HURRICANE SANDY AND THE NIGERIAN FLOODS

Many parts of Nigeria experienced flooding this year as a result of large amount of rainfall and release of water from dams. The floods started in early July and ravaged most parts of the central states down to the South East and South South of the country. According to the country’s National Emergency Management Agency, more than 300 lives were lost and over a million people displaced. Communities were totally washed away or cut off from each other, while homes, properties and farmlands and crops were lost, causing fears of impending food shortage around the whole country. To some people, the devastation caused by this flooding was only appreciated when aerial photos of the damage were beamed on National TV. 

Hurricane Sandy on the other hand descended on the East coast of the United States of America affecting almost 17 states and claiming the lives of over 100 people. The storm ravaged most parts of the cities of New York and New Jersey where entire neighbourhoods were destroyed. Everywhere was flooded with water which caused major services such as electricity and public transportation to be shut down.

While I observed these two disasters that affected these two different countries, I couldn’t help but compare some of the things that happened and how things were handled differently by both countries.

For example, while the Nigerians woke up in shock to discover themselves and their properties swimming in water, the Americans were fully aware of the impending disaster. Authorities have tracked the storm as it approached the U.S. right from Canada and the Caribbean Islands, satellite images of the storm have been shown to the people, from its size up to the hour it was expected to make landfall. Warnings were also issued to residents along the coastline and those in low areas to evacuate their houses.

When the disasters finally happened, while the American President Barrack Obama immediately abandoned what he was doing and went back to the White House to command things, the Nigerian President Goodluck Jonathan was nowhere to be found.  Local officials in America were on ground giving out instructions and coordinating activities with regards to rescue and evacuation, while the affected people in Nigeria were left to themselves. In few places, the officials on ground were the National Emergency Management Authority staff who are poorly equipped and poorly trained to carryout any meaningful search and rescue. The silence from Local, State and Federal government officials was deafening.

While the Mayors of New Jersey and New York in America were on ground that day, leading, coordinating and briefing the people with updates on the extent of damage and the time it will take to restore electricity and other services, the Nigerian Governors on the other hand went on publicity stunts days after, in company of large aides breezing through the crowds like movie stars, flying in choppers, paddling canoes and giving out false hope to the victims of the flood.

Because the Americans were prepared, alternative shelters were already set up before the disaster happened. Camp beds were seen being set up at designated shelters. On the Nigerian side of things however, it was a case of haphazard arrangements and uncoordinated actions. People were seen dumped in school premises without food or water for some days before NEMA and the state governments started taking mattresses, rice, indomie and water, most of which were hardly enough for the people in the camp . It was clear that none of the Governors of the affected states had any clear plan on dealing with this kind of situation not with the manner in which they handled things and so they resorted to anything they felt seemed right for the situation such as hiring comedians to cheer the victims up.

Many Nigerians could not understand why it took their President weeks before he was able to declare the flood as a National disaster, and up till October 9^th before making a National broadcast to the people, giving out $110 million in financial assistance and setting up a committee on Flood relief and rehabilitation. Many also saw this move as an afterthought because the president did not refer to the floods at all in his National Broadcast he gave 8 days before on the Country’s Independence Day. Many also believed that the financial assistance may end up in the pockets of few individuals.

Even though some may think that making comparisons with America is not realistic, one cannot help but notice the way our elected officials treat the people whom they were elected to take care of most especially in terms of crisis despite having huge resources at their disposal.

  

BETWEEN GOVERNOR WAMAKKO AND PHCN

It was with bewilderment that we woke up to the news that the Governor of Sokoto State, Aliyu Wamakko has allegedly flogged one of the staff of the Power Holding Company of Nigeria PHCN. The story was that Governor Wamakko summoned one Mr. Moses Osigwe who is the Business Manager Gwiwa unit and two other staff to his office and personally flogged them with a horsewhip for failing to provide stable power supply in the State.

