DELTA NORTH ROYAL FATHERS ENDORSE DR. EWETA UDUAGHAN FOR 2ND TERM

Uduaghan Vision recently proved to Deltans that their political pressure group position is one with a formidable grass-root and community grasp.


The group’s recent tour to the traditional ruler’s palaces in the Anioma nation buttress the fact that they are well positioned to help lead the present government of Dr. Eweta Emmanuel Uduaghan to secure Victory at the polls come 2011.


Between 26th to 28th January 2010, a 16 man powered committee led by Dr. Joshua E. Enueme paid Advocacy visits to the palaces of traditional and community leaders in Oshimili South, Aniocha South and Oshimili north Local Government areas of the state.


The team leader, Dr. Joshua E. Enueme at the traditional rulers palaces informed the communities that the objective of the Uduaghan Vision’s tour include: to sensitize the royal fathers on the reason for the formation of Udughan Vision and why the group want to support the Governor come 2011.


Dr. Enueme, further explained, that the group is already forging bridges of unity amongst Anioma people and Deltans from other senatorial districts towards the realization of Udughan Vision’s aim and goals come 211 and the realization of the Anioma quest for Delta State Governorship bid come 2015, to their needs they pledge their loyalty and votes for Uduaghan come 2015.
The team presented copies of the Uduaghan Vision maiden magazine to the community leaders.


The Anioma Community leaders visited promise to support the Gov. Uduaghan 2nd term bid as long as come 2015, he will deliver on his promise to support the Anioma nation in the realization of their aspiration to the government House.
Evan. Ossia N. Ossia reminded the Community that beyond 2011, the Uduaghan Vision will transform into Anioma Vision to provide the platform for the realization of the Political Anioma quest.


The community leaders were reminded that soon the Uduaghan vision will organize a rally which they will be invited and such occasion will be a bridge building event b/w the Anioma people and the rest Deltans.


At various communities visited Chief Dan Okenyi, chief Douglas Okolotu and Dr. Emmanuel Mafiana in their brief remark highlighted with respect to the promises made by the Delta state government on the 3 point agenda and the promises kept by the same administrations, which include: commissioning and implementation of the Urban taxi scheme, signing of N1billion MOU with Bank Of Industries (BOI) for Small and Medium Enterprise (SMEs) in Delta State, the flagging off and Operational free rural healthcare program, street light project in most major cities, that have reduced crime rate and the completed Olumu bridge.



Chief Mary Chidi challenged Delta State women to take positive steps towards active civil and political participation in their communities, she encouraged them to take advantage of the gender-friendly programs of the State government and seek meaningful and proactive ways to support and benefit from the on going free rural health care program, free maternal health care delivery system, the gender-friendly micro-credit program for rural women and Urban Active poor.


The touring team created an Interactive session for the communities visited; an opportunity the community used to both appreciate the state government for remembering their existence, as well as an occasion used to share their pains and needs and promised that with the state administrations attendance

I wish Nzeogwu’s coup had succeeded –Pastor Tunde Bakare

One of the promoters of the Save Nigeria Group (SNG), pastor Tunde Bakare has said that he now feels the impact of the January 15, 1966 failed military coup led by late Major Chukwuma Kaduna Nzogwu based on current developments in Nigeria.

He said the failed Nzogwu’s military putsch against the then civilian government of the First Republic contributed much in deepening the poverty of leadership that has become the bane of the country.

Bakare, who is senior pastor of the Later Rain Assembly, made the disclosure on Thursday at the headquarters of the church in Lagos in an exclusive interview with Sunday Independent.

He said if the coup had succeeded, it would have rid Nigeria of bad leaders who, he said, profited from keeping the country divided for selfish gains.

He regretted that 44 years after the failed coup, several Nigerian leaders are still determined to profit from the country’s division. Said he: “How I wish the Nzeogwu coup had succeeded. It would at least have helped rid the nation of the bad eggs and help in welding it together and lay a solid foundation which we are still groping in the dark to achieve several years after.”

