THE MARAUDING FULANI HERDSMEN AND THEIR TREATMENT WITH KIDS GLOVES by SHABA Mafu.

Nigeria is a country besieged with almost intractable challenges. The challenges revolve in cyclical format to the extent that in the bid to solve or resolve an issue, another one surges up, and appeared to be more sinister and devastating than the preceding one at the verge of resolution. The two major challenges in Nigeria since its independence from the British overlords are those of corruption and insecurity. These two challenges that have graduated to problems have birthed other ancillary problems destroying the corporate and peaceful existence of the supposedly blessed country. The corruption in Nigeria is so deep-seated that efforts are constantly being made by the perpetrators of this misdeed to institutionalize it. The corruption saga is prominently evidenced in salient areas like the Police Force, the Power sector, the admission processes into institutions of higher learning, employment processes into Federal, State ministries in the federation, etc. Worst of all these, is that corruption is no longer as a mere theoretical concept, but now translates to an entity to fight back those who want to uproot it from the society. The government of President Muhammadu Buhari has been making frantic efforts to sanitize the stinking society, but it needs to do more. It has to do more starting from within the ruling government system itself.  

Another serious challenge the nation is facing is the issue of insecurity. Though insecurity is a global problem, the developed countries have the capacity to minimize the devastating consequence of the phenomenon.  But the developing countries are still facing a lot of challenges of securing the country. Worse of all of this is that the security operatives collude with the corrupt politicians to embezzle the funds meant to purchase the outfits for national security. An example of this is the Dasuki-gate in Nigeria, where the former National Security adviser to the then President Goodluck Jonathan , in collaboration with his kind, embezzled the funds meant to deal with the boko haram insurgence. This underscores the assertion that corruption is the mother of all evil, especially In Nigeria.

Another daunting challenge of insecurity is the multiplication or the ubiquitous nature of that illness in Nigeria. Critically looking, there is no region in Nigeria that does not have fundamental security issues.  Without mincing words, the most peaceful region in Nigeria as at now is the south-Western Nigera which hosts the Yoruba nation. The other regions which include the Niger-Delta, (South-south), North-East, the North-central, the South-East are hotspots with major security problems. The Niger-Delta is sufficiently bedeviled from time immemorial as their cry has been on marginalization and environmental degradation by oil drilling and spillage by the exploitative multinational companies in collaboration with succeeding governments in Nigeria. Much as their cry is very genuine, the problem with them is that they hold only the federal government by the jugular without asking their state governors what they do with the federal allocations to their states each month for several years.

The South-east is another problematic region especially as their recent protests is fired up by their sectional sentiments. Without any intention to exaggerate, the protesters under the body of the Indigenous People of Biafra (IPOB), detest President Muhammadu Buhari and his government and would do all it can to pull down his government. While Dr. Goodluck Jonathan did almost nothing to develop the region, the Ibos were much more comfortable with him and his administration than the present government making efforts to develop the region just because he (Goodluck) was from the sister region – the South-South region. The indigenous People of Biafra (IPOB) had been on the front burner of all agitations against the Buhari administration under the guise of declaring for an independent nation called the Republic of Biafra. The South-east region is one that had suffered natural disasters, yet not even IPOB members itself had tackled the state governors and asked questions on the underdevelopment.  All they had asked for wrongly or rightly is the independence of the Biafra State.

The North-East had suffered more devastating consequence of rebellion, insurgency and the direct aftermaths of corruption. The boko haram insurgency has dealt severe blow on that region. Many lives have been lost and properties of incalculable worth had suffered damages on that region. Though it appears that the capacities of the insurgents have been considerably decimated, much needs to be done to put a total eradication of these recalcitrant demons. The present government must again be commended for its genuine and calculated efforts to end the insurgency.

At the central part of Nigeria is the marauding Fulani herdsmen who rank second in their ferocity and high level of destructive tendencies and capacity, after their kinsmen, the boko harams. These marauders attack farmers who dare raise any eyebrows if any of the cows belonging to the Fulanis grazed their farms. Their style of attack is so deadly that the victims are normally left with no opportunity for self-defence or escape. They attack the victims in the wee hours of the morning, when their victims had surrendered to the cold hands of sleep and the over-powering sweetness of same… the early morning sleep…then the murderers would attack. Many people have been killed in Kaduna State with incalculable properties destroyed. Presently, the marauding murderers have migrated to the middle-belt to continue to wreck havoc which had been their traditional way of living and thriving.

