Abuja

My Random Reflections @ 44

/ Adeola / Leave a comment

The most amazing thing for me is the story of our present day heroes-the people who keep Nigeria running. These heroes are owners of surviving small and big businesses that run on generators and power plants for 24 hours a day.

My Random Reflections @ 44

 

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In 2009 l started this series called My Random Reflections. The first edition was My Random Reflections @ 37. How time flies!

For me, writing about Nigeria on my birthday has become a tradition.

This particular edition is remarkable in a number of ways. This is the first time l am writing one from homeland-Nigeria.

In an attempt to put up this edition, l’ll try to give a summary of some of the things that continue to be a source of heartache for me with respect to Nigeria.

Having spent a few days in Nigeria, l could write more than 1000 pages on what l have experienced so far. Majority of what l have seen and experienced are negative things.

In this year-2016, hopelessness pervades the country.

I am the man who cries when he writes about Nigeria. My heart bleeds. This was not the dream for Nigeria. Madness has overtaken this land.

There are uncountable issues to be addressed in Nigeria. I don’t even know where to start from. No one does. The level of destruction and general decadence is out of this world.

Things have finally fallen apart. Sadly, majority of the people don’t get it. No, they don’t understand the meaning of life.

If you are looking for the definition of selfishness, don’t look at the dictionary. Just take a trip around your neighbourhood. The selfishness of men and women have turned them to haters of fellow humans.

The government of Nigeria continues to fail the people, hence majority of Nigerians have been battered beyond repair.

Seriously, I don’t even know how to proceed with this essay. Nigeria is the dark country both figuratively and in reality. I have seen many long, dark nights and many boring afternoons of no electricity. It is almost totally absent so much that Mr. Fashola is now called the Minister for darkness.

I take long walks and l drive about town, what l see is [almost everybody doing the wrong thing] just to fulfil their own personal ambitions or missions for the day.

Nigeria is in a total mess.

I have thought about writing an open letter to President Buhari.

One of my suggestions to him would be that he needs to take a road tour of Nigeria and find out how the people are living and how they are suffering from day to day.  I will implore him to travel by land and water for once. He should fashy the plane for this fact-finding mission.

When l finally write the letter, l intend to point out the failure of the APC-Buhari mandate so far. A friend of mine got upset last weekend because he read somewhere that the APC still blames the PDP for the problems in Nigeria as if Nigerian politicians are different from one another.

Together my friend and l agreed that things didn’t have to get worse before they get better. The APC-Buhari mandate does not know what Nigerians are going through. If they know, how can they be so pretentious and callous?

The APC is just like the PDP (birds of the same feather) and together they have ruined the country and failed the people. The APC-Buhari mandate was not ready for its own change agenda. Under the APC-Buhari mandate thing fell apart very quickly and they are still falling like a pack of cards.

The verdict have been given on the APC-Buhari mandate: majority of Nigerians regretted their votes. This does not mean that they preferred the PDP-Jonathan government. They are just confused and confounded.

The people have concluded that Nigerian politicians are criminals who go to Abuja and other government offices across the country to steal and loot. It is this criminality that pervades the society. That’s one of the reasons why everybody looks at the other person with suspicious eyes and inqusitive minds.

Away from their pastors and imams the people you find in churches and mosques praying are the same people raining curses on the APC government. They have tagged this regime and they have pinned it down as the worst regime ever in terms of human suffering and the collapse of the economy.

Even my suggestion that the pdp-years would be the worst years of the Nigerian life has been dwarfed by the one year of APC-Buhari regime.

It’s getting worse with each passing day.

It does not matter what any APC-asslickers think or suggest. Everybody has reached their own walls and the chickens are eating one another’s intestines.

That is the people’s verdict-that this regime is the worst ever in Nigeria’s history in terms of human suffering and government insensitivity.

This is the verdict l’ve heard everyday on the streets of Lagos in the last 2½ weeks.

This is the verdict of the market men and women.

This is the verdict of the ones who have been thrown out of jobs and the ones who have never been gainfully employed.

This is the verdict of the men and women who run their businesses running on generators and plants round the clock.

This is the verdict of the old people who sit in front of their flats/homes everyday just steering at the sky hopelessly. Many old people in Nigeria are tired and without pension and care. They live like beggars.

Majority were not even civil serrvants. They did small businesses and they are now old and hopeless.

Some are not even very old. They are just jobless and hopeless. I see them and l cry. Nigeria is hell for them.