Another version of the story was that the Governor gave Mr. Moses Osigwe and his accomplices the sum of N17 million to purchase a transformer and fix in his hometown of Wamakko, but that the latter could neither provide the transformer nor the money given to him after a long period of time. So in a true emperor fashion, the Governor whipped him to his satisfaction before handing him over to the Mobile Police.

This situation led to the National Union of Electricity Employers NUEE to issue a 48hrs ultimatum to the Governor to apologize to their colleague over the alleged assault and foot his medical bill, or they would shut down power supply to the entire Sokoto State.

The governor in turn released a statement through his Special Adviser on media, one Umar Sani saying he does not owe anybody an apology, thus drawing the battle line with the Electricity Union, who in turn made their threat real by shutting down power supply to the state.

While this seemingly unending imbroglio between the Governor and the Electricity union continues, the questions on my mind now are, ‘What about the people?’ does the Electricity Union have the right to deny an entire State of power supply, even though the people pay for it?  What happens to all the small businesses that depend on power to survive, or the patients that will loose lives as a result of this total power outage? It is not as if the power supply is as regular as people would want it to be, but the little that is available is what people are making do with in their lives. For instance, I know that power supply in Sokoto town is rationed for 12hrs, which are broken into two among neighbourhoods, so if you are lucky to have light from 12 noon to 6pm you may not need to put on your generator throughout the daytime for your business.

I am not a fan of the Governor or his alleged primitive style of dealing with the PHCN staff, but I do not also support the method the Electricity Union is using in ensuring justice for their colleague.They should ask themselves how throwing the entire Sokoto state into darkness would affect Governor Wamakko, who can afford to buy diesel everyday of the year for as long as he remains governor – even if with public money? How do they think that the ordinary person, that cares less about who the Governor is will survive in this kind of situation? The barber who used to have at least 6hrs of electricity will now have to power his generator throughout the day – that is if he is lucky to find petrol which has become a scarce commodity throughout the country now.

The electricity Union should please reconsider its action and restore power supply to the state so as not to add to the hardship of the ordinary people in their bid to settle scores with the State Governor. I know the Governor enjoys immunity and therefore cannot be sued but surely, there must be other ways they can explore in resolving this issue without bringing untold hardship to the people of Sokoto State.

WANTED URGENTLY: NATIONAL ROLE MODELS

Young people in Nigeria desperately need a positive role model on the National scene. Someone who can inspire them, give them a sense of direction, show them good example and above all give them hope in the future of their country.

Basically, a role model is someone whose behavior or success can be emulated by others, especially young people. They are individuals who make us say “I want to be like them.” A large majority of parents, as well as other family members, are adopted as role models for many young children. They mimic the movements and expressions of the one they idolize to become just like them. The role models for these young children set positive examples for them to follow and teach them how to make optimistic choices further on in life. I believe having a role model encourages people to strive for their goals and increase their confidence, as well as allowing them to improve upon themselves and alternate any personal faults they are unsatisfied with. Positive role models play a very important role in the lives of young people because they give them an insight into the kind of life they may wish to live when they grow up.

Whether consciously or unconsciously, young people are constantly looking for someone who can set an example for them to follow. It is therefore no wonder that successful societies tend to teach their children about the virtues, the selflessness, integrity, honesty, dedication and hard work of their past leaders, with the hope that it will help them to flourish and be better individuals as they grow up.

In Nigeria of today, the absence of positive role models for young people is very glaring. We have a situation where the young people lack direction because the elders have deserted them. The people on the national arena now project negative actions to the young people in so many ways by stealing, lying, cheating and disservice to the Nation. The problem is further confounded because they get a way with these actions and are never punished.