The fiery cleric said had the coup succeeded, the country would have been a better place to live, adding that the nation would have been rid of bad leaders who, he said, had held it hostage over the years to satisfy their selfish interest. He, however, warned that the problem of the country today transcends another military coup, hence that should not be contemplated.

Rather, Bakare said the country needed a committed leader who could rise up like the Italian leader, Giuseppi Garibaldi, and weld all the various nationalities of the country together for the purpose of realising its potentials as a great nation. On why he opted to hit the streets with the traditional Nigerian activists, Bakare said: “To inspire others and to take a stand and show that the present leadership in Nigeria is not what people wanted and to show that since social mobility in the present Nigeria is not fruitful there is the need to give voice to the voiceless and to let them say enough is enough to the present leadership in the country.”

He said the on going SNG nationwide rally is not a one off thing, rather a movement that is determined to enthrone good leadership. “Our target is not Yar’Adua because the problem of this country is not Yar’Adua, rather the system and we are determined to tackle the problem headlong and bring the best and brightest to the service of the nation.”

Continuing he said: “In spite of the rot in the system, some of us would not sit aside and allow the country to continue the downward movement which could be catastrophic.”
Bakare said if the country is left in the hands of those he considered as “a cabal manipulating the affairs of the country it could lead to its beak up.”

His words: “I totally believe in the oneness of this country and this informs the reason why we must act now to prevent it from breaking into pieces and this is not good for us as a people. I am totally sold up to the idea of Nigeria and I want it to realise its potentials.

“We are poised to enthroning good leadership in this country and we will not stop at that as our agenda is much more than the present set of leadership, rather the need to sensitise Nigerians to end this same rudderless government that has not bettered its lot over the years and we are prepared to do this even at great risk to our lives.

“This is just not one rally but a process that is beyond the present government or the 2011 general elections which under the present circumstances cannot bring any good thing to the country.

“We must realise that you cannot continue to use the same medicine for a problem that has refused to go. When you use the same method it means you are likely to get the same result and this time around, we want to achieve something different that would change the face of this country and prevent it from sliding back and we are poised to do this even at great risk to our lives.”

Nigerian Civil War: 40 years after

It is forty years after the end of the Nigerian Civil War. The war, fought from 1967-1970,was between the breakaway Eastern Region (Biafra) and Nigeria. Millions of people perished in the conflict which was the most traumatic and devastating experience of the nation since regaining its independence from Britain in 1960.
At the end of hostilities on January 12, 1970, the then Head of State, General Yakubu Gowon, declared that there was no victor and no vanquished. But events immediately after the war, and later, have consistently proved beyond doubt that there was, indeed, a victor and a vanquished.
The way and manner the Gowon administration and subsequent administrations in Nigeria, whether military or civilian, have treated the Igbos in the Nigerian federation suggests that the claim that there was no vanquished in the war was mere lip service.Gowon’s post-war programme of ‘Reconcilia- tion, Reconstruction and Rehabilitation’ (3R’s) was mere palliative.