Even many young jobless people live like beggars too. They do unnecessary things and provide useless services and then beg for money. Someone can even remove a stone in your way and systematically ask you for money for lunch.

If your car breaks down on the road, some people will approach you for ”owo taku”-money that your car has broken down. These are some examples of the sad state of Nigeria.

In the anticipated letter to the presidency, l would point out to future governments in Nigeria that they need to set out at dawn and that they must make hay whilst the sun shines.

I intend to share the message of Mrs. Obi my secondary school teacher with President Buhari and the rest of the Nigerian population including the opposition-the PDP-that what is worth doing at all is what doing well. Mrs. Obi would be happy if l add her favourite line: nearly does not catch a bird!  We just have to get it right to make it work.

In addition to the letter to the presidency, l also intend to write a letter to the governor of Lagos state, Mr. Akinwunmi Ambode. In fact, l intend to write a series of letter to this number one man of Lagos. I hope he’s warming up for them.

I understand from some quarters that the regime of Mr. Ambode has embarked on some road construction and repair. I saw some myself.  I don’t praise public servants. Becoming the governor was never an obligation. It will forever be a choice.

Still, there are many, many bad roads in Lagos state. Ha ba! You have to raise your car to the first floor before you can drive on Lagos roads that are full of ”wells”. The use of the phrase ”pot-holes” is an understatement. For me, l don’t want to live in a state where there is a single bad road. I want all the roads to be like paradise road. By applying sense and responsibility, we can do it.

Rather than put pressure on the state and local government on the need to provide good roads everywhere, almost all the citizens of Lagos have bought Jeeps or in the process of buying one. This is one of the remarkable but terrible characteristics of Nigerians-they don’t seek to address a problem, they beat about the bush.

If everybody in Nigeria buys a jeep, whose responsibility is it then to point out the failure of the government in providing good roads? Naija sha!

In my attempt to call the government to order, l will not leave the local government chairman of my community out of the picture. He or she is the nearest person on whose shoulders the burden of governance rest.

In that letter or essay which will be coming in a matter of weeks, l am going to inform the present sole administrator and the future local government chairman of my estate about the problems that l see in Festac Town and l will give suggestions for the solutions.

We cannot go on like this. Again, it appears that we all sleep and face the same direction. The society is full of many mad situations.

I will not be sparing the governor of Ogun state as my country home lies in his domain. In fact from what l heard about the Lusada road connecting Winners Chapel, l have very strong words for him as soon as l set to work on all my complains.

I wished l have all the time in the world in Nigeria. I want to start talking to the people again. I have done that in the past before l left Nigeria.

I have thought about blowing my whistle again just like old time when l led the young people in my community on many missions just to keep the sanity of our community. Now hell is on the loose.

I have thought of writing an open letter to the Nigerian Police because l am so scared of the guns pointing at me everyday on the roads. Why are the police pointing their guns at every motorist? What is going one? Are we at war?

I have thought of writing an open letter to the Federal Road Safety Commission to complain about the absence of a single sane driver on Lagos roads. Everybody is mad they tell me! I see it too. Nigerians don’t know how to drive, and l mean it. They just move the cars like crazy people.

It is so bad l have not seen a single Lagos driver who knows how to turn left at the end of the road. Rather then turn, Nigerian drivers make sharp manouver. There is an unwritten agreement that everybody on the road must be agressive and drive like someone who is crazy. How can we stop the madness?

I have thought about writing and talking to every single Nigerian alive about their civil responsibilities, about the meaning of life and how to pursue happiness.

I have thought about writing a letter to the Ministry of Transport on the need to withdraw all the Okada drivers in my community and march them onward to their villages to different farm settlements where their children can be educated and they as adults can be gainfully employed and productive.

People need to be reintegrated into normal existence as soon as possible. Things are getting out of hand and getting worse by the day.

The government is failing. The people are failing. I have never seen anything like this anywhere else.

In Nigeria, since my return, l have done a lot of things to fulfil my roles and obligations within my immediate family.

I have lost family members who are close to me including my mother.

In this country, we have all gotten our shares of the Nigerian tragic existence. What a sad story we all share.

I have been on live program on Channels TV. On Rubbin’ Mind, l made a case for the Niger Deltans. If we make their home paradise on earth, no one will be mending or avenging any mess. It’s as simple as that.

