AN OPEN LETTER TO OUR YOUTH DELEGATES

Make no mistake about this, you were not invited to the National conference because they care about you or what you are going to say - they don't. Going by your small number among the total of 492 delegates, it is easy to say that you were invited just for show and to make it appear as if you are involved.

In a country where the youth are always regarded as small and treated with disdain, you should expect nothing less. The traditional African society is driven by a culture which always requires the young to defer to the elders all the time and the Nigerian elders are surely taking advantage of such. That is the reason why the elders make sure they suppress the youth whenever they can. They even have a name they call themselves -elder statesmen.  They do not trust us with anything, most especially leadership which is the reason why the few among the youth who are leaders must have a so called godfather in order to succeed.

To be honest, I am one of the people who have doubts about the ongoing conference and whether the outcome will have any positive impact at all, but all the same I think the youth should go for it. My dear youth delegates seize this rare moment, where you will be given a chance to air your views. Your views are rarely taken seriously because in their eyes you are always 'that small boy or girl'.

Let your fellow delegates and the country feel your presence, shock them, dazzle them and let them understand that your constituents are angry that they have no access to jobs, healthcare and quality education. let them know that we are getting impatient and restless and hungry for a change. Make them be aware that they have failed us and do not have anything more to offer.

They claim that we are incompetent to hold responsible positions forgetting that they failed to properly educate and train us. They even say we are lazy, unserious and only care about music and football forgetting that most of us use that to occupy our idleness. Make them aware that they have failed to guide us, mentor us and set good examples for us to follow. Make them aware that they are too crowded at the top and they need to give way, for us to claim our position as the rightful owners of this nation.

In a country where there are more than 60 million youths, ask them why we have 80yr olds as delegates to discuss our future. Make them know that it is our country, our lives and our future which is at stake and nobody else's. Say it loudly, say it boldly, angrily and respectfully that our time is now, and we are tired of being leaders of an elusive tomorrow.  Do not be intimidated by them. All bottlenecks existing in the constitution that hinder the youth from actualizing their potentials need to be dismantled. Tell them that their time has passed, and that they are eating into our own. Their parents trusted them during their time, which is why most of them can boast of holding high positions at a very young age.

Tell the elders in Nigeria that they need to go home and stay, after all it does not make sense for an 80yr old farmer to insist on working in the farm everyday while his young and able bodied sons sleep in the house. Wishing you all the best as you relay this message.  

FINAL MOMENTS: A TRIBUTE TO BUNI YADI VICTIMS

You might have woken up at 5am that Monday morning without any inkling of what was going to happen that night. You might have all shuffled to the dormitory bathroom to have your bath with your eyes still heavy with sleep and your bodies still weak. Only after pouring cold water that has been stored overnight in iron buckets will your bodies finally wake up fully. The bathroom might have been too crowded or too stinking for some of you, so they might have resorted to taking their baths in the courtyard or the corridors in front of the rooms.

You dress up quickly and sweep your 'portions' on time as the bell rings for breakfast. The prefects among you might have shouted out loudly for everybody to start leaving for the dining hall, shouting threats to the last person to leave the dormitory, while the junior ones among you might have rushed out noisily along the corridor in order not to be the last one out.

Even though your breakfast of beans pottage was watery and tasteless today, you might have eaten anyway, and proceeded to the assembly hall and then to the classrooms for the days studies. The first period might have been that of the boring and strict Math teacher whom you have nicknamed 'almighty formula', or the semi literate Biology 'corper', whose original course of study in the university was Agriculture, or the interesting English teacher, whom you named 'alacrity', who uses big grammar to confuse you while she barely makes correct sentences. Besides all these, you might have had a normal day in class and closed for the day in time for lunch.

After the routine of going to the 'dorm', changing into your house wear, and the day's lunch of dry jollof rice without meat (meat is actually a luxury to you), you return just in time for the Muslims afternoon prayer and your siesta. The junior ones among you might not even be in the mood for siesta yet you might have been ordered to lie quietly on your beds and shut your eyes. Just when sleep was about to overtake you, the sharp ringing of the bell jolts you, followed by the prefect's orders for you to wake up, say your prayers (for the Muslims) and go to the classroom for 'prep', which also means evening study.

After closing at 6 o'clock, you might have returned to the dormitory to mill around and socialize with one another before time for dinner, while some of you washed your dirty uniforms in front of your various 'houses', in preparation for tomorrow that you will never see.   

Dinner is the usual eba and egusi soup. It is Monday after all and you hated it. During our own time we also hated it especially that the eba always had lumps in it and the egusi and vegetable in the soup separates with the water.  I hear that things are now worse. The smart ones among you might have even exchanged the night’s meat against tomorrow afternoon's fried fish in a trade by barter fashion, not knowing that they have eaten the last meal in their lives.

After dinner, night prep and a little free time of usual teenage banters, soaking garri and so on, you might have gone to bed after lights out thinking 'oh what a long day', and looking forward to a tomorrow will never see. As you wandered about in dreamland, little did you know that some wicked people unknown to you have perfected plans to take your lives.

