Opinion

By Kenneth Amaeshi

The search for meaning is human. It could be questions about the purpose of life, the necessity of death, and what happens after death, for instance. Admittedly, these questions can be sometimes unsettling because of their propensity to produce more unanswerable questions and trigger some existential anxieties. A natural coping strategy is to silence, suppress, and repress them – as constantly dwelling on them, arguably and invariably, makes life and living burdensome and miserable.

But beneath this temporary feeling is a constant pang of time-pressured emptiness. As beings unto death, according to the German philosopher, Martin Heidegger, we are very sure it shall end one day. Then we shall be lifeless, powerless, and helpless. However, we cannot accurately and definitely predict what happens after death, despite the oft-grandiose posturing of religion and people of faith.

The only concrete reality is the faith we sometimes desperately hang onto, which can as well be an exercise in non-reality – at least because of the possibility of its equal emptiness. In that regard, faithful faithlessness, or faithless faithfulness – depending on where one is located in the nebulous spectrum of doubt and belief – becomes a possible inescapable reality.

Notwithstanding, the presence or absence of faith does not completely annihilate the presence of lack and tremendous deprivation – another characteristic of being human. Wanting is essential to human beings and according to basic economics – that pretentious dismal science of the real, human wants are insatiable. This intrinsic state of human deprivation does one thing very well to survive and linger on. It needs hope.

Hope spurs us to imagine the unimaginable and see the unseen. That’s why, for example, over time, arguably due to deprivation, we construct an exaggerated image of good governance and what we want our leaders to be. Sometimes, we come across as searching for saints as leaders. Unfortunately, there is no living saint. This presents a delicate dilemma, as we are constantly disappointed and disciplined by this unnatural aspiration. Given the degree of poverty in the land, it seems leaders who are authentic products of poverty are the only natural expectation.

Amartya Sen, one of the leading and living development economists, described poverty as unfreedom. In his view, a poor person is simply incapable of meeting his or her needs. These needs may range from the everyday basic needs of food, shelter, and clothing to the higher needs of belonging and self-fulfillment. One thing they all have in common is a basic lack – an emptiness of some sort.

There is no better metaphor for his lack than the desert. The desert appears both dry and lifeless. In its dryness and lifelessness, it remains barren. Even if it is naturally endowed, the endowment is concealed by the blatant aridity, harshness, and forlornness it constantly exhibits. Flying over the Sahara Desert, for instance, focuses the mind on this perennial human challenge of poverty as a fundamental deprivation and material lack.

However, poverty is not a permanent state. Although some people are trapped in it perpetually, others can escape it if they develop the capability to do so. But where does this capability come from?

Obviously, education is one way to escape poverty. Metaphorically, education nurtures the head, hands, and heart. The head enables us to think well and make good decisions. The hands help us with coping with the technical demands of existence – basically the issues of production and consumption. Finally, the heart is the home of empathy and the recognition that we exist with others. In other words, the heart enables us to appreciate that we are not alone in the world and that to live well is to live well with others.
The usefulness of education in nurturing society can never be overemphasised. Tony Blair, a former prime minister of the United Kingdom, saw education as a way to avoid the devastating traps of poverty through social mobility; hence, he invested in higher education to encourage people to move ahead in life. Despite this, he is often criticised and remembered for his role in the Iraqi war, which epitomises the lack of empathy and the devaluation of our common humanity in recent times.
Notwithstanding, poverty remains a global scourge. It leaves an indelible mark on the soul. No one escapes poverty and remains the same. Either one is vain about it or remains humbled by the scorching experience. In between the two lies the danger of an unconscious overcompensation.

Overcompensation is a psychological desire to fill a yawning gap in us. In the case of the experience of poverty, it is an exercise to mask the past and showcase a different present and future. For instance, a person who experienced severe poverty in early life and then makes money later in on, might be tempted to engage in the excessive display of wealth to compensate for his or her earlier life deprivations and humiliations. As such, overcompensation can be a lack and weakness often presented as a strength.

In masking, one is hollowed out and overtaken by the hubris of the ephemeral sense of worth and possession. One becomes the rich man of Jesus, who would find it harder to enter the kingdom than the camel passing through the eye of the needle (Matthew 19:24). Ultimately, masking the past becomes a grand exercise in hypocrisy and inauthenticity, which in turn cumulatively puncture one’s self-worth, confidence, and public image. That’s another form of death – an annihilation of our true selves.

Confronted by the reality and threat of death, no matter how much we try, we become trapped in hypocrisy and inauthenticity. To be human, therefore, is to be hypocritical and inauthentic. We constantly suspend the reality of our death and emptiness. This epoch of (i.e., bracketing of) experience is in line with Husserl – the German philosopher – and self-entertainment is nothing but the constant estrangement of our endangered, contrived, fallible, and feeble humanity.
The lucky people of faith, nonetheless, appear to find a way out of this existential quagmire.

Whether or not they succeed and are better off than the faithless ones is yet to be proven. Unfortunately, and strangely, the proof is only in death. Many have died and did not return. Since one comes into life on earth alone, it may be sensible to conclude that the answer we are looking for is only a personal and private one buried in the heart of subjective experiences of life on earth.

In the end, living and dying become private enterprises in the face of the seeming emptiness of existence. But we will not know until we eventually know that which we do not currently know – if that knowing is ever possible.

After all said and done, life on earth remains an exercise in futility and vanity! It is as good as being dead. So, why bother? Why strive for power, prosperity, and prestige when they are all vanity?