I have done a newspaper interview and l spoke about the need to re-introduce reading into the school time-table for children. I also made an argument for the maintenance and bulding of libraries across Nigeria to ensure that the reading culture is kept. Reading from books will remain the best way to extract knowledge and inspiration.

If l’m opportuned, l could do one more TV interview/discussion on my new book, the Madrilenian. It was launched in Stockholm on June 18 and will be launched and released in Nigeria on July 16.

Oh, l almost forgot, l have spent substantial part of my return to Nigeria visiting my father. He is an old pal, a jolly good fellow at that.

I have spent quality time with my friends and acquaintainces. I have mingled with mechanics, vulcanizers, petrol station attendants, civil servants, traders, journalists, young and old people. I have walked the streets, walked into peoples’ homes unannounced and even chatted with strangers.

I have done my best and l keep my head high.

I know we can turn this country around. If we start from adopting a system of government that works (regional government for example), we will be able to re-educate our people in the different parts using our local culture and heritage as the re-starting blocks.

We can tap people’s energies, knowledge and creativity to put Nigeria back on the path of progress. We can bring back our people in foreign countries through reverse brain-drain.

Oh, what greatness we can achieve with sincerity, patriotism and honesty!

 

aderounmu@gmail.com

The APC-Mandate: One Year Of Extreme Pain

/ Adeola / Leave a comment

What Nigerians have experienced in 2016 alone is by all measure the worst year of the Nigerian life (in a time of “peace”). This unitary system of government is so, so wrong! It is a product of intellectual deficiency that arose from lazy, corrupt and unproductive minds.

The APC-Mandate: One Year Of Extreme Pain

By Adeola Aderounmu

Adeola_June_2016

Adeola Aderounmu

One year after the official emergence of the APC mandate, the most unexpected scenarios are here. The current situation in Nigeria today was unimaginable 12 months ago when the expectations and stakes were raised through the emergence of the APC mandate.

Everyone including PDP addicts knew that the PDP years were totally messed up. But no one expected that as the clean-up started under the APC-Buhari mandate that the situation will deteriorate to a state that has now (also) made nonsense of the APC campaigns and promises.

Even my invented slogan that the 1999-2015 PDP years were the worst years of the Nigerian life had been beaten flat. What Nigerians have experienced in 2016 alone is by all measure the worst year of the Nigerian life (in a time of peace).

What led to these unexpected new lows of general sufferings is arguable. But the degradation of human life, extremely high cost of living and endless surges of joy-killers like the fuel-related problems are both sad and regrettable.

My opinion is that if there had been adequate proactive-ness, Nigerians would not be suffering more today than they already did under the wasteful 16 years of PDP. The APC-Buhari mandate was ill-equipped for the year that went by.  Therefore the mandate becomes a questionable one, I’m afraid.

My opinion is premised upon the fact that the APC-mandate and the rest of us had a clear understanding of what the challenges ahead were. We knew that Nigeria was in bad shape. Our collective expectation was that things should not get worse because they were already bad.

The APC-mandate failed to curb a bad situation. So it grew worse and it’s still going down the road to perdition in so many uncountable ways.

What enlightened and knowledgeable Nigerians must do now is to see the current situation in Nigeria as an opportunity to access the country right from 1960 to date. Why Nigeria got into the mess it is now is no longer rocket science.

Primarily, the country was misruled by almost all the regimes that have held sway at one time or the other after independence in 1960. As if the colonial drainage was not enough albeit side-a-side remarkable infrastructure development, the indigenes of Nigeria chose to simply loot the country to dryness.

As you read, Nigeria is being looted by some elements either directly by their positions in government or indirectly by the failure of the system to curb external appendages of looting.

The crime of looting is so grave that the recovered cash that was revealed recently by the APC government is a tip of the iceberg of what actually disappeared under both the APC- and the PDP-states in the last 17 years.

Politicians on both fronts practically emptied the states treasuries daily. At the parasitic center, the Jonathan-led central PDP government wasted and looted Nigeria’s monies in no manner that were different from his predecessors both civilians and military.

Everything that has a beginning will have an end. When the APC-Buhari mandate is over (because it will be), we will surely be informed of how much went down the drain daily. That, and what went down in the APC terrains whilst PDP held swayed are top secret today. We are looking the other way because the bulk of the latter brought Mr. Buhari to power.

In Nigeria, anybody who is elected or selected as the president can play god. It’s all thanks to the system. But I love the concept of time and truth. They outlive everyone and everything.