The herdsmen are so bloodthirsty to the extent that many villagers have been either been killed or the villages sacked by these natural demons. Most painful of these experiences is the kids gloves with which the federal government has treated their ferocious activities. Different flimsy excuses have been adduced to justify the government’s failure in tackling the activities of these night marauders. The government ha once claimed that these Fulanis are migrants and not Nigerians. I thought that this would been a catalyst to wipe out these foreign vampires who come only to destabilize the fragile peace we are battling to keep in almost all the regions of the country. Rather than take a drastic action against them, they are left roaming from region to region to continue to wreak more havoc and devastation.

I want to strongly suggest that the same punch that was dealt on the IPOB should be used on the Fulani murderers who are insurgents. The saying that “the cooking pot for the chameleon is also the cooking pot for the lizard” needs apply here. The Fulani Herdsmen who were only hitherto known to be gentle and peace-lovers, armed only with sticks, have suddenly turned to wielders of sophisticated AK-47 guns, to attack innocent citizens. As a matter of urgency and the sake of justice, be summarily proscribed. The government should launch a deep punch on this devilish sect and put a sudden and lasting end to all their murderous and nefarious activities. If IPOB which has not engaged on any murderous spree at anytime but seen to be a potential danger to the unity of the country could be proscribed, then the Fulani marauders deserve equal or even more decisive treatment by the federal government of Nigeria. They and whatever they represent must be proscribed and declared a terrorist organization as well. The government must desist from treating them with kids’ gloves.

THE TRAP TO STRANGULATE BUHARI’S GOVERNMENT by SHABA Mafu.

Photo credit: wikipedia.

President Muhammadu Buhari obviously underestimated the putrescence of Nigeria in the realms of corruption when he was getting set to take the mantle of leadership. You may recall that at the inception of this administration, it took him a long while before he finally chose his Ministers. This earned him the name Baba Go-Slow from the on-start. Even at that, because of the hellish corruption saga in the oil industry of the last administration of Dr. Goodluck Jonathan, he chose to be the Minister of Petroleum himself, alongside being the executive president of the country. All these are to prevent the rebirth of another Mrs. Diezani Allison Madueke, the prototype of alleged corruption. The ministers Buhari eventually chose were received with mixed reactions from the Nigerian populace because of their antecedence and level of expertise in handling their respective ministries. Anyway, the President was yet to see anything; he did not know that he was very far from implementing successfully the change-mantra his administration stood for. Some of the political appointees to man various Ministries, Agencies and Departments formed another twisted access for the direct sabotage of the government of the All Progressives Congress party.

One of the problems of Nigerian politics is that since there is no political ideology of the political parties, lack of political education among the electorates, mammoth corruption among electoral officers of the Electoral Management Body, thuggery, looting and cosmetic decamping among political gladiators, misconstrued concept and roles of the opposition parties, among other destructive political and social vices, Nigeria can safely be described as politically sick and grossly immature.

Lots of outrageous bickering and scandals have already characterized this administration, all as a fight back against corruption and a deliberate attempt to frustrate the Buhari administration and the President himself, and maintain the status quo of an unrepentantly corrupt nation. Without mincing words, Muhammadu Buhari means well for Nigeria. The cabals around him are the main political traducers and the sworn enemies of the country and bad influence on the character and person of the President.  Recently, an allegation of massive corruption was hammered on the Inspection-General of Police by one of the serving senators, Isah Misau, who was accused of abscondment from the Police Force. The Senator responded with damning accusations of massive corruption and gross irresponsibility in the discharge of his (IGP) duties: a damning indictment both on the Police Force and the President who appointed the IGP. The matter is in the court as well as being investigated by the Upper legislative Chamber of the country. While the case has still lingered in its tempo of national discourse, another fresh destructive saga emerged ‘from the blues’. This is the mother of all cases for now.

There was this case of one Mr. Abdulrasheed Maina who was the Chairman of the defunct Presidential Task force on Pensions Reform. He was said to have embezzled the sum of N195 Million from the national assignment given to him by the President. He was said to have been declared wanted by the Nigerian anti-graft Agency, the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) since 2013 when he absconded and flew to avoid arrest. Like the thunderbolt from the blues, Mr. Maina was mysteriously brought back to the country and reinstated to his former job in the Ministry of the Interior and then doubly promoted and earned his salaries and all other entitlements in the Federal Civil Service. This is the mother of all abracadabra in Nigeria politicking! At present, his posters are reportedly flying in Bornu State as a potential gubernatorial candidate for the forthcoming elections in that State.

