Nigeria: Preparing To Be Left Behind? – Tolu Ogunlesi

Last week, I watched a CNN feature on the new railway freight service from Chongqing in China to Duisburg, Germany. Spanning 11,000km, across six countries – China, Kazakhstan, Russia, Belarus, Poland and Germany – the service allows manufacturers in China to move their products to Europe in 15 days, half the time it takes by sea, and at a fraction of the cost of air freight.

Not unexpectedly, my mind went to Nigeria, and our tyranny of low expectations and high mediocrity. We are cavemen with eyes on the ground, dancing around small fires, while the rest of the world is laying claim to real estate on the sun.

Things have become so bad that we’re forced to celebrate the resuscitation of a railway line that the British first completed a hundred years ago (Ignore for a moment the fact that the President has just appointed, to oversee it, a man who’s almost as old as the railway line itself). And no, we’re not celebrating its upgrade to high-speed status. We’re deeply satisfied that it’s still running – that’s the standard by which we measure “transformation” these days.

And then to crown it all, we’re forced to endure petulant lectures from the President’s spokespersons, about how we should bow down and praise his name to the highest heavens for reviving the line. As though he’s elected to do us all a favour.

I recently came across the Vision 2020 document. Here’s what it envisions, in road transport: “For land transport, the government will construct eight major roads (6-lane at the minimum) to link the extreme ends of the country e.g. two (2) diagonally: Maiduguri-Lagos and Sokoto-Calabar, two (2) across the country: Kano-Port Harcourt and Ilorin-Yola and four (4) spanning the borders of the country: Sokoto-Maiduguri; Sokoto-Lagos; Lagos-Calabar; Calabar-Maiduguri; and also Lagos-Benin-Onitsha-Enugu-Port Harcourt.”

Isn’t that interesting? Just imagine if, after 15 years of democracy, we could boast having accomplished the road vision outlined above. By my estimates, the total length of those eight roads comes to less than 10,000km. Is that too much to accomplish in 15 years?

Yes, by Nigerian standards. Expecting 10,000km of new highway in 16 years would be asking for too much in a country that in 15 years has not quite managed to fix the less-than-150km Lagos-Ibadan Expressway.

But by Chinese, or even Indian standards, certainly not. Between 2006 and 2010, China is reported to have built 639,000km of roads (28,700km of which is expressway).

As of 2010, India was building 9km of roads per day (3,000km per annum; 12,000km in four years), with a target of 20km/day. I need someone from the Federal Ministry of Works headed by Mike Onolememen to tell us how many new kilometers of highway Nigeria has added in the four years since Mr. Jonathan became President. Let’s start the 2015 election conversation from that point.

Ditto housing. Let the President come and tell us how many houses have been built in the last four years, considering a national housing deficit of 16 million units.

Whatever happened to big ambitions, and to the big will needed to stand by those ambitions, against all odds and vested interests?

I imagine one key question around the issue of ambitious infrastructure will be funding. How will Nigeria fund the construction of 10,000km of roads and one million low-cost housing units, over, say, the next 24 months?

My answer would be a peculiarly Nigerian one: How are the other emerging economies funding theirs? Why can’t we do whatever it is they’re doing? How is Brazil managing to build more than a million new homes per annum? Do its leaders have two heads?

Let’s not forget that we’re a major oil producing country, awash with petrodollars. A country that can spend as much as we’re spending on militants shouldn’t be complaining about funds for big road or housing projects. I’m convinced that the money Nigeria is currently leaking – from fuel subsidy scams, oil theft, and NNPC brigandage – is more than enough to pull off a good number of construction miracles.

At the weekend, I attended a meet-the-candidate session with Sam Nda-Isaiah, Publisher of LeadershipNewspapers, and the first person to declare his 2015 presidential ambition (on the platform of the All Progressives Congress). He touched on an important theme: The concept of ambitious thinking; the sort that transformed Dubai and Singapore from backwater lands into what they are today.

“This is a time for big ideas and history-changing endeavours,” Nda-Isaiah said. He convincingly argued that Nigeria’s Presidency is powerful enough to accomplish anything it sets out to do, as long as the occupier of that office “really (means) it…”

One major problem with the current occupier of that office, however, is that beyond vague references to “transformation”, one never gets a sense of what his personal vision for Nigeria is.

His commitment to that invisible vision is even more invisible. Just like during the Umaru Yar’Adua days, it sadly seems like President Jonathan is just one of the several people running Nigeria. If the buck stops anywhere it doesn’t seem to be anywhere near his table.

Instead of the Presidency to take the steps to convince us otherwise, it is resorting to the classic game of distraction. The Board of the National Distraction Commission has been reconstituted, and it is working assiduously to fulfill its mandate, the linchpin of which is this so-called “National Conference”.

I find it absurd that the government is showing seriousness in the matter at this time, barely one year to general elections. This is something that should have happened two years ago (with the same presidential commitment that was wasted on the ill-advised fuel subsidy removal).

The President and his people are probably counting on the fact that this N9bn Jamboree (“Big Brother Nigeria – the Government Edition”) will keep us all sufficiently entertained/distracted until the middle of the year, when the World Cup will take over.