Young people in Nigeria are desperate for someone, anyone who will show them that there is a future in this country worth living for. That is why they follow anybody who shows even the slightest form of integrity, whether true or fake. For example, the recent fuel subsidy probe by the House of Reps earned (Hon)? Farouk Lawal a lot of young admirers. Many young people identified with him because they saw in him integrity, fearlessness, passion and patriotism, they also saw someone who is on the verge of making history and giving them hope that it is still possible to believe in a new Nigeria. Their hopes where so high that many of them decided to use his picture in their profile on various social media sites. But like a bubble burst, so were their hopes dashed.

We have heard stories of people in other countries who shook hands with their leaders while they were young, got inspired and rose to become leaders themselves. We have heard how children have been inspired to do good just by watching their leaders speak to them on TV. How many of our leaders can boast of such magic? How many of us or our young kids today will go to bed dreaming of shaking hands with Mr. President, or Governors or even Local Government Chairmen? I bet the answer is obviously none.

I as a young mother with all my imperfections would rather have my kids look up to me as a role model than any of the so called leaders we have currently. So until we get someone on the national stage who can break the jinx and surprise us by being ‘different’, the search for the National role model will continue.

God Bless Nigeria.

Negative Stereotyping, a clog in the wheel of our unity

"Which state are you from?" Is the usual question I get from people who come from the South anytime I string a good sentence in English. "Sokoto" I always reply and then watch the astonished  expression on their faces while they try to reconcile what they are seeing with what they have stored in their minds. Some of the more polite ones smile and warm up to me while some will continue to probe. "Are you from the Dasuki family?" One asked. "No, I replied I did not come from any of the so called elites' families that you know. I was actually raised by a widow who did not attend any western school" I will add with a smile watching as the confusion deepens.

This is a typical example of stereotyping by Nigerians against fellow Nigerians. Because it is widely believed that people from the North do not attend western school, the people questioning me cannot understand why an ordinary Fulani girl from Sokoto should speak good English. Apart from this, we also have our own beliefs up North about people of Southern Nigeria which to a large extent are not true. For example, it is widely believed that Yoruba people are not trustworthy and as such any Yoruba person is a potential traitor, while Igbos can do anything for money and should not be trusted in matters that involve money.  As a person who attended a unity secondary school, I have met amazing people from these two tribes who hardly fit into the description above.

Stereotype can be defined as  a fixed, commonly held notion or image of a person or group, based on an oversimplification of some observed or imagined trait of behavior or appearance, a  popular belief about specific types of individuals or certain way of doing things. Stereotypes can be either positive or negative but most stereotypes tend to make us feel superior in some way to the person or group being stereotyped.  Stereotypes ignore the uniqueness of individuals by painting all members of a group with the same brush. Another name for stereotyping is bias. Sometimes stereotyping can turn into discrimination if we misinterpret a bias and act upon it in a negative manner.

Even though stereotyping is a global phenomenon, we tend to use it negatively (with the intention to hate) in Nigeria, particularly among the three major tribes that we have. We most often willingly refuse to acknowledge that most of these perceptions are not true, or that they are not what generally define a particular people. As much as we know that Hausa people are trustworthy, Yorubas go to school and Igbos are enterprising, this is not always the case as we also have Hausas that are not trustworthy, uneducated Yorubas and non enterprising Igbos.

What is most disturbing is the fact that the youth who should be able to think for themselves are actively engaged in negative stereotyping. There is  therefore an urgent need for orientation especially among our  young people. We need to move away from what we have been told while growing up and begin to find out things by ourselves in order to achieve the much desired unity.

Finally, I believe that with effort, we can change ourselves and in so doing, change our society. It is very important to see the diversity that surrounds us as a good thing, something wonderful about our country, which is definately better than living in our own cultural bubbles.

What can pierce this thick skin?