When the mystery of his reinstatement and the attendant promotions were ‘suddenly discovered’ by interested persons within the government of the APC, the ‘secret’ was made known to the President who immediately fired him out of his job, ordered his arrest and probe. But before anyone could trace the whereabouts of Maina for his arrest, the man had escaped possibly from the shores of the country and presently talking from his hide-out. As at present, the INTERPOL has been placed on alert for his definite arrest. This development is not only disgusting but a potent trap to nail the Buhari administration to a steel coffin if not properly and decisively handled.

The issue is that there are many giant rats in the government of President Muhammadu Buhari that have secretly sworn to derail the anti-corruption mantra and his entire government. When the special Assistant to the President on Media and Publicity, Mr. Garba Shehu raised the alarm that there presidential rats in the villa some months ago, many did not know that he was speaking metaphorically. This statement was seconded by the wife of the president, Aisha Buhari when she said that the cabal in the presidency has hijacked the government of the President. Many people thought it was a statement made by a mere woman, especially when the alarm was treated by kid gloves and the coinage of the concept of “…the woman belongs to the other room”. The unfolding events are testimonies to the declarations of these people that are close to the seat of power.

Traditionally and naturally, when a rat bites and even removes a layer of the flesh, it quickly blows air on it to cushion the effect of the pain, and to make the victim unaware of its intentions to destroy completely. By the time the victim is becoming conscious of the gimmicks of the rat, maximum damage has already been inflicted. It then sneaks out for cover through the many escape routes it had bored aforetime. There are horrible rats in the presidential villa and in the administration of President Buhari, for sure. They are more dangerous and destructive than the dreaded long-mouthed smelling type.

President Buhari needs to overhaul his entire ruling cabinet and the kitchen cabinet. He needs to identify the cabals as revealed by his wife and liquidate them by dissolving and disparaging them. He should look critically into the activities of all the political appointees heading the MDAs. The president needs potent rat poisons and other deadly substances to ‘liquidate’ the hypocrites. The government needs to fortify the judiciary and the anti-graft agencies if he would ever succeed in his administration. He should decipher wisdom from the points raised by the critics of his administration and sieve wisdom from their points, especially from the opposition parties, groups and even individuals and do not brand all of these as hate speeches altogether.

The sickness of Nigeria is too much and one cannot even exhaust writing on one of the branches of the ailments. The members of the present ruling party are the ones sabotaging the efforts of the president and not the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), being the main opposition political party in Nigeria. If President Buhari is considering re-contesting the 2019 general elections, he needs to weed off all the grasses and the hiding rodents from his own government or these rodents will strangulate his government and scuttle his political ambition.

NIGERIA BLEEDS THROUGH THE RETIREMENT BENEFITS OF SOME ITS SERVING SENATORS AND MINISTERS by SHABA Mafu

Photo credit: Nancy Durell

Governor Nyeson Wike of Rivers State of Nigeria said some days ago that he was ready to die for the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) in the forth-coming 2019 general elections, as reported by one of the online newspapers in the country. I personally wondered whether that costly statement was borne out of his dire patriotism to the country via the political party and the desire to give the best to his people; or was the statement as a result of his undying political desperation to clinch to the office of the governor by all means later based on selfishness and political assertion. The pretence and politicking of most of these Nigerian governors is obviously getting very appalling. Some state workers have not been paid for the past 21 (twenty-one) months, yet these defaulting governors did not even grieve about this, but have summoned enough temerity to meet with President Muhammed Buhari for another round of 50% bail-out of the repatriated Paris Funds for their 2018 budget. While in service, they short-change workers, while out of service, they short-change the system, that is, the country and its entire citizenry.