Since it doesn’t seem like there’s anything we can do at this time to shoot down the conference idea, the best we might be able to do is refuse to be distracted by it, and insist on keeping alive the conversations about the things that really matter at this time: The parlous state of transport infrastructure, the power sector reforms, housing issues, unemployment, etc.

Why, you might ask, am I focusing exclusively on the Federal Government? One, because it gets the biggest chunk of Nigeria’s resources (52 per cent of the Federation Account goes to Abuja, leaving 36 states and 774 local governments to share the rest). Two, because, as the highest level of government, it has a moral responsibility to set a good example for the rest to follow. When Abuja is behaving irresponsibly, or like a Federal Government trapped in a Local Government mindset, why should we be surprised when the states follow suit?

Nigeria is not going to magically become a country where things work. We will have to make it happen by the choices we make and the seriousness we show. For now, we are busy celebrating the fact that the world thinks we are MINT-hot. But we can’t live off “potential” indefinitely.

I met a Rwandan journalist in Lagos at the weekend. He told of how Nigerians are now flocking to Rwanda, to invest in agriculture (coffee farms), attracted by the ease of doing business there. It takes 48 hours to register a business. There is none of the obnoxious multiple taxes associated with Nigeria. Corruption is not a beast the President openly feeds. And the visa-on-arrival policy actually works.

A few years ago, Nigeria announced a visa-on-arrival policy for business visitors. If you’re a visiting businessperson and you believe that you can show up at the Murtala Muhammed International Airport, Ikeja and expect to get a visa, just because the government has said so, I’ve got a small ocean I’d like to sell to you.

Things like this explain why Nigeria is ranked 120th out of 148 countries, in the World Economic Forum Global Competitiveness Index 2013-2014; interestingly, 54 places behind Rwanda.

At the moment, there isn’t much compelling evidence that we are a serious country. If we find ourselves irredeemably left behind by the rest of the world (starting with Ghana three doors away), we shouldn’t be surprised.

It will be a well-deserved fate, no doubt.

Omojuwa.com

The Silent Killer In Your Veins

Tennis star Serena Williams battled it and it was the cause of the untimely death of Heavy D, as well as countless Americans every single day. What exactly are blog clots, how can you prevent them, and what are the risk factors?
Currently, it is estimated that 25,000 people who are admitted to hospital die from preventable venous thromboembolism (blood clots in the leg and potentially fatal clots which travel to the lung) each year. This has led the Department of Health to make the prevention of this “silent killer” across the NHS a priority for the forthcoming years.
Preventing Blood Clots

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BlackDoctor+Org

National confab, not solution to Nigeria’s problem – Bishop Kukah

Bishop Hassan Matthew Kukah is the Catholic Bishop of Sokoto Diocese. In this interview with journalists including TUNDE OMOLEHIN in Sokoto, Kukah bares his mind on national confab, the potential of Nigeria as a great nation and the recent law banning same-sex marriage in the country, among other national issues. Excerpts:
What is your take on the proposed national confab?
I have always been a critic of any national conference. My reason was based on the fact that I participated in the last political reform conference and tragically, the politicians sank the findings of that committee. Subsequently, I was also convinced that the problems of Nigerians cannot to be resolved by the constitution, dialogue and so on, because we are dealing with issues of electricity, power, good roads, quality education and so on. Aside that, my own personal conviction is that Nigeria does not even need new laws for now. What we need is a review of existing laws, which covers virtually everything we are yearning for. But all those reports or laws have not been implemented.
On the recent confab, my own worry is that if the politicians are going to hand-pick the delegation, then, what we are going to have is a gathering of politicians. That has been the greatest undoing of all the similar initiatives we have had in the area of constitution making in the past. In fact, that was how my experience has been. If you have read some of the reports, you would understand my point now. Let me give an instance way back in 1976 when Nigeria was planning to return to democratic rule.  At the end of the day, a lot of prominent politicians and some of the noisiest members of the National Assembly always end up being the key people in politics. It is largely because they have seen the platform as an opportunity for grandstanding and that was why religion and regionalism suddenly became important issues in such discussion. Another worry is that, I do not see the national dialogue to be concluded in time before elections or within a short time frame for the contents to become a policy that could guide us. But, I will adopt the wait and see attitude on this issue.

Is the unity of this country being threatened in any way by politicians?
The unity of Nigeria is in the hands of Nigerians. It is not something that anybody is going to do for us. I think that one of the saddest things that has happened to us is that the over 30 years of military rule, even the experience we had with democracy, doesn’t seem to be the case that ordinary Nigerians have got the good value of governance. And these are some of the issues we are still battling with. The discussion of nation’s unity would not stop unless Nigerians see a qualitative change in leadership, in their lives. Nigerians want to see something positive about their security, standard of living and in their personal lives. Nigerians want to be sure that our country is safe, that there is job security. These are the issues that are so dear in the heart of every Nigerian. And the solution to all these would no longer let Nigerians ask questions about the unity of this country. Also, the continuous discussion of our religious and regional identity has continued to pull us back from the sense of nationhood. Nations are united not by constitution or political declarations but largely on infrastructure. The day a Nigerian can go from Sokoto to Aba on a decent railway lane or less threatening road, the day Nigerians can move in different directions, and the day we cease to take electricity for granted, then I can assure you that Nigeria must have achieved 80 to 90 per cent of unity.
At present, is Nigeria at a crossroads?
Well, the good thing about crossroads is that it tells you whether you are going to turn left, right or move forward. I guess the crossroad is a good way to explain our situations. But it is also important to say the choice about which direction we go is in our hands.