Apart from the fact that Nigeria was misruled and looted, there is the other factor of running a political system and constitution constructed by the military juntas.

Some people may still want to argue in favour of unitary government. This is a system that continues to feed the elites, the politicians and their accomplices. On the other hand the system puts hunger, death and sorrows at the doorsteps of the common people.

The strongest argument against unitary government cannot be missed: One man cannot rule Nigeria! The last one year provided the most visible evidence and the end of the first APC-mandate will nail it.

The one man show is not going to lead Nigeria further. He has ministers, yes, but they can’t do anything if that one man does not approve.

There are state governors, yes, but they cannot do anything if their begging plates are not filled by that one man.

This system is so, so wrong! It is a product of intellectual deficiency that arose from lazy, corrupt and unproductive minds.

This system is no longer acceptable and it is very unreasonable. It has not worked and it will not work. Nigerians have a way of hoping in the midst of hopelessness. The results? More than 100 m poor people, a disgraceful world record accumulation of poor people in Africa!

Summarily, the APC-mandate is doing worse than the PDP-mandate because of a system that promotes corruption, looting and incompetency. Again the unitary system of government is ridiculous and devoid of intellectual-problem solving approaches. It is so bad even the current minister of solid mineral resources cannot guarantee wealth production from solid minerals in the next 5 years!!!

For several years now, some people have suggested a change in the system of government but those calls fell on deaf ears. The politicians are not going to willingly change a system that makes them fat and rich.

In recent days some prominent Nigerians including those who have benefited from the fraudulent unitary system of government have joined us in singing: restructure Nigeria!

It took so long for the chorus to emerge and one wonders how long it will be before the actualisation.

The APC-mandate under Mr. Buhari must not act as if it is deaf because the music is too loud: change the system!

Of course we know it will not happen in one night. We know that it is a process. What is important at this stage is to ensure that the process is initiated using the right institutions and appropriate agencies.

There are so many options for Nigeria and they are far more preferable than the agitations in the different regions that have metamorphosed into wars (in form of terrorism in the North, the so-called militancy in the South and the unending secession in the East).

Under the current unitary system, the war/agitation/militancy have no end in sight. Even the re-structuring of Nigeria will not heal all wounds automatically. But restructuring is a necessity to avoid the final collapse of Nigeria in a way that is undesirable.  The road that leads back to regional autonomy will be rough, windy and long. Still, it is the better road if well managed.

Those familiar with medical science know the difference between controlled cell-death and uncontrollable cell-death/destruction. Nigeria and Nigerians need to make the choice whilst common sense can still prevail. When all hell is let loose, there will be no room for common sense and negotiations. Necrosis in any country is not desirable.

It is easy to say that corruption is fighting back in form of NDA-militancy. What was fighting in the name of Boko Haram? What had been agitating in the name of Biafra? We must not forget the words of wisdom. If the wall does not open its mouth, the lizard will not crawl in. These walls have been open for too long and a lot of lizards have crawled in. Now several of those lizards have stomach aches.

The benefits of regional autonomy outweigh those of unitary government. The different regions in Nigeria need to start producing wealth again. Nigeria needs to return to the days when 5-10% of regional wealth is sent to the capital for administrative purposes only. Today money is sent to Abuja for siphoning!

All the parasites and leeches in Abuja under this APC-mandate need to do one of their last jobs which is to initiate the re-negotiation of Nigeria and go back home in peace. A time may come when they will return compulsorily. Since there may not be peace at that time, they need not wait that long.

I stand always with the common Nigerians.

The fight for freedom itself is not a day’s job. It may take a few years, it may several years. But like l wrote in The Kings Are Mad, when the time for freedom comes, there will be no going back.

aderounmu@gmail.com

 

 

 

Reflections

/ Adeola / Leave a comment

When l was 8 years old, my class teacher Mrs. Nwaoha taught me the importance of merit in attaining positions whilst handing me my first experience of taking responsibilities outside my home. Her approach continues to influence my thinking to this day.

Reflections

By Adeola Aderounmu

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Usually l write my random reflections annually on July 12 to mark my birthday. In recent weeks l have written sporadically in this column (View from Scandinavian in the Nigeria Village Square).

I have not been able to keep to the schedule of publishing every Sunday.

There are explanations for this.

One is that sometimes one feels the urge to just take it easy during the weekend when the week days have been intensive and tiring.

Second is that sometimes l listen to the news from Nigeria or I read the newspaper and then l found out that what my friend told me is true: the more things change in Nigeria, the more they stay the same.