By Niran Adedokun

Take the return to civil rule in 1999, for instance. 23 years on, there is hardly any story of pride. The economy, despite its expansion, serves the interests of only a few; national institutions are completely paralysed; corruption has taken on a life of its own; unemployment is at an all-time high; the people are more divided than ever and, worst of all, lives have become unsafe, if not worthless. Nigeria has been at its lowest for years on end, and the youths are now determined not to have it any longer.

So, on social media and physical platforms these days, youths sell 2023 as the year of change and are preparing for the elections. First, there is a massive campaign for youths to get their permanent voters cards, be ready to vote and defend those votes.

As part of the package, the preponderance of Nigerian youths also seems to have made up their minds concerning whom to vote for. They say it is the time to retire the two major parties, the ruling All Progressive Congress and the Peoples Democratic Party, both of which comprise people who have had roles in the misadventure of the past 60 years.

As much as it is the right of youths to make this change happen, since it’s all about their future, there must be a sense of caution in the ways we go about and execute this determination.

The first point to make is that Nigerians, young or otherwise, cannot afford to make emotional decisions now. Some will disagree but this was the decision that Nigerians made in 2015 and seem to have jumped from frying pan to fire.

We must be clear-minded about the choices that we make in the coming elections. We should not be swayed by any form of propaganda or window-dressing. As manifestoes are usually not worth more than the paper they are written on in Nigeria, and political rallies are jamborees of paid loyalists where politicians hawk little other than entertainment, leaders of this movement for change must be clear about the characteristics and competencies Nigeria’s 21st leader should possess.

They must then interrogate claims to those capacities.
The second thing is that elections are neither contested nor won on social media. Those who want to change Nigeria must prepare to get their hands dirty and step into the ring.

If Nigerian youths unite behind a particular candidate, they must be ready to convince others about the credentials of their candidate by embarking on grassroots mobilisation of the people. A substantial number of those who make up this demography are in the rural areas, without education and enough education to read between the lines that the movers of this change idea have identified.

It must also be said that in trying to convert other people to voting, we should eliminate every form of righteous indignation. A corollary to this is that youths cannot do it alone, so we must make efforts to covert even those who belong to the old order.

Politics is not just about good or evil; it is about individual persuasions, mostly governed by the level of understanding and, sometimes, personal interests. That is why democracy gives politicians the opportunity to campaign and win people over. And even when we don’t win them over, we must continue to respect their right to hold an opinion. Ultimately, Nigeria has dealt a significant blow to the psyche of most citizens and making enemies of one another helps no one.

Finally, we must realise that change is not just about elections. When the candidate of choice wins, work is just starting. A lot of things affect politicians when they get into office, that is why someone said they campaign in verse and govern in prose.

The only way to ensure they remain focused on their promises and the needs of the people is to keep a tab on them and continually take them to the task. Citizens have no business romancing or getting star-struck by politicians. It is possible to change those ruling Nigeria in 2023 but that would only be the beginning of the change that Nigeria needs.

By Azuka Onwuka

Over the years I have attended the funeral ceremonies of young and middle-aged people from different parts of Nigeria. It is never an exciting experience to be at such a burial ceremony. It is worse if the person left behind young children in primary school, secondary school or university and a young spouse. If the deceased was the breadwinner, one usually wonders how the children and widow (or even widower) would cope.

One could see the anguish of the bereaved, the sense of uncertainty and hopelessness. They know that shortly after the event, people will disperse and they will be left to their fate in a country where there are no government-backed welfare packages to take care of the vulnerable. The saving grace of such a family is if they have extended family members who are capable and willing to help. But those family members also have their own direct problems to take care of.

Now imagine people wailing at the burial of such a breadwinner and then resorting to eating and drinking to stupor minutes after the interment. That is a sight that jars the imagination of many people who witness the funeral of young people and middle-aged people among the Igbo people of Nigeria.

The Igbo people believe that a dead person, especially a dead adult (with a wife or husband), should not be sent off to the great beyond like a chicken. It is believed that if a funeral is not conducted for the person—no matter the age of the deceased—the spirit will be hovering around. It will be restless. It will not leave the land of the living for the land of the dead. In fact, in Igboland, if someone moves in a sluggish or sneaky manner, the person is said to be acting like a corpse that was interred with no funeral ceremony. Funeral rites are, therefore, like send-off parties meant to sever the links between a dead person and the living.

However, it is hard to understand the point about eating and drinking (all sorts of wines) at the funeral of a person, who is below 65 or 60, whose death is supposed to be a painful and grave occurrence. Try as hard as I have, I have not been able to see the sense in it. Here is a death that brings nothing but sorrow; a death that creates destabilisation in the family and community. What is the eating and drinking at the funeral of a man or woman who died prematurely meant to symbolise? Is eating delicacies and drinking choice wines the way to send such a person off with dignity? If it is not done like that, will the spirit refuse to transit from ala mmadụ to ala mmụọ? Or will it feel like a nonentity in ala mmụọ when other spirits are showing off the eating and drinking that took place at their own burial?

Maybe during discussions, if the spirit of Okeke talks to the spirit of Okoli in a disrespectful manner, Okoli can retort: “Mind how you talk to me! We are not mates. Did you not see the quality and quantity of choice foods and wines consumed at my funeral?” And the spirit of Nwanyinkwo will say: “Okoli, keep quiet there! If you are boasting about the quality of what was consumed at your burial, what then should spirits of our status say?”

No matter how hard some people try to explain it as tradition, it looks gross to see people eating and drinking at the funeral of men or women who died prematurely. It does not look like a funeral but a party or a feast. Shockingly, some people get drunk at such a supposedly mournful event.