What about using regionalism and religion, as tools to win elections in Nigeria?
The issue is that, there is nothing you can say about politics and politicians, politicians would always appease to things that give them attention. It could be religion, ethnicity, and gender, whatever it could be. But as a Nigerian, our own responsibility is to be able to see beyond the grandstanding. This is where we who are not in politics must be very conscious. Politics is like a marriage, because if a married man is quarrelling with his wife, it does not mean they will separate tomorrow. A lot of public discourse or arguments in Nigeria today are as a result of the selfish reason of our greedy politicians. It is considerable now that people in PDP would still probably go to APC and those in APC would probably cross over to PDP and so on. For Nigerian politicians, it only depends on where food is easy to get. This is the reality when talking politics in Nigeria. That is why their grandstandings are always heating the polity. The issue of whether the President should have come from the North, whether Jonathan should go or stay, are all about personal interest and they use media to achieve such aim. Though, there may be nothing wrong with such opinions, the most important thing is to know who and who represent our aspirations. For us who are spectators, we need to learn not to cry more than the bereaved because when the politicians will solve their differences, you might still be in the dark.

What is your take on some religious leaders who are fond of making unguarded utterances?
I think there should be a law in the land to tackle that. This is not the question of what you are wearing. It is not by the size of your cross or turban. If you say things that the law considers not in keeping with the right of ordinary citizens or saying things that can wreak havoc, disturbance or disunity, I think the law of the land should always take its full course.

What is your view on political parties labelling one another a party of a particular religion?
As far as am concerned, the people in APC are more than able to defend themselves. On papers, you cannot stop politicians making such utterances. Let us take Sokoto for instance, if you are campaigning in the state, what you say about the religion of Islam is very important. It is not supposed to be the same if you are campaigning to become the President of Nigeria because at that level, you are not just talking about the religions. So, if APC, PDP want to have majority of women, men or a particular religion in their fold, let it be. There is strength in diversity. I think the people in such party should know enough to take note of that criticism or not as to adjust appropriately, otherwise Nigerians may vote based on what they consider to be things of great interest to them. It is all about calculation to win election by the politicians.

President Jonathan recently assented to the bill, outlawing same sex marriage. How do you see the development, especially the uproar from the international community?
We commended President Goodluck Jonathan for that but my worry is that, I wish the way the National Assembly passed this law quickly, such effort should be applied to pass the law against unemployment so quickly. Can you imagine that it took all better part of six months just to negotiate ASUU demands? But to say the least is that this is not a big issue as far as Gay business is concerned. But again, the most dangerous part of it is to make sure that this does not lead to homophobia. As far as am concerned, anybody who lives in Nigeria and most part of Africa knows that culturally, religiously and morally, it is not our life and culture.

What is your advice to both Christians and Muslims in Nigeria?
My advice is that people should be able to differentiate between a glorious religion of Christianity and Islam and what we as Christians and Muslims are struggling with. We are politicians, businessmen seeking promotion and so on but we should let the purity of our religions to always remain. And I think this is what we must try and uphold. And again, I always say that I do not buy the idea of Muslim and Christian prayers in an event because very soon, we will have women and men prayers, a prayer by tall people and another prayer for short people and so on. The more we continue talking like this, the more we recognize our differences. If a Christian prays, does that mean that such prayer is only for the Christians that are present at such an event? The same thing goes to Muslim prayer. Is it for only Muslim Ummah in the gathering?

What would you say about the relative peace being enjoyed in Sokoto State?
Two months ago, I was at the Vatican because I am a member of Political Council for Inter-Religious Dialogue, the highest decision making body regarding matters on how the church wants to relate with Muslims across the world. So, coming from Nigeria, everybody would turn to hear from me. They want to know why our Christians are always fighting. They also want to know whether I am in danger or not. But people remained shocked when I tell them, ‘no, we do not have problem between Christians and Muslims in Nigeria.’ Because if there is a problem between us, in Sokoto State for instance, it would not take about two hours before they will kill we the Christians in Sokoto.



Strange as it may sound, I am more secured in Sokoto than when I am outside Sokoto State. I cannot say what I did not experience. In Kebbi and Katsina, we have had no incident and in Zamfara State, we have had other incidents that have something to do with criminality but not religion. All these states are under my diocese. In Sokoto particularly, we have enjoyed the warmth of the good people. There are good men and women in Sokoto State.