It was not meant to relieve the Igbos of the hostilities and destruction occasioned by the most atrocious but avoidable human carnage in Africa. In the creation of states in Nigeria, the Igbos have been marginalized. Up till today, the South East geo-political zone is the only one with five states while others have six a piece and one zone, the North West, has seven states. Igbos are also short-changed in the distribution of Local Government Areas. Yet, nothing is being done by the Nigerian state to redress these anomalies. The property of Igbos confiscated under the guise of abandoned property, especially in Port Harcourt, was one of the haunting, unresolved issues of the Biafran war.
Forty years after the war, there has not been any concerted effort by the federal government to integrate the Igbos into the political, economic and social fabric of Nigeria. Politically and economically, the Igbos have been emasculated and rendered irrelevant in the nation’s socio-economic power structure. A census of Nigerian heads of government illustrates this obvious historical fact.The indigenization programme that was executed after the war when Igbos had no financial muscle is a case in point. The policy to pay every Igbo twenty pounds irrespective of the amount he had in the bank before the war was a further demonstration of a policy to impoverish them.Since the end of the war, there has been deliberate effort to exclude the Igbos from the commanding heights of the military, police, other para-military outfits, politics and the economy. Because of the war, there has been a conspiracy to deny the Igbos the presidency of Nigeria.
The Nigerian nation, which won the war, has not amply demonstrated equity and fairness in dealing with the various components that make up Nigeria, including those of the breakaway Biafra. Though, Nigeria won the battle, but the situation on the ground shows that it has not won the peace. The ghost of Biafra is still hovering over Nigeria. Forty long years after the war, the problems that led to the war are still extant and even multiplying with each passing day. Non-resolution of these problems have led to tension, militancy and restiveness in the polity. The frequent ethno-religious crises in Northern Nigeria and the militancy in the Niger Delta are veritable signposts and signals that all is not well with the entity called Nigeria. The existences of more separatist agitations are indications that our nationhood is daily being questioned.
It is now clear that the 1914 Lugardian experiment of founding a nation from many diverse and unwilling tribes has not been very successful. Its first baptism of fire was the Biafran war, which came barely six years after independence. So far, the nation has been faltering from one drift to another as exemplified by its absurdist power and revenue sharing formulae.

We cannot continue in this drift. The Nigerian nation should be conscious of the fact that no nation ever survives two civil wars. It is high time it started addressing all the issues that led to the Biafran war. The issues should never be overlooked. These include domination, marginalization, state and local government creation, religious fundamentalism, citizenship question, power sharing, resource control and true federalism. Glossing over them is like postponing the doomsday.
It is lamentable that Nigeria has not learnt any lessons from the war. We have not learnt enough lessons from the horrors of war and human losses. We lack fellow feeling and a sense of nationhood, and still operate from ethnic and religious prisms. It seems that our government does not value human lives, hence, frequent killings of Nigerians by fellow Nigerians in certain parts of Northern Nigeria under the guise of religion. Protection of lives has not become a priority. Our humanity is still under siege as lives and property remain insecure. Nigeria is behaving as if Biafra never existed. Continued silence on Biafra by subsequent Nigerian regimes does not help matters. The existence of the Movement for the Actualization of Sovereign State of Biafra (MASSOB) indicates that there are still hangovers of the war. Nigerian children should be taught about the war. They need to know what caused it and what the government is doing to prevent another one.

It is unfortunate that Nigeria failed to tap the Biafran technological ingenuity that helped its resistance for three gruesome years of fratricidal war without external assistance. At the heat of the war, Biafrans invented weapons of mass destruction like Ogbunigwe and refined their own petroleum in make-shift refineries, among other innovative achievements. They built their own airport and radio communication systems.

No doubt, the remote cause of the war was economic. Without the prospect of oil in commercial quantity, the war would not have assumed the horrendous dimension it did. Forty years after the war, the oil bearing region is restive with militant agitations that border on resource control and self-determination. The oil factor is still a source of friction and doom to the nation. The way the Nigerian government prosecuted the war is part of our problem today as more power and resources are controlled by the highly unitarized federal government. The revenue sharing formula concentrates much revenue in the federal purse. All regimes since Gowon followed that pattern. It is still the same divide and rule tactics of yore that is in vogue. Yesterday, it was the Igbo; today it is the Niger Delta. Tomorrow, it might be another zone.

Since revenue sharing formula is at the root of our problem, it is high time this core issue was addressed. One way to do this is to go back to true federalism. We must free our federal system from unitary contagion inflicted upon it by the military. All indices point out that ours is not yet a nation. As we lament our failed hopes and squandered opportunities, we can still overcome these problems if we operate a truly federal system and allow each federating unit to control its resources and develop at its own pace. The new Nigeria of our dream must be built on justice and equity. Let us strive to do those things that can make us a real nation where patriotism reigns.

