparents. We sponsor our nephew and nieces as if they are our children. We even pay school fees and hospital bills of our distant relations. Truly, charity begins at home but it does not end there. Normally, charity denotes giving to those not related to one. In giving back, we need to look beyond our family lines. We need to institutionalize our giving such as to ensure continuity and allow it transcend our time and bloodline.
Even though the notion of giving back is universal, the institutional form is more established and more popular in the developed world. As the governments provide the best social services and welfare programmes to the disadvantaged, the voluntary efforts of the private sector is imperative in complementing those of the various governments as a way of showing appreciation to the system that has given the opportunity to be in the position of helping others.
In giving back, corporate and religious organizations and well meaning members of the society engage in charitable and philanthropic work by donating money, goods, services, time and/or effort to support socially beneficial causes, with defined objectives and with no financial or material reward to the donor. In a more general sense, philanthropy may encompass any unselfish activity intended to promote good or improve human quality of life.
During the past few years, some high profile examples of philanthropy include Irish rock singer Bono's campaign to cancel Third World debt to developed nations; the Gates Foundation's massive resources and ambitions, such as its campaigns to eradicate malaria, polio and river blindness; and billionaire investor and Berkshire Hathaway Chairman Warren Buffett's donation in 2006 of $31 billion to the Gates Foundation. Although philanthropists are often rich, people may also perform philanthropic acts without possessing great wealth.
As against philanthropists, charitable workers are non-wealthy persons who have dedicated and donated some of their time, effort and wealth to charitable causes. They pull up their small resources together to do great work that would have been otherwise impossible to do alone. I have had to support some great charitable causes with as little as €1.00 (One Euro) that was deducted from my mobile phone credit.
Recently, as L’Aquila, Italy was devastated by earthquake, more than 10,000 (ten thousand) people volunteered to work night and day with the government agencies in the rescue and relief efforts. My son’s football club is coached by a team of three young men who dedicate 9 hours every week to ensure the boys play good football. It is also not an uncommon scene to see a young volunteer driving an ambulance donated by a local bank alongside those provided by the local health authority. We can do all these and even more.
We can develop institutions and charities to carry out the labour of assisting the poor. These include orphanages, food banks and feeding centres, hospitals, organizations that visit the imprisoned, support groups and religious orders dedicated to care for the poor. Jesus did not only provide for the spiritual needs of the people, he also cared for their welfare. He fed those who came to listen to Him. In the same vein, Islam is about sharing and caring for the less privileged.
In giving back, we can be involved in the area of education giving grants, scholarship, counselling and supporting both parents and students in one cause or the other. We need to come together as old students’ association members to support our alma meters. Virtually, all the schools are shadows of their past. In the health sector, we can come together to build and run primary health centres, donate tools and materials to government hospitals, donate working hours at different levels, organising counselling and enlightenment campaign and running ambulance services. In the social/welfare/youth sector, we can run rehabilitation centres for the street guys, recreational and sporting centres to develop sporting ability and leadership in the youth. ‘The greatest good you can do for another is not just share your riches, but reveal to them their own’. We can also operate feeding centres where dinners are served ensuring no one dies of starvation and hand out centres where people can collect new and used materials like clothes, shoes, books, baby food, toys etc. We can also give special assistance to the disabled.
When we institutionalise our charitable work, it will be easier to get philanthropists and cooperate sponsors to lend their weight. Save for a few, many of our organisations and the super rich only give out rams during Sallah break or over-publicised hand out at Christmas whereas they can replicate what Bill Gate is doing internationally at our local level. The other areas that charity can effectively operate in Nigeria are:
relief of the poor, the distressed, or the underprivileged,
advancement of education,
erection or maintenance of public buildings, monuments, or works,
construction of bore-hole to communities
defence of human and civil rights secured by law, and
legal defence of the defenceless
combating community deterioration and juvenile delinquency.
protecting and preserving the beautiful and fragile natural habitats within and surrounding our centre,
waste recycling – especially paper, card and pure water plastic and nylon,
the advancement of citizenship or community development
the advancement of human rights conflict resolution or reconciliation or the promotion of religious or racial harmony or equality and diversity
the advancement of environmental protection or improvement
the relief of those in need, by reason of youth, age, ill-health, disability, financial hardship or other disadvantage
When look back to the activities and performances of our successive governments, most of us may not have any reason to give back but when we look at the suffering of the populace as a result of the neglect by the government, we have a moral obligation to give back. The system has not actually given us so much but in most instances, it has forced many of us to where we are today enjoying the best facilities in the world
God Bless Nigeria!