Does Nigeria, as a nation, have the potential to be great?
Yes, of course. I just came back from a conference held in London. The organisers brought 65 scholars together around the world and I felt honoured to be invited. It is about what the world would be in 2040. That was what the round-table was about. And I felt embarrassed as a Nigerian because what the Nigerian government is still discussing and thinking of, is the year 2015.
The topic of the fora was related to who is having power today, which will have power tomorrow and by the year 2040, who will also have power? But jokingly, I said to them that as a Nigerian, if you ask me who will have power, I wouldn’t know because power is electricity in Nigeria and not the kind of thing you are talking about. But really, it was interesting to hear that constantly Nigeria keeps coming to the table. Not as a country with potential greatness but as a great country. Nigeria is constantly placed on the table. Most of the discussion about South Africa was centred on Mandela. Now, Mandela is gone. What will happen is that whether Nigeria likes it or not, the focus on our country would inevitably be much more. The international communities recognise our position as a powerful country on her own. They recognise that this is not just a country that has an enormous natural and human resources. It is a country that clearly should know where it is going. But we are constantly pulling ourselves back as Muslims, as Christians, as Northerners and Southerners, while the rest of the world is seeing us as one unified country.

What will be your appeal to the Nigerian media?
I just want to appeal to you that politics is here again. The joyful thing is that military rule has ended. And as I said at the Governors’ Forum retreat in Sokoto recently, that it is an interesting thing that in all things that happened- political crisis in the last four years or so when the military could have taken over, we never heard anything. Imagine the uncertainty and debate on whether Yar’Adua was alive or dead. There couldn’t have been a better opportunity to hijack power. Also, imagine all the discussion on whether Goodluck Jonathan should take over or not? All that vacuum, nothing happened and the recent insecurity issue like Boko Haram. But strange enough, not a single Nigerian newspaper or in a discussion on television or radio stations, mentioned anything about soldier. What this means for us is that our people are firmly committed to democracy. With all these problems, this is the way we have chosen to go. And it is like a man in marriage, you may fight or quarrel, but if you decide you are going to stay married, no matter what happened, then the problems that arrive, will only strengthen your union. I want to appeal to the Nigerian media that we should re-affirm our commitment to the unity of our dear country. It is not all about whether President Goodluck Jonathan is the President of Nigeria today. It is actually possible that I can be a better President than President Jonathan. It is also possible that any other person could be a better president. But for now, I have not been offered the President of Nigeria. And these things are beyond just an individual. We believe in the will of God, when it is convenient for us, and we question the will of God when it is not convenient for us. Beyond politics and individual, there have to be a Nigeria first, before people’s ambition can be realised. I am just calling on you in the media, especially those of you that have great influence on the public because you shape public opinions in the polity, let us not focus on the quarrels among the politicians. And like I often tell the politicians too, it is their responsibility to make politics noble. The media should focus on the bad behaviours of some politicians, especially those who are bringing politics to disrepute. Our responsibility is to dish out correct and accurate information for ordinary citizens to make up their minds.