How Some Lagos Landlords Ruin the Economy of Lagos

I have just read a report in the newspapers that a bill that will check the excesses of landlords in Lagos is on the floor of the hallowed chambers of the Lagos State House of Assembly for consideration and when passed into law it is going to be a landmark achievement that will stand the test of time in Nigeria . I hear that when the bill becomes a law, it will be an offence punishable by law to collect more than three months rent or for a would-be tenant to pay more than three months rent. I hear also that 3 years imprisonment awaits such offenders.

This is a revolution, which if religiously implemented, and to all intents and purposes, will add serious values to Lagos State . I have lived somewhere in Surulere since 1992 and for those 18 years I have seen how Lagos landlords have exploited poor Lagosians, killed their businesses and sent them to their villages. On my way to work and back I have seen shops rented for 2 years at N5000 per month depending on the size and pay for two or three years with agreement and agent fees duly paid. Goods worth more than N100, 000 may not be inside the shops. These shop owners stay for two or three years and when the rent expires they may not continue because there will not be enough money to pay for even one year rent. The landlords take over the shops and look for another customer, on jerked up rent. After two years the same thing happens and another person packs in. that way, the vicious circle continues and the landlord continues to smile to the bank.

The cycle of stupidity and fraud continues and our economy continues to nose-dive. For 18 years I have watched this dangerous trend and criminality along Adelabu-Agbonyin, Enitan-Pako and Agbebi Streets, all in Surulere. In a particular shop, I have keenly observed five shop owners coming and going within a span of 10 years. This is the same story all over Lagos and indeed the entire country.

Dubious and lazy landlords in Lagos have no conscience. They rely on houses they built 30-40 years ago to pay school fees for their children and children of their concubines in Nigeria and abroad, they rely on the money to feed, cloth and do naming ceremonies. They rely on the money to buy cars and do other sundry things. Routine maintenance of the building is not in their lexicon. Their children are busy learning the trade, and sometimes these children force their parents to die in order to take over the property and it becomes business as usual. In our area I have seen young men take over their father’s property and with that they are comfortable. They do no other jobs except to collect rents. You know them when they gather once in a month at the Street gate to collect security and other levies.

I packed into a three bedroom flat in Ijeshatedo, Surulere in1992 for N18,000 per annum. From N18,000 it was moved to N25,000, N30,000, N50,000, N80,000, N100,000, N120,000, and N150,000, and for 18 years nothing has been added to that block of 12 flats in terms of anything by the landlord. We did all the repairs, changed kitchens, toilet, and bathrooms, repainted the flats, serviced the drains, and repaired the two gates leading to the compound. Today twelve of us are in possession of quit notices. What is his target?

A flat is now going from N300,000-N500, 000 in Ijeshatedo depending on the type of building. If 12 of us leave, he will change few things in the two blocks of flats and probably paint the whole blocks he has not painted for 19 years now. The next thing is to ask for 500k per annum and two years rent. This is his target.

I have made the points at several fora in Lagos that rents in Lagos these days are not justifiable. It is completely running at variance with the real prevailing economic situation in Lagos. It is counterproductive, it is criminal, and it is absurd. Investment funds end in the pocket of landlords and they use it to marry more wives and breed more children. The trend is that whenever a landlords collects his rent, the repair and upgrading of his building falls on the tenants and the system is so favorable to the landlords that the tenant has nowhere to run to or else when he is not clamped down on, he is given quit notice. Which system runs like that? A system where a landlord wants to collect the cost of his building in one fell swoop is devilish and is not practiced anywhere else in the world.

Matters were not helped by the phenomenal growth of banks in Lagos whether real or fake. Cheap funds collected from sales of dubious shares and deposits of common people were converted to personal wealth by fraudulent bank CEOs, and where do they put the money? Properties. Cheap funds from banks workers raised the stakes very high in the property industry in Lagos especially living houses. A rent of N500,000 per annum is no money to them. Banks buy up property in any busy Street in Lagos at a mouth watering fee and there is a big scramble to sell houses to banks, and this has helped in no uncertain terms to render poor people homeless in Lagos.