Recently, the Social Economic Rights and Accountability Project (SERAP) instituted a law suit against the federal government over its failure to stop the former governors and now serving Senators and Ministers from receiving double pay and life pensions and failure to seek recovery of over N40Billion of public funds received by these public officers. SERAP had urged the Nigeria Minister of Justice and the Attorney-General of the federation, Justice Abubakar Malami to stop the former governors who are now serving senators and ministers from enjoying emoluments of drawing normal salaries and allowances in their positions as Senators and Ministers, and pensions as former Governors. Double emoluments is contrary to Article 19 of the United Nations Convention against Corruption, to which Nigeria is a state party”

The manner in which the terminal benefits and the attendant pensions system of the governors are structured is not only annoying and repugnant in nature but it has all the features of obvious stealing. These ex-governors are more relaxed in this escapade because this stealing is given vent by the respective State Houses of Assembly, thereby giving a kind of legitimacy to this anomaly which cannot be tolerated in any sane clime. To add to this ‘legitimacy’, the Nigerian Code of Conduct Bureau for Governors is not actually against Governors drawing double payments. But this is an abnormal situation definitely and deliberately crafted either by omission or commission to accommodate the greed of the Governors. If the private sector law would not allow one to engage in an extra work for multiple incomes to ensure total commitment to the organization, then why should public servants of such calibre as Governors draw from the public coffers brazenly as double payments for their personal satisfaction?

Sometime ago, States like Lagos and Edo among other states enacted outrageous laws giving special benefits accruable to their ex-governors and their deputies. Some of these mouth-watering entitlements include two fully equipped, first-state-of-the-art Houses located in their choice places within Lagos and Abuja metropolis. The house in Lagos will be at the cost of N500Million and the one in Abuja at the cost of N700Million. Six (6) new brand cars renewable every three (3), and furniture changed every two years, and an annual pension close to about N30 million pensions annually are also part of their entitlements.

Though each state has their own pension laws for their ex-governors and the deputies, the laws are unequivocally appalling to the ordinary man no matter who made them. The greediness of these former State executives is underscored by the double emoluments they receive from their states and the federal coffers, as either serving Ministers or serving senators in the current political dispensation headed by President Muhamadu Buhari. The former Governors serving as Senators include Senator Bukola Saraki (Kwara State, now the Senate President), Rabiu Kwakanso (Kano), Kabiru Gaya (Kano), Godswill Akpabio (Akwa Ibom). The former Governors who are Ministers in the present cabinet include Rotimi Amaechi (Rivers), Kayode Fayemi (Ekiti), Chris Ngige (Anambra), Babatunde Fasola (Lagos). There are 21 former governors and their deputies serving as either senators or minister in the present Government.

The attitude of these elites is not only irritating, but oppressive and humiliating to the ordinary Nigerian. I have witnessed some workers who had retired with cumulative paltry sum of N2 million after putting thirty-five rigorous years of meritorious service to the country. By PENCOM law, a retiree with such a closing balance will first be entitled to a 25% lumpsum payment, and after which the remaining balance will be spread for him as his pensions either through programmed withdrawal or the purchase of premium by an annuity provider for the rest of his life. Sometimes, these wretched-of-the-earth retirees get a monthly pittance of N2000 or at most N3000 per month. Consequently, he graduates from one level of poverty to the other until he sometimes slump and dies away in abject poverty. To further nail the Nigerian worker, some of them have not been paid their salaries for close to two years. Pensions owed them by the states are not paid in time until they retire and die in penury and the money becomes untraceable due to redtapism of the government. On the other hand, the National Pension Commission (PENCOM) has so structured the poverty template that if a retiree has a balance of N550,000, he can given the entire balance en-bloc, but once it is more than that, such balance will be further bastardized by paying a quarter of such balance, and the rest spread as pensions. Such retiree victims collect a maximum of two or three thousand naira per month as their pensions. Of what use is N2 million shared between lump sum of 25% and the rest spread for life?

Some ex-governors in Nigeria have been indicted by the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) on the allegations of fraud, money laundering and ear-bursting corruption. They are milking the country blind. They are the enemies of this great country and chief saboteurs of the government of President Muhammadu Buhari. They struggle to have a good legacy when in and out of their service to the state.

 I support in totality the call of SERAP to the Minister of Justice and Attorney-General of the Federation to halt the receipt of double emoluments by these public officials whose consciences have been seared with hot iron. They don’t pay salaries when in office; and steal the country blind through pension benefits template when out of office. Nigeria is bleeding; Nigerians are dying! Stop this cheating and enduring evil!