TheSun

Anenih: Between Opportunism And Common Sense

Comrade Timi Frank

Last Friday, Chief Tony Anenih, Iyasele of Esanland and Board of Trustees   chairman of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), further belittled himself when he tried to cover up for the Jonathan administration in an open letter he wrote to Sam Nda-Isaiah, chairman and publisher of LEADERSHIP Group.
Chief Anenih had written in response to Nda-Isaiah’s January 13 column entitled, ‘Is The President Aware That $ 10.8 billion Is Still Missing?’
Touching on a plethora of issues while defending the missing funds, Chief Anenih tried to outdo the finance minister Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala, the NNPC and the PDP all combined in trying to defend the indefensible. As a matter of fact, at a point it seemed as though Anenih was the chief custodian of the NNPC accounts.
Since there is little difference between private and public letters these days, especially when such letters are meant to ginger public discourse, it is only natural that yours sincerely puts the issue in the correct perpective.
First, it baffles me to see the vigour with which the Iyasele is defending the missing funds. I, and most members of the discerning public, believe that $10.8billion remains missing, for were it not for the alarm raised by the always bold Central Bank Governor Sanusi Lamido Sanusi, no one would be talking about any missing billions, let alone explaining how it was spent.  The money will just disappear quietly. This has always been the pattern. Not one case of fraud has ever been exposed by the government and no officials punished; the public only gets to hear of missing billions and trillions when business goes sour.
It is, therefore, with great gusto that Nigerians lauded Sanusi’s courage to expose what clearly was a monumental heist of public funds. Nigerians are not fools and need not be told that it took the exposure for the NNPC to go running around, trying to cook up stories to justify the missing $10.8 billion? In any case, is this the last case of     missing billions and trillions? Didn’t Okonjo-Iweala last week reveal that billions of dollars have developed wings in our foreign reserve? Who is deceiving who?
Back to Chief Anenih. It is  worrying that while the minister of petroleum  Diezani Allison-Madueke has deemed it unnecessary to react to such ‘beer parlour gossips’ even when it came from Sanusi, it took a whole PDP BoT chairman to run to their help – a case of weeping more than the bereaved. Is this a signpost that, unknown to Nigerians, Anenih also does ‘audit’ NNPC accounts in addition to that of the Nigeria Ports Authority (NPA), another cash cow like NNPC, which for years has been his exclusive preserve.
Curiously, while ‘Mr Fix It’ has ignored calls on him to account for the over N300billion given him as works minister to ‘fix’ Nigeria’s death-trap roads during Obasanjo’s tenure – and till date he has kept mum,  this  time around, he is quick to throw his hat into the ring in defence of  Allison-Madueke’s opaque ministry. There must be something which has made Iyasele so keen to defend the petro dollar ministry. Assuming (just for the sake of it) that the account of the NPA is so squeaky clean (and I can’t think of any Nigerian who would bet his rags that it is), does it even warrant Anenih enough ground to play the devil’s advocate for the NNPC.
Let it be on record that the missing money, whether $49.8 billion or  $10.8billion, is the property of Nigerians. Yes. And it also needs to be on record that the wishy-washy explanation thrown at us by the NNPC is not acceptable going by the manner it came. It was several weeks into the saga – enough time for the smart alecs in the agency to cook the books.
As it is, against the very vexatious and regional tone that Anenih’s letter took, I am of the opinion that, with the volume of cash missing, the South-South from where both the chief and I come from would have been major beneficiaries if probity and prudence take their rightful place in our nation’s affairs. If work has stalled the East-West road over the years, one can just imagine how far these missing billions of dollars would have gone in fixing that very important road and the plethora of other abandoned projects across the region.
But again, if it took Edo State governor Comrade Adams  Oshiomhole to construct roads in Anenih’s place, including the one that leads to Anenih’s home, which he never did even as works minister, then it will be clear why Anenih is finding it difficult to understand why Nigerians like Nda-Isaiah are vexed at the continuous stench that keeps oozing  from the NNPC and President Jonathan’s seeming unconcern. No serious leader will condone the monumental mess at the NNPC.
How much does one need to steal in China to get hanged? Not more than a million dollars. So if billions get missing and it takes a courageous CBN governor to expose such, and  Mr President is more miffed at the disclosure and would prefer to do away with the patriotic whistleblower rather than plug the leakage in the system that allows un-remitted funds to stay long before being remitted, it only shows how unserious such a president is with the very task of governance.
Even from a position of weakness I now chose to argue that there was no missing funds except delay in remittance, perhaps the president needs the banks to tell him how much interest would accrue to the accounts of any individual or company which puts such billions in fixed deposit accounts, even for three months.
But for Chief Anenih, an octogenarian to whom Nigeria has given so much since the 1980s, it is lamentable that he sees nothing but politics when issues as these are brought to the front burner in our national discourse. It is only in Nigeria that elders like Anenih would continue to have a say in every government in power.
I have wondered what Chief Anenih would like to be remembered for by Nigerians. Is it that he was the best at godfatherism and ‘fixing’ things?  There is more to statesmanship than godfatherism, more so when Anenih can conveniently be said to be a riofaineant (a king without royal powers). If he has found it difficult to match the visible electioneering prowess of Adams Oshiomhole in his home state Edo having failed to pull wool over the eyes of Edo people, it certainly will not be the larger Nigeria that the Iyasele will take for a ride. We are wiser than that.
Elder statesmen do not rush to take up issues on the pages of newspapers, especially when it is not a good cause. Their conduct speaks for them. If Chief Anenih looks in the mirror, he will see why Nigerians will continue to ask for both the missing N300billion of not-so-long ago and the recent missing $10.8billion. It’s as simple as that.