The woes of tenants in Lagos are endless and unbelievable. They are hopeless, helpless, hapless and totally humiliated. We need courage and political will to enforce this law. This law is long over due, it is imperative, it is a must law. It will help to release the investment funds going into the pockets of landlords, it will help the poor, it will reduce crimes, it will create jobs, and it will help the economy of Lagos. The move is a political master stroke, it is creative thinking in action, and it is creative governance in action and Lagos is getting it right. Lagos State House of Assembly, please pass this law immediately and follow it up with affirmative action. A follow up is to set up a rent tribunal that will handle cases from this envisaged law and many other tenant-landlord related issues that have made the lives of tenants a living hell in Lagos and indeed Nigeria.


Joe Igbokwe.

NIGERIA IS DRIFTING TOWARDS A FAILED STATE

Niger Delta International Initiative (NDII) is using this opportunity to wish the president; Umaru Yar'Adua a healthy and speedy recovery in order to continue leading the nation towards the right direction in a faster pace. However, if Umaru Yar'Adua’s presidency is truncated due to ailment, NDII wishes to suggest that the future leadership of the Vice President: Goodluck Jonathan and the Nigerian stakeholders work assiduously and selflessly in order to remedy the suffering of the masses and to avoid Nigeria being a failed state. From every indication, Nigeria is drifting towards a failed state with the Government inability to provide reasonable public services; however, there is still time to urgently remedy the situation. The high poverty and illiteracy level in the nation are promoting the insecurity in the society from Niger Delta crisis to kidnapping and the religious crisis in the North.

NDII examines the key areas of greatest concern for urgent reform in order to remedy the suffering of the masses and to avoid Nigeria being a failed state.
The problem in Nigeria as a whole is lack of viable economic and socio-political development: which lead to mass poverty and illiteracy, and the problem is perpetuated by poor and corruption leadership from banking sector, the judiciary, the law enforcement agencies, Local Government, State Government and the Federal Government. This problem can be resolved by addressing the real issue associated it, which is Lawlessness. Lawlessness breeds excessive corruption, and corruption creates poor leadership and performance, lack of accountability and fiscal irresponsibility, poverty and unemployment, low economic productivity, marginalization and neglect among others.

The cornerstone to sustainable development is through a practical approach in infrastructural development (development in education, energy, transportation, roads, waterways, housing, health, information technology, water supply, agriculture, financial institutions including micro financing, etc.). Today, there is no functional infrastructure in Nigeria . The nation needs infrastructural development in all sectors, which will promote safety and security, social and economic development and job creation. To this end, Nigerian leadership and stakeholders are challenged to make use of the high quality human resources at home and abroad, the type of Mallam Sanusi Lamido Sanusi of the Central Bank, the former Minister of Solid Minerals Development; Ms. Obiageli Ezekwesili and the former finance minister; Dr. Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala. These type of individuals are required in all key positions in the nation from the banking sector, the judiciary, the law enforcement agencies, Local, State and the Federal Government. It is time for Nigerian leadership and stakeholders to promote the appointment of competent individuals to decision making positions based on merit and not the appointment of incompetent individuals, junks and crooks brought by Godfathers.

To achieve social and economic development in Nigeria , the 774 Local Governments and the 36 State Governments must apply their resources to projects and programs for sustainable development in the local government areas and the states, respectively. Economic and socio-political development cannot be achieved in the nation without the Local Governments and the State Governments taking active part in the national developmental goals and policies. The nation cannot achieve tangible development, if the 774 Local Governments and the 36 State Governments are not committed to their responsibilities, the Federal Government cannot develop the nation alone. The above setbacks are created due to lawlessness and lack of accountability in the nation. In another note, the Federal Government should prevent bogus currencies in circulation if any to minimize inflation.