Sadly, most bereaved families don’t want to do things differently because they don’t want to be seen as poor or stingy. Consequently, they do what others do by throwing a party of food and wines when they lose a relatively young person. And on an issue like this, you can’t say, “I would do things differently if I were the one involved,” because it would sound as if you are praying to lose someone prematurely.

This does not look like Igbo tradition. It looks like a convoluted, adulterated practice that exists because many people do it and not doing it will be interpreted as a sign of poverty and stinginess. Even if it were a tradition, traditions can be changed if they make no meaning or appear illogical and offensive. But in a world where most people don’t have the strength and courage to stand alone or take public criticism, the only option they feel at ease with is to conform.

The funeral ceremony of elderly people can be celebrated as much as the bereaved want but the funeral of people in their prime should be done in solemnity and not turned into a carnival, a party or a festival in the name of giving them a befitting burial. Merrymaking at the funeral of a young person is not befitting at all. The picture it paints is that of a people happy that “a relative” has finally left.

It is worse to see people eating and drinking lavishly at the funeral of such a young person who died in an auto crash or a plane crash, or as a result of murder, or the like. At such a sad funeral, mourners should show that they are truly mourning. Merrymaking is inconsistent with mourning.

The church should not be seen making demands about the food and drinks that should be given to them or the supposedly voluntary but practically compulsory honorarium that should be given to priests who officiate at burials. The different communal groups, like umunna or umuada, should not demand to be given this or that. These demands are insensitive to be made of a family mourning the painful exit of a member cut down in his or her prime.

The Roman Catholic Church, the Anglican Church, the Methodist Church, the Presbyterian Church, The Salvation Army, The Assemblies of God, The Lord’s Chosen Charismatic Revival Movement and all churches that have a strong presence in Igboland should lead the charge. The church has a strong hold on the Igbo people. All that is required for this practice to change is for the churches to enact a policy on it and start preaching against the practice. Some dioceses have already taken some actions against flamboyant burials. However, there is a need to specifically take a stand against wining and dining at the burial of people who died in their 30s, 40s, 50s, and even 60s. It is distasteful. It is not tradition. It should be changed.

By Cosmas Odoemena

THE news that the popular gospel singer, Osinachi Nwachukwu, who died recently might have died from injuries inflicted on her by her husband has brought to the fore again the issue of domestic violence. Some people who knew the late musician vowed that her husband had been abusing her. Curiously they all kept quiet until the worst happened to her. The cop-out is that “you can’t help a person who’s not ready to be helped.” According to reports, she had trauma to the chest from a kick from him. But it might not be the only serious injury the woman suffered!

People have kept wondering why she could have covered up all this. Why did she not leave the marriage? Why didn’t she go to the police? But she said it was because of her faith she stuck to the relationship. The husband has been arrested and we hope that the matter will be thoroughly investigated and justice be allowed to take its full course. Domestic violence should be condemned.

According to the United Nations, domestic abuse, also called “domestic violence” or “intimate partner violence,” “can be defined as a pattern of behaviour in any relationship that is used to gain or maintain power and control over an intimate partner.” It is not a Nigerian problem. It’s found all over the world. It is said that almost one in three, or 30 per cent of women, have suffered physical and/or sexual violence by an intimate partner or non-partner sexual violence or both.

Abuse could be physical, emotional, sexual, economic or psychological actions or threats of actions that influence another person. It also involves any behaviors that intimidate, frighten, terrorize, manipulate, hurt, blame, humiliate, injure or wound someone. And whenever the victim tries to run away the maltreatment worsens.

Domestic violence can happen to anyone of any race, age, gender, sexual orientation or religion. It could occur between those who are married to each other, living together or dating. This malaise affects people of all socioeconomic backgrounds and education levels. Incidents are rarely isolated and usually escalate in frequency and severity.

Domestic abuse may lead to serious physical injury or death. But even with the awareness of domestic violence, few relate the experiences of these women with traumatic brain injuries. In some minds, the victim only suffered “a small push” or just a “small smack to the head.” Unfortunately too for the victims, they may not be able to recollect what happened and, worse, the assaults may not even be reported to the police.

Brain injuries are said to be like earthquakes. A severe brain injury is like a major earthquake: we find fractures, haemorrhages or penetrating wounds (bridges fall and there are collapsed buildings): There is devastation to the city. But it’s not so for mild brain injuries or small earthquakes: we see cupboards overturned; cracked glasses. It’s more difficult to make sense of the damage and we can easily miss things that are broken, but no doubt something is wrong.

It was a British doctor, Gareth Roberts, who first alerted the world to domestic-violence brain injuries specifically, in a brief letter to the editor of The Lancet. Then he was teaching neuroanatomy at Imperial College London while studying Alzheimer’s disease with one of the world’s leading groups on the subject.

One of his colleagues asked him to evaluate the autopsy of a 76-year-old woman who died after years of suffering domestic violence from her husband. In that letter, he described bruises, abrasions and rib fractures. The woman had a history of stroke and was reported as “demented” (majorly memory loss and confusion) in later years.

Interestingly, Robert also found that the brain of the woman had similar features to that of the brain with Alzheimer’s, what scientists call tangles of tau and beta-amyloid proteins which are associated with neurodegeneration or deterioration of brain cells. Her brain was akin to those of boxers suffering from chronic traumatic encephalopathy or C.T.E., which was formerly known as “punch-drunk syndrome.” This was the first time the literature had linked abused women with neurodegenerative disease.

In another study of 26 women, a majority of them had been punched in the head. One was smacked in the head with the handle of a broom; another got a stab in the head; for another, it was the door of a car that knocked her out, while another was run over. All nine of the victims complained of dizziness, impaired hearing and blurring of vision.