Leadership

THE IJAW CHIEF DOES NOT KNOW WHAT HE DOES NOT KNOW

By Alfred Omolewa

Clark Vs. Tinubu

“No psychologist should pretend to understand what he does not understand… Only fools and charlatans know everything yet understand nothing.”
-Anton Chekhov
One of the most profound observations now becoming a cliché is: “You don’t know what you don’t know”. How true this is of Chief Edwin Kiagboro Clark’s recent observation and conclusion that the Yoruba nation does not have leaders. Obviously, the Ijaw chief has a limited worldview of leadership and, having searched through that limited and flawed prism, failed to find among the Yorubas a persona or personae fitting his own concept of leadership.
But, alas, he does know what he does not know.
The Yoruba concept of leadership is clearly alien to the Ijaw chief’s worldview. He started out as a headmaster and has gotten used to being the man in authority, who lords it over all others, commanding obeisance and dictating what should be and what should not be. Advancing early in life after opportunities to occupy prime government offices, he is held in awe by his people and, being the loquacious and vociferous type, his people have donated to him their collective voice to agitate and advocate for the perpetuation of their kinsman’s hold on power.
That is the type of leader the Ijaw chief was looking for among the Yorubas. But, he does not know what he does not know: the Yorubas are not so!
First, the Yorubas, being so politically, culturally and educationally sophisticated do not need to have one seemingly ‘all-knowing’, ‘all-wise’ headmaster as their leader. It is only those who are pupils, who are not disciplined, who are at the rudimentary stages of cultural and political development that require such leaders. Historically among the Yorubas, the acknowledged and acclaimed political leader is merely a primus inter pares. If the Ijaw chief would so re-condition his concept of leadership (admittedly, a no mean task given his advanced years), he would surely and clearly identify the present leaders in the fold of the Yorubas. But if he continues to search for the equivalent of his headmaster-style leadership among the Yorubas, he will not find it. And, God forbid that the Yorubas regress to that level of de-sophistication where they would need a headmaster to lead them.
Second, the Yorubas have always been led more by ideas and principles than by men such that anyone who courageously, prominently and steadfastly advocates for commonly held and cherished principles and ideas is acknowledged as a leader among them. Given the Ijaw chief’s background, this may be difficult for him to comprehend since there is no equivalent of philosophy from where he stands. We know he is the appointed ruler of his people, but we also know that dead silence will meet any question seeking to know the philosophy driving his leadership. Beyond the fight to keep the spoils of office for his kinsman and his people, what is his leadership about?
On the other hand, the people that the Yorubas have acknowledged as leaders have been men who espoused and made great sacrifices for lofty ideas, ideals and values that are way bigger than them and their people. That is why Israel Oludotun Ransome Kuti did not need to be selected or elected as the Leader of an Elders’ Forum to be recognized and acknowledged as a leader among the Yorubas; his devotion to the cause of the education of his people earned him that.
That is why Olayinka Herbert Samuel Macaulay did not need to have a kinsman installed or preserved as President to find his voice as the leader and advocate for the ordinary peoples of the colonies.
That is why social change advocates like Dr. Akinola Maja did not need any ethnic or parochial motivations to lead the crusade for social rights and emancipation. That is why people like the late Chief FRA Williams became acknowledged as leaders among the Yorubas, not for their lordship over the people, but for the distinction they achieved in their professional pursuit and the application of those distinctions to the service of their people.
Were he a Yoruba man, the Ijaw chief would have no prominent place in leading the Yoruba people, even if he had more wealth and had occupied higher offices that he has. This is because the Yoruba people would not tolerate an opportunist and a hypocrite. He is a leader to the Yoruba people who would fight the cause of the oppressed, whose election was annulled even if the cheated candidate was not one of his own political leaning. He is not a leader to the Yoruba people who would nurse an unconstitutional third term in office. However, when that same man finds his voice in condemning an incompetent, corrupt and self-serving government, he becomes the darling of the principle-cherishing people of the Yoruba race. The Ijaw chief should be reminded that the leaders of the Yorubas are those who led their people to fight the cause of a certain Vice President from another tribe when the powers that be attempted to deny him his constitutional right to ascend the Presidency.
Given the above attempt to describe the concept of leadership among the Yorubas, the Ijaw chief should now understand why Chief Obafemi Awolowo is eternally regarded as a leader among the Yorubas, nay, among the entire peopleof Nigeria. It was not because he rose to high offices. It was for his courage in fighting for high and lofty ideas at the expense of his freedom, health and reputation. His sacrifice for the educational advancement of his people and for good governance earned him an enviable place in history.
The Ijaw Chief may now understand why the late Chief MKO Abiola, after years of being in the minority section of the political class among the Yorubas became a leadership symbol when he displayed the courage expected of Yoruba leaders to fight for democracy and the rule of law.
The Ijaw chief may now understand that it was not only their advancement in age that earned the likes of Chief Adekunle Ajasin and Chief Abraham Adesanya their leadership epaulets; it was their readiness to sacrifice for their people, to be the courageous voice during a brutal military dictatorship, to identify the right and support it and to spot the wrong and condemn it.
The Ijaw chief may also now understand why Chief Olusegun Obasanjo is now a hero to his people. For, in spite of political differences, he has displayed the character and courage expected of leaders in condemning a Federal administration being run in such a clueless and corrupt manner to the detriment of the people.
Does the Ijaw chief think that Asiwaju Bola Ahmed Tinubu’s claim to leadership is simply that he was once elected to the Senate of the Federal Republic or that he performed as one of the most conscientious Governors of Lagos State in recent years? No! It is because of his profile in courage! It is because of his sacrifice for the greater good in good times and bad times.
Who was in the forefront of the global assault on the regime of General Sanni Abacha? Who was the rallying point and strategic voice for all the opposition figures in the dark days following the annulment of the June 12, 1993 Presidential elections? Who was the governor that redefined governance after years of mismanagement by the military? Who was the governor with the courage and vision to fight all the way to the Supreme Court to establish the fiscal rights of States in the Federation? Who is the politician with acumen and endurance to organize the political opposition that a democracy surely needs to survive? If the Ijaw chief would answer these questions truthfully, he will find the leaders of the Yo;ruba people.
Indeed, Chief Edwin Kiagboro Clark’s role in recent affairs can only be honestly described as the antics of an otherwise intelligent and respectable elder blindsided by bigotry and ethnic loyalties. Chief Edwin Clark and his other mischief makers belong to that class of men who, in honour of present favours, mischievously distorts history, maligns otherwise honourable men, saying “…with our tongue will we prevail; our lips are our own: who is lord over us?”
In making that mischievous assertion about Yoruba leaders, it is well known that the Ijaw chief was only doing his usual and less than honorable bid to outdo all others in the display of blind loyalty to his kinsman President; he was merely attempting to shoot down the people perceived as being not on the same political turf as his political ‘son’; he was merely playing cheap politics. He was doing all that a leader ought not do. He was doing all that the Yorubas would not tolerate in their leader.
To paraphrase Abraham Lincoln in his Gettysburg address, “The world will little note, nor long remember what we say here, but it can never forget what we do.” Aside the ignominious desperate struggle to maintain the hold of his kinsman on power in the face of glaring incompetence, what is this Ijaw chief doing today worthy of historical remembrance?
On the other hand, what are today’s Yoruba leaders doing? They are in the forefront of the fight for justice, for good governance, for the integrity of the ballot box, for real development and for change in a corrupt and dysfunctional polity. They are echoing the immortal words of Abraham Lincoln, who himself paid the supreme sacrifice in his leadership of his people by dedicating themselves to the unfinished work which heroes in the past have thus far so nobly advanced. They are dedicated to the great task remaining before us: that this nation, under God, shall have a new birth of freedom—and that the government of the people, by the people, for the people, shall not perish.
If the Ijaw chief would view leadership from this philosophical prism, he will easily identify the leaders among the Yorubas. But, alas, how can he know what he does not know?
-Alfred Omolewa writes from Edo