Nigeria needs effective judiciary and effective law enforcement agencies. Up-to-date, the judiciary and the law enforcement agencies are non-functional. Effective judiciary and effective law enforcement agencies will lead to develop, livable and safe society. Nigeria would develop only when the issue of corruption has been seriously tackled, and this required effective judiciary and effective law enforcement agencies. To this end, NDII highly suggests that the Federal Government seek external assistance from Britain and the United States of America in training and restructuring the judiciary, the police department, the road safety department, the customs, the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC), the Independent Corrupt Practices and Other Related Offences Commission (ICPC) and the Nigeria Extractive Industries Transparency Initiative (NEITI). The revitalization of the Rule of Law is required to reduce excessive corruption, which is now becoming a culture/the way of life in the nation and promote national development.

The resolution of the Niger Delta and Religious crises requires strong involvement from all stakeholders concern. The resolution of the crises can only come through sound preaching in the Mosques and Churches, mass education, infrastructural development in the nation and large scale capacity building, which will lead to job creation and safe society. Additionally, the crisis in the Niger Delta region and Religious crisis in the north can only be resolved when the local chiefs, religious leaders and politicians sponsoring these evil activities are identified and brought to book. Economic and social development does not thrive under violence.

Nigeria should elect and appoint credible individuals to leadership positions. Many individuals in decision making positions or leadership positions are under qualified, incompetent and they lack substance. Economic productivity cannot be achieved if the best candidates are denied appointments for less qualified persons on account of their religion, regions or tribe. Godfatherism should be checked in order to advantageously utilize our quality human resources outlet.

The immediate evaluation of the above impediments to national development and applying a corrective measure will reduce the chances of anarchy and prevent Nigeria from being a failed state. As noted, social development, economic development, peace, safety and security in the nation cannot be achieved if corruption, greed, nepotism, religious and tribal sentiments prevail over national, state and community interests.

NDII challenges every individual in leadership position in the nation to emulate His Excellency: Alhaji Umaru Musa Yar’Adua in terms of fiscal responsibility. “Our honest opinion”
As always, Remain Blessed,
Dr. Chukwuma O. Nwaonicha.

HOW INTELLECTUALS UNDERDERVELOP NIGERIA

As I started to write this, I happened on an interview of Nigerian-born Jelani Aliyu a top automobile designer with ailing General Motors. He opines in that interview, that ‘Many people underestimate the power of imagination and determination’. Jelani was born and raised in Sokoto, Nigeria, even though he is now fully Americanised. But the import of his statement should not be lost on us, as we shall see in the body of this article. This country will be liberated, if ever, not by anything else but by the power of the intellect. Sheer mental power. Nothing is stronger than that. It is like water, harmless on the surface, but powerful, especially when it is consistent and when it comes in full force, from every angle.

But what have we seen instead... Intellectuals, people who are trained in the ways of modern knowledge, who stand at the forefront of innovation and ideology, people who shape opinions because they have the power of expression, who are articulate and can convince by the intricate arrangement of their ideas, people on whom the methodical intellectual articulation of the ways out of the African quagmire rests so heavily, have abdicated their huge responsibility to ‘leaders’, politicians and the military.Everyone in Nigeria talk about the ‘leadership’ problem in the country. Great minds like Professor Chinua Achebe, are embittered by a situation whereby those who are thrown up into leadership capacity in Nigeria always fail to deliver.

But in the conclusion of the proponents of the ‘leadership problem’, lie several omissions and fallacies. Firstly, who is a ‘leader’? And why are we so fixated on political leadership while we ignore the cascading nature of leadership itself. Is it possible for leaders down the rank and file to do things right and lead aright, only for the man, or woman, at the very top to then be deviant? That will be an aberration. And this tells us that today’s leaders, and tomorrow’s too, will necessarily be chosen from yesterday’s followers and small-time leaders. That is why they say that a people get the leaders they deserve. Our leadership reflects our society.

Also looking around today, we see a good number of young men and women in leadership positions in Nigeria. And by every means, they will be judged by how well they perform, irrespective of the influence of godfathers and benefactors. The argument of generational problems is therefore null and void. It has become obvious that as new generations emerge, the same problems exist, and some even get worse. As documented by Lords Lugard and Milverton among others, the problem of personal vanity, obsession with power, myopia, and so on, seem to be acquiring more sophisticated twists with incoming younger generations.And it would seem that we have a followership problem already too.