It’s not only trauma to the brain that can lead to brain injury of victims. They also suffer strangulation even if momentarily. Strangulation can choke off oxygen supply leading to what is known as anoxic and hypoxic injuries which come about because brain cells have been starved of oxygen. This could lead to fatigue, confusion, and loss of memory.

In addition, traumatic brain injury can also result in irritability, social anxiety, depression, anger, feelings of overwhelm, general anxiety, mood swings or emotional lability (teariness). It is instructive to say that many survivors of head injury suffer chronic personality changes, such as increased impulsivity, lack of insight and poor judgement. Insight has to do with a person’s understanding of their illness but also in terms of understanding how the illness affects the person’s interactions with the world. These changes are well-known and likely to affect the ability to make decisions.

Mrs Nwachukwu might have decided to cover all she was experiencing because of her religious belief. It could also be because of fear. But it could also be because she might have suffered repeated concussions in the head leading to traumatic brain injury which then affected her thinking ability!

Osinachi Nwachukwu’s sonorous voice moved people to tears and joy while she was alive. With her death joy has died. That is why many are outraged with her demise. To know that a man could torture his wife in the most damaging and the most dehumanising way is heartbreaking. But as you are reading this piece know that somewhere, another woman is being punched in the face, in the head and kicked all over by a man who claims he loves her, and no amount of cues from her will save her. In the end, like Osinachi Nwachukwu, it’s not only her body—and brain—that fail her. Her society too fails her.

By Sam Osuji 

Recent events at the national level of governance have clearly proved that Dist. Sen Hope Uzodinma is an embodiment of a statesman par excellence.

It has remained a wonder to many that our dear governor due to his nationalistic spirit has come to be a unifier in the matrix of national politics. The huge roles he played in stabilizing the All Progressives Congress before the convention have remained a case study to pundits.

His strategic appearances at select national televisions, the prognosis he made and the bold assertions he postulated, had all gone the way he made them.

The convention which has come and gone was a life saver for the governing party as many who had feared an implosion of a sort were utterly disappointed.

In like manner, the governor has kept disappointing clairvoyants of doom who hardly gave him a chance to succeed. With a plethora of ambitious, multi-billion naira projects ongoing across Imo State, many self-appointed enemies of the state have licked their words and wounds, as the State of Imo marches steadily and gracefully to glory.

A fleeting appraisal of the heroic virtues of Gov Hope Uzodinma may perhaps suffice for people looking for the secrets of the unprecedented and impressive national figure the humble governor has come to be in Nigeria.

Essentially, Gov Uzodinma has a very humble character. He is like a tiger that does not boast of his tigritude.

Even when he has been massively blessed by Providence, a vintage Gov Uzodinma is still very unassuming, not given to flagrant display of opulence, not given to unguided acquisition of wealth or mindless possessions of properties.

Here is a man whom no one can safely accuse of enriching himself with the patrimony of Ndi-Imo.

Never has it been heard since he became governor that he signed papers to acquire land for himself or associates. Instead, he has been adept in returning lands forcefully taken from the owners by the previous government.

Even the clothes he wears seem to be the same year-in-year-out. The wrist watch he dons also appears the same. He hardly walks with the conventional braggadocio of a powerful man, choosing rather to lead a measured and modest life.

An essential Gov Uzodinma is a man of piety and devotion. He fundamentally does not miss mass every Sunday. He sees his life as dependent on his religious worship.

While in Abuja as Senator, the governor had a tradition of not missing the daily mass at the Catholic Church in Maitama. Now, this paper does not assert that devotion to mass makes one pious, however, there is a form of inherent discipline and commitment to godliness that come with devoting one’s time to a daily act of worship, a personal life style of the governor’s that has remained unchanged by status and routine-change.

This sense of piety has also made the governor magnanimous in heart – a man who begrudges no one – carefully eschewing bitterness, vendetta and acrimony – ensuring egalitarianism in the state. It is noteworthy that Gov Uzodinma is a man in a different garb; for here is a man who does not intimidate anyone, including sworn foes with the paraphernalia of his exalted office.

Furthermore, an essential Gov Hope Uzodinma is somewhat reticent, carefully avoiding the garrulousness of chief executives whose intent is to deceive, malign and overwhelm others. To be clear, Gov Uzodinma is a strategic communicator like world leaders whose statements are policies when interrogated.

Here is a governor that has tenaciously institutionalized stakeholders’ parleys in the state, where he comes to give a quarterly account of his stewardship to religious, community and political leaders in the state.

This rare act of statesmanship has given room to socio-political cohesion in Imo State. I hear that the new governor of Anambra State is about following the footstep of the Imo Governor in this regard. There is a lot to gain by giving a state-of-the-state address to stakeholders.

Having maximized this gain, Gov Uzodinma has been able to carry everyone along in his Shared-Prosperity government.

Remarkably, it was the result of the stakeholders’ parleys that gave breath to the people’s budget of 2022, a financial plan that succinctly captures the aspirations of the populace across the state.

Also, Gov Uzodinma is a very careful spender. Between 2020 when he ascended office and now, the Governor has proven that he is a stickler to budgetary provisions. He does not wake up one day and engage in contract bazaar and spending spree to please associates.

It is clear to even the closest of associates that this governor has come to work and nothing else, but work. It bears stating that having a relationship of any kind with the governor does not translate to his favouring one with the patrimony of the state.

With legacy projects evenly spread across the state, the governor is single-minded in completing them for use. Already the landscape of the state is undergoing tremendous transformation. Quality roads like never before are dotting the landscape and visionscape.