'We the People' of Nigeria are some of the most adaptive people you can find anywhere  in this world. We are also loud, aggressive and  hardworking; and yet we are somewhat foolish when it comes to knowing our rights and demanding for what is right from the people that we have entrusted with leadership. Our Country is one of the hardest places to live in this world, with  over 70 percent of the population (150 million) living on less than a dollar a day, I do not need to say much about poverty and hardship. Perhaps it is this hardship that has turned the average Nigerian into a specie that adapts to anything life brings forth. It was no wonder  therefore that 'We the People' of Nigeria  were regarded as the happiest people in the world some years back because we move on with life regardless of the challenges that we face every day.  We have over the years developed very thick skin, such that nothing shocks us anymore.

The recent  Fuel subsidy probe exposed monumental theft of the country's wealth by a small group of people who have become overnight billionaires without doing any work, and who are responsible for most of the problems that the average Nigerian has. What did we do as a people? A small percentage of us who managed to read the report made so much noise about it in the different social media forums for some days and then forgot about it and moved on. Some newspapers carried the news in fragments, sold their papers for a few days and moved on to the next news. Meanwhile majority of us did not know or did not care or are too ignorant to know, in the sense that they can neither read, nor comprehend the gravity of what happened. This category of people rely solely on the NTA for information - which as we all know is just a medium for broadcasting Government propaganda. The Government on the other hand became silent, and 'we the people' of Nigeria moved on with life.

Before this scam, there was the pension scam, where an official was found with the sum of 2 billion Naira cash in his house. There was also the power projects scam and the capital market scam and the scam called the freest and fairest election, but was it enough to shock us? No. The scenario above now seems to always replay itself whenever scams like these are exposed to the public, and 'we the people' of Nigeria shrug and move on.

The only time 'we the people' of Nigeria came close to coming out of our trance was during the occupy Nigeria protests in January which almost paralyzed the country for a whole week. Sadly enough even that was short lived.

I sometimes wonder if there is someone out there who has bewitched or placed a curse on 'we the people' of Nigeria. We are a deeply religious people who claim to know  God more than anybody else in the world as going by the number of mosques and churches that we have, no one can dispute that.  We call on the Almighty all the time to help us come out of our predicament and He answered us by exposing some of the biggest thefts that could ever take place in the history of the world, thefts that could have brought other nations to their knees, thefts that could have made thousands of heads to roll; and yet what did we do? 'we the people' of Nigeria shrugged and moved on.

If the talk of stealing in trillions of Naira by the people who are meant to safeguard our national wealth is not enough to shock us as a people, let us move to the next subject.

On the 1st of October 2010 there was a bomb blast that killed several people and injured many. This one was new to us, it involved death, and we love life. We were gripped by the act for days, but  with the assurance from government  that perpetrators will be 'fished out and brought to book', we moved on. Even though the news that Terrorists are in our country spread quickly, we were not really concerned because the  killings were mostly taking place in faraway Maiduguri and they were mostly carried out in drive by shootings.

Then came the Police Headquarters bomb blast in the Federal Capital Territory, and we were stunned. This one was also new to us because it brought to light how incapable and unprepared and incompetent our Police Force is, and it involved a suicide bomber!.' We the people' of Nigeria could not imagine that one of us could actually blow himself to pieces because of a cause. We were absolutely shocked because we love to live life no matter what. After days of analyses in the media, the usual we-are-on-top-of-the-situation script read by the government,  we moved on.

There is now an established pattern in this country as I write this. Bomb explodes, people die, some get scarred for life, government condemns and vows, the dead are buried and  sadly 'we the people' shrug and move on.

True to our nature, 'we the people' of Nigeria are fast adapting to this dangerous way of life even though we have to struggle for the basic things in life. We have failed to stand up, to ask questions, to demand for accountability, to demand for our right to live and to be treated right by the people who should be looking after us,  instead, we complain, do nothing and  move on. We have completely surrendered our lives to the people who are some of our worst in the society and we expect them to govern us well. My prayer nowadays to God is no longer targeted towards our leaders,  it is rather targeted towards 'we the people' of Nigeria to have our eyes open, to look around us and see that the world has changed, to have enough fire in our bellies to drive us so that we can free ourselves from this bondage.