They say you cannot be a good leader if you aren’t a good follower. The Nigerian follower today, is totally disconnected from his environment. He easily passes the buck, and is unable to see the impact of his actions on the collective. Most young people I speak with confess that if given the chance to manage Nigeria’s resources, they will ‘damage’ the treasury and move on too. No follower is thinking of how to take on the task of making the Nigerian project better. Middle-aged people are also so self-centred. Everyone just wants to make the money and push the responsibility of creating a better society (which is however necessary for the enjoyment of the money they are making), to someone else. How so stupid. These middle-aged people are becoming leaders today, and it is apparent what their way of thinking is foisting on this country.

To make matters worse, those followers who are up to voting age do not bother to exercise their rights. At a recent forum, I was scandalised that less than 20% of the tie-wearing corporate guys and ladies bothered to leave the comfort of their fantastic living rooms on voting day. Yet they pontificate on end about how badly the country is run. A modern saying goes, that ‘bad officials are elected by good people, who refuse to vote’. It is not an excuse that the votes will not count. Voting, confers a certain right to protest the aftermath of that process. And if we ‘intellectuals’ disenfranchise ourselves by our own sheer snobbery, who is to blame for how things turn out. It is even worse when the same set of ‘enlightened people’ run away from taking on any political posts except it becomes absolutely unavoidable. I am also a culprit here, but I know that by my action and that of others like me, the coast is clear for charlatans tocontinue to ride roughshod on the country.

But I am more incensed by the dereliction of intellectual duty by our so-called intellectuals because they have refused to engage their best asset – their brains – in sorting out the convoluted problems that face the nation. Pedestrian solutions are offered to serious problems. Escape routes are actively sought, and responsibilities abandoned. The intellectual in Nigeria is worse than those they criticise, for he does not practice what he preaches, and he tries to maintain a false pedestal. He teaches critical thinking in universities but refuses to engage in it himself. He talks about why government should be tolerant, democratic, but brooks no criticisms or opposition in his own forte. The Nigerian intellectual ignores history, or at best abridges it. He is satisfied to read only the aspects of history that supports his prejudices.

If not, the Nigerian intellectual would have seen the ties that bind us as black people, but he chooses to lock his blame game around Awolowo, Azikiwe and Sardauna, Nigeria’s valiant progenitors, who had no access whatsoever to the kind of information and examples that we have today; pioneers who flew blind, without radar or compass, but tries to make the best of things. The Nigerian intellectual is happy to live in a comfortable but parochial past. If he could broaden his mind, he would have since seized the advantage of national and racial unification. Instead he is a closet war-monger, an expert of knee-jerk reactions, even when he should know better. He calls for war when he should know that the whole of Africa has been used too many times to sell arms and ammunition produced by wiser countries. He is beholden to the West, ruminating endlessly about the order in those parts of the world, even as he ignores the potentials and embedded advantages of his homestead. He is so uncritical of those countries, he has bought the propaganda hook, line, sinker, and even when those perpetrate havoc to keep him down and servile, he knows not and cares less.

To illustrate the abysmal failure of the Nigerian intellectual, let us look at his approaches to the major problems facing Nigeria. Corruption. Many intellectuals have capitulated to the love of lucre, but before they do, their approach to corruption is that of buck-passing. They attend fora abroad where the issue of corruption is being discussed and sit nodding in self-pity while the entire garb of corruption is being dumped, like toxic waste, on Nigeria. They deliberately fail to ask questions about who introduced that virus in Africa. Questions about the forms of political corruption being practiced by more powerful countries, especially in the West – like why they remove governments at will and implant stooges. Our intellectuals even fail to conduct a holistic analysis of the problem and how it relates to African countries. Like the fact that most of the corruption is a manifestation of a culture clash. But if we were really interested insolving a problem, would we shut our minds to any solution?