CHILDISHNESS AT THE NATIONAL POLITICAL THEATRE by SHABA Mafu

I waited patiently for the grand execution of the childish quit notice given to the Ibos living in the Northern part of Nigeria by the Arewa Youths Consultative Forum headed by Mallam Yerima Shettima and the characteristic childish response of the IPOB Leader, Mazi Nnamdi Kanu to perfect their own exodus from the designated "strange" land to the land of their nativity. October 1, 2017, being the deadline given has come and gone, with a 100% ignoring of the threats or the call for disunity between the two tribes in particular and the disintegration of Nigeria at the ultimate by those concerned. Following closely in this childish display of irresponsibility is the quit notice also served the Hausas and the Yorubas by some miscreants in the Niger Delta region of the country. Only the Yorubas of the South-West were actually matured enough not to fall into this kind of self-inflicting embarrassments and highest display of putrefying childishness. These youths or leaders of the kindergarten groups should learn from the accommodating nature and the matured spirit of the Yorubas, and attempt to be responsible at least for once. Even if Nigeria is to break up at all, it will not be under the leadership of these political toddlers who have no history to refer to; no ideological convictions as a link; no character to be emulated, and who merely throw punches to the air, and whose sing-song is nothing but disunity and disintegration and even WAR!. Nigerians are well educated, exposed, analytical, grand, historical, matured, too intelligent to be led by the noses by these aforementioned spineless and emotion-laden and visionless "children" who brand themselves as leaders. We cant fall into their hollow pranks. We must stand together as a country and resist the "directionless directionlessness" of the suya-eaters, the okpa-consumers and the "sapele-water" drunkards. Happy independence day anniversary to my country, Nigeria. Nigeria will be great by the grace of God God.

NIGERIA AT 57: STILL AT THE BATTLEGROUND FOR SURVIVAL by SHABA Mafu.

credit Gallery.

Nigeria got her independence from the British colonialists on the 1^st of October, 1960. The country is one of the African countries that had suffered terrible underdevelopment occasioned by the experience of the Atlantic slave trade, then colonialism and now domesticated slavery caused by the avarice and incurable corruption of the leaders. By October 1, 2017, Nigeria would be fifty-seven years old since it gained its political independence.

As known, Nigeria is a heterogeneous society with over 250 ethnic tribes. In spite of this, the country is munched into an uncomfortable entity with a unitary system of government which is falsely and deceptively touted by the politicians as a federal structure. Nigeria operates a capital-intensive bi-cameral legislative structure where large chunks of money are been ‘legitimately’ siphoned with hair-raising amount of salaries and allowances, with the consequent and consistent impoverishment of the hopeless poor.. At the legislative sessions, several law-makers do not attend their plenary, yet collect all the sitting allowances, salaries and other emoluments at their designated periods running into millions of Naira. On some occasions during their plenary, more time is given to frivolities such as in the cases that the Chairman of Nigerian Customs, Colonel Hamed Ali (Rtd), must put on his customs uniform before appearing before the Senate Council, or that of Ibrahim Magu (the Acting Chairman of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) should not be confirmed for reasons that are rather more of their personal grudges than of legal disqualification. More so, the reasons adduced so far for these are naturally and obviously unconvincing enough to the Executives and the public. The representatives also supported frivolities such as the support given to Senator Dino Melaye who is currently having a running battle with his constituency who wants his recall, for their loss of confidence in him. The Senate has assured him of their support without an objective assessment to such a weighty issue. This is a display of political immaturity, monumental corruption and emotionalism, and outright insult to the electorates.

Nigeria had suffered more of domesticated slavery and impoverishment from most of the so-called elected officers who of a truth are unrepentant rogues and who don’t want to get caught. When caught, they put up a fight to ensure that the country burns and they burn along with it. The appointed public officers are sometimes worse. They cash in on the rare opportunity to steal, embezzle and commit all types of economic and financial atrocities unbecoming of public officers. In the days of Alhaji Shehu Usman Shagari the first Executive President of Nigeria, Alhaji Umaru Dikko was an alleged celebrated rogue who ravished the economy being the Minister of Transportation. In the era of Dr. Good Jonathan the immediate past President, Mrs. Diezani Allison Madueke and Alhaji Dasuki were great “mentors” in terms of being cankerworms of alleged corruption. They are allegedly corrupt to the heavens. Besides these, we had a very weak leadership at the top echelon of Nigerian government. Dr. Goodluck Ebele Jonathan, who I personally campaigned for prior to the 2011 general elections, presided over one of the most corrupt governments in Nigeria. He was personally a good man but was such a weak ruler, who gave seamless opportunities for those working under him to plunder the nation to the hades.