Nigeria Go Better!
Rufus Kayode Oteniya (oteniyark@hotmail.com) is the founder and the administrator of Nigeria Think Tank a Facebook discussion forum created to confront problems confronting us as a people.
This article is also published on the following links:
http://www.nigeriavillagesquare.com/articles/guest-articles/she-wants-you-she-needs-you-she-can-t-do-withou.html
http://www.saharareporters.com/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=2330:she-wants-you-she-needs-you-she-cant-do-without-you&catid=84:statehood&Itemid=201
http://www.facebook.com/group.php?gid=58221486905&ref=mf#/topic.php?uid=58221486905&topic=8517
http://www.pointblanknews.com/artopn1228.html
http://www.huhuonline.com/column_SheWantsYou.html
I would like to warn that this not a usual romantic tale as you may have thought or as suggested by the title nor a thriller full of escapades, it is a story dedicated to finding possible solutions to some of the problems confronting us as a people. If you are still interested in reading further, here we go.
Many years ago, she was diagnosed of a rare form of cancer that was detected at such an early stage that would have made it curable. Contrary to expectation, chemotherapy and radiation were ineffective in her case and the only option would have been surgically removing the affected tissues or organ from her system just like her sister once did when she had a similar problem. The tumour has now ravaged some of her organs. It has weaken her kidney and she needs a transplant. She also needs bone marrow transplant to ensure her survival. Compatible donor are needed immediately. The donors are you and I, the patient is Nigeria and the cancer is corruption. It is unfortunate that corruption has become an integral part of the nation. A way of life and a way of governance.
While Nigeria lives with corruption and allows the corrupt officials to flaunt the proceeds of corruption to assail our collective intelligence, J.J. Rawlings knew long ago that it would neither serve his country nor his people any good to let the corrupt leaders be. He removed the malignant cells from their system and this makes the difference in these two countries today. As much as this is not the main focus of this write up and coupled with the fact that I would not like to support a bloody revolution yet in this country, I think we need to start discussing how to rescue our dear nation from this marauders who are only out to filch the nation to death.
As an optimist, I tried most possible not to sound a pessimist or an alarmist but the situations on ground prove me otherwise. The problems are visible everywhere you turn your face. Needless to start listing them. We need to speedily intervene in bringing back life into this system whose collapse is imminent. The good people of this great nation want you. The unfortunate lot who have been at the receiving end of the misrule of these heartless successive corrupt governments need you and the most fragile part of the society - the poor, particularly widows and orphans, and the sick and disabled need you. They need your aid. At the very least, everyone needs to do at least one thing every year to help these people. We all know that at best, the government has no welfare programme for struggling people save for the little window dressing the first ladies do in the eye of television cameras to deceive the world that they care. They cannot deceive God.
Under the present global financial conditions where unemployment are at an all-time high, Nigeria needs you much more than ever and we can not afford to fail. Her survival depends on what we give back to her in this crucial time. A nation is built on what individuals give back and not what they take it from it. We surely know that to whom much is given, much is expected but in this time of emergency, even though little or nothing was ever given, we still cannot close our eyes to the suffering of the populace.
We are a people who pride ourselves in our communal living ensuring the welfare of people who are connected to us as in the saying "Charity begins at home". We have our peculiar and informal way of giving back. We generously support our extended families and friends. We take good care of our parents and grandparents. We sponsor our nephew and nieces as if they are our children. We even pay school fees and hospital bills of our distant relations. Truly, charity begins at home but it does not end there. Normally, charity denotes giving to those not related to one. In giving back, we need to look beyond our family lines. We need to institutionalize our giving such as to ensure continuity and allow it transcend our time and bloodline.
Even though the notion of giving back is universal, the institutional form is more established and more popular in the developed world. As the governments provide the best social services and welfare programmes to the disadvantaged, the voluntary efforts of the private sector is imperative in complementing those of the various governments as a way of showing appreciation to the system that has given the opportunity to be in the position of helping others.
In giving back, corporate and religious organizations and well meaning members of the society engage in charitable and philanthropic work by donating money, goods, services, time and/or effort to support socially beneficial causes, with defined objectives and with no financial or material reward to the donor. In a more general sense, philanthropy may encompass any unselfish activity intended to promote good or improve human quality of life.
