Opinion

By Aliyu Yakubu Yusuf

Ask any casual football fans what the biggest mystery in recent football history is. One of the possible answers would surely be Argentina not winning a senior international trophy for 28 years. Not since Gabriel Batistuta led the Albiceleste to the 1993 Copa America triumph has the country tested victory in any men’s senior football tournament. For the record, I began supporting Argentina in 1998 courtesy of my support for Serie A side, SS Lazio. During those years when the Italian league was at the apex of the European football ladder, Lazio had an Argentine contingent of Juan Sebastian Veron, Diego Simeone, Matias Almeyda, Jose Chamot and Nestor Sensini. Over the subsequent seasons, Hernan Crespo, Claudio Lopez and Lucas Castroman soon joined their compatriots at Lazio.

For 25 long, agonising years, I have witnessed all the inexplicable near-misses, heartbreaks and sheer bad luck of being a fan of Albiceleste. We have played no fewer than six consecutive major finals and lost all, often by the slimmest of margins: Copa America finals (2004, 2007, 2015, 2016), Confederations Cup final (2005) and World Cup final (2014). Of course, there many intermittent triumphs in the youth football tournaments such as the FIFA U21 World Cup (2001, 2005, 2007) and the Olympics (2004, 2008), but those serve to add to the frustration as to why a country with so much footballing history and so much footballing talent can’t get over the finish line in a major tournament.

It’s scarcely believable that Argentina failed to win a single trophy despite boosting elite players such as Veron, Riquelme, Saviola, Ayala, Heinze, Aimar, Pocchettino, Sorin, Zanetti, Samuel, Cambiasso, Crespo, Tevez, Zabaleta, Banega and Higuain. But, beyond all these players, I believe that if anybody deserves to win a senior trophy with the Albiceleste, it is Javier Mascherano. In my more than two decades of watching the team, no player epitomises the essence of the team better. His last-ditch tackle to deny Arjen Robben in the semifinal of the 2014 World Cup is a stuff of footballing legend.

Literally speaking, I have waited my entire life as an Argentine fan for this moment. And now that the agonising wait is over, I would like to congratulate the long-suffering fans of Argentina football team and the captain fantastic, Lionel Messi. In a way, Messi appears to transcend football boundaries of rivalries. It was reported that many Brazilians rooted for him to win the trophy against their own country, in their own country. For his detractors, the criterion for being the GOAT is nothing but an international trophy. And now that he’s laid his hands on one, we are waiting for them to bring another criterion.

Aliyu is a lecturer at the Department of English and Literary Studies, Bayero University, Kano. He can be reached via aliyuyy@gmail.com.

By Ismail Hashim Abubakar

In discussion with some Nigerians here in Rabat, I learnt of a few brilliant Nigerian students who came through the Bilateral Education Agreement (BEA) scheme and have reportedly excelled in their various disciplines. Perhaps it is not worth a surprise if Nigerian students excel in any field of study abroad. But, the inspiration of awe lies chiefly in the fact that those successful students who came to Morocco did not have any prior background in French, which is the language of instruction for BEA based programs at institutions in Morocco.

One of the students had studied medicine and is now doing well in his housemanship at one of the Moroccan teaching hospitals. A few months ago, when I visited the Nigerian Embassy in Rabat, I met another student who came through BEA for an undergraduate course in Engineering. When she finished, she, on personal endeavour and self-sponsorship, registered for a master’s degree and completed it successfully, thanks to sustained gradual savings and a moderate lifestyle. She is now planning to continue with a PhD, which means French as the language of instruction has never occluded her academic performance, besides being personally enthusiastic and attentive towards her studies.

The above are just examples from the hundreds of cases of Nigeria’s best brains that are usually retained by their host counties to work and earn a living at the end of the day. But, at the same time, they invest their intelligence to contribute to the development of their host countries.

However, it is imperative to note that many BEA students, of course, don’t find it easy to grapple with French as the language of instruction. The policy is that fresh students drawn from non-francophone countries are first registered at Centre International de Languages in Rabat to undergo a French language acquisition course within the maximum duration of 6 months. Then, after passing examinations, they are free to choose universities within any city in Morocco to pursue undergraduate programs.

The available courses for study cut across and permeate disciplines related to medical and health sciences, engineering, and other pure sciences, not necessarily excluding the least patronised areas such as social and management sciences. I have interacted with quite many Nigerian students and heard their study preferences, which they hope to determine their future careers. Most of the students expressed great interest in specialising in health and medical courses and engineering and other science courses. Meanwhile, the chief impediment that would retard their effort to attain their desired feat entirely is the language factor, due to which they are initially engaged in preparatory French courses.