OsunDefender

8-year-old hero who saved six declared honorary firefighter at funeral

Tyler Doohan was credited with saving the lives of six of his family members when their mobile home went up in flames last week.

By M. Alex Johnson, Staff Writer, NBC News

The 8-year-old New York state boy who died while saving the lives of six people in a roaring trailer fire was laid to rest Wednesday — complete with his own fireman's helmet and the title of honorary firefighter.
Mourners from across the country flocked to Fairport, near Rochester, to honor Tyler Doohan, a fourth-grader at East Rochester Elementary School.
Tyler raced through his grandfather's trailer home in suburban Penfield early on the morning of Jan. 20, alerting friends and family to a raging fire.
He was crediting with saving the lives of six people — including two other kids, ages 4 and 6.

But then he went back in to the inferno to try to rescue his grandfather, who used a wheelchair because he'd lost part of a leg. They never made it out. They were buried Wednesday with a third victim, his step-great-grandfather."Compassion has no end, and community has no boundaries," said Phil Buderic, basketball coach at Silver Lake College of the Holy Family, who traveled with his team all the way from Manitowoc, Wis., to serve as pallbearers at Tyler's funeral after being touched by the story.Penfield Fire Chief Chris Ebmeyer declared Tyler an honorary firefighter, presenting a personal fire helmet during the service at St. John of Rochester Catholic Church, NBC station WHEC of Rochester reported."Tyler needed to be honored in a way that would reflect what he did that morning," Ebmeyer said, marveling at the "courage (and) heroism he displayed for such a young individual, at 8 years of age.""Tyler proved there is good in everybody,” the chief said.

Fire companies cross the country also added Tyler's name to their duty rosters in tribute Wednesday, the photos scrolling for page after page on the Facebook account of Firefighters Worldwide, an international firefighters community based in Mechanicsville, Va.
But Denise Alfieri, Tyler's fourth-grade teacher, said she would remember him as "the quiet boy who sat in the front row” and loved math and drawing.
"Tyler, I will miss you every day," Alfieri said. "To be honest, I still look for you to walk through those doors, just to see you smile one more time."

NBCNews

A MUST READ AND FOOD FOR THOUGHT. OPEN LETTER TO THE CHRISTIAN ASSOCIATION OF NIGERIA (CAN)

Sirs,

I will not express any pleasantries, for we are clearly in unpleasant times - apparently the worst - in the life of our nation Nigeria since the end of the civil war in 1970. However, I express my love, which serves as the board from which this epistle jumps from.

Being the association that represents the bulk of Christian believers in Nigeria, which seem to also serve as the voice of these same believers, I am compelled to write and draw your attention to the ominous silence of this association to the steady drift of this nation into the abyss.

The political temperature of Nigeria has risen to the point of burning the top cylinder gasket that holds the beautiful mix that makes this nation work. This is made so by the apparent selfishness and desperation being exhibited by the political class, especially those of them closely associated with you. And this selfishness and desperation have combined to create a climate of insecurity and fear among the people hopelessly suffering the consequences of misgovernance, which has been feathered and furthered by your apparent lack of rebuke.

You will recall that I did warn you in August 2011 in my long article 'As the Church Slept...' (The first series of it) of the consequences of your partisanship in that year's presidential election of which you adopted and vigorously campaigned for president Goodluck Jonathan in your churches and other areas of influence. You will also remember that I advised you to make sure this government works to succeed so that the integrity and honour of the Christian faith is not diminished, because there was nothing successful in the tenure of Goodluck Jonathan as governor of his state, Bayelsa other than massive corruption, a fact you people woefully and stubbornly refused to consider before plunging the church and the entire nation into this avoidable calamity, which is in dire conflict with the biblical instruction that says "Let every man's work speak for him." However, by the current mess the country is thrown into now, and by your loud silence over the mess, it is clear you have not heeded my counsel, which could also mean you care less about how the corporate image and integrity of the Christian faith is being muddled by your "favourite politician" the president. You seem not to understand that whatever he does shall be deemed as springing from a "Christian behaviour" or attitude, and I am compelled to ask whether you people in CAN lack shame or are not ashamed of the unprecedented corruption and insecurity being perpetrated by this regime whose worth is no more than the worth of broken dry leaves carried in a whirlwind?