Motorists now drive with pleasure and sometimes abandon. Soon, there will be road infrastructure and management measures that will ensure that drivers drive at a prescribed speed as the beautifully constructed roads are making excited drivers, who obviously are obsessed with the smoothness of the roads, to be driving at a breakneck speed.

Primary health centres across the state are being revamped, industries are being revamped and multi-sectoral infrastructure is springing up to better the lives of Ndi-Imo.

Not even the politically-sponsored pockets of insecurity in some parts of the state are stopping the governor in his avowed commitment to deliver the ‘goods’ to the people.

Coming to the national scene with a sense of purpose and discipline as has been exhibited in Imo, Gov Hope Uzodinma has proven to be a unifier in APC, a party that he has obviously given name and status in the Southeast.

It is worth saying that Gov Uzodinma is steadily charting a cause for the Igbo at the national level with his nationalist spirit.

And being so beloved of the President, the governor is ensuring that the stake of Ndi-Igbo at the national scene remains high even as the All Progressives Congress holds the political ace, amid a fledgling opposition.

Thankfully, Ndi-Igbo now have a rallying point, a sage and mediating personality, whose political fame grows with the speed of a lightning. His name is Dist. Sen Hope Uzodinma, a two-term Senator and Executive Governor, Imo State. Hon. Sam Osuji, a political analyst, writes from Owerri.

By Iyabode Ogunniran

International Women’s Day is celebrated on March 8th in many countries across the world. It represents a time to rally support for women’s rights and participation in the political and economic arena and as well celebrate women’s achievements. This year’s theme, Gender equality today for a sustainable tomorrow, creates the impetus to examine the opportunities and constraints to empower women/girls to have a voice, be equal players in decision-making on climate change for a sustainable future.

This year’s celebration is quite remarkable in Nigeria. Apparently, the country’s Constitution was going through an amendment before the National Assembly. Significantly, several Civil Society Organisations have been lobbying for the amendment to include five gender-related issues dubbed “gender bills.” These are the granting of citizenship to foreign-born husbands of Nigerian women; women can take up the indigeneship of their husband’s state after five years of marriage; reservation of 35 per cent seats in both National Assembly and state Houses of Assembly for women; reservation of 35 per cent of appointive political positions to women; and through affirmative action, ensure that women occupy 35 per cent of political party positions.

Despite intense lobbying of the National Assembly by the CSOs, including the appearance of the First and Second ladies of the country, the gender bills were rejected. The CSOs protested across the country. Eventually, the House of Representatives promised to reconsider the first three bills as stated above. Whilst we are awaiting further actions by the National Assembly, this write-up seeks to analyse the ‘gender bills’ in the context of similar provisions in our sister African countries Constitution and the impact on progressive development.

Many African constitutions included gender-specific provisions.
In East Africa, the Kenyan Constitution 2010 provides, not more than two-thirds of the members of an elective or appointive body shall be of the same gender ( Article 27 (8). 47 seats are reserved for women in the National Assembly, each from one county (Article 97 (1) (b). In the Rwandan Constitution (2003 amended in 2015), women are to occupy at least 30 per cent of positions in decision making organs (Article 10 (4); 24 seats are reserved for women at the Chamber of Deputies (Article 75 (2); at least 30 per cent of elected and appointed Senators must be women (Article 80).

Five of the countries in North Africa have constitutions guaranteeing women’s representation. For instance in Tunisia, the 2014 Constitution “guarantees women’s representation in all elected bodies (Article 34); “work to attain parity between women and men in elected Assemblies” and grantees equality of opportunities between men and women to have access to all levels of responsibility in all domains (Article 46).

There is either a legislative or voluntary party quota in the South African region. The South African dominant party African National Congress adopted a voluntary quota for women’s representation which is as high as 50 per cent. According to the Local Government Act, in elections to local councils, parties must ensure that 50 per cent of the candidates are women (African Women’s Decade 2010-2020).

In the Central African Region, Burundi, the Central African Republic and Congo have introduced gender quotas. In Burundi, a gender quota of 30 per cent applies to National Assembly, Senate, ministerial positions and government institutions. Also, a gender quota of 35 per cent applies to both public and private spheres in Congo (African Women’s Decade 2010-2020). For West Africa, the electoral laws of both Liberia and Mali stipulate that parties shall submit a list of candidates with at least 30 per cent women representation. Similarly, the Senegal Electoral Law mandates a gender quota for legislative, regional, municipal and rural elections (African Women’s Decade 2010-2020).

The significance of women’s representations in these countries is encompassing and beneficial. First, it brings to front-burner issues of concern to women such as Sexual Gender-Based Violence, reproductive rights, access to land, loans, inheritance, climate change, etc. Secondly, it enables women’s perspectives on legislation and diverse sectors of the economy. Invariably, this translates to gender mainstreaming into policies, strategies and National Plans of Action. The third is that researchers have linked broad women’s representation and progressive development.

A study showed that allocation of resources is more effective and ultimately produces superior human development outcomes in countries where women are more broadly represented. This is characterised by women favouring a redistributive agenda, spending more on children’s education, social services and health (I. Clot-Figueras, Women in Politics, Evidence from Indian States, 2011).

More of the welfare state theory in capitalist democracies suggests an association between gender representation and social spending (C. Bolzendahl and C. Brook, Women’s Political Representation and Welfare State Spending in 12 Capitalist Democracies, 2007).
Consequently, this is the time to break the bias and remove every iota of discrimination.