We may never know how everything happened, and your final moments before your innocent lives were terminated, but what we know is that you have been failed by the nation and the very people who swore to protect you. The country which you pledged to defend its honor every morning deserted you at your hour of need. All that is left to your grieving families and friends are your memories, which they will live with for the rest of their lives.

Our sincere hope is that your death and that of many other victims of this senselessness may not go in vain, that the people who are entrusted with the duty of protecting lives will wake up to the challenge and make the nation a safer place for all of us. Adieu.

DOES THE 'NORTH' REALLY CONTROL THE OIL BLOCKS?

"83% of oil blocks controlled by the North". The screaming Newspaper headline caught my attention in traffic. Virtually all the days papers carried the news as headlines on that day. This news came about following a debate on the floor of the senate about the Petroleum Industry bill the day before, where Senator Ita Enang took time to read out names of Northerners who have oil prospecting licences or oil blocks.

This revelation however is not new, as there has been an article by one Mr. Ross Alabo-George in the vanguard newspaper titled 'Derivation and Deprivation: why the north is poor', in which the writer mentioned all the Northerners that own oil blocks and how much they make from it.

I could understand the mischief of politicians in trying to drag us into another ethnic debate about who owns what or who benefits more from where, I can also understand the papers cashing in on it so as to sell more and make profit, but what made me smile in spite of all these is the naivety of a commentator who wondered why in spite of all these oil wells, poverty is still endemic in the North.

The fact that of the matter is that these so called oil wells were only given to a few connected  individuals who happen to come from the North, not to take care of anybody but themselves and their families. It was simply a personal thing where the Presidents or Heads of States gave out the Country's wealth to friends and relations that they wished. This is a sad reality of how the country has been run, and is still being run up till today. How many of these people own  industries where Northerners are employed? How many of them have built schools, roads or even sponsored children of the poor to school? What advantage has the North gained by having people with such oil blocks? What piqued me most about the headlines is the attempt to make it look as if the generality of Northerners or the North as a geographical region has benefitted from the ownership of any of these oil wells. The issue here is the same that applies to every sector of Nigerian economy today, be it banking, telecoms, army or even the civil service where nepotism and favoritism are being practiced freely.

Instead of stirring up another North versus South debate, I think what the house members ought to be doing at this point is to focus on the real issues, demand fairness and accountability in all sectors of the economy, not only the oil sector. Even if these oil licences are to be revoked and redistributed to the South South people as Senator Enang has suggested, the only losers will be the owners and their families and not the 'North' or 'Northerners'. In the same vein I also doubt that the ordinary man from the South will benefit anything from such redistribution.  

I therefore urge the people to read between the lines anytime politicians are talking so as not to be drawn into their politics of division, in matters that are purely based on self interest.

    

POLICE COLLEGE IKEJA: A REFLECTION OF A WIDER NIGERIA

I was amused to see President Jonathan standing with hands on hips looking somewhat surprised, shocked and annoyed at the decadence he was seeing while at the Ikeja Police College. The President's unscheduled visit was prompted by a documentary aired on Channels television showing how police cadets are trained in appalling sub human conditions.  While I watched the drama, I couldn't help asking  myself,  "what country did this guy think he is leading? America?".  Well Mr. President, welcome to the Federal Republic of Nigeria.

This level of decay of infrastructure is what the people have been hammering about all the time Mr. president while you are holed up in Aso rock surrounded by aides bandying meaningless economic figures and patting you at the back, telling you all is okay and you are doing a good job. I kept thinking to myself about how disconnected our leaders are with the present reality on ground in Nigeria. Was he not aware that he was coming to preside over  a battered country with almost nonexistent Infrastructure at all levels? Did he just decide he wanted to be president of Nigeria without looking at the enormous task that awaited him? While he was going from state to state campaigning for election in different types of asheobi, did he take time to visit some of these places or listen to people who are affected by such infrastructural decay?

Well I have good news for you Mr. President, there is nothing special about the state of things at Police college Ikeja. All you are seeing is the reflection of a wider Nigeria which you are presiding over. This is Us, and this is our reality. The earlier you realise this and start moving fast to get us out before we sink, the better. If places like Ikeja Police training school are where we train the people who are supposed to keep us safe, I wonder about the condition of our prisons, where condemned prisoners are 'rehabilitated'. Sir, start paying surprise visits to any of the government primary and secondary schools and you will see where and how the future Nigerian leaders are trained. Or visit any of the government hospitals to see how women deliver babies in candle lit labour rooms, and where patients cannot afford to buy 1000 naira malaria drug. You can even rest your jet or chopper  for a day and ply any of the major roads that link most parts of the country so as to know what I am talking about. Not to talk of some of our airports where aeroplanes land in the dark.

Nigeria is a country that is blessed with abundant human and natural resources but sadly we have still not found the right persons who can harness these resources for the general good of the people. What we have as leaders are people who are very unprepared for the challenges in our country and people who lack any vision in moving us ahead.  That is why it will be easier for  Mr. President to be annoyed about the documentary showing this rot, even attributing it to a smear campaign against his government rather than address the issue on ground. The President and his aides in a true Nigerian political fashion might also argue that the decay started long before he assumed leadership, but what they will fail to tell the people is that he was not elected to waste our time complaining but to clear the mess as soon as possible.

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.