There are tribes branded as major and minor tribes in Nigeria. The country does not know that this is a major sickness it is ignorantly suffering from. The major so-called tribes are the Hausa, the Ibos and the Yoruba. Among these three, only two tribes rotate the presidency since 1966 before the civil war, except Dr. Goodluck Jonathan who hails from Bayelsa ( from a minority region) State. He contested and won the 2011 elections.  He was seriously battled by a few elements from the North who ensured that Jonathan could not contest an election.. It took the intervention of the Civil Society Organizations in the country that stood up to the occasion to normalize the situation. The Ibos had never tasted the presidency again after the civil war. The highest position this tribe (one of the main tribes) had ever attained is either being the Vice President (who has no defined constitutional responsibilities), or the Senate President. This is one of the major causes of the agitations of the South-Eastern people calling for secession in the name of Biafra.

The mammoth corruption of the politicians of the Northern extraction and the deliberate decimation of the academic opportunities of majority of the youths from that North leads to the consistent manufacturing of the street urchins popularly called the almajiris. These youths are not sick in any form. They are not cheated by nature. Their lives are just deliberately strangulated by the few corrupt elites of the North. These urchins who have eventually constituted nuisance and security risk to the entire nation felt that this corruption is a derivative from the teachings of the Western education. As a fall-out of their first-grade ignorance and darkened understanding, they formed the deadly secessionist movement called the boko haram (which means western education is sacrilegious).  The corruption in Nigeria is the root cause of all the agitations in Nigeria. The corrupt northern elites are the remote causes of the boko harams.

Corruption is so endemic in Nigeria that the corrupt have sold their consciences for the ephemeral benefits they could get from it. For instance, when the former president Jonathan voted out some money to buy weapons to fight the boko harams who massacred the innocent and further impoverished the citizens of the North-eastern extraction, the former National Security Adviser to the then government, Ahaji Ibrahim Dasuki allegedly embezzled the money and allowed a free-flow of human blood in the North. There was also a time that the former Minister of Finance, Dr. Okonjo-Iweala, and the former Governor of the Central Bank of Nigeria, Mallam Sanusi Lamido Sanusi warned that country was at the verge of recession, yet, without a strike in her conscience the then Minister of Petroleum, Mrs. Diezani Alison Madueke, went ahead and allegedly stole the country blind; while her very state of Origin (Bayelsa State) still gropes in a disgusting state of underdevelopment.

The unfortunate thing about this all is that while the present government headed by President Muhammed Buhari is fighting by all means to tackle the remote cause of underdevelopment, his efforts are obviously been sabotaged by same elements of pro-corruption. On the other hand, some of the agitators like Mazi Nnamdu Kanu of the Independent People of Biafra (IPOB) who have genuine cause to protest are doing so in a very wrong way. Kanu, with those who have the same mindset with him, only exercises his hatred for the Northerners and uses IPOB to front his disdain for them. The Easterners who did not vote for All Progressives Congress because Buhari, is from the north feels the best way to embarrass the government is to attempt to declare secession through IPOB at the time when the entire nation is genuinely clamouring for restructuring. It must be noted that President Buhari and the ruling APC are not the remote and the principal cause of the marginalization and the underdevelopment of the South-East region of the country. The past governors and political gladiators of this geo-political extraction ought to be held squarely accountable for their mess and deprivations.

Nigeria has issues at hand which must be faced decisively. It is possible to develop and stabilize the country if the issue of corruption is decisively tackled at all levels of governance. The corruption in the power sector that has always thrown us into perpetual darkness, the corruption in the education sector that resulted in incessant strikes, the corruption-induced infrastructural decadence, the corruption in the oil industry, all resulted in the continuous underdevelopment of this country up to this very moment.

Until the this present government and the successive ones make anti-corruption as their MAJOR priority in their government, the country will continue to crawl while other countries will either be flying or at the verge of their take-off. There is a serious need for the re-orientation of the citizenry and the restructuring of the entire country so as to glide away from this stupendous decadence.

Nevertheless, I wish my blessed country, a happy 57^th Independence Anniversary on October 1, 2017.

THE KINDERGARTEN FIGHT BETWEEN AMERICA AND NORTH KOREA by SHABA Mafu.

The display of childishness in verbal vituperation between the two world leaders leaves a lot to be desired. I am not interested in going into the nitty-gritty of whatever may have occasioned their venomous utterances. It is highly disdainful to the ordinary citizens the manners the President of America, Mr. Donald Trump and his North Korean counterpart, Kim Jong Un .have demonstrated their unrestrained anger against each other ‘on behalf of their respective countries’.