The gender bill’s provisions are already in several African constitutions. The “giant” of Africa should amend the Nigerian Constitution in a similar direction. There is no gainsaying that women are half of this country’s population, hence, it is only logical to have proportional gender inclusion in both the public and private spheres. Arguably, the amendment of the constitution to reflect the “gender bills” is still formal equality. Robust implementation will eventually translate to substantive equality in the nearest future

By Olugbenga Jaiyesimi

WHEN discussing restructuring of the Nigerian polity and making the case for fiscal federalism, it is postulated that all states or regions have resources governors can fall back on rather than go cap in hand to Abuja. Resource control has also been the focus of agitation by a region of the country.

This resource debate goes beyond Nigeria as discussants question Africa remaining poor despite having over 30% of the world’s mineral and natural resources. They claim Africa is being raped or drained of its resources.

However, a resource remains inanimate until an inventor finds a use for it. The copper in Zambia, the uranium in Niger or the coltan in the Congo would have been of little value to the peoples of these countries without the inventors.

Same for the Niger Deltans, most of whom would have remained contented fishermen to this day. The parable of Jesus easily comes to mind, the talents (read resources) were taken from the steward, who kept it in the ground, and given to stewards who multiplied theirs.

Africans give their primary resources to those who know how to add value to them, be it the copper ore for electric wiring or uranium to electricity, it’s biblical. In Nigeria’s case, we give others our crude oil and collect premium motor spirit from them.

The intuitive thinking is that being resource endowed automatically translates into societal riches.

We hold on to these views despite what real life tells us that mineral resources do not equate to societal wealth in this new world.

We have the phrase ‘resource curse’ yet we choose resources. We have heard that winning the resource lottery assigns nations to poverty yet we choose resource endowment as a reason for restructuring the polity into regions.

Those who pass on the cliche of regional resources replacing the allocation from the federation account never give details of how the tin in Jos or the bitumen in Ondo or the gold in Osun and Zamfara states will suffice.

Nigeria has had a federal ministry of solid minerals for 37 years yet how many industries has it birthed?

Resource endowment also attracts conflicts of which Nigeria has had its fair share, the Niger Delta crisis and, lately, the crisis in Zamfara State.

We are aware of the Blood Diamonds of Sierra Leone and the perennial conflicts over minerals in the Democratic Republic of the Congo. In addition, we have environmental degradation and poisoning of locals through contaminants getting into the food chain or water table.

We misapplied David Ricardo’s theory of comparative advantage that has determined how Nigeria engages in international trade, basing our trade on our natural resources only.

The West had a perceived advantage in growing cocoa so we exported cocoa beans and built Cocoa House. The North had an advantage in groundnuts so groundnut pyramids gave us Ahmadu Bello University.

The East had advantage in palm kernel and palm oil and Nigeria was number one and two respectively. But, how come Cadbury Nigeria is buying cocoa products from India? I don’t see India’s comparative advantage over Nigeria.

What comparative advantage has Singapore such that they have multiples of Nigerian installed refining capacity? Indeed smart nations had jettisoned this theory while we took it in hook, line and sinker. From this we see having a resource is not an advantage, other things come into play.

An important question is: is it exploitable? Is there a growing international market for it that Nigeria has to break into? It took Nigeria longer to monetise its gas than it took to monetise oil. We have the second-largest deposit of bitumen yet we are unable to monetise it.

To help understand the fallacy of natural resources as source of societal wealth I will take us back to a December 16, 2010 article in The PUNCH by a former minister of education in the First Republic, who also served as minister of justice in the Second Republic, the late Chief Richard Akinjide, SAN. The article identified three categories of assets that contribute to societal wealth—natural assets, our bone of contention here; productive assets, that is productive capital that accumulates over time reason (Lagos State is the fifth largest economy in Africa though it’s not resource-rich); and intangible assets as represented by the quality of a society’s human resource and the worth of institutions the local HR creates and runs.

He wrote that, unlike the other two assets, HR can be either an asset or a liability. Some country’s HR scored a high positive while Nigeria’s HR was given a negative 71%! It is to this liability that a smart governor of a region must tune and turn to. This is the asset that Lee Kuan Yew employed to turn Singapore into what it is today. If Osun State people are looking to their gold, I wish them the best but gold did little for Ghana. If Ondo State indigenes are looking at their bitumen, I wish them well too. The US used its positive HR to do many things including landing men on the moon. Our negative HR has made crude oil become an albatross around our necks. It has disallowed us from monetising our bitumen deposits and using it for our road construction. Alas, Nigeria imports bitumen for its roads.

I repeat, it is the entrepreneurial governor who will make a difference in a region or a state. I observed this play out in Ogun State.

For much of its existence Ogun state was a civil servant state, then came an entrepreneurial governor and in a matter of years, Ogun State became the most industrialised state in the federation.

His successor by commission lost this position to a neighbouring state as he sent away a major investor from the state. Ogun State also lost the proposed Catholic University in Nigeria to another state.

Why can’t Nigeria import copper ore from Zambia, or iron ore and bauxite from Guinea to have strategic industries operate from Nigeria? Our industries need not be based only on local raw materials. Mind-boggling is the lack of response to this very revealing article, a lesson in itself. For over ten years now, this diagnostic article has been ignored and the pathos continues to ravage the country. Our human resources continue to bring the country down by destroying over half of our natural assets.

Indeed natural assets count for nothing without a positive human resource. And, if the day of restructuring the polity ever comes, and it will come, we will discover to our chagrin that without restructuring our minds to uplift our human capital we will be putting old wine in new wineskins.

Another cliche to get Nigeria transformed is that we should pay more attention to our human capital development. This is after growing our universities to almost two hundred, with several more polytechnics and monotechnics.

If it is about the inadequacy of HCD, how is it that products from our universities are sought after all over the world?