Besides personal testimonies from affected students who underwent and passed such language courses, I have witnessed an occasion whereby some Nigerians who also passed through the same process failed to make simple communication with francophone colleagues and had to resort to English to avoid the premature abortion of interaction among acquaintances.  Perhaps this embarrassment would not be as damning if the communication was through French writing symbols. But what is baffling is that these students had accordingly sat for the exams and have, without exception, performed to a satisfactory level that could qualify them for regular undergraduate courses at Moroccan Universities. An in-depth investigation seems necessary before one unearths the secret behind this reality vis-a-vis the actuality of their alleged mastery of the French language.

Nonetheless, it is yet helpful to mull over a personal confession of one student who claimed that she saw many of her colleagues resorting to the culture of mutual “copy and paste” among themselves during one of their French course tests. While Moroccan schools have strict monitoring mechanisms to detect examination malpractice, lethargic students always devise new ways to perpetrate their malice during exams. Hence, this lays bare the situation the students find themselves in as they pursue their higher studies and get exposed to much more complex and complicated stages in their learning career using the language they had never known throughout their basic and post-basic levels of education.

Besides the fact that Morocco is one of the most peaceful countries blessed with a serene atmosphere, magnificent and eye-catching tourist sites and conducive learning environment, its educational system is highly advanced and incomparable to many African countries in terms of both quality and infrastructural development, thanks to the allocation of more than the UNESCO benchmark from its annual budget to the education sector.

Hence, it is not expected that parents whose children are nominated to study there through BEA will decline the much-coveted opportunity. As such, many students would instead prefer to do all they could to pass through the required study duration even if they are not fully equipped with the language medium that would guarantee their mastery of their various areas of specialisation. Understandably, most of them will have neither learned enough French nor fully grasped the actual content of their disciplines and finally be less productive to their mother country. 

Nigerian authorities need to be reminded that students who ‘graduate’ from these Francophone institutions will soon join the civil service and occupy various professional positions. Likewise, those who study sensitive health and medical courses will join the health sector and begin their career, which entails having direct access to patients and intervening in matters related to life and death.

To avert erecting houses on ashes or putting one’s eggs in a basket, by securing a more realistic future for its students, Nigeria can negotiate with Moroccan authorities to craft a solution, whereas English will be introduced as an optional medium of instruction. Needless to say, one can vouch that Morocco has highly skilled and highly qualified teachers who have adequate mastery of the English language. But, interestingly, there is now an epistemological/linguistic divarication whereby English accepted as a language in which postgraduate projects are carried out at some Moroccan institutions.

Importantly, through further inquiry on the constituencies from which Nigerian BEA students are drawn annually, it is clear that most of them come from Federal Government Colleges situated in various states of the federation. For Nigeria to fully benefit from this bilateral educational agreement, it has to expand the scope of schools from which it nominates candidates coming to Morocco for study. Students who want to read other fields such as Law, Economics, English and other human, social and management sciences need to be included in the scheme. But if the truth must be told and the spade be called by its name, the most potent window of opportunity, as long as Nigeria aspires to exploit from this diplomatic arrangement with Morocco, is to incorporate various Arabic and Islamic secondary schools as constituencies from which to source candidates for its BEA scholarship award in Morocco. With the recent upgrade and standardisation of the National Board for Arabic and Islamic Studies (NBAIS), students who complete their O levels from schools under NBAIS will perform well when they are part of the beneficiaries of BEA. Understandably, they already have a considerable Arabic to hitchlessly pair up at Moroccan universities, without any need to undergo a preparatory language course. Furthermore, the same window should be opened for those who read these courses at Nigerian universities and aspire to pursue postgraduate studies at Moroccan universities.

The years of marginalisation of this class of students as candidates of BEA have rendered them sort of semi Nigerians and evinced the usual inequality that characterises Nigeria’s treatment of its citizens.

In the same vein, hundreds of Nigerians have striven to sponsor themselves or secure some assistance from families or philanthropists to study in Morocco. Most of them do not return to Nigeria after completing undergraduate programs but go on to PhD levels. Given the shaky economic situations of their sponsors, some of them at times wallow in despair as they find it hard to make ends meet, and it is evident that grand national intervention will be helpful. In this context, BEA is hereby called to consider extending some form of aid even if not integrating them into the graciously packaged BEA scheme.

Ismail wrote from Rabat (ismailiiit18@gmail.com).

By Tajuddeen Ahmad Tijjani

It is a crying shame that we are living in such a horrible situation in Nigeria. The Kaduna State government has closed down 13 schools recently, in the wake of the latest attack on a school by bandits who abduct innocent students with impunity. These ungodly gangs are aggressively challenging constituted authorities and getting away with it.

We have been harping on insecurity on several occasions. But, unfortunately, the criminals are emboldened day by day. The frequency with which these unscrupulous elements are having field days unchallenged is frightening. Perhaps that’s what gives them the audacity to continue unleashing mayhem on unsuspecting citizens with little or no fear of any resistance. This chronology of tragedy is a national embarrassment that shouldn’t be left unchecked.

However, superior forces must be applied to free our country from kidnapping, banditry, Boko Haram insurgency and all forms of criminalities. Beyond any doubt, sending these monsters to the gallows is the only solution at this juncture while rescuing all hostages without further delay.

We can only imagine the state of despair and traumatic condition that overwhelms the parents and hostages at this time of uncertainty. 

Nigerians are traumatised. Therefore, the government must rise to its responsibility by protecting the lives and properties of the people. My heart goes out to the victims of kidnapping at this most trying time.

“Verily with every difficulty, there’s relief”. However, we’re trapped between a rock and a hard place in our effort to understand the actual problem of insecurity, especially kidnapping. The government’s response must be more rigid and more decisive than what it is at this particular moment.

May God bring succour and lasting solutions to these disturbing trends happening in our country, amin.

Tajuddeen Ahmad Tijjani writes from Galadima Mahmud street, kasuwar kaji Azare, Bauchi State.

By Naseer Tijjani

From the simplest to the most complex, all human societies have some forms of inequality that seem stratified. God Has distributed sustenance among humankind in different ways for them to live in comfort with one another. Almighty Has created all creatures in pairs (male and female) for their proper existence on the earth. Marriage has been described as the legal relationship between husband and wife. When the former and the latter agree to live legally, then they become a married couple.

Comparatively,  the relationship between men and women is as old as the world itself. The two are meant to interact and survive together for so many reasons. However, marriage does not bring a higher status for many men and women than bachelorhood or spinsterhood. Equally, to some, surviving with husband or wife has a tremendous advantage.

There is no doubt that our society is now full of unmarried girls, widows and divorcees. Women are getting divorced daily and at a very high rate. To me, none of the couples should be blameless, for marital conflict involves two parties.

Where do the problems lie?

Divorce is often pronounced when the husband or wife is provoked due to certain utterances or actions of one of them. If a conflict exists between the couples to the extent that they cannot control their temper, then divorce usually comes as a last resort. Culturally, parents/guardians play a significant role in resolving any form of misunderstanding between husband and wife. They mediate wisely and eloquently whenever the problem arises. In a typical Hausa society, parents/ guardians are the final judges that preside over any marital problem. The culture is still in existence in some places. However, it is good to note that marriage is all about tolerance, perseverance, patience, kindness, love, affection, caring, concern and peace of mind. When these are lost, the purpose has been defeated.

Nowadays, some people get married only to satisfy their sexual desire and not establish a peaceful family with purpose and focus. Before the marriage, the two loved each other like Romeo and Juliet, exchanging terms like “sweetheart”, “my honey”, “my other half”, “my dream,” “my happiness,” etc. However, the story begins to change after the marriage. Meanwhile, failure to fulfil the mandate of each other also brings the couples to separation. When the two refuse to shoulder their responsibilities with care, there must be problems at some – or all – levels.

The Needful Actions

We should maintain the culture of consulting parents/guardians before making any decision. Therefore, one should not divorce his wife without the consent of his parents/guardians. In addition, the couples should make sure that they fulfil all the marriage obligations enforced on them by religion and culture (where necessary).

Sometimes, the best response to women is silence. Don’t exchange terms with her when you are provoked. Instead, get out of the house for a while so as not to hear her offensive words.

Being the pillar of the family, the husband should not hesitate to apologise if a mistake is made, as should the wife. The couples should Continue to use the love terms as mentioned earlier, for they assist a lot.

Naseer Tijjani writes from Gwaram and can be reached via tijjaninasiru@gmail.com.

By Ibrahiym A. El-Caleel

Flooding in this season is caused by heavy rainfalls. It happens because the excess water from a heavy rainfall is unable to find a drainage system with the capacity to contain it. Our local areas, called “ghettos” are fond of blocking the gutters. Household wastes are dumped in gutters instead of depositing them in refuse dump for proper incineration.The new extension areas mostly called “low-cost” also suffer from inadequate drainage system due to poor planning. People passionately build houses of N8-10 million, but comfortably neglect building a drainage that will cost them less than N300K.

I know a man whose neighbor refused to build a gutter for over 20 years, with much quarrel. Everyday, this man had to use a rake to collect the waste from his house to pass it to the next gutter because his immediate neighbor refused to let the gutter continue in front of his house. Of course it’s a semi-ghetto area, no one cared to reveal this to appropriate authorities. Rainfalls have no specific regards to the poor drainage system we have in our communities. We can continue to block the gutters with our household wastes. Lowcost residents can continue to build their fine houses without making provision for drainage. When the heavy rain eventually falls, it will not seek for a pathway. It will accumulate on the streets and find its way into our houses, living rooms and bedrooms. Eventually, we will then begin to have honest concerns with our lack of regards for drainage systems. It is true that we have governmental institutions for environmental health. Take Kaduna State for example. Kaduna has Kaduna Environmental Protection Authority (KEPA). Go to KEPA’s office on Old Jos Road in Zaria close to Kongo Campus and see the gutter there. A few years back when I was making a self-assigned field research on this issue, their gutter was also blocked with several plastic wastes and heap of sand! This is a regulatory agency that should drive residents compliance with environmental health systems like drainage. KASTELEA was also launched to enforce both state traffic laws and environmental laws. KASTELEA stands for “Kaduna State Traffic and Environmental Law Enforcement”. But today KASTELEA is obsessed with catching drivers with an expired “Road Worthiness Certificate” more than cracking on households with no drainage systems which leads to flooding of a community of 2,000 homes.

For prevention, people should not wait for KEPA or KASTELEA to come and enforce them to clean their gutters. They don’t have your time! If you like, don’t just dump your household wastes in the gutters. You may please seal the gutters with molten steel! When the community eventually floods, you will feel the pain more than anyone. The best thing SEMA will do is to give you 2 tiers each of rice as palliatives and then have NTA cover the story. The remaining wahala is yours to know how to solve. It is the usual way of manhandling everything that has to do with public good. I have seen someone who demolished a part of his house, and instead of transporting the red sand elsewhere, he spread it on the tarred road that is meant for public use. When rain fell, the red sand became sticky and everyone in that community had to suffer for this indiscipline. Yet no one cared to force this man to come and pack up his red sand. After all, he dumped it on a road that doesn’t belong to anyone. The road belongs to the government. Therefore, it is the government’s headache! Allah has been very merciful to us. We are not living in coastal areas that are susceptible to tropical cyclones that could lead to storm surges that will flood our communities. Now that we live in our areas that are free from this, why can’t we have good drainage systems that will contain heavy rainfalls? As we make our bed, so shall we lie on it.

By Kasim Isa Muhammad

Saying Nigeria has failed is an understatement. Unfortunately, nobody can also predict what the future holds for the younger generations. The recent abductions of school children, kidnapping on the major highways, and increased tuition fees by the Kaduna government show that Nigeria is on the brink of collapse. Nevertheless, the most perturbing question running on my mind and fellow ordinary Nigerians is: who will bring succour at this time of unprecedented crises?

We all know that Nigeria got its independence sixty years ago, and it will clock sixty-one in few months to come, but unfortunately, the country lacks direction. Innocent citizens are killed daily, graduates roaming streets looking for jobs,  while senior politicians buy luxury cars, their children study abroad. In contrast, the children of the masses study in dilapidated classrooms. With this, no one can predict the future of Nigeria as a nation.

With all the problems mentioned above, and despite facing severe insecurity challenges in Kaduna, the state governor, Nasiru El-Rufai, increased tuition fees. Unfortunately, instead of the governor providing a lasting solution to the problems bedevilling the state, he chose to add salt to the current problem people of Kaduna are wallowing in. I often ask myself this question: Do the poor children have a future in this country? Yes, the answer to the question is visible to the blind and audible to the deaf because when you fail to educate the children of the poor that voted you into office, you will never know peace. It’s high time the governor thought and have a rethought.

Nonetheless, the recent statistics establish that 25 million graduates are unemployed. This shows that future generations will not invest in education. When a country fails to employ the vast population of its graduates, they will only engage in nefarious activities, such as gangsterism, kidnapping, banditry, militancy, and all heinous activities. Therefore, we need to wake up from our deep slumber in providing job opportunities to our youths.

It’s pertinent to note that statistics also establish that 900 schools were destroyed in Nigeria recently, especially in the northwestern part of the country. Still, unfortunately, many Nigerians don’t find this worth talking about. They instead talk about the Twitter ban. We all know how some unpatriotic Nigerians use the microblogging platform to spread hatred, disunity and unsubstantiated stories to bring about conflict in the country.

Have we forgotten the slogan saying children are the leaders of tomorrow? Yes, there is a need to ask this question when the so-called leaders of tomorrow stay at home because their parents cannot afford their tuition fees; are they even leaders of tomorrow when their leaders fail to protect their lives and properties today? 

By looking at the current situation and Nigeria’s stalking on social and economic impacts, the youths have lesser opportunity to get involved in governmental issues. 

In some developed countries, technology plays a crucial role in successful programs, advances tech power, and engages youths in learning to generate a source of income. However, there are so many obstacles in Nigerian technological development and a massive challenge for the youths. The government invests insufficient funds in technological methods, which seem to be a modern pillar of providing enormous job opportunities. 

 However, the youths probably graduate from various universities, come out with outdated skills, and have no chance of getting a job. Therefore, the government needs to introduce programs in the universities for a change of method in teaching, entrepreneurship, and ways to inspire the youths.

 Also, international investments are advised to enlarge ways of poverty alleviation from millions of youths living without any hope here in Nigeria. Building up companies and carrying out regular works will help to make a way out of these obstacles. 

Youths can also be involved in politics. The vibrant minds have the zeal to change many things here in Nigeria but some uncertain beliefs came to destroy the future of youths into politics.

When the government provides job opportunities and tackles insecurity issues, future generations will write the name of our leaders in a golden slate of history.

Now, in Nigeria, the only thing we need is to work together collectively. Our problems are beyond political affiliations, ethnicity, religion, and sectionalism. Yet, we need to take a deep breath and ask ourselves what the future will hold for the future younger generation.

Kasim Isa Muhammad is a 200 level student in the Department of Mass Communication, University of Maiduguri.

By Amir Abdulazeez

Some weeks ago, I was caught up in a debate involving some people trying to justify the Federal Government of Nigeria’s ban on Twitter and those who opposed it. If I am to be fair to both groups, every side had some very good points, strong enough to sway a neutral person to their side. However, one thing remains fundamental and clear even to the debaters; the Twitter ban will not solve any of our short and long-term problems, including the very ones for which the Federal Government used to justify the ban.

It will not be difficult for any critical observer to note that the Buhari administration had not taken lightly any action that will or can undermine official state authority or that of the President since its coming in 2015. This is perhaps why over 1000 Shiites were allegedly killed in the administration’s early days for blocking the way of the Chief of Army Staff, among other things. It may also be why IPOB and End SARS protesters were not treated with the kid gloves with which bandits and mass murderers of ordinary citizens are apparently treated. Twitter had not offended ordinary Nigerians as much as it had offended the Presidency and hence the ban. Regardless, at least the ban is a strong message that not everything can be tolerated by Nigeria, especially the sort of highhanded arbitrariness on the part of the social media tech giant.  

A few hours before the ban came into effect, I was surfing the platform to catch up with the day’s national and international news when I came across an interesting statement credited to ex-Senator Dino Melaye.  Melaye was reported to have said that any Nigerian that survived this APC’s administration to its end alive deserves a certificate of survival. I don’t know whether he actually said that or not, but the statement is typical of him. Besides, the truth is that ordinary Nigerians are currently receiving the suffering of their lives.

According to the Consumer Price Index report, recently released by the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS), Nigeria’s inflation rate for May 2021 stands at 17.93%, a slight drop from April 2021, which was 18.12%. Food which is the most critical item, recorded an inflation rate of 22.28% in May. This is the highest since April of 2017. Nigeria ranks 13^th in the global inflation table and 7^th in Africa, making it among the worst worldwide. At less than $80 per month, Nigeria’s minimum wage is one of the poorest in the world. A substantial percentage of the Nigerian population has been reduced to begging. The crime rate in almost every state of the federation is on the increase; income is static, expenditure is growing, no jobs and opportunities.

The Consumer Price Index (CPI) measures the change over time in the prices of 740 goods and services consumed by people for day-to-day living. The index weights are based on expenditures of both urban and rural households in the 36 states. How good a measure it is to quantify our real suffering from this hyperinflation is another question of its own.

Our real problem is that these figures only give us an idea but not an accurate picture of the cost of living in the country. We all know that these figures are mainly hypothetical; we have essential goods and services that have recorded a 100% increase in prices within weeks. Another concern is that other countries facing inflation are somehow doing well relatively. For example, the twelve countries worse than Nigeria in the global inflation ranking are better off in terms of peace and security (except maybe Syria) and prosperity (except perhaps Sudan and South Sudan).

The country faces multiple, unprecedented and overwhelming security challenges from all fronts. With no clear end in sight, many people in some parts of the country live every day in uncertainty while helplessly waiting for the worst. In parts of Katsina, Zamfara, Kaduna and Niger States, people live to tell the daily stories of tragedy while hopelessly waiting to be consumed like their brethren. Survival has become a privilege these days.

The government is overwhelmed and had resorted to foreign debts to keep the collapsing economy working. Nigeria’s External Debt has reached $32.9 billion US Dollars as of March 2021. Roughly, each Nigerian is indebted to the tune of 65,000 to 70,000 Naira at the official exchange rate of dollar to Naira. We have not stopped borrowing; a substantial amount of our current and future budgets still depends on external borrowing. We are not talking of internal debt.

Ordinary Nigerians are finding life unbearable. Are these sufferings temporary? What are we doing to stop this? Why is every previous year better?  How does the future look like for ourselves and our children? How many of us will survive this? Is survival our emerging national culture and priority? People are employing any available means to stay alive, thereby gradually turning societies into jungles where everyone wants to thrive even at the expense of others.

What is the overall implication of all these? Now here comes the real danger. When a greater majority of a country’s citizens are preoccupied with how to survive, no one will be left to create and add the value that will take the country to the promised land. When most people spend 75% of their time trying to fetch their families amidst rising costs and harsh conditions, they can only spend the remaining 25% to rest against the subsequent struggle, leaving them with zero time to think and create anything. When almost everyone lives to attain Dino Melaye’s survival certificate, we will have no other aspirations other than food and shelter. The result will be a backward nation that will remain static for only God knows when.

We cannot say that the current government is doing nothing about all these challenges, but they are doing nothing revolutionary. Measures like N-power, Conditional Cash Transfer and the likes are cosmetic, inadequate and unsustainable. Even their effects in the short term are too minimal to reflect on the general quality of national life. First and foremost, the country must have a comprehensive and exhaustive national development plan with inputs from local, state and federal stakeholders. This plan must be well developed, implemented and not politicized. If needs be, it should be backed by legislation. Government appointees at any time must be people that understand and can implement that plan religiously irrespective of their demography and political affiliations.

The development plan should strengthen sectors like manufacturing, power, infrastructure, security, and justice because such sectors can automatically create and consolidate direct and indirect development. For example, if there is adequate security and power supply, independent businesses would run for 24 hours. When some people who conduct businesses during the day are asleep, some others resting during the day will operate businesses during the night. Nigerian companies will work for 24 hours with no valuable time to waste, thereby hugely increasing productivity. We should be able to produce most of the goods we import.

When power is available, thousands of jobs would be created both directly and indirectly. Therefore, rather than investing in providing direct jobs that cannot satisfy all, let the government strengthen security and power.  We have seen what the telecommunication and entertainment industries have done to our economy through direct and indirect jobs creation with ripple effects. I think that success can be replicated in many other sectors. When this is done, governments will rely on happy and self-employed citizens for taxes rather than the other way round.

Unfortunately, we cannot implement essential solutions now and then because politics has been our number one national priority since 1999. This has made many people lose interest in providing any meaningful input to the Nigerian development discourse. I have received countless messages over the last eight months, including from some newspaper editors over my long break from analytical writing with some enquiring on what must be responsible. I usually didn’t have any consistent answer; sometimes, I’ll only compose any reply that comes to mind.

Whatever will be said has been said many times before. We just lack the will as a nation to take the bull by the horn. Just some days ago, a reader reminded me that it had been a year since I wrote an opinion piece asking why. I doubted and quickly went to my personal online blog only to confirm what he said was indeed true. I was surprised myself; the reader didn’t know that I am currently battling to obtain my own Certificate of Survival.

Twitter: @AmirAbdulazeez

By Salisu Yusuf

Almost 20 years since the September 11 attacks in the U.S. and the subsequent occupation of Afghanistan, the last Friday’s swift vacation of Bagram Airbase by the U.S forces, the situation in Afghanistan gets worst. The country is becoming more divided; social strife grows, and citizens become more disenchanted. Hostilities between the Hazara Shia minority and mainly Pashtun Sunni majority increases. All over the country, people feel less secure in groups and individually as each one is afraid that the rival militia may attack them. The hitherto communal Afghanistan is fast turning individualistic, especially as a result of Talibans’ follies, misrule, the failure of the sectarian/tribal leadership, the role of Ulama and by the Russian occupation in the 70’s and ’80s, as well as the U.S’s so-called war on terror.

I have never seen a religious sect that clings to power and unorthodoxly turns to folly like the Taliban. They have crossed religious, ethical lines. They ask their members to attack hospitals, with women under labour, children receiving natal care, and other defenceless people receiving treatment. In one instance in 2020, they struck a maternity hospital belonging to the international organisation Medicines Sans Frontiers in Kabul. They gruesomely murdered 24 victims, including impoverished women, children, and babies. A week-old baby was among the dead; another two-week-old baby survived though his mother could not. There has not been a worse unnatural disaster!

Moreover, coordinated, reciprocal attacks by both Sunni and Shia militants are on the rise. I have not seen thoughtless sects like the two groups in Afghanistan/Pakistan axis, where each group asks its members to attack the other while performing obligatory prayers in mosques! And when such attacks are carried out, while the victims’ relatives nurse them and mourn other fatalities, the attackers get euphoric as they believe that they have fulfilled a religious duty. Outrageously they think that should if they die in the process, they would directly go to paradise – as if it belongs to their fathers!

 In addition to such senseless attacks, the Taliban has stepped up on a campaign against girl-child education. As a result, hundreds of innocent girls have been killed on their way to schools because, to them, girls’ education is a deviation from the norm. 

In one such horrendous attack, the vocal Malala Yusafzai is lost to the West. The girl was 11 when she’s shot in the head on her way to school. The girl’s crime was pleading to the Taliban to let girls pursue their educational careers. As the saying goes, the rest is history. Malala is now an Oxford University graduate in philosophy, politics and economics. 

Malala is lost to the West with her two young brothers. Pakistanis could only watch her on T.V. addressing the U.N. Assembly, celebrating her birthday, or receiving Nobel Prizes. If she had not been shot, she would have been in Pakistan, and a practising Muslim, whose talent might have been used in teaching and aspiring young girls. Girls like Malala could have been used to heal the growing social division between Sunni and Shia; alas, she’s lost to Europe.

More painful is the list of Nadia Nadim. A more intelligent and talented girl who’s also lost to the West. Nadia’s father was also killed by the Taliban when she’s a child. Under a false identity, the girl fled Afghanistan on a truck at just 11 years. She’s currently living in Denmark, studying reconstructive surgery. Nadia, like Malala, is lost to the West. Her colossal talent would have been more beneficial to Afghanistan because she’s a prospective scientist. Nadia speaks 11 languages. She also plays football for the Danish National Team, scores 200 goals, making her a celebrity.

If Nadia’s father lived, she would have been left to pursue her career, would have been in Afghanistan practising Islam. She could have been a medical doctor, possibly assisting thousands of Afghan women in need of medical care. But, alas, she’s lost to football, playing a celebrity role, her beauty being explored, etc. 

The above are a few lessons to Nigerian youth who sympathise with terrorist groups like Boko Haram. Such groups are in for regression rather than progression.

While the so-called Doha Peace Conference between the Afghan government and Taliban is in progress, the country is hotly on the brink of another civil war. The Taliban is advancing towards Kabul, inciting more antagonism while the country suffers from brain drain; indeed, it’s Talibans’ folly, but Western gains.

Salisu Yusuf teaches at the Department of English, Federal College of Education, Katsina. He can be reached via salisuyusuf111@gmail.com.

By Muhammad Mahmud

Even as the nation is struggling to bring an end to the Boko Haram crisis, which could’ve been effectively tamed but for the inane and complacent manner the leadership of some Northeastern states treated the issue initially, we could not but gape at the myopic decision of the Southern governors to fly the kite of moral support to their organized thugs who were recently suppressed by the authorities. 

At their meeting on Monday, July 5 2021, the southern governors “resolved that if for any reason security institutions need to undertake an operation in any State, the Chief Security Officer of the State MUST be duly informed.” (Emphasis mine).

It is unmistakable that the governors were referring to the recent success recorded by the nation’s security agencies in arresting many IPOB members, including their “supreme leader” Nnamdi Kanu, and the arrests at the residence of a tribal warlord, Sunday Igboho.

One cannot but wonder how on earth these governors will be so insensitive to the flights of their people. The gory stories emanating from the arrested members of IPOB, where 2000 fresh skulls of innocent southern girls were targeted and how lives of fellow southerners who never aligned themselves to the “cause” were to be wasted, are enough to galvanize the governors into taking stern action against those terrorists. But to the shock of the whole nation, these governors, who never even found it worth their time to give a one minute silence to mourn souls of the ten brutally killed girls, have the temerity to demand that they must be informed whenever the criminals are to be arrested. 

Perhaps the support for IPOB and Igboho militia by the southern governors has everything to do with what Rochas Okorocha said, in an interview with BBC, that it was the fear of what the IPOB boys could do to them that stops Igbo elders from speaking against them. This gives a picture of caged and gagged elders who have no option but to simply watch as the boys took their entire region into uncertainty. This means that Kanu’s group has evolved into a monster that no Igbo could dare criticize even from afar. 

Maybe the southeastern leaders fear that what happened to the four Ogoni chiefs could befall them if they dare oppose IPOB. On May 21 1994, four Ogoni chiefs were beaten to death by angry Ogoni youths. The victims’ names were Edward Kobani, Alfred Badey, Samuel Orage, and Theophilus Orage. Their crime was that they were suspected to be against the MOSOP. Perhaps the Igbo leaders fear the Ogoni chiefs’ treatment from IPOB; that’s why they are backing them. 

But suppose Igbo elders are so terrified with the IPOB to the extent that they are hypnotized into submission, or they are so emotionally sympathetic to the “cause”. In that case, it is very dumbfounding that the south-southern governors couldn’t see the danger of backing IPOB for the simple fact that they (IPOB) made it categorically clear that any non-Igbo will be, and shall remain, a third-class citizen in the region. Suppose the south-western governors found it strategically right to support IPOB in supporting their tribal warlord, Igboho; what exactly is in it for the south-southern region? Their governors seem to be either coerced/harangued into submission or too foolish to figure this out for their people.  I believe if a south-southerner like Reno Omokri is among the governors, he will object to this. 

It appears as if the southern leaders are no longer in control. They seem to be tele-guided by the prevailing emotions in their regions instead of playing the leadership role of directing towards a better future for their people. 

Notwithstanding some of their failures and the resentments of their people, Northern elders are more in control and seem to be leading. When some northern youths issued a quit notice to the Igbos, in a reaction to the IPOB’s agitation, the leaders of the north rebuffed them. Governor El-Rufa’i even ordered their arrest. When some northern youths initiated “Shege Ka Fasa” as an answer to south-western governors’ backed “Amotekun”, the leaders of the north stopped them, and they complied. Even Boko Haram, with their firepower, did not frighten northern leaders into opposing the federal government to support them!

If the southern leaders are publicly backing their criminals with a kind of moral encouragement by attacking the federal government’s crush on them, they should, rest assured, know that it will boomerang. They should have taken lessons from what happened during the early stage of Boko Haram in the northeast.

During the initial stage of Boko Haram, they enjoyed massive support from their people. This is partly because they appeal to their people’s sentiments. All they need is to list eloquently, in a highly sentimental manner, the ills and backwardness that bedevilled the people in addition to hunger, poverty, diseases etc. and finally quote relatively congruent verses of the Qur’an and sayings of the Messenger of Allah (peace be upon him) to drive home their point that “Jihad” is the only way out and they, as the conveyors of that message, are the ones to lead. It was full of promises of a utopian state that will replace the current dystopian state. And that appealed to many, more especially as most of the movement members were children of the elite. What a perfect gulp of toxic will that be on the gullible, the strata of his/her social status notwithstanding.

It was only after the actual road to Sambisa was taken that the people realized, albeit too late, how wrong they were and how naive they behaved.

Now the IPOB and the tribal warlord, Sunday Igboho, are getting the support of the southern governors because they appeal to the sentiments of regionalism and tribalism (or drum up support for their political agenda), only time will reveal the sour fruits that will shower down. I hope some leaders will be blunt enough to put aside political correctness and act appropriately before that happens.

Malam Muhammad writes from Kano. He can be reached via meinagge@gmail.com.

By Abu Haneef

The governors of southern Nigeria held a meeting in Lagos on Monday, July 5, 2021. They, among other things, demanded the return of the presidency to the South in 2023. They also rejected two sections of the recently passed Petroleum Industry Governance Bill (PIGB). While the governors are entitled to their opinion, the return of the presidency to the South will however require much more than a demand from the governors—it will require fielding a Southerner that can win in a free contest. As for the rejection of some sections of the PIGB, their opinion on such a legislative matter is hardly any different from that of ordinary Nigerians and indeed of no legal significance to the implementation of PIGB. Perhaps they need to summon their legislators for an honest discussion. 

Between the 4th and 9th legislative assemblies in Nigeria, the PIGB was stalled for over 20 years due to unrealistic demands by many interest groups. This has led to the inefficient utilisation of our petroleum resources and the inability to open our economy to private investments. Therefore, the passage of this bill brought a huge sigh of relief to many who appreciated the impact its delay had on our development and economy. And today, PIGB is arguably the most debated bill in Nigeria’s history. 

The two sections contended by the governors are the allocation of 3% of NNPC’s profit to host communities (they need more) and 30% of the profit to exploration activities in the basins (they need less exploration elsewhere). 

Although the situation of the host communities is something every Nigerian should be sympathetic to, such sympathy should not mean giving them everything while other regions suffer deprivation. The host communities have 13% derivation, deducted from government revenues (not just oil). They also have a federal ministry dedicated to their needs and another government parastatal, the Niger Delta Development Commission (NDDC). Although these considerations will not replace what the region has lost (and is still losing) of its livelihood to oil exploration activities, particularly those illegal activities by the locals, it nonetheless does not justify the denial of the country to increase its revenue by exploring the basins. And lest they forget, the oil in Niger Delta was explored through revenues from our erstwhile groundnut pyramids. It also does not justify the disproportionate allocation of the nation’s resources to them exclusively. 

For example, in addition to sums budgeted for the Ministry of Niger Delta and the NDDC, Delta State alone received almost N190 billion in federal allocation in 2020, which roughly equates to what was received by four North-Eastern states of Bauchi, Borno, Gombe, and Adamawa during the same period. And this will be more appreciated when the difference in population and landmass is added to the analysis. 

I’m not mentioning this to suggest that the host states (which now include Bauchi and Gombe States, by the way) do not deserve this patronage. Still, I do so to disagree that the nation has neglected them as always projected when the leaders require additional resources of those communities. And looking at the resources allocated to the host communities in the last decade alone, their leaders, rather than Federal Government, are the ones guilty of this neglect. 

But all this argument and counter-argument can only be a lamentation or justification, depending on what side of the divide you find yourself, as those saddled with the constitutional responsibility of determining the matter have done so, albeit after a very long time. And any effort to undermine the National Assembly is actually a renegotiation of this country through the back door, which any reasonable person should not contemplate at this critical period of our history. 

As for the governors’ request for the presidency to be returned to the South in 2023, they, particularly those amongst them who championed the jettisoning of zoning arrangement in 2011, such as Wike, need to be reminded that if the aggressor forgets quickly, the victim does not. 

In 2011, the South, led by President Jonathan and many of those clamouring for it today, abolished zoning in defiance of all reasons and a gentleman agreement established by the North to protect the South that is unarguably the minority in Nigeria. This is true regardless of how one chooses to look at it—either by landmass or population. 

Now that zoning has been thrown into the bin of our history by the South; the presidency shall remain open to a free contest by all. And even if this zoning arrangement will be revisited in the future, not now, if you ask me; a good lesson needs to be taught and learned on the importance of the sacrosanctity of agreements, or else, we may see a repeat of the logically fallacious arguments tossed left, right and centre in the justification of abandoning zoning by the same actors calling for its return today. 

Abu Haneef can be reached via imabuhaneef@gmail.com.