North- Korean has been building up armaments including nuclear weapons that can wreak considerable havoc to the entire world if left unchecked. America which has constituted itself as the world Police, on its part, has been very uncomfortable with this development for obvious reasons. Amongst these reasons is the fear of competition from an emerging super power which can contest and contend the supremacy or superiority of alms-build-up against the unipolar system of the world hinged on America. America has always wanted to dominate the world in its show of superiority on almost all ramifications of existence. The fear of losing or maintaining this status has left it with altercations with several countries. This fear undeniably resulted in the cold war between America and Russia for a very long time. The bid to maintain superiority militarily, economically and ideologically also accounted in the ultimate collapse of the Union of Soviet Socialist Republic (USSR). Communism, which is an anathema to the capitalist-drenched America equally precipitated the long standing and deadly feud between America and the small but powerful Cuba. Cuba under their ‘Emperor’, late Fidel Castrol bluffed America for attempting to sway it to embrace capitalism. Despite America’s strangulating sanctions and diplomatic severance with Cuba for a long time, Cuba maintained its economic ideology and in their uncompromising belief of communism against the America’s touted capitalism. To worsen things for America, Cuba refused to democratize on America’s dictates and tacit supervision. Until recently the relationship between America and Cuba was frosty, comfortably compared with the relationship of that of the cat and rat. In my own analysis, despite the purported contemporary cordial relationship between these former enemies, their relationship may eventually end up like that of the he-goat and the coco-yam, if Cuba is not circumspect and sagacious enough in dealing with the mighty America.

The aggression of America against Iraq in the days of Sadam Hussein defies description. Sadam Hussein, the then leader of Iraq was accused of building the capability to invent nuclear weapons. Of course, he was out-rightly alleged to constitute serious threats to the international community and capable of supporting terrorists in destroying the world. He was allegedly framed up and executed by American snipers. But investigations later revealed that the victim did not actually possess such capability.

In the continued unsolicited policing of the world, America dealt a ruthless blow against Afghanistan shortly after the demise of the infamous Osama Bin Laden who was alleged to have bombed the Twin Towers (America’s defence arsenal) on September 11, 2001. What a wonderful Bomber and an Executioner Osama was! The country was alleged to shield or even out-rightly support enemy aggression of God’s own country.  A full-fledged war was declared against the country and though America claimed victory in its own terms, Afghanistan has not recovered from the destabilization vested on it by America’s intrusion and invasion. The country is worse off compared to its pre-American intervention days.

Libya was not spared in America’s campaign against its enemies or sympathizers of its enemy. Libya was summarily holed up with the culminating effect of the execution of its celebrated god and leader in Misrata. Maumar Gaddafi was also accused of being a terrorist who no longer has right to his life. His government was overthrown and his life terminated. It will take years for Libya to recover from this alleged covet onslaught by America and its crusaders of change.

Presently, it is the turn of North Korea. America has accused North Korea of not only stockpiling nuclear weapons but have been consistently testing them, defying the order of United Nations. The global Police has even further stated that the tests of the weapons by North Korea threatens the peace and cooperate existence of not only America but its allies and it will not fold its arms to watch the obduracy of the Korean Leader. But in his characteristic obstinacy, the Korean leader responded to Donald Trump that he is not in any way moved by America’s threat. He therefore threatened to test the hydrogen bomb very soon in the pacific ocean.

In an uncontrollable outburst of rage, the American Leader while addressing the United Nations General Assembly last week threatened to destroy the entire country of North Korea and topple the government of Kim.

  “Trump referred to North Korean leader Kim Jung Un as “rocket man,” and described him as being on “a suicide mission for himself and for his regime.” He also threatened to “totally destroy” North Korea if the US finds itself “forced to defend itself or its allies.” (culled from Vox).

 Trump further warned that America has the wherewithal to carry out the threat. In response, the Korean Leader called the statement of the American leader as the “rantings of a mad dog’ who is “mentally deranged”..

Methinks that as leaders, there must be decorum in expression even in the midst of pressure and anger. There must be justice and equity in dealing with our perceived or real enemies. If America is to destroy the whole of North Korea as a country, what moral justification does Trump have to do that? How does he explain the impending massacre to the innocent children and women, and even men in North Korea, who may not actually know the reason for the grudges or may even know but are obviously helpless? How will an average North-Korean view America and her citizens whose Leader unnecessarily threatened their cooperate existence? I have personally rated American high as a country who releases succor to the suffering especially in war-torn countries or those ravaged by natural disasters. But why all these vituperation from a World Leader like Donald Trump to prove his superiority over an enemy by threatening a large-scale catastrophe on both the 'guilty and the innocent'?