As Chief Akinjide pointed out, the Nigerian economy is not absorbing or satisfying the aspirations of Nigerian emigres so they seek pastures elsewhere.

How come we think producing more university graduates would lead to the transformation of Nigeria? Except we view our academically enhanced HR as not being for Nigeria.

After all, diasporans have grown our remittances to almost match what we earn in petrodollars. Isn’t this another level of human trafficking, shipping out our human resource like was done during slavery for a few dollars more?

There is a clamour for the populace to empower themselves with voter cards and change the current guard, this is not enough.

The voters have to be well informed so as not to vote in a populist over a pragmatist.

The voting public is part of the negative human resource, who can be carried away by a smooth-talking demagogue who promises a stronger naira when what we need is a depreciating naira.

What we need most are philosopher-kings, who will help turn our liabilities into great assets and entrepreneurial leaders, who understand these dynamics.

Currently, those aspiring to lead us to enjoy the paraphernalia of office and gift projects to communities as though financed by them and not by federal allocations. Let’s advocate mind restructuring over polity restructuring.

By Chidi Odinkalu

Colonial rule in Nigeria was conducted through Indirect Rule. It was a system of “native administration” patented in Northern Nigeria, which became the model exported by the British across their colonies. For all practical purposes, this system of government gave to most Emirs and other rulers in Chiefly communities, “more power than they had in pre-colonial days.” The result was the establishment of “native states” at the top of which sat these local potentates, many of whom enjoyed powers of life and death over their kinsfolk.

The end of colonial rule did not much change this as they reached a working accommodation with the post-colonial elite for self-preservation. Powered by twin failures of both leadership and nation building, the result in Nigeria, where it all began, is one country with a multiplicity of sovereigns.

The ongoing dispute between the Emir of Kano, Alhaji Aminu Ado Bayero, and Air Peace, a private airline in Nigeria, dramatises this. The claim on behalf of the Emir is that he flew Air Peace from Banjul, The Gambia to Nigeria, on February 24, landing in Lagos about 05:45 hours. He was at the head of a 10-person travelling party who had a connecting flight to catch to his home in Kano, north-west Nigeria, scheduled for 06:15 hours the same morning, a mere 30 minutes after they landed. Five out of the 10 members of the Emir’s travelling party were business class passengers.

Upon landing in Lagos, the Emir’s cousin, Isa Sanusi Bayero, reportedly “personally called the Chairman of Air Peace, Allen Onyema, to inform him of the precarious situation and requested him to assist by delaying their departing flight to Kano as a mark of respect to the revered Emir of Kano.” He conveniently forgot to disclose how long it took them to clear Immigration. When Mallam Isa got no purchase, it is reported that he “personally took this as an insult and a flagrant show of disrespect to his highness and the Kano people at large”, whereupon he petitioned the Director-General of Nigeria Civil Aviation Authority, Captain Isa Nuhu, ominously demanding his “kind intervention for restitution and for appropriate measures to be taken to stop this unwholesome development from happening in the future.”

It is relevant that the flight to Kano had closed checking in by the time the Emir’s flight from Banjul landed. The passengers, each of whom had a contract with the airline, were already seated. The Emir’s travelling party had luggage which was going to take some time to retrieve from the cargo hold before they could proceed to the domestic terminal from the international airport. None of this could be concluded in anything remotely approximating the time they had before the flight was scheduled to depart. The only way to comply with the request was to keep the passengers and aircraft on the tarmac for as long as it took the Emir and his travelling party to clear immigration, extract their luggage from the international airport and then transit to the domestic terminal.

Isa Bayero is better known as “Isa Pilot” because he is a trained pilot of considerable experience who had himself commanded Nigeria’s Presidential Air Fleet and, by his own admission, flew five former Nigerian Presidents. Casting all that aside, Isa assessed that he had no need or heed for the rules of the NCAA.

A unique neural short-circuit found only in Nigeria enabled him to fathom that the chairman of the airline could pull a rabbit out of the bag in clear defiance of both contract and civil aviation laws.

Consider a passenger calling the Chairman of British Airways or Delta Airlines to ask them to hold an aircraft with passengers fully boarded on the tarmac at London Heathrow or Hartsfield-Jackson Atlanta International for an indeterminate duration beyond departure while a royal party takes its time to saunter its merry way to the departure terminal. Isa Bayero, the faux-potentate who divined this request, is incapable of shame. Rather, he feels affronted.

Three days after his initial complaint to the NCAA, Isa Bayero issued an ultimatum to Air Peace demanding that they “tender an unreserved apology to the Emir of Kano, Alhaji Aminu Ado Bayero, over alleged ‘flagrant disrespect’ to the revered institution’”, darkly warning the “airline to be ready to face multiple consequences, including loss of market share in Kano, if it fails to show regret for the inconveniences metted (sic) out to the Kano Emir.” Distracted by all this, the NCAA cannot find the bandwidth to address the real problem of delays and dysfunctions in civil aviation in Nigeria.

This example of a country whose rules are not good enough for its many sovereigns is not an exception. It is easily the norm. These Nigerian sovereigns, each and all of whom insist on being obeyed at the price of consequences of infinite elasticity, do not all come bedecked in turbans or royal capes. They are all citizens for whom ordinary rules are insufferable sources of inconvenience and, therefore, liable to be dispensed with at a whim. The response of government and its institutions has been habitual abdication. The consequences are incalculable. Three of them bear brief attention.