During the past few years, some high profile examples of philanthropy include Irish rock singer Bono's campaign to cancel Third World debt to developed nations; the Gates Foundation's massive resources and ambitions, such as its campaigns to eradicate malaria, polio and river blindness; and billionaire investor and Berkshire Hathaway Chairman Warren Buffett's donation in 2006 of $31 billion to the Gates Foundation. Although philanthropists are often rich, people may also perform philanthropic acts without possessing great wealth.
As against philanthropists, charitable workers are non-wealthy persons who have dedicated and donated some of their time, effort and wealth to charitable causes. They pull up their small resources together to do great work that would have been otherwise impossible to do alone. I have had to support some great charitable causes with as little as €1.00 (One Euro) that was deducted from my mobile phone credit.
Recently, as L’Aquila, Italy was devastated by earthquake, more than 10,000 (ten thousand) people volunteered to work night and day with the government agencies in the rescue and relief efforts. My son’s football club is coached by a team of three young men who dedicate 9 hours every week to ensure the boys play good football. It is also not an uncommon scene to see a young volunteer driving an ambulance donated by a local bank alongside those provided by the local health authority. We can do all these and even more.
We can develop institutions and charities to carry out the labour of assisting the poor. These include orphanages, food banks and feeding centres, hospitals, organizations that visit the imprisoned, support groups and religious orders dedicated to care for the poor. Jesus did not only provide for the spiritual needs of the people, he also cared for their welfare. He fed those who came to listen to Him. In the same vein, Islam is about sharing and caring for the less privileged.
In giving back, we can be involved in the area of education giving grants, scholarship, counselling and supporting both parents and students in one cause or the other. We need to come together as old students’ association members to support our alma meters. Virtually, all the schools are shadows of their past. In the health sector, we can come together to build and run primary health centres, donate tools and materials to government hospitals, donate working hours at different levels, organising counselling and enlightenment campaign and running ambulance services. In the social/welfare/youth sector, we can run rehabilitation centres for the street guys, recreational and sporting centres to develop sporting ability and leadership in the youth. ‘The greatest good you can do for another is not just share your riches, but reveal to them their own’. We can also operate feeding centres where dinners are served ensuring no one dies of starvation and hand out centres where people can collect new and used materials like clothes, shoes, books, baby food, toys etc. We can also give special assistance to the disabled.
When we institutionalise our charitable work, it will be easier to get philanthropists and cooperate sponsors to lend their weight. Save for a few, many of our organisations and the super rich only give out rams during Sallah break or over-publicised hand out at Christmas whereas they can replicate what Bill Gate is doing internationally at our local level. The other areas that charity can effectively operate in Nigeria are:
relief of the poor, the distressed, or the underprivileged,
advancement of education,
erection or maintenance of public buildings, monuments, or works,
construction of bore-hole to communities
defence of human and civil rights secured by law, and
legal defence of the defenceless
combating community deterioration and juvenile delinquency.
protecting and preserving the beautiful and fragile natural habitats within and surrounding our centre,
waste recycling – especially paper, card and pure water plastic and nylon,
the advancement of citizenship or community development
the advancement of human rights conflict resolution or reconciliation or the promotion of religious or racial harmony or equality and diversity
the advancement of environmental protection or improvement
the relief of those in need, by reason of youth, age, ill-health, disability, financial hardship or other disadvantage
When look back to the activities and performances of our successive governments, most of us may not have any reason to give back but when we look at the suffering of the populace as a result of the neglect by the government, we have a moral obligation to give back. The system has not actually given us so much but in most instances, it has forced many of us to where we are today enjoying the best facilities in the world
God Bless Nigeria!
Nigeria Go Better!
Rufus Kayode Oteniya (oteniyark@hotmail.com) is the founder and the administrator of Nigeria Think Tank a Facebook discussion forum created to confront problems confronting us as a people.
This article is also published on the following links:
http://www.nigeriavillagesquare.com/articles/guest-articles/she-wants-you-she-needs-you-she-can-t-do-withou.html
http://www.saharareporters.com/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=2330:she-wants-you-she-needs-you-she-cant-do-without-you&catid=84:statehood&Itemid=201
http://www.facebook.com/group.php?gid=58221486905&ref=mf#/topic.php?uid=58221486905&topic=8517
http://www.pointblanknews.com/artopn1228.html
http://www.huhuonline.com/column_SheWantsYou.html
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