As a columnist it is becoming more demanding to write about Nigeria in order to keep the content fresh or valid. It is hard to do this.

The problems that Nigerian columnists wrote about in 1980 are still the same problems that we are writing about today.

Nigeria has failed to develop or evolve.

We have not been able to change or raised the standard of our discussions to issues that challenge our growth or development because Nigeria is not growing or developing in comparison to several countries with high standard of living and high life expectation.

We are stagnated on economic issues as the value of the Naira remains a disgrace to the country and the people.

In far away places including America, Nigerians have been placed in strategic positions to help the country remain progressive in various ramifications.

However in Nigeria, for more than 50 years, we convert our economic gurus and scientists to fellow political criminals as soon as they arrive on the political stage.

We don’t move forward.

In politics, at a time that the world is discussing migration politics and politics of job creation, we in Nigeria are still struggling with counting of ballot papers.

Nigeria is a disgrace to Africa when it comes to conducting elections.

Recently it was in Kogi State and last week it was in Rivers State where people in this century and age went about killing fellow human beings just because they were asked to cast their votes.

In 1980 whilst I was in primary 3 my class teacher thought it was time to appoint class representatives who would be good ambassadors of her class. She adopted the merit system.

She based her arguments on performances during classwork and related activities.

It was a peaceful exercise. l emerged as the class captain and Foluso Agboola emerged as the assistant class captain.

It probably wasn’t a democratic process but it is an integral part of democracy, that merit would be considered a factor in producing candidates.

We were rewarded with positions because we deserved it.

Before that process I had seen boys since l was 6 years old or less fighting for place and supremacy and l have no idea how or why they thought they had to fight to claim authority when they have not shown that they are responsible.

Mrs. Nwaoha cleared things in my head forever. Merit first.

In 2016 the Federal Republic of Nigeria cannot conduct elections that involve ordinary counting of votes.

The people of Rivers cannot conduct themselves orderly. They went about committing murders and arsons rather then fishing out men of character and integrity like civilised people.

I weep.

In several essays l have written of the times l wept for Nigeria in my private moment and it is not a joke or make believe. Sometimes l had cleaned tear drops from my laptops.

If an x-ray can reveal a bleeding heart, the beam light should come to my chest.

Nigeria makes me sad.

Stories like those associated with the beheading of politicians and the massacres of citizens in River States are devastating to my health status.

I think about where civilisation has brought mankind and what Nigerians are doing to themselves. I’ll been insensitive and inhuman to hold back my tears.

Stories from the north are not news. The traumas of my childhood just became incurable as l wrote in a previous essay.

I don’t think that Boko Haram or terrorists (individuals or government) anywhere in the world represent the true species of humans. I long for a new biological classification of the animal kingdom. The world needs a new Carl Linnaeus.

The fuel scarcity in Nigeria is still unbelievable. Nigeria is naturally endowed with this resource. I have no words to flog the curse of the black oil. Huge disappointment for the black race is an understatement.

Power supply does not trip off in many countries around the world. Nigerians are undoubtedly among the smartest and most creative people under the sun.

Hence, it is hard to find an answer to the question: why do Nigerians have almost no electricity at all in the country?

Femi, my smart friend in Stockholm, gave an insight, it may be an answer.

He said that even if Nigeria decides to provide electricity on 100% supply mode, the infrastructures are not there to sustain it. O dear!

If that be the case, what about spending the next 2-3 years putting the infrastructure in place and constant power supply for ever more? Is that rocket science too?

I called this essay reflection and my intention was to make it short.

One can be hard on self if the issues and problems with Nigerians are taken too hard/harsh.

Whatever, it will always make me sad to see all the possibilities for growth, for development and for making Nigeria a paradise yet that the useless political class and the thieving ruling class have decided that the status quo shall be sustained.

I could definitely go on to reflect or complain. They want us to be tired of doing this. If we get tired, things might even get worse for the voiceless and the downtrodden in Nigeria.

I wish that good roads, good schools, good hospitals and modern infrastructures will be developed in every local government and every state in Nigeria.

I wish that as many people as possible will know and experience quality life style before they bid the world goodbye.

It is sad to see people who have lived all of their lives in extreme poverty whilst the country Nigeria has the potential to be the best place in the world.

The people paid severely for bad governance and mismanagement.