The Nigerian intellectual have sat by in obeisance, while the burden of corruption has been worn like a lodestone around the neck of this country. Corruption has become a psychological hangover; a curse which we feel afflicted with and without the breaking of which we believe we cannot move on. The problem is we do not have a clue where to start from, and we seem to descend further into helplessness. This is a classic case of failure of intellect, and the buck can no longer be passed. Another instance is our problems with ethnicity and religion. As I write Jos has just returned to calm. But the rage seethes like never before. And then I receive a text from some educated ‘christian’ friends; “Please don’t buy fast food/drinks (poisoned) from muslim hawkers especially near church premises/convention grounds. That is their new attack plan in Abuja. Please spread this to your loved ones. It’s an extension of the Jos crises...”.

This dangerous rubbish was crafted by someone who went to school. The text alone can send us all to hell in this country. What if the country broke into smithereens, would suspicion, prejudice and distrust end at our dreamland regional levels? No way. If we solidified this dangerous jaundiced thinking, say where will Muslim Yorubas belong after the breakup?You see, intellectuals do not perpetrate mayhem themselves, but they are the ones who utilise their fantastic power of articulation to explain to street urchins what the other side said and did, and why they should be attacked. But all the Nigerian intellectual has to do, is to invert that power of articulation and do positive things with it, but he won’t. He is enjoying his day passing the buck and complaining about ‘leadership’.


The Nigerian intellectual knows all too well just how this is a country of brothers. Etymology, the study of the origin of words, which I picked up from my early days of playing Scrabble and studying the Chambers dictionary, shows that many societies in Nigeria have been interacting for too long. Yoruba language goes as far as Ogoja, Hausa goes as far as Yorubaland. Igbo language is replete in Tiv and so on.

But no, our intellectuals are keenly focused on what divides us as a people. They suffer from half-education, even if they acquired professorships. They are imbued with a high dose of myopia. And on many occasions, they have sold their souls to those who want to see Nigeria and the black race in a permanently vanquished state, therefore they work actively towards the disintegration of the country, plus the ensuing chaos that will lead to the loss of many human lives. Yet it is the intellectuals that will save this country.

It is intellectuals, not cannon-wielding generals that have advanced the cause of every other country that is great. It is intellectuals, some Nigerians among them, and not political ‘leaders’, who made the USA the great country it is today. They are the ones, who articulate strategy for the US domination of the world. Intelligence rules the world, but our intellectuals here have refused to seize the high pedestal ofstrategy. Even the wars that many of our intellectuals daily drum up, will have to be ended around coffee tables – in dialogue.This is not an advocacy to the ‘blowing of more grammar’, but like Jelani said the power of imagination has been grossly underestimated, especially in Nigeria.

I challenge our columnists, journalists, leaders of opinion, academicians, to invert their thinking towards the positive, despite all the challenges around us, for just one month, let us see the positive differences it will make in the life of this country. Open any newspaper today, and 90% of the articles and reportage will have a tribal, personal, political or religious agenda. No country can be great this way. Editors can also help by ‘autocratically’ deselecting write-ups that promote division and engender hate. We have problems in Africa, especially Nigeria, but we should not promote destructive hate among our people. I have realised that one can spend a whole lifetime just seeing only the bright side of things.

Our intellectuals have failed us to date in three ways – by shirking their own political franchise and responsibilities and buck-passing, by promoting division and hate quite actively, and by not getting their heads around the surfeit of problems that we face, which will eventually have to be solved by them, through the sheer power of positive and creative thinking and strategy. But they can change. Immediately. The blame for our current state of morass rests entirely on their shoulders.

Nigerians learn more than any other black people on Earth. I’ve been to London Business School and Hravard for short courses and all I meet are Nigerians. They get all the best knowledge and dismally fail to translate it to a better country for all. They tragically fail to realise the power of knowledge, imagination, and determination like Jelani said. They should prove my hypothesis wrong.

TOPE FASUA, Economist, ABUJA topsyfash@yahoo. com08070850159