Just like a typical garage boy too, the North-Korean leader responded to Trump’s statements and called them the “ranting of a mad dog”. How do these leaders want the ordinary man on the street to view them: as leaders, or as kindergartens fighting on the street for a mere meal of chocolate. I begin to picture that if Donald Trump and Kim were close to each other physically, they would have been engaged in fisticuffs which may be beamed worldwide on the global satellite. Can such clips be viewed by children even in real Kindergarten classes without sending disdainful messages to the psyche of these children?

I urge leaders to exercise caution and restraint in their verbal expressions of their emotions and reduce the level of threats and palpable devastation. The United Nations should do its best in ensuring world peace even though the fact remains that America remains its heaviest financial contributor.  There should be more maturity in handling international affairs, after all President Donald Trump and his counterpart Kim Jong are not kids in the kindergarten classes. Diplomacy, dialogue, and at the worst, necessary and reasonable sanctions should be deployed in amicably resolving issues especially those of international magnitude such as this.

NIGERIA’S EXIT FROM RECESSION, A POLITICAL OR ECONOMIC RUSE? By SHABA Mafu.

Photo credit (Zorah/Flickr). Image of famine in Somalia.

Not long after the All Progressives Congress (APC) party defeated the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) in the 2015 general elections, the country was thrown into different and deep troubles. Among the most biting of the troubles was the economic recession the country sank into. The defeated party quickly cashed on this economic challenge of the nation by accusing the ruling party of its cluelessness and having economic amateurs as members of the Economic team. They boasted that in the administration of the defeated PDP, it had a renowned economic team and technocrats headed and coordinated by Dr. Okonjo Iweala, a renowned Economist of the World Bank Standard. But the party also quickly forgot that the defeated government presided over one of the most corrupt era in the history of Nigeria.

The corruption and impunity could be objectively stated that they were the remote causes of the recession that the economy suffered under the APC government. The impunity was so high that the former president, Dr. Goodluck Jonathan boldly defended the corruptness of his government by saying that “stealing is not corruption”. The government of the PDP had a pedigree for corruption with the former Minister of Petroleum under the same regime, Mrs. Diezanni Allison Madueke, is now a point of reference, and can conveniently be referred to in a Doctoral thesis as a case study for her historic corruption as alleged by the Economic and Financial Commission (EFCC). This is not to talk of the Dasuki-Gate where the money meant to buy the weapons to fight the Boko-harams was shared among the committee of thieves under the PDP government.

The economic recession of this present government took a toll on Nigerians.  The economy was almost flat. Many Nigerians especially in the financial and manufacturing sectors lost their jobs. Many companies either folded up or relocated outside the country. The depletion of the value of the nation’s currency led to the high cost of food and other essential commodities. This escalated the poverty-level of the already depressed people of Nigeria. The recession also compressed and constrained the spending level of the affluent. The level of poverty was further compounded with many jobless and unemployed dependants feasting avariciously on the pittance paid to the lucky but definitely under-employed breadwinners. Some people committed suicide, while several others attempted the supreme escapist-device to forestall their hopelessness and irredeemable agony. Crimes reverberated as a mechanism by the criminals to cushion the effects of the recession. Kidnapping became the order of the day as it became extremely lucrative to the extent that some people organized self-kidnapping.

In the midst of these entire prevailing situations that cannot be exhaustively scripted here, the government had promised at several times that the economy will bounce out of recession. Those promises were rather esoteric and hypothetical. Suddenly, like a thunderbolt from the blues, the Office of the Bureau of Statistics announced that Nigeria was out of recession. It quickly added that no one should rejoice prematurely because the impact will take long before being felt by the ordinary Nigerians.  It said that announcement of the end of the recession was not a political statement but rather because the Gross Domestic Product (GDP) of the country has actually improved successively over the quarters in the year 2017.

The recession will only end when the unemployed are gainfully employed. There will be no recession when the prices of food and other essential commodities are affordable by the common man on the street. It is when men desist from crime as a panacea to the crushing effect of a highly deflated economy, only then can we say there is no recession. Recession can’t end in favour of an international economic theory scripted on papers when Nigerians go begging for fortunes or are at the mercy of the ever-malevolent employers of labour. It is only the poor that can actually announce the end of Nigeria’s recession, and not the government; except the government wants it just for political reason.