There are so many scandals bordering on corruption and insecurity, which should have drawn from you appropriate rebuke and demand for comprehensive disclosures, but you chose to be as silent and as dumb as a graveyard in the desert. Instead, all you seem to care about is your continuous odious relationship with these same charlatans who only mention God with their lips but despise Him in their hearts and actions.

If you have not thrown away your Bibles you will not have missed how the Men of God in the Bible were a torment to the (unrighteous) rulers of their time. Those Men of God served as the conscience of their nation with the people always running to them to seek reprieve from oppressive tyrants, but in your own case you seem to have become accomplices in the campaign of plunder and rape of the common wealth of the people. Your consciences appear to have been "seared with hot iron" as the Apostle Paul would say, and without any sense of shame and rebuke you all seem to gladly open your altars to these same liars and thieves to stand and mock God and to further ensnare your followers with their lies! No one among you seem to have the courage now to "speak truth to power" but you would rather "speak truth according to power" as a wise man somewhere appropriately put it. Your altars are no longer points where fire is spitted to convict evil in the land, rather they have become points from which "messages of comfort" are spewed for our thieving rulers and other vandals that throng worship places for fun and recognition, and little wonder there appears to be no change in the land that can be attributed to convicting messages from the altars and pulpits.

You may not know it, but shouldn't you have figured out the danger of politicising your altars or pulpits? Already, you have wittingly or unwittingly set up the next political campaign to be on religious basis exactly the way you and your favourite politician did in 2011, and the danger is you are now setting up your innocent followers for any unpleasant consequences after the election if its outcome turns out to be considered as flawed like it did in the past. And considering the desperation of your favourite politician, president Goodluck Jonathan, there are signs already that he will not mind using crude and crooked means to assert himself in power, including the use of killer snipers (Obasanjo has not been certified mad by a competent doctor to have made that allegation), and you may have conveniently forgotten that up till now he has not bothered to even visit to commiserate with your followers who lost lives and properties in the 2011 fiasco after you have goaded them to vote for him because he goes to church.

We have had church going leaders in the country like President Nnamdi Azikiwe, Gen. Aguiyi Ironsi, Gen. Yakubu Gowon, Gen. Obasanjo and President Obasanjo, but none of them ever made government policy announcements in church in honour of the secularity of the nation and in recognition of the sensitivity of religion in our polity, and in the same manner none of their Muslim counterparts ever made any government policy announcement in the Mosque. And I am very sure now that if any Muslim politician goes to any Mosque to campaign or make any similar announcement you will be the first to come out smoking hot against the person. Of course, evidences of your double standard and hypocrisy abound. Are we taking in vain the Golden Rule set by the Lord Jesus Christ that says "Do unto others what you want them to do unto you"?

You also seem to have kept quiet over the Boko Haram conundrum. Is your silence occasioned by the realisation that this Boko Haram nonsense has always been a "Boko Haram" contrivance set up to disorganise and depower a particular part of the country and to blackmail certain persons considered hostile to, or more popular than your favourite politician? Let me clearly warn you that the evil conspirators behind the magnification of this Boko Haram madness shall be duly exposed and punished by the LORD God Almighty with an "overflowing measure" of punishment before this year 2014 ends! The time has come when the Lord God Almighty will clear His Holy Name from the filth filthy politicians have rubbed on His Name!

Why are you also very quiet about the contrived lockdown in Rivers State? Are you also not courageous to tell the clear aggressor to stop the nonsense? Isn't Rivers State located in the "Christian South" which should have attracted your care and concern? Or is there any part of the "Christian South" that should be destroyed for the benefit of your favourite politician just as the north-east of Nigeria? Is your silence due to the allegation that quite a good number of you were heavily "dashed" some very huge sums of cash for the unwise endorsement of 2011? Can you see why the Bible in Proverbs chapter 15 verse 27 says "He that is greedy of gain troubleth his own house; but he that hateth gifts shall live"? And if you have noticed a lot of Nigerians disenchanted with you over your clear romance with these rogues in power, it is because the Bible has said it in Proverbs chapter 29 verse 24 that "Whoso is partner with a thief hateth his own soul: he heareth cursing, and betrayeth it not."

Receiving cash or material gifts from rogue politicians or businessmen will muffle your voices from rebuking them, and, moreover they don't give such gifts for any good; it is so that they can buy your conscience and voices. Proverbs chapter 17 verse 23 says "A wicked man taketh a gift out of the bosom to pervert the ways of judgment." If your voices and consciences have not been bought by "the wicked", Nigerians need and desire to see you doing what Proverbs chapter 27 verse 5 says: "Open rebuke is better than secret love."

History and the coming generation will not forgive you if you fail to stand up to compel positive change in Nigeria, for they will read about how you slept and colluded with those destroying their nation. And most importantly, remember that you will be expected to give account of how you discharged the mandate of being "the light and salt of the world" before the Lord God Almighty! But at that time the LORD will not be seated on The Mercy Seat but The Judgment Seat!

Sharon Faliya Cham,
Abuja, Nigeria
February 2, 2014