They are still paying and when restructuring the political system and realigning the country regionally or on true federalism are not even mentioned as probable solutions, there is little hope that we will change the lines of discussions soonest.

aderounmu@gmail.com

 

The APC Mandate: So Far, So Bad!

/ Adeola / Leave a comment

 

Even if the APC mandate meant well, the realities on ground in Nigeria really hurt. In the daily lives of the ordinary citizens, things continue to fall apart. Some groups like the pensioners have even disappeared from the radar of the government.

The APC Mandate: So Far, So Bad!

By Adeola Aderounmu

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In about 2 months from now it will be one year since the APC mandate won the elections that brought it to power in Nigeria.

Unexpectedly the story has been very, very sad. So far, so bad!

I know the major arguments in favour of the APC mandate. For example we are quickly reminded that the Jonathan administration looted the treasury.

We are constantly reminded that change is gradual. We are also watching as Buhari is fighting corruption (that so far has excluded the massively corrupt APC-chieftains)

Even my close friends want me to appreciate the war on corruption albeit not perfect. I do. Ese pupo

In previous articles with the banner The APC Mandate, l have stated that there was nothing that was wrong with the Jonathan administration that the APC mandate wasn’t aware of before it took over the mandate of governance.

I have also argued that the APC mandate was aware of these problems before it promised Nigerians change.

I went further to state that considering the backdrop of the APC campaign machinery, APC politicians and tacticians ought to have taken all the challenges that they were about to face into consideration before embarking on a campaign, that now seems to be propaganda.

Today-10 months after winning a major victory at the polls-the APC central government is still mainly without direction.

Summarily, so far, the APC mandate is still a failure. It is just the way it is even if this is not what was intended.

The realities on ground in Nigeria really hurt. In the daily lives of the ordinary citizens, things continue to fall apart.

President Buhari has probably spent more time outside Nigeria than inside of it since he was pronounced the winner of the 2015 presidential election. It is now time to sit down at home and fix Nigeria.

If there is a time in Nigeria’s history when the people need empathy from the number one citizen, it is no other time than now when majority of the citizens are angry and hungry.

The level of hunger and the feeling of insufficiency in Nigeria today are unprecedented in the annals of the country.

We know that change is gradual. We know that monies were looted by Jonathan and his cronies. Who does not know that the looting had been across board since 1960?

No, we were not expecting a miracle from the APC mandate. But no one told us that things will be worse than they were 10 months ago. What did we miss when the APC took to the campaign trails?

Nigerians need to buckle up.

Crime rate may surge in the coming days. People have reached the end of the ropes and tolerance levels have reached an all time low.

The ordinary people are going about with rage, anger and huge disappointment on their faces. They are asking: is this the change?

Frustrations have reached a new high in Nigeria.

By now, it is common knowledge that petrol disappeared from the gas stations. There are more pumps in the black market than at the petrol stations. It shows how bad the government has been in managing patriotism and citizens’ roles in nation building.

The supremacy of the black market in different economic interplay speaks volume of the citizens’ non-adoption of the APC anticorruption struggle. It reflects clearly the rejection of the change slogan. This is simply failure of institutions of governance.

A few weeks ago l wrote an essay titled: We Can’t Go On Like This. I can understand when APC loyalists were quick to run to the defence of their lords. Again reality is what matters to me and today the situation has gone from bad to worse regarding the prices/costs of goods and services.

What worries me is that things are getting worse and l am yet to encounter a national, clear, easy to understand blueprint, known to all citizens on how the APC mandate intends to get Nigerians out of this mess that it inherited and bloated.

Former president, Mr. Jonathan blamed his ineptitude on previous administration before him and wasted 6 years of our lives while he and his cronies emptied the treasure monthly.

The APC mandate is blaming Jonathan and already wasting the remaining days of our lives. Unacceptable! Nonsense and ingredients!

Meanwhile workers cannot go to work everyday. They have to select the days they go to work because of the cost and difficulties of getting to work.

Students of tertiary institutions have expended their pocket monies and have to adopt on-off formulas of attending schools.

What about power supply lately? How many times have we complained about blackout? It is now worse.

I don’t understand why NEPA will be allowed to increase the tariff for electricity when power supply has not improved? It is only in Nigeria that this type of indefensible criminality of government is perpetrated against the people.

How come the APC mandate did not know that there is a need to upgrade infrastructure in the power sector. Was that not already a common knowledge?

Some of us know that the upgrade of infrastructure will definitely take years and when that is done, power supply can be improved. It is at that point that the consumers can be asked to pay more.

Now Nigerians are paying more for darkness.

You don’t have a bakery in your house but you get a bill of N10000 and electricity is not even supplied! The APC mandate is definitely perpetrating citizen defrauding.

Whose plight is not worsened since the last 10 months? Is it the pensioners who have disappeared from the radar of the APC mandate? They are not even paid any longer. Is it the unemployed whose hopes of jobs have faded into oblivion with the mass emigration of companies from Nigeria?

Civil servants now receive salaries sporadically. The calender dates are inconsequential. Yet the government continues to devise several ways to tax and impoverish the people. It is shocking!

Politicians don’t feel the problems or they pretend not to see at all which is why a fool will conclude that those complaining about the problems in Nigeria are PDP loyalists.

The wahala that continued to brew at the Senate is a discussion for another day. But it is sad that criminals occupy such positions in government. Now they hide under imported religions to tell us that women are slaves in Nigeria and cannot be equal to men.

Whatever happens, the APC mandate owes Nigeria good governance and improvement in living conditions.

The APC mandate owes Nigeria a lasting political solution.

By all means, the APC must begin to discuss how to move the different states in the country away from their parasitic existences. We need a debate on how the country can move forward and regional government and self-determination must be on the table.

There were so many promises that came with the campaigns in terms of what ordinary people will benefit.

Days have turned to months and months will soon add up to a year. If things do not improve, the APC mandate should at least prevent them from getting worse. That much the APC-mandate owes Nigeria.

Nigeria is in dire need of leaders and leadership.

We cannot go on like this..!

aderounmu@gmail.com

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Echoes Of Idiaraba

/ Adeola / Leave a comment

I was born after the civil war.

When l was growing up and in my formative years there was no one-teachers, counsellors or psychologists-who told us the reasons for the things that happened in northern Nigeria. Many of those things were unheard of or forbidden in western Nigeria.

The massacres, the beheading and the bloodletting just happened and became part of my/our history.

The other stories from the north like getting married to children as young as 8 years old blew my mind away forever!

Echoes Of Idi-Araba

By Adeola Aderounmu

Adeola_March

Intro

When micro-ethnic wars break out in Nigeria, they are sometimes quickly subdued and swept under the carpet.

That (being swept under the carpet) is going to be the fate of the recent micro-ethnic war at Mile 12 in Ikorudu, Lagos.

The Nigerian government is a master of this game-pretending as if everything is alright at the surface until the next riot or violence breaks out. The response will be the same-quench it and sweep it under the carpet.

Nigeria remains a volatile country because successive government continues to push forward the days of reckoning-that-is when to actually sit down and discuss a viable and long-lasting political solution regarding the colonial debacle called Nigeria.

We have come to the realisation that Nigeria, though with the potentials of a giant, ironically remains an under-developed country as a result of several factors, not least the dearth of leadership at the center and across the states.

 

The Northern Syndrome

My phobia of the north (of Nigeria) developed when l was still in my early teenage years. Now, with the established terrorism in the north (that may soon spread to other places) and recent news of filtering in, in different forms and shades, my phobia may be incurable.

It’s sad but it’s true.

This is not the first time l’m expressing my fear and phobia of the north.

Sometimes people take your experiences and life stories with a pinch of salt. They even argue and bet that you’ll change your mind as if they are you.

The trauma of the teenage years lingers. I may go through my life cycle without ever steeping my foot on the northern part of Nigeria.

When l was growing up and in my formative years there was no one-teachers, counsellors or psychologists-who told us the reasons for the things that happened in northern Nigeria.

Many of those things were unheard of or forbidden in western Nigeria.

Did we even have counsellors or psychologists? Where were they?

The massacres, the beheading and the bloodletting just happened and became part of our history.

The other stories from the north like getting married to children as young as 8 years old blew my mind away forever!

 

The Echoes of Idiaraba

l learnt about the aberration in Yorubaland. I mean, I became more confused when several of the riots in western Nigeria were propelled by disagreements between the men from the north and local indigenes. The question of one Nigeria was laid to rest several decades ago.

So when l was studying at the postgraduate level at the College of Medicine in ldiaraba, there were some days I looked over my shoulders because of the tension between the indigenes and the men from the north or beyond the north. We found out later that Chad and Niger also invaded western Nigeria.

Sometimes l felt that the gods were with me because l’d been home when the massacres took place. But what about those whose lives were taken away just as if one was blowing up fumes from cigarettes?

The episodes have just been repeated at Mile 12, with precision!

When l served in lbadan, there were some places l never dared to disembark from the bus to even look around because my traumatic mind told me that l could be stabbed to death by the herdsmen or a collection of rioters with mixed identities.

Such was the height of my phobia.

For me, as a young boy, and then a young student, the echoes of Idiaraba are the echoes of northern Nigeria and they still make me sick.

I am aware of the pockets of violence even amongst indigenes or local gangs. They just added to the heap of confusion in the lives of an innocent teenage mind.

Sometimes l think about the post-civil war Nigeria and all the unhealed wounds. These thoughts diminish my hope for Nigeria. I am convinced that the ever-fresh Biafra struggles are closely tied to unfinished businesses.

Indeed in my adulthood l have learnt about the unusual constellation of Northern Nigeria but too sad that that the constellation won’t drive away the fears and trauma. It may be too late to help me. I don’t know.

In fairness, considering that the only place where l feel safe-western Nigeria-is under siege from time to time from herdsmen and the foreigners who have failed to respect, revere or reciprocate the hospitality of the locals/indigenes, my trauma can still be aggravated.

One can argue from now to eternity about the underlying factors that brought me to this dilemma. We can sweep issues under the carpets. We can take sides and apportion blame.

Aren’t we expert in these areas?

Our common vision reveals to us what is on the surface. They are mis-governance, poverty, ignorance, deprivation, lack of education and sometimes mis-education of the minds. The list can be grown.

Still reappearing below the surface is the complete failure of nearly all the regimes and governments of Nigeria. There also lie the fundamental questions of the political and physiological structures of Nigeria.

The failure of “governance and politics” in Nigeria is monumental!

What next?

The echoes of Idiaraba are not going to leave Nigeria soon. They reverberate with different tones along the landscape.

They resonate from Idiaraba, to Sabongarri, to Mile 12, to Sabo and everywhere across the country.

No. they won’t leave soon.

In some places these echoes are already the drums and sounds of terrorism and war.

With the drastic curtailing of the Mile 12 episode, the day of the next massacre just got pushed forward.

The usual politics may one day send Nigeria to her ultimate demise. It will be a sad day for Africa, for humanity.

The advocates of regional government or self-determination are not totally wrong. Nigeria needs a lasting and permanent political solution.

The other day, Nigeria’s almost foreign-based president, Mr. Buhari was rooting for the Palestinian agenda. I don’t know if that is contradiction or pragmatism.

One who does not propose a referendum for the Biafra state should not support the Palestinian agenda.

Anyway, there was a road Nigeria did not take. Hence we will never be able to evaluate the roles that proper governance and good leadership could have played in Nigeria as it is today.

We will not be able to answer the question: had Nigerian been governed by sensible people and responsible government, where would the country be today?

Could we have moved beyond ethnic massacres? Could we have moved beyond racial profiling within the country? Could we have relegated imported religious beliefs and local cultural differences to the background in favour of humanity and common sense?

We will never know the answers because up to this day in 2016 Nigeria is ruled by greedy, selfish, myopic and extremely wicked souls.

Nigeria is led by politicians who will acquire the latest cars in the middle of the worst economic situation in the country’s history.

Call them fools, call them idiots, call them what you like, they don’t care anymore. The redemption point got exited long, long time ago!

They’ll even loot more when you say stop. They’ll build more houses and tell you to live, fight one another and die on the streets, you wretched citizens!

I don’t know who to turn to.

But l’ll try the Lagos state government and the custodians of western Nigeria: please take major proactive steps to ensure the safety of lives and property of all the citizens of Nigeria living in your domain.

Some short films emanating from the recent micro-ethnic wars revealed a lot about the extremely low standard of living and poverty in that part of Lagos.

Please do what you can to provide more employment opportunities, basic education, basic housing, basic infrastructure, possibilities for sport and other extra-curricular activities. They are urgent steps that could avail much.

Don’t forget that the farm settlement schemes will be a big boost for western Nigeria! Please start and develop it in earnest, or boost the existing ones, both private and public.

Youth empowerment, community-based mentorship and leadership programs should not be overlooked.

In our hope and dream of a better Nigeria based on integrated regionalism and a greater Africa the peaceful coexistence of the people will play a pivotal role.

Maybe if the right leadership comes someday, the future generation will radiate the ancient glory of regionally integrated Africa.

aderounmu@gmail.com