First, these many sovereigns have succeeded in retrenching the institutions that should govern Nigeria’s public commons, with adverse results for living standards across the country. A study published 20 years ago led by Daron Acemoglu of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, concluded among other things that “improving Nigeria’s institutions to the level of Chile could, in the long run, lead to as much as a seven-fold increase in Nigeria’s income (in practice Chile is over 11 times as rich as Nigeria).” In 2020, Chile’s score in the Human Development Index was 0.851 out of a maximum of 1.0, ranking it 43rd out of 189 countries globally. It was the highest performing country in South America. By contrast, Nigeria scored 0.539, placing it 161 on the same ranking (a whopping 114 places below Chile), a difference largely explained by institutional incapacities inflicted on the country by its many sovereigns.

Second, each and all of these sovereigns feel entitled to be allocated the best of the country as of right but owe it no responsibility to respect its norms. As a result, everything in Nigeria, including rules, courts, and jobs can be bought and sold in the open market. Nothing is beyond transaction or a quid pro quo. In a joint report issued at the end of 2019, the United Nations Office of Drugs and Crime and the National Bureau of Statistics, concluded that “[i]ndeed, almost half of all public sector applicants in Nigeria are still hired as a result of nepotism, bribery or both.” Those hired in this way feel no calling or impulsion to police boundaries to whose wilful destruction their jobs bear witness.

Third, each of these sovereigns feels entitled to impunity, ensuring that the country is one in which there are no rules, and surely not rules that apply uniformly to everyone. This guarantees toxic inequality. As a 2017 OXFAM report on inequality in Nigeria points out, this is “a catalyst for social tensions within communities, with citizen frustrations manifesting in increased crime rates and violence in various forms, including communal, domestic, electoral, religious and inter-tribal violence.” These sovereigns decentralise despotism and underwrite violence in all its forms in Nigeria.

It is clear that Nigeria’s many sovereigns have no interest in the emergence of a country because if that were to happen, they would lose their claims to impunity and to buy and sell the country and everything in it, becoming subject to ordinary rules administered by mere mortals. For their convenience and conceit, the country is condemned to be celebrated as a monument to unrealised potential. With this many sovereigns, folks may be forgiven for wondering whether Nigeria is capable of forging a country. To preclude that question, the country’s rulers must confront a choice. The question is: do they even care what the options are?

By Fatima Ginaka

I awoke to the news of three teenagers, who slit the throat of a young lady named Rofiat, cut her head off, put her head in a container and set the head on fire. The general outcry and belief have been that the teenagers wanted to get rich quickly and decidedly used Rofiat for money rituals. Does this mean if she was killed for a reason outside of money rituals, it would have been okay? Does the murder of a person no longer mean what it used to?

Over the past years, news of violent occurrences across the country has been broadcast over various media. In January 2022, 486 people were reported killed. Many are quick to take photos of victims of crime or murder and share them on social media. They share like it is normal for a persons’ life to be cut short and for the gruesome event to be splashed on different forms of media for all to see. This generation of children and young people have grown up experiencing or hearing about violence around them. The news of violence is becoming their normal.

A report by the American Psychological Association shows that as far back as 1982, the National Institute of Mental Health identified that the more children see violence on television, the more they may become less sensitive to the pain and suffering of others and may be more likely to behave in aggressive and harmful ways towards others. UNICEF states that the effects of violence affect all aspects of children’s lives and can be passed down from one generation to the next.

For instance, when the first news about a suicide bombing in Nigeria spread across the country in 2011, many did not believe it was possible for Nigerians to be suicide bombers. It was common to see statements of denial saying suicide bombing is not our ‘culture’. The same sentiments were shown in 2014 when news of female suicide bombers hit the streets. Now we have young people using their peers for ritual killings. Is this our new culture?

We must end the spate of violence in Nigeria and ensure young people are protected. This article advocates three ways to achieve this: First, people should give birth to children they can provide for both financially and emotionally. It is not enough to bring children into the world and believe they would provide for you when they grow older. You need to provide for them first. Teach them values. Studies have shown that children who are not given adequate love, care and protection suffer from trauma and this, in turn, leads to them being unaffected by either seeing violence or being violent to people.

Look at the spate of violence in secondary schools across Nigeria! Some parents see it as a right of passage. No! This is wrong. Sadly, people have been abused and have become immune to the abuse and trauma of others. Indeed, abused people abuse others. Parents should play their roles to provide for young people in their care and shield them from abuse.

Second, adults, caregivers and parents must stop beating children. Because you were beaten as a child does not mean it is right. You are only promoting violence and letting the young person in your care believe that the only way forward is violence. You are a victim of a violent culture and must endeavour to not perpetuate this violent culture. The beatings you received as a child were unnecessary. You should also not spank children because spanking, also known as hitting or beating a child with your hand mainly on the buttocks has shown to make children more aggressive.

Third, the Federal Government of Nigeria should increase sensitisation of the public through the National Orientation Agency. With over five thousand staff, NOA is spread across the 36 states and 774 local councils of Nigeria. The NOA has several media platforms, such as radio, TV, social media and different community mechanisms for information dissemination to sensitise the public and inspire good behaviours.

Nigeria has a good experience of War Against Indiscipline for behaviour change communication. During the WAI era, all were actively encouraged not to litter or urinate in public spaces, which included on the roadside. People were also empowered to call out people who did. We can adapt this to stop the sharing of gruesome images and videos. Furthermore, NOA can achieve this sensitisation by working in partnerships with respected traditional leaders, religious leaders and other leaders of influence within communities.

Nigerians are gradually becoming desensitised to violence. This must stop. All stakeholders should begin to work together to safeguard our mental health and future.
May there be no more victims like Rofiat. And many young people killing each other, for whatever reason, do not become the new culture.
Ganaka, a gender specialist and education consultant keen on promoting mental health, writes from Lagos