Opinion

By Maimuna Abubakar

People’s opinions of others have always psychologically impacted their social relationships and behaviours without considering an individual’s mental state and capacities. Many people say things to each other that are more painful than some physical injuries. Often that has detrimental effects on the psychological well-being of the parties involved. The issue of body shaming often results in self-loathing and even compels people to yearn for people’s validation.

Body Shaming is the act of humiliating a person by mocking, making jest, or making critical comments about their physical appearance in the form of the person’s body size, shape or weight.

Often, those who body-shame others claim to be just joking. However, the negative impacts of body shaming are numerous; it makes victims self-conscious, brings about issues of low self-esteem and poor self-confidence, and makes victims question their self-worth. Mentally, it creates the feeling of self-disgust or shame in the victims, while some feel like they have some biological defects like something is wrong with their biological makeup.

The media, especially social media and some product marketers, have succeeded in projecting what an “ideal body type” should look like, which is where most body type critics derive their inspiration. They believe that one has to be at least close to those “ideal body types” or that such a person is lacking in their physical structure.

Although fat shaming is the most common form of body shaming, people must understand that ‘skinny shaming’ is just as hurtful as fat shaming. Because some people are naturally thin or fat, it is in their genetics. Therefore, they can’t just gain weight or lose it simply because people say they should.

Body shaming has led many people to develop eating disorders that can be fatal to their general health, such as Bulimia Nervosa and Anorexia Nervosa.

Bulimia or Bulimia Nervosa is a serious disorder that occurs chiefly in females, characterised by compulsive overeating usually followed by self-induced vomiting and is often accompanied by guilt and depression.

Anorexia or Anorexia Nervosa, on the other hand, is another serious disorder in eating behaviour characterised by a pathological fear of weight gain leading to faulty eating patterns such as prolonged starvation.

Eating disorders are currently the mental conditions with the highest mortality rates, as research statistics show in Japan, the USA and other cities worldwide (BMC Psychiatry: 2020).

Body shaming has led to so many attempted suicide. Victims of body shaming, over time, begin to hate themselves as they view themselves through the lenses their critics see them. So many potentials are not discovered because victims of body shaming dread people’s criticism about their physique and, as a result, prefer to keep themselves hidden.

When I opened up a discussion about body shaming with some of my friends and classmates, it surprised me how many of us have, at one point in life, suffered at the hands of body type critics, and some are still suffering.

One of such friends, who is chubby, told me that when she was in her second year at the university, her roommate pleaded with her not to conceal her beauty by putting on the hijab over her well-tailored dress. When she refused to oblige, her roommate accused her of being insecure about her body weight and diagnosed her with an inferiority complex. She said that comment made her see herself differently and that throughout that academic session, she questioned her every action, constantly assessing herself until she deliberately learned to love herself for who she is.

Another close friend recounted how her close friends, immediate and extended relatives, would say things like: “Ina zaki kai wannan jiki haka?”, “Da dai kin rage cin abinci ya fi ye maki saboda maza bã sã son mace mai qiba“, “Wacce ko kyau ba ki yi ba. Wannan qiba haka wazai kwasa?” Her friends will joke about her body size, “me kike ci ne haka, muma a san ma na mu ci mu yi qiba“.

They possibly may not intend to hurt her feelings, but little did they know that such comments shatter their friends’ and families’ self-esteem.

Another said that her professor kept addressing her as a married woman, always asking her about her husband and children in class. Her classmates would laugh about it, and she would laugh too. Still, it hurt her every time he made such comments because she believed he assumed she was married simply due to her plus size.

A very close friend said that when she was a teenager, she hated herself so much that she always had suicidal thoughts because people kept telling her that she was too thin, too skinny, too bonny, shapeless etc. “Don’t put on tight-fitting jeans; it’ll expose your thinness”, “Put on baggy dresses to conceal your shapelessness”, “You look more like a boy than a girl”, “You’re ugly and unattractive, please eat some fatty foods to help you gain weight so that you’ll look presentable”, etc.

Although females get more body shamed, men, too, are victims on several occasions. A cousin has refused meals several times because anytime he sits to eat, his parents remind him how fat he is growing and how he needs to watch his weight. They will always compare his size to his friends and other cousins. These are his very own parents!

Another 20-year-old I met recently told me she wished God hadn’t created her because when she was in secondary school, some of her classmates and neighbours always complained about how thin and unattractive she was. It made making friends difficult for her because she couldn’t discern who liked her for real and who was just tolerating her. She, therefore, grew up in solitude, always alone. But now she finds herself in the university and realises she can’t continue her solitary life, yet she doesn’t know how to approach people. She was literally scared of even talking to me.

So, to the parents who see fault in their children’s biologically inherited physical structure, I hope you remember your role in bringing such a child to life. If you find their body size, shape or weight repulsive, remember that your genetics created them.

To friends ( or so-called), relatives ( immediate and extended ) and other members of society, please DO NOT verbally abuse people with your judgemental, unsolicited opinions of them. There’s no nice way of body shaming; “I was just joking” is only an excuse to humiliate people whose daily struggles your feeble mind may not be able to contain.

Finally and most importantly, to the victims of people’s insensitive, inhumane criticism about how you look and why you look that way, know that YOU DO NOT need anyone’s validation to be whom you want to be. Work on yourself, eat healthy, exercise to avoid illness, and keep a healthy head space.

Maimuna Abubakar is a Sociology student at Ahmadu Bello University, Zaria. She sent this article via maimunaabubakar200@gmail.com.

By Zaharaddeen Muhammad Azare

Being that political leadership share some characteristics with business partnerships where many shareholders come together to own and run a business, politicians, especially in developing worlds like Nigeria, connive with the prominent and respected members of societies for the maximum profitability of their business of maintaining themselves in power for their personal benefits.

In Nigeria, politicians use poverty and ignorance as instruments of achieving; loyalty, support and even votes during elections from the masses, this is regardless of how they treated these masses while in power or before the declaration of interest in political leadership. It’s a belief that “The strong is never strong enough to maintain himself in power unless he utilises trusted and well-respected members of the lower class.”

It’s apparent in Nigeria that whenever elections draw nearer, politicians recruit trusted members of societies to manipulate people’s beliefs and perceptions about politics, and sadly, this time around, the recruited personalities include; journalists, religious scholars, traditional rulers and even the hungry educated class who teach in higher institutions of learning.

Mass quality education being a core instrument of achieving progressive Democratic leadership as it gives citizens insight as regards whom to vote for or not and also empowers citizens to say no to anti-people policies of the government, is neglected and often considered valueless.

Everyone is aware of how politicians these days inject nonpartisan and impartial journalists who are known for doing justice to their profession of finding out facts and communicating them to the public and as well as holding politicians accountable into politics by appointing them as; Media aids, members of campaign committees or their social media forums’ handlers.

Religious scholars also, instead of guiding people on how to strengthen their relationship with the Almighty God, engage in advertising some politicians while criticising others in their public gatherings, which is an embezzlement of trust people bestowed to them.

The worse part of it is when these politicians get into power; they develop authoritarian and oppressive tactics to subjugate and antagonise all and sundry irrespective of whether one supported them during an election or not, and even advice, their arrogance will not allow them even to seek not to think of utilising them from the categories of people that worked for their success.

To conclude, I suggest that we have knowledge and experience about how these politicians ruled before and their capacities, let’s use it as a barometer for choosing whom to vote for, not on the basis of other people’s opinions.

Zaharaddeen Muhammad Azare writes from Bauchi state and can be reached at zahmuhaza@gmail.com.

By Ibrahym El-Caleel

StarLink is a distant competitor to our telcos. The product price edges it out of immediate competition with MTN, Airtel and co. However, it is good that it is already here. In fact it will definitely gain a fair share from some businesses who have been looking for an alternative to the existing telcos.

Setting up StarLink costs more than N400,000. Personally I think it will be a better buy for businesses who spend about 60-75% of this amount for internet access. They will be bidding farewell to the periodic disappointments we experience from the contemporary telcos.

Market is dynamic. As StarLink takes some time in Nigeria, it will be ambitious about increasing its market share. It will be innovative about coming up with something that will be relatively affordable for the teeming internet subscribers. This is when the true competition will begin. For now, the penetration will be low because at the moment a lot of Nigerians are quite very rich. The consumer conversion will be minimal.

MTN began in Nigeria with N1,500 airtime card only. And it expires in 7 days. If you don’t use the airtime after 7 days, you have to buy another one. This was the case c.2001. Fast forward to 2021, you can have a N100 airtime and keep it for one year if you so wish. StarLink might have to develop something cheaper to get more subscribers onboard. If your things are expensive, you can sell it and make money in Nigeria. If they are affordable to many, you make quicker turnover, bigger sales, (arguably) more profit. This is Nigerian market.

By Musa Kalim Gambo

Around this time in 2015, the most populous black nation on earth was on the eve of casting her protest votes in favour of a highly populist politician. A politician who has by then taken blows from three different rounds of defeats at the polls. The very politician who has promised to end our perennial problems of corruption, insecurity, and economic instability once he emerged as the Grand Commander of our beloved nation. This promise was well accepted with the only collateral of a previous track record and a much-touted reputation of integrity. A dim lamp of hope was hoisted so high that the septuagenarian holding would sweep away all our troubles. He would lead us to prosperity and make life so easily affordable to even the almajiri on the streets.

When this Messianic politician finally defeated a sitting president with the free votes of the talakawa, it was a precedence that many of us have never imagined would ever occur in our part of the world or lifetime – in an atmosphere so chaotic and toxic, where powerful politicians could easily use instruments of the state and streets to hijack the God-given democratic will of the people.

When this occurred, there was celebration all over the nation – many patriots either slaughtered animals or lost their lives at the climax of the celebration of this ‘change’, the infamous slogan of the political party of the Messiah. So life was supposed to change for the better. Now we have one of us at the Rock, one who deeply cares about our woes. Almost eight years later, life continues to get bitter at an exponential rate.

The very people who would throw heavy rocks at anyone who dares criticise the Messiah now despise his name. Some of them were reported to have thrown rocks in the air last week as a form of protest against the new developments that have emerged out of his determination to leave a ‘legacy’ of a better nation. A state governor almost withdrew an invitation extended to the Messiah to commission some of the good works that have been done for the benefit talakawa of his state. With this turn of events, one wonders, are we living a mass national nightmare? Life could only have so changed in a nightmare – someone has to wake us up – the dream of buying a liter of PMS at the rate of ₦50 must not metamorphose into ₦185, or is it ₦350? Please wake me up. No one should remember that ASUU has been on strike for cumulatively over two years in the past eight years. This was not part of our dreams when we set out to vote for a Messiah in 2015. Let us only remember that events at the international scenes shaped our local reality, even if our dream is obviously a nightmare now.

It is certainly true that it is now safe to travel on the highways of the Northeast, even at night, unlike before and in the early days of 2015. But how safe is it to travel in the North-west even at midday today? How safe is it for the talaka in Birnin Gwari to go to his farm? Anyway, the road was safe for the presidential candidate of the ruling party to have travelled for several hours recently.

So much has been anticipated about the coming this year. At some point, I thought of boarding the Abuja – Kaduna train to escape from the uncertainties leading to this year of hikes in fuel price and scary increases in the price of basic food items that keep the talaka alive, like the maize.

As this much-awaited year began, I have so much concern, especially over this maize. There are contending issues surrounding the new elite status that our maize has acquired – the cost of fertiliser, which would still not have prevented farmers from producing this food item, and the devils who have now taken control of the farmlands. These devils, the kidnappers, I hear, are gradually being neutralised by the gallant men of the Nigerian armed forces.

Being an election year, we will now be out in search of a new Messiah – one who will save us from the turbulent realities that we have endured. We forget that politicians would not save us. If they would, by now, we would have been across the Red Sea like the people of Moses on our march towards the Promised Land.

In the end, we must now learn to be weary of those politicians who stand at the centre of the market square to lay claim that they have a silver bullet to all our troubles. Of course, we cannot stop them from making promises of turning the hell we are facing into an earthly paradise, but we must not forget to subject them to serious interrogation. We must not forget to seek a clear understanding of the nature of the policies they intend to implement.

If Nigeria has proven so difficult, so challenging, so complex, for even the finest leader of the millennium, the Messiah who has presumably done all the best he could, who do you think would have the stamina to step into this giant pair of shoes now stuck in the thick mud of economic instability, uncertainty on major highways, the prohibitive cost of living, and the rise of non-state actors preventing the talaka from going to his farm in the bush? February 25^th would be the day to cast our answers down into the ballot box.

Gambo writes from Zaria and can be reached at gmkalim@hotmail.com

By Ahmad Muhammad Ahmad

I was thinking of a befitting title for this short tribute when I stumbled upon the adage above. It loosely translates to ‘character is a life companion’ and aptly summarises the thoughts running through my mind seeing the pool of praises resulting from the death of His Highness Sarkin Dutse, Alhaji Nuhu Muhammad Sanusi.

The life and times of great men teach subsequent generations about the true essence of life. Eulogies and tributes from equally great people are a testament of honour and moral eminence. The late Sarkin Dutse is a quintessence of nobility and magnanimity, a monarch with so much panache yet full of humility.

If the most beautiful ones amongst us would stay longer or forever, death would never have approached this epitome of scholarship and royalty. But immortality remains a characteristic of our Creator, the Lord of the worlds and to whom we shall all return.

I recently learnt that purpose and passion mean different things. Purpose revolves around using your passion for impacting the lives of others. The life of the late Sarkin Dutse exemplifies this to a great extent. He used his passion for philanthropy to create a rather better world far and wide. His life and leadership are true symbols of purpose, benevolence and contentment.

Late last year, I received a generous gift of his book (autographed by himself), which captures his experience growing up and memoirs from his several travels and encounters. I could not contain the joy of seeing my name handwritten by the Emir himself. I was meant to meet him after finishing the book, but as God would have it, it was never destined to be.

The second page of this book carries the following, which is also a summary of how he lived his life: “When you were born, you cried, and the whole world rejoiced. Live your life so that when you die, the world cries and you rejoice”. Sarkin Dutse truly lived up to these words. We can hear cries from beyond Dutse. The world has yet again lost one of its finest.

The praises and prayers we hear give us hope that the reward of the beauty he created in this world is awaiting him in his afterlife. Navigating through the pain of the lost, we can only hope and pray that God almighty will count him among those He has bestowed His favours upon from amongst the prophets, the steadfast affirmers of truth, the martyrs and the righteous. May all the good he has done forebear him from every torment of the afterlife.

Allah Ya jikan Sarki!

Ahmad Muhammad Ahmad wrote from Kano, Nigeria.

By Aliyu Nuhu

From what governor Nasiru El-Rufai said, the currency redesigning and fuel scarcity are the handiwork of the cabal in Aso Villa to ruin the electoral chances of the APC candidate, Asiwaju Bola Ahmad Tinubu. The president’s wife validated the claims by endorsing El-Rufai’s views.

Now it makes a lot of sense to me. No sitting government with victory in mind will introduce such harsh policies that shut down the economy few days to election. Northerners will go into the polls with anger and no one will vote for APC. I don’t think there is anywhere, except Borno and Yobe the president can go without being pelted with stones. Let him try it.

I have reviewed the policy again and again and could not see the economic sense in it. Withdrawing cash from circulation in a cash economy is a recipe for disaster. CBN has effectively shut down the informal sector of the economy. The North is 95% cash economy. Everything is at a standstill.

I wholly agree with El-Rufai. Emiefele is acting a script to undermine Tinubu. His policies are for political reasons after all he has never hidden his partisanship by attempting to contest in the election. The cabal surrounding the president wanted the vice president to succeed his principal and it didn’t work because no one could defeat Tinubu in the primaries. I was wondering why Osinbajo contested when it was obvious that Tinubu could not be beaten. Now I understand. It was the cabal that gave him the false hope of winning. Today, due to apathy, Osibanjo is not even attending Tinubu’s campaigns.

Unfortunately the opposition politicians are not cashing on the crisis to make political fortunes out of it. Only Kwankwaso knows how to exploit such situation. This is the time to push Nigerians against APC. But they appear docile as if they don’t know the art of political brinkmanship.

As for Tinubu he is not doing the right thing. This is the time for damage control for his electoral benefits. He should distance himself from the new currency policy and promise to reverse it. He should be beyond any fear by now. Buhari can’t do him anything. The president is now a political nonentity. Without Kano and other parts of the North, Buhari is nothing. As long as the governors are with Tinubu he has nothing to fear.

As for Buhari, just forget about him. He has never been in charge of the government. He is just a figure head. If he were the candidate in this election will he allow this kind of crisis?

By Muhammad Jameel Yusha’u, PhD

On Friday, I spent the early morning hours participating in a boot camp on negotiation. It was part of the effort of Professor Rand Wentworth to build the capacity of his students in negotiation. The boot camp was facilitated by Monica Giannone.

Immediately after the boot camp ended at 12 pm, my friend Alibek Nurbekov and I proceeded to the Friday prayer. As I was about to enter the prayer hall, Dr Khalil Abdur-Rashid was also arriving. Dr Khalil is the Muslim Chaplain at Harvard University and teaches courses at Harvard Kennedy School and Harvard Divinity School.

“Sheikh Khalil, welcome back from Umrah,” I said as he made his way into the prayer hall.

“Good to see you, Jameel. I need to talk to you after the prayer,” he said, and I nodded in agreement.

Dr Khalil led a group of students and other members of the Harvard Community to participate in Umrah, the lesser Muslim pilgrimage, where Muslims visit Makkah and perform the Umrah rites. They also visit Prophet Muhammad’s (PBUH) mosque in Madina and other historical places in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia.

I came to know about the Harvard Umrah trip during the welcome orientation for students led by Dr Khalil last year at the beginning of the fall semester. He announced that some donors had provided scholarships for Muslim students to attend the pilgrimage, and he played a video for us on the experience in 2019 when they went on a similar voyage. Many students pledged to join the group for the trip in January.

Organising trips to different countries is a common tradition at Harvard University during the January break. Many trips were organised to Brazil, Singapore, Mexico, Saudi Arabia and more. The Harvard chaplaincy also utilised the break to organise the Umrah from 4th-14th January 2023.

Quoting Dr Khalil, The Harvard Crimson reported that “a generous donation from a graduate of Harvard Business School and a parent of two current Harvard undergraduates allowed the University to offer the trip at no cost to first-generation, low-income Muslim students. The donation for this year’s trip reportedly totalled approximately $100,000.”

As the Friday prayer finished, I waited patiently for Dr Khalil. As he came out, he asked me to walk towards his car. He brought a gift from the car and handed it to me. “This is a gift from the Umrah.” His wife Samia, who is also the female Muslim Chaplain, said, “it is a little gift for your girls.”

I thanked them in appreciation and headed home to enjoy the rest of the evening with my family. You can find the full story on the Harvard Umrah trip entitled “Spiritually Stimulating: Harvard Students Embarked on First Umrah Trip in Four Years.” (https://lnkd.in/et_dEBer).

Takeaway: Spiritual well-being is important in helping students to have a balanced educational experience.

Muhammad Jameel Yusha’u, PhD, is a candidate for a Mid-Career Master’s in Public Administration at Harvard University, John F Kennedy School of Government. He can be reached via mjyushau@yahoo.com.

By Mubarak Shu’aib

Portrayed as a fraud. Painted as a failed leader by others, there’s more to President Muhammad Buhari’s tenure than meets the eye. Charged with the titanic assignment of bringing Nigeria back and on track, his ascension to the Number One seat in 2015 highlighted the arrival of a new era. 

No living politician enjoyed the overwhelming support, love, care, concern etc., like Buhari. However, the time he spent in power has proven to be anticlimactic. Rightly so? 

President Buhari’s biggest flaw, his Achilles heel, can be summarised in one word. Narrow-mindedness.

His failure to recognise, acknowledge or accept ideas other than his own, even when reasons suggested, proved to be his greatest weakness. In addition, he’s a staunch critic who sees no good in his political rivals, except for President Goodluck Ebele Jonathan (GEJ), who later handed him power on a silver platter. From labelling fuel subsidy as “Fraud”  and blabbing Jonathan’s efforts in his fight against the Boko Haram insurgency to touting the ASUU strike as something that could be resolved in a blink of an eye.

When he was declared the winner of the 2015 Presidential election, nothing but the second return of Jesus could elicit such a nationwide reaction. 

The Good:

From his inaugural speech, Nigerians, both at home and in the diaspora, were swept in joy. More interesting was his (in) famous line, which rekindled our hope, “I belong to everybody, and I belong to nobody.”  He further added, “My appeal for unity is predicated on the seriousness of the legacy we are getting into. With depleted foreign reserves, falling oil prices, leakages and debts, the Nigerian economy is in deep trouble and will require careful management to bring it around and to tackle the immediate challenges confronting us, namely; Boko Haram, the Niger Delta situation, the power shortages and unemployment especially among young people. In the longer term, we have to improve the standards of our education. We have to look at the whole field of medicare. We have to upgrade our dilapidated physical infrastructure.”

“The most immediate is Boko Haram’s insurgency. Progress has been made in recent weeks by our security forces, but victory cannot be achieved by basing the Command and Control Centre in Abuja. The command centre will be relocated to Maiduguri and remain until Boko Haram is completely subdued. But we cannot claim to have defeated Boko Haram without rescuing the Chibok girls and all other innocent persons held hostage by insurgents.”

Throughout the inaugural speech, President Buhari was full of himself, firing shots across his bow, which almost suffocated the guilty minds. 

The Bad:

The first signs of bad were Buhari’s procrastination, complacency, blame game and failure to take responsibility. His greatest strength, which is the use of rhetoric to scare and naturally bully the guilty minds, slowly grew to become one of the biggest reasons for his fall. Initially, he has established himself as someone strategic, prowess and predatory. However, it later became clear that he was devoid of such qualities, even more obvious after it took him over six months to appoint his ministers. When he eventually did, some dead people made the list of the appointees. Concerns began to leak out around his leadership’s identity as an undefined style. Doubts began to set in. His lackadaisical approach continued to grow, but to doubt Buhari at that material time, was a heinous sin. Nigerians continue to play the sport of attacking ringworms while leprosy festers. Blaming the Sarakis, Dogaras etc., on the NASS floor as saboteurs of his government. This threw the re-election bid of Saraki, Dino, and Isah Hamma under the bus in the 2019 election to pave a clear pathway for Buhari. 

The ugly:

Nigeria’s Jekyll and Hyde performances under Buhari grew out of control. While Buhari struggled to explain the abnormal nature behind his government’s inconsistent performances, his puzzled supporters appeared equally as confused. 

His record in infrastructural development is good without being impressive. And, better not to visit the issue of insecurity, which assumed many dimensions (banditry, kidnapping, etc.), corruption/looting in billions, high unemployment rate, the exorbitant cost of living, fuel scarcity, the marathon ASUU strike, 8 months old. Cutting a long story short, the most anticipated “Jarmiya” and the aspirations to see Nigeria back and on track during “Mai Gaskiya” went up in flames. 

There were a series of decisions that had repercussions. Such as the border closure, adopting the economy of ‘borrow-and-spend’, unaccounted CBN loans, etc. A disturbing reflection of his tenure was the gruesome murder of innocent souls by the bandits, rampant ransom demand by kidnappers, attack on the Abuja-Kaduna train, Abuja Central Prison, and the Presidential convoy. 

Is Buhari Unfortunate? 

The economic recession, the coronavirus pandemic, oil doom,  etc., could all be attributed to his below-par performance. However, even at that, with good economic policies, and shrewd investment in the critical areas, he can do more. Even better, had he accepted responsibilities and moved on?

Final Days:

To borrow a word from the intimidating Mike Tyson in Dark Trade, “The leader’s always by himself in a time of doom.” As is Muhammadu Buhari. 

As Nigerians started counting down to just some days to the General Election, the frustration of the “talakawas“, like a rolling ball, is just getting bigger and bigger. First, it was in his home State, Katsina and later, Kano, where he was jeered and stoned. An incident which summarised how everything had turned ugly for him. Uglier still was his inability to understand the frustration of Nigerians. The love and support he enjoyed in those days have ebbed away. 

Conclusion

Nigeria had deteriorated in and around Goodluck Jonathan’s final years as a President, which Buhari recognised. 

He did fairly well in the security sector during his first tenure, but his second tenure spiralled into chaos once more, as he was eventually unable to liberate the country from turmoil. 

Although it didn’t sit well with my spirit that he was jeered and or stoned, Buhari of the masses failed to love them. He dropped the most critical ball that saw him claim victory against a sitting president. And it hurts to love and not be loved in return.

Mubarak Shu’aib write from Hardawa. Misau LGA Bauchi State, Nigeria. He can be reached via naisabur83@gmail.com.

 By Zayyad I. Muhammad

Outspoken northern politician and a former Presidential Campaign Council Director for the Civil Society Organization of the All Progressives Congress (APC), Naja’atu Bala Muhammad, has said that the APC presidential candidate, Asiwaju Bola Ahmed Tinubu does not have a blueprint for the North’s development.

Naja’atu was quoted to have said, “I met with Tinubu in London, and he told me he doesn’t have a blueprint for the North”. In short, Naja’atu implied that Tinubu didn’t know what to offer to the north.

In its response to Naja’atu, APC Presidential Campaign Council, through a statement by Mahmud Jega, its adviser in public affairs, said, Naja’atu was sacked for incompetence, quarrelsomeness, and after being uncovered to be a mole planted in APC’s winning campaign.

To many people in the north, Naja’atu’s accusations were ‘heavy’ and ‘Tinubu does have any agenda for the North’s progress’. However, Naja’atu’s accusation became ‘weightless because, less than 48 hours after, she resigned from the APC and quit partisan politics, and accused Tinubu of having no blueprint for the north, she was seen at Atiku Abubakar’s residence and joined the Atiku’s campaign train.

Political pundits are of the view that no serious presidential candidate, whose candidature was 75%-made possible by the Northern APC Governors Forum, will carelessly open his mouth and say he doesn’t have a blueprint for a particular region, especially the north with its massive attractive votes.

Naja’atu Mohammed was just playing politics. Nevertheless. Let’s ‘keep’ Naja’atu aside; the big questions are: does Tinubu have any blueprint for the north?  If yes, is it what the north needs after 8 years of being in power at the centre?

The basic issue facing the north is insecurity- banditry, farmers-herders conflict, and poverty. To be fair to President Buhari and the APC, they did some well-done jobs in the agricultural sector, restoration of security in communities in the northeast, provision of new infrastructure, and the rehabilitation of the old ones, including the successes in the social intervention programs; especially petty cash distribution to the masses.

On October 17, 2022, Tinubu, at Arewa House, told the north his blueprint for the region. He said he would fight bandits and terrorists with technology which Buhari just started in 2022. Tinubu said he would turn the North’s fertile land into grain fields, and the North would become the hub of agriculture. The dairy economy and agro-allied industries will be promoted.  He said he would accelerate the Mambila Project and rejuvenate the existing power Stations. He assured to exploit of the gold in Zamfara and iron ore in Kogi State.

Tinubu also promised to bring back to school the millions of North’s out-of-school children through incentives. He further promised to create a special commission for Almajiri education, including employing Almajiri’s teachers.

Are Tinubu’s promises to the north enough and in line with the region’s needs and wants? Some political pundits believe that the promises are good, but development experts say the north needs more and a new approach, thoughts that resonate with this writer. Apart from these promises, the north extremely needs some strong-willed approach to the current monster of banditry in the northwest – a calculated crime that is as complex as Nigeria. A deployment of massive force and technology against the bandits in the villages where they operate is compulsory.

The North also needs a special economic recovery program in the area of youth empowerment, poverty reduction, and the uplift of business people.

President Buhari, in his own intuition, tried to tackle these issues by appointing many seasoned northerners into various positions of authority. But this has not worked. in fact, this political patronage strategy has failed. Most of the president’s appointees from the north have not served as a link between the president and his support base nor effectively reached the poor, who formed Buhari’s 12 million supporters, which APC is still banking-on.

As part of the agenda for the North, Tinubu, in his campaign, promises the region should also promise the north that- he will identify 50-100 business people and business enthusiasts in the north and assist them directly in their area of competence or choice. Imagine the impact new billionaires would have in the business sector, like new industries in the manufacturing and agricultural value chain, ICT, media, trading, etc.

Tinubu’s promise to North’s youth is still hazy. Since the North’s young people have lost in their quest to clinch the APC Vice Presidential candidate ticket, though, few young people have benefited from the APC Youth Wing appointments,  but most of the positions were not influential and direct, like the appointment of Abdulrasheed Bawa as EFCC Chairman, which got massive commendation throughout the country, with young northerners feeling well-recognized. Tinubu should directly ‘talk’ to the North’s youth via important and strategic appointments in his campaign council; bringing on more youngsters from the north would be a joker card in the north.

Most people support Tinubu in the north on the belief that he is a ‘builder’ of people. So the north expects from Tinubu three more things on his blueprint for the north- a promise to  ‘build’ some people who can as well build thousands of others and new businesses, to have direct contact with the youth – meaning using his today for their tomorrow; lastly, to confront head-on the senseless insecurity in the northwest, which is not just mere banditry.

Zayyad I. Muhammad writes from Abuja via zaymohd@yahoo.com.

By Lawal Dahiru Mamman

Ann Soberekon, a retired laboratory scientist, was almost lynched by a mob in Port Harcourt following an accusation of witchcraft. Ann was actually suffering from dementia – a condition of the brain characterised by impairment of brain functions such as memory and judgment that interferes with doing everyday activities. 

The incident led a rights group, Advocacy for Alleged Witches, to decry the ill-treatment meted out to those with mental health challenges. According to the group, the attribution of dementia and other mental disorders is rooted in irrational fear, misinterpretation and ignorance of the cause of disease. 

Living in fear of being called names and other forms of stigmatisation is the way people with mental health issues live in Nigeria and even other African countries. Mental disorders are viewed as spiritual attacks, and patients are mirrored as those under the influence of evil spirits, bewitched or hexed. The only way to cure the world of such back in the dark days and put victims out of their mystery is to send them 6 feet down, while in more recent times, stigmatisation and other forms of inhumane treatment are dished out to mental health patients forcing them to instead of seek for solution drown in their unfortunate circumstances. 

With the proliferation of knowledge of mental health, some African nations started signing Bills to protect the right of people suffering from mental health issues. Foremost among are countries like South Africa which signed the Mental Health Care Act 17 of 2002 on October 28, 2002, which then took effect on December 15, 2004, to cater for treatment and rehabilitation of persons with mental health illness. In 2012 Ghanaian government signed Mental Health Act 2012 into law. Zambia signed its Mental Health Act in 2019, and then in June 2022, Kenya’s President Uhuru Kenyatta signed the Mental Health Bill into law.

Nigeria followed suit when President Muhammadu Buhari, as a parting gift, bequeathed Nigeria on the 5th day of January 2023 the long-awaited Mental Health Bill by signing it into law, repealing heretofore extant law, which was known as the Lunacy Act CAP 542, of the laws of Nigeria 1964. 

This is coming after the Bill has failed two attempts. Firstly, it was after the presentation in the National Assembly in 2003 before its withdrawal in April 2009 and secondly, in 2013 when the National Policy for Mental Health Services Delivery set out the principles for the delivery of care to people with mental, neurological, and substance abuse problems, but it was not signed into law.

The Mental Health Bill is a piece of legislation that covers the assessment, treatment, care and rights of people with mental health disorders while also discouraging stigmatisation and discrimination by setting standards for psychiatric practice in Nigeria, among other provisions. 

The assent of the law generated a positive response, with physicians saying the law will afford those in the field the power to work unhindered and also enlighten Nigerians of the dangerous lifestyles that may lead to a breakdown in one’s mental health. 

Doctor Olakunle Omoteemi, a physician in Osun State, said, “Due to the negative perception attached to mental health issues in Nigeria, the society still sees any case related to it as that of lunacy, and as a result of this negative perception, individuals shy away from making known, discussing or approaching professionals to discuss or reveal their mental health status.

“People also often cannot go for counselling based on the prejudice from the society. There is also the issue of stigma attached to it, as people are afraid to be called certain names. With this law, it is hoped that the prejudices and stigma attached to mental health issues will be laid to rest.”  

The World Health Organisation (WHO) said at the 2022 World Mental Health Day on the 10th of October that One Hundred and Sixteen million (116,000,000) Africans suffer from one mental health disorder or another, and according to the President of the Association of Psychiatrists in Nigeria (APN), Taiwo Obindo, over sixty million (60,000,000) Nigerians agonise from mental illnesses. 

Since the Bill this time around was not allowed to fade in oblivion, it will be safe to say ‘it is better late than never’ considering the statistics of the WHO and that of the president of APN. What is left is for those responsible for the bill to take charge in ensuring that the purpose for which the bill was signed is not defeated.  

Lawal Dahiru Mamman, a corps member, writes from Abuja and can be reached via dahirulawal